Co-authorship: Vinícius Cambaúva, Associado na Markestrat

When we talk about sustainability, we can think of a long historical process that required (and still demands) a maturation of human consciousness to deal with the great speed of economic and technological development, which, if not well managed and used consciously, can have impacts on people and organizations. Some scholars in the field state that sustainability is a process of continuous change and adaptation, in which a system has the ability to maintain its productivity, even in situations of adversity.

When we enter the organizational world, we talk about “corporate sustainability”, whose main objective is to serve stakeholders (stakeholders and shareholders) without compromising their ability to respond to the needs of future generations.

Companies have a great responsibility, as they represent the productive resources of the economy. In this sense, it is of great importance that there is interaction and cooperation between the agents of a system (such as private companies, government and community) in the search for common objectives, relating profitability with socio-environmental sustainability.

The concept of “environmental, social and corporate governance”, was created in 2005, as a result of an initiative by the United Nations and the World Bank, and has been the most accepted and adopted model as a basis for defining organizations' strategies. This proposal brought the suggestion that the entire aspect of governance (policies, values and actions of the organization, among others) permeates environmental and social topics. This means that being a sustainable organization means committing to social, environmental and attitudes that demonstrate the precepts of sustainable development.

In agribusiness, some of the topics that have been used by organizations to measure sustainability indicators include in the economic link: economic development, investment in technology, contribution to the local Gross Domestic Product and continuous search for gains in efficiency.

The environmental dimension includes: renewable resources, own energy generation, circular economy and efficient use of water. The items included in the social dimension are: health and well-being of stakeholders, inclusion of farmers, good working conditions, eradication of hunger and food security.

Currently, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, proposed by the United Nations, are the flagship of countries that aim, in 2030, to be at a new level of perception related to the topic. Many companies have used these parameters to promote their actions, to meet at least part of these objectives (Sustainable Development Objectives).

The search for responsible companies is even more refined. Concern about the long The term is longer and has led to questions about the origin and destination of a given product in the so-called traceability of the production chain. With measurement tools, it is possible to access more than one type of capital, not only financial capital, but also natural capital and human capital, which are very valuable for the corporation and the system in which it is inserted.

Through environmental, social and corporate governance reports, companies make available, in a transparent and clear manner, their activities included in these criteria in favor of governance, the environment and society, paving the way for possible investments. Such information serves to mitigate risks, focusing on long-term results. Carried out annually, the assessment of this set of scores aims to identify the companies best equipped to recognize and respond to emerging sustainability opportunities and challenges.

From a business point of view, the importance that corporate governance plays in improving environmental and social parameters is notable. Leaders and managers need to understand this role and work in an articulated way so that sustainability is not just a “promotion of image”, but, mainly, the “promotion of changes” in society, in sectors, in people and in the corporation itself.

In one of our recent works, as a line of postgraduate research at the University of São Paulo (Neves and Martinez, 2020), we proposed some themes that represent corporate governance and that should be worked on by organizations. Next, each of these items were listed and can contribute to the discussions and strategic decisions of their leaders, namely:

1) provide products or services with respect for stakeholders, transparency, ethics and integrity;

2) implement and maintain the culture of sustainability;

3) define common objectives within the company's network (from suppliers to distributors);

4) work on public and private partnerships and alliances, contributing to the development of larger projects and innovation;

5) measure the taxes paid and the contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, the economic situation before and after the investment and the company's contributions;

6) stimulate the sharing economy;

7) interact actively with other agents to promote economic development;

8) seek certifications in sustainability;

9) form technical teams to assist the entire supply chain and monitoring, and

10) creation and management of investment funds in projects aimed at environmental, social and corporate governance actions.

We hope that this reflection can contribute to stimulating discussions in companies and promoting awareness among leaders about their valuable role in promoting sustainability in business routine.