The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released its final “synthesis report” - the result of 6 years of work by hundreds of scientists. The news isn’t good. Emissions reduction needs to be, in their words, "deep, rapid and sustained". So with such a chasmic disconnect between public perception of undeniable data, not to mention the urgency that the IPCC is pressing for action, when I started thinking about the role technology plays in sustainable practice, I immediately leant towards the communication problem. The message is out there. Why isn’t it landing? For me, the answer is a combination of context and engagement. We must frame climate action within a context that makes it personal. We also can leverage technology to bring true engagement to that context. We need to make it active.

Let’s look at the bad aspects first. “Bad?” you say. “But ESG is good!” Of course it is. Having a rigorous and purposeful ESG policy is a good thing for so many reasons. However, if you're not tracking, measuring, and reporting your progress, someone is going to find out. Very quickly things can, will, go south. The media finds out. Articles are written. Your organisation is removed from critical indices. Your shareholders and customers react. And your brand, having taken a significant hit from all sides, has a long journey back to a position of trust.

If you haven’t heard of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) here’s a short explainer: The Sustainable Development Goals are a call to action with three overarching aims: fight for equality and justice, end extreme poverty, and tackle climate change. The UN SDGs are a universal call to action to ensure peace and prosperity for all people by 2030. There are 17 of them, each with a noble goal to be reached. Each goal has specific targets and indicators to measure progress and to guide actions by governments, civil society, the private sector, and individuals. The UN SDGs provide a framework for us all to work together towards a more sustainable future for the planet. For this post, we’re going to focus on number 17 - Partnerships for the Goals.

Everybody’s talking about Artificial Intelligence again. The challenge when discussing AI is to do so without wheeling out the usual movie tropes focussed on the menace of it - Terminator movies, ex Machina, the Matrix Trilogy, 2001 Space Odyssey etc. Oops. Failed already. Then there’s that time two Facebook bots developed their own language and had to be switched off before they took over the world. (Not quite the true story btw). Confession time. This article was written by a human. I know, right? I have had a play with the ChatGPT functionality. Not extensively, but enough to know that if I was 16 again, the app and I would become best friends and I’d be handing in my history assignments on time, every time (unlike in the 90s).

In 2023 treating your people well goes beyond the provision of good pay, benefits, and a positive working environment. More and more people are looking to work for a company with Purpose. The flip-side of this statement is that companies who are reinvigorating their Purpose, solidifying their ESG strategies, and engaging their people in the process will create the conditions for a more resilient workforce.

Well, it’s that time of year again - the festive season. And I say the festive season because we all know it’s not just Christmas. Between now and the end of January there are important cultural events around the world for Sikhs, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Wiccans, Baha’i, African Americans… the list goes on. In Sydney, Australia the streets are lined with the trimmings of Christmas, people are out shopping, socialising, holidaying and preparing for December 25. It's an amazing time of year. Every year the discourse begins anew about what the true spirit of Christmas is.

If you haven’t yet heard about the idea of ‘quiet quitting’, I’d have to ask you where you’ve been the last 12 months. COVID-19’s effects on the workplace were significant and manifold. One of the slow burn changes to emerge from the pandemic is ‘quiet quitting’ - the idea that you only do exactly what you’re being paid to do. No more, no less. No late nights or additional weekend workathons. Another name for it is ‘acting your wage’. What’s the silver lining to this cloud then? Is it a challenge or an opportunity? Of course it’s both, but for every challenge, there is a unique opportunity to engage your workforce.

Of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), number 17, titled Partnerships for the Goals, reads like this: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development. I’m in two minds why it sits in last place, because really, without partnerships, we limit our ability to succeed at the other 16 goals. Then again, maybe you need to read through all of the SDGs to arrive at the conclusion that we as individuals, businesses and communities cannot go it alone.

At Barefoot Citizens Consulting, we have a saying - ‘Be the butterfly’. What it means is that anyone can decide to make a difference, at any time, in any business. The more butterflies there are, the stronger the momentum for change and the bigger the impact. Small changes, ideas around the water cooler, and creating new ways to do things, can make a big difference over time.