Sustainability

Chief Sustainability Officers at Work - How CSOs build successful sustainability and ESG Strategies

By Chrissa Pagitsas

ISBN: 978-1484278659

Overview

Chrissa Pagitsas is a senior executive and advisor to global companies, philanthropies, and non-profits on the intersection of environmental, social, governance (ESG) and business.

She was the driving force behind market-transforming innovations in sustainability and green financing, including issuing the first green CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities) in the United States and developing the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR 1 to 100 Score for existing multifamily housing.

Recognised as a “Global Green Bond Champion’ by the Climate Bonds Initiative. Chrissa served as the first vice president of ESG at Fannie Mae and launched its Green Financing Business. She serves on the boards of for-profit companies and non-profit organisations.

What Human thought

This collection of 24 interviews with chief sustainability officers from Fortune 500 companies is a must-read.

Broken into four industries:

1. Consumer Goods, Hospitality, and Entertainment

2. Technology, Telecommunication, and Professional Services

3. Energy, Building Materials, and Equipment Manufacturing

4. Financial Services, Investment Management, and Commercial Real Estate) this book was made for CSOs, ESG leaders and their teams.

C-level executives and board members. Pagitsas promises that you will learn:

• How CSOs lead sustainability strategies at global billion-dollar companies to create positive environmental and social impact and financial value

• How the business landscape may change over the next 5-10 years as a result of sustainability and ESG

• How to partner with internal peers and boards of directors to integrate sustainability into core business products and service

• How to navigate a moving regulatory landscape while creating meaningful and authentic partnerships with external stakeholders

The interviews are insightful, and comprehensive and provide a peek under the hood of how these companies are navigating sustainability. There are many lessons and insights that can be applied, transferred and considered by a broad range of companies, no matter the size.

Supply Chains

There aren’t many mainstream publications that offer a perspective on traceability technologies. The majority of books reference food supply chain and traceability or blockchain.

Supply Chain Revolution: How Blockchain Technology Is Transforming the Global Flow of Assets by Don Tapscott

By Don Tapscott

ISBN: 978-1988025537

Overview

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken precious lives and devastated the global economy. It has also revealed chinks in our supply chains.

Not only have manufacturers found themselves scrambling unsuccessfully to find new suppliers when their Asian sources shut down, but the Western world has experienced across-the-board shortages of essential consumer packaged goods for the first time in decades.

Blockchain technology has the potential to minimize these kinds of pandemic disruptions. In this book, some of the world's top experts show how blockchain—in combination with other innovations such as additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things—can address longstanding problems that make the business of getting goods to customers so slow and expensive, especially in crises.

Today's supply chains are complex, as they move resources through trucks, planes, boats, and trains. Too many parties rely on a hodgepodge of documents and intermediaries to do business, which makes the whereabouts and custody of goods unclear.

That's why, in a pandemic, uninformed consumers might reasonably believe that toilet paper won't be available for many months. Enter blockchain—the Internet of Value. For the first time in human history, individuals and organizations can manage and trade their assets digitally, peer-to-peer.

In doing so, they will reinvent global commerce and how we exchange value. This will transform the best practices of operations, logistics, procurement and purchasing, transportation, customs and border control, trade finance and insurance, manufacturing, and inventory management.

Global supply chains are ripe for disruption at every level and in every role.

Supply Chain Revolution identifies what leaders should be doing now to prepare their organizations for the inevitable decentralized future. Enterprise executives and entrepreneurs alike will find ideas and opportunities to discuss with their stakeholders and decide how best to participate in the blockchain revolution.

This is the second book in the Blockchain Research Institute Enterprise Series aimed at entrepreneurs, innovators, executives, and investors in breakthrough technologies.

“An invaluable collection of industry research. The hyper-convergence of blockchain, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence/machine learning will enable accuracy and new business models where our customer will enjoy supply chains that are trusted, decentralized, and open.”
Robert B. Carter, Chief Information Officer, FedEx Corporation

“Blockchain technology empowers businesses to track goods and freight more effectively, create new revenue streams, and operate their supply chains more seamlessly. With this research, business leaders can begin transforming the global supply chain through the transparency and innovation offered by blockchain.”
Chris Burruss, President, Blockchain in Transport Alliance

“Supply chain management is one of the earliest and most consequential use cases for blockchain technology at the enterprise level. This compilation of research, which Sweetbridge is proud to support, is the definitive guide for companies looking to transform their supply chains for the next era of the digital economy.”
J. Scott Nelson, Chairman and CEO, Sweetbridge

“Replacing paper-based, manual processes with modern technology and automation is only part of the solution for transforming global trade. The secret sauce lies in reframing business models and unlocking new capital, where reducing friction for customers is the main driver of innovation. Through many use cases, this book demonstrates blockchain's role in the supply chain revolution.”
Soumak Chatterjee, Partner and National Leader, Payments and Blockchain, Deloitte Canada

What Human thought

Don Tapscott isn’t a stranger to writing, this book belongs to a three-part series including:

• ‘Financial Services Revolution: How Blockchain is Transforming Money, Markets, and Banking’

• ‘Platform Revolution: Blockchain technology as the Operating System of the Digital Age’

Clearly, Don is passionate about Blockchain. It’s an easy read drawing on deep research insights and logical thinking. This book was written pre-COVID turning the world upside down so watch out for that.

It does assume a general understanding of blockchain so if you are a newbie you might want to orient yourself first.

Circular Economy

Circular Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for Ethical and Sustainable Business

By Helen Kopnina & Kim Poldner

ISBN: 978-0367418649

Overview

‘How can we design circular business models? How can we organize the transition from a linear to a circular economy? And how can we imagine circular futures that help us transform current realities?

This book aims to provide answers to these questions while addressing the challenges and opportunities of the circular economy.

The authors reflect on why conventional sustainability models – such as the ‘triple P’ (People, Profit and Planet) or eco-efficiency – have failed in addressing environmental challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

They then move on to explore innovative circular business models, which propose to eliminate environmental damage by radically reforming the system of industrial production.

Organizing the transition is a collaborative effort: entrepreneurs, consumers, policymakers, multinationals and intermediaries need to work together to foster the emergence of the circular economy as an institutional field.

Together with younger generations of learners and equipped with beyond-human-centred values towards awareness of the material and natural world, novel circular futures can be imagined.’

What Human thought

Whether you are new to the circular economy space or established in your CE career, Circular Economy: Challenges and Opportunities for Ethical and Sustainable Business is for you.

Helena and Kim have reflected and built upon different frameworks and discussed and proposed ideas and practices that support the transition to a circular or even regenerative future.

Referencing frameworks from as early as 1969 to the present day, the authors offer practical and usable advice for designing circular business models.