+IMPACT Magazine Issue 25

INSIGHT
INSIGHT
A powerful
FORCE FOR GOOD
The role of business in supporting sustainable development objectives has never
been more important, says recently appointed CEO of the National Business Initiative,
Shameela Soobramoney.
pexels.com
from estimates on how much financing is needed to
achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030
agenda. Estimates vary as being between US$3 trillion
and $5 trillion needed per year, beyond what is already
being spent. This will have to come from private capital.
For this reason, the role of business in supporting the
achievement of the aims of sustainable development has
never been more important.
This is where I believe the NBI can play an even
bigger role in helping drive collaborative action for the
achievement of sustainable development, encompassing
environmental and social sustainability while creating
value. Many companies are undertaking their own
commendable initiatives, no doubt. However there is
much to be gained from the multiplier effect that collective
action can have. Obvious immediate benefits can come
from economies of scale and leveraging a solid base, rather
than each entity doing a little and replicating structures
in their own contexts.
My focus will be on “the art of the possible” and by this,
I mean that we need to look at the world and business
models using a lens of what sustainable models can look
like – and then make a set of no-regret decisions now,
which can help get us on that pathway. I am under no
illusion that “business as usual” is unlikely to change
overnight, and there are many entrenched perverse
incentives and short-termisms that will require an entire
systems change to shift.
DRIVING SYSTEMIC CHANGE
However, if we have a view of where we can go, we have the
opportunity to use that vision to drive current choices. If we
know that the way of the future is circular and regenerative
systems, then what are the things we can do now that are
on the path to those models? How do we balance these
against the current realities we face as a country with
rampant unemployment, inequality and poverty? It is
the answering of these questions that I intend to make
my focus at the NBI. We can provide the knowledge base
that can inform actions and recommendations for policy
and other systems changes, and we provide the practical
“on the ground” implementation projects that facilitate
collaborative action to drive systemic change.
The NBI is home to the ground-breaking Just Transition
Pathways project that was derived from an intense multistakeholder
consultation process, and which offers
pathways to net zero for every major sector of the economy.
It makes the case that we can have a transition that is net
jobs-positive if we make the right choices now. There
is the opportunity to seed new industries aligned with
a low-carbon future that both create jobs and make the
country more competitive globally. The aim is to find
implementable projects that bring the recommendations
to life, and some of these are underway.
TOWARDS A RESILIENT,
RELEVANT ECONOMY
Closely tied to this is the work under the Economic
Inclusion team of the NBI towards creating meaningful
job opportunities for young people. The focus is both on
immediate jobs to alleviate the very serious impacts of
unemployment, as well a longer term view on green jobs.
This work also focuses on SME development and has
a cross-cutting impact across the other NBI work streams.
The Technical Assistance Maintenance and Development
team are working on recapacitating the state from a skills
perspective, and works from municipal level all the way
up to departmental level. This work has carefully built up
workable models based on deep trust between the parties
in what is usually a public-private partnership approach.
I aim to work with my formidable team, and our
stakeholder and member base, to build on the success of
what is being done already. This will be rooted in a clear
framework for assessing impact in a manner that answers
to the challenges of the country – at the same time laying
the foundation for a resilient, relevant economy that
can help achieve the aims of restorative and distributive
justice, as proposed in the Just Transition Framework of
the Presidential Climate Commission.
Given my roots in finance, I have seen great opportunity to
bring the financial sector into key sustainability challenges,
as the markets can be a powerful force for good.
This is about investing in a future we want and need
to co-create. Because if we don’t invest in the future we
want, then the one we get will be worth infinitely less.
For about 16 years, I’ve been privileged to be deeply
engaged in sustainability and the role of business
and capital markets in achieving sustainable
development. In that time I have seen the interest
in the topic grow steadily and then, in the past five years
or so, very rapidly. This rapid up-tick in interest follows
the increasingly obvious signs of destruction of the natural
environment and deepening social divides, which point
to the flaws in the economic and financial models that
are largely still being applied.
As a strategist by background, and with a strong leaning
towards finance and capital markets, it became obvious
to me early on that business needed to explicitly consider
the pursuit of sustainable development as a key aspect of
it strategic focus and alignment to the mitigation of risk
and pursuit of opportunity.
THE TIME IS NOW
We have now come to accept that we operate within the
confines of planetary boundaries and hence, if we are
to ensure a stable planet and equitable society, growth
objectives need to assessed against this reality. Growth –
and the measurement of it – as we have pursued it until
now, cannot continue into perpetuity without breaching
critical tipping points of the ecological boundaries, as has
been clearly shown by, among others, Earth scientist Johann
Rockström at the World Economic Forum.
The science tells us that we have a window of
opportunity to arrest the rapid declines we are seeing
in key sustainability issues such as climate change and
biodiversity, as well as social cohesion and equality. The
key is to act now, and as far and wide as possible. Business
will have a key role to play, even if just considered
Shameela Soobramoney is CEO of the National Business Initiative (NBI), an independent coalition of the local and
multinational businesses focusing on taking action to achieve social and environmental sustainability, underpinned
by good governance.
Previously chief sustainability officer at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE),
Shameela has, inter alia, been a key contributor to the JSE’s work into climate change,
the potential for a local market to trade in carbon credits and environment-related
products, the development of a Green, Social and Sustainability bonds framework,
impact investing, and the JSE’s sustainability, innovation and CSI strategies.
She has served as chair of the World Federation of Exchange’s (global) Sustainability
Working Group, a member of the Strategy Group of the Global Investors for Sustainable
Development Alliance (GISD), and chair of the Sustainable Finance Working Group
of the National Treasury of South Africa. She is a non-executive director of the WWF
(South Africa), and of the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA).
Shameela completed a Master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership (MSt) at the
University of Cambridge and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from
the University of Pretoria, Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
48 POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 25
POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 25
49