Building a sustainable business means more than getting everyone to recycle.
It’s about establishing new business strategies and team mindset.
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Business owners should go beyond giving and green investing. Make your business a sustainable one by exploring these practical ways to reduce your company’s carbon footprint.
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1. Recycle more than just paper
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2. Partner with green vendors
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3. Innovate
Think of ways your brand can innovate its services and products to be more environmentally conscious but still build a competitive advantage.
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4. Reduce waste
For instance, you can rely on digital marketing and product advertising as opposed to print catalogs and brochures to reduce paper and ink waste.
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5. Stay current
Keep on top of trends, both specifically for your industry and for sustainable practices in general.
Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth.
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It mobilizes a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 1,049 cities, 67 regions, 5,235 businesses, 441 of the biggest investors, and 1,039 Higher Education Institutions. These ‘real economy’ actors join 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest. Collectively these actors now cover nearly 25% global CO2 emissions and over 50% GDP.
The objective is to build momentum around the shift to a decarbonized economy ahead of COP26, where governments must strengthen their contributions to the Paris Agreement. This will send governments a resounding signal that business, cities, regions and investors are united in meeting the Paris goals and creating a more inclusive and resilient economy.
Public firms to be required to meet ESG requirements or delist
GIX is seeking regulatory approval, expects to go live in 2023
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Wall Street may soon see a new stock exchange exclusively for environmentally focused companies amid a boom in demand for sustainable investments.
Green Exchange PBC is seeking regulatory approval to operate an exchange that allows investors to trade equities with a demonstrated commitment to ESG, according to executives. The Green Impact Exchange, GIX, would require public companies to show and stick to their ESG efforts, according to GIX Chief Executive Officer Daniel Labovitz.
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“We are looking at how company’s govern themselves so green thinking isn’t just an afterthought, but threaded through their decision making from the very beginning, part of their core DNA,” Labovitz said in an interview.
Investments with stated environmental, social and governance aims are an increasing area of focus for corporate America as companies and investors look to preserve natural resources across the globe amid mounting political pressure. Some metrics used in determining the investments have been criticized for being hard to quantify, and at times with scant penalty when targets fall short.
GIX will enforce green-listing standards for companies, Labovitz said.
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“If you don’t do what is required you are delisted, which is a reportable, public event,” he said. “If you are not adhering to the standards, there is a penalty.”
Corporations that are registered on other stock exchanges, including Nasdaq Inc. and the New York Stock Exchange, can choose to dual-list. They don’t have to choose one exchange or the other.
Like other major US equities exchanges, the new trading platform will allow investors to buy and sell equities, but only those with a specific ESG focus. GIX is expected to go live in 2023 upon approval with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Labovitz said. Talks with the SEC are underway.
To help define ESG, other companies have added tools for certain investment goals. Last year, the NYSE developed a class of publicly traded assets tied to services that are beneficial to the environment. It also joined with workplace-equity platform Syndio to help measure pay and opportunity gaps.
Investors have no shortage of exchange businesses to choose from. Nasdaq, Cboe Global Markets, and Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s NYSE division each run multiple public exchanges, and there are dozens of private markets that operate inside banks. A new entrant will need sufficient investor interest to guarantee success. Already, with 16 equity exchanges, the competition for volume is fierce.
This would also be the first new exchange to register in the last two years, after MEMX, the Long-Term Stock Exchange and Miax Pearl got approval in 2020, according to filings with the SEC.
GIX’s founders hail from the NYSE, including Labovitz, who was previously in charge of writing regulatory policy, and Louis Pastina, former executive vice president in charge of operations at the exchange. James Buckley, regulation and compliance head at GIX, was former head of compliance at NYSE, according to the firm’s website.
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