CSB Practice Forum: A valuable space for beginners and experts in sustainability

"The event had great value for beginners and experts because it offered diversity in perspectives and speakers"

The Sixth Annual Practice Forum organized by the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business presented a broad overview of the principal trends and challenges in Sustainability and ESG, with a lens on the financial case. Undoubtedly, the event had great value for beginners and experts because it offered diversity in perspectives and speakers. Moreover, it also presented the cutting-edge tools developed by the CSB to support companies in the sustainability embedding process (Recommended: The Road to Responsible Private Equity and Practitioners’’ Guide to Embedding Sustainability).

As a student, listening to different leaders about how they work to do better business in different roles has been inspiring. From mobilizing capital to designing climate tech projects, smart people are doing their best to tackle climate change and create more resilient and responsible organizations. However, adopting best practices is not straightforward, and challenging conversations are necessary, as Roberto Ardagna and Patrick Temple-West discussed in the event. Ardagna, Investindustrial CEO, recognized that showing the ESG implementation’s positive benefits is crucial to convince firms to make changes. From this discussion, I could understand better how the efforts for monetizing sustainability initiatives are relevant today, and methodologies like ROSI are fundamental. Moreover, as a woman, I feel very proud of seeing women like Virginia Covo, Priscilla Lu, and Lindsay Luger leading company transformations and implementing ESG criteria for mobilizing capital towards sustainable goals.

The Forum was full of ideas and meaningful reflections. Gary Cohen, for instance, made the attendants reflect on the short-term effects of climate change on public health. Indeed, the impact of climate change is not only in the long term, as many people assert. Society is already facing increases in asthma and cardiovascular illness due to the relationship between higher temperatures and pollution, with a cost not only monetary but also to the quality of people’s life.

Innovation and technology also had a place in the Forum. On the one hand, Nana Baffour presented how combining data and new technologies creates innovative solutions for reducing emissions, waste management, and improving DEI. On the other hand, participants could have a virtual reality experience about circularity in the apparel industry with helpful information to be more eco-friendly consumers. Also, the thematic workshops were great opportunities to focus on cases and tools for embedding sustainability through practical exercises.  

Throughout this event, NYU Stern CSB continues leading conversations about sustainability in the academic and corporate fields. Thanks to Professor Tensie Whelan and the CSB team for creating these spaces to create consciousness, spare knowledge, and share experience between leaders in different industries. No doubt, the CSB team is also making a huge difference!

Yurany Hernandez is an economist, passionate about using her skills and knowledge to build a better society. She is a Stern-MBA Candidate pursuing a specialization in Sustainable Business and Finance with expertise in data analysis and research. She is a creative, thoughtful leader and has a growth mindset. Yurany is very interested in sustainable finance and ESG strategy topics to build a meaningful career.

 

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"The Practice Forum increased the scope of what a career in sustainability looks like."

The 2023 Practice Forum was a wonderful opportunity to capitalize on the latest research and discuss current industry trends for both seasoned sustainability and up-and-coming professionals. A well-balanced agenda with moments of networking and a variety of subjects covering marketing, media, analytics, and tools. 

The session with the media panel and journalists was particularly interesting. Working in the field of social impact, while I’m caught up in the weeds of work, I wasn’t aware of the macro dynamics that were taking place. I’m glad I had the chance to catch up with what’s happening in the industry at large and the “Green-hushing” trend.

Companies are outwardly becoming hesitant to talk about sustainability but inwardly are moving in the right direction. At the same time when companies aren’t as enthusiastic about proclaiming their ESG goals, there is a growing case to be more focused on risk-management and exploring tools to control their sustainability profile. The challenge as always is building a business case, but there’s growing research and frameworks to help companies do that. 

The Practice Forum increased the scope of what a career in sustainability looks like. Beyond organizing volunteering events and crunching numbers of an ESG index, meeting all of these practitioners in the field inspired me to see all the various ways I can contribute to the field of sustainable business. 

Jason Nieh is a community engagement and operations specialist at Panasonic North America. While contributing to the S in ESG, he views his role also as empowering our 12,000 employees to transform our local communities. Businesses have the tremendous potential to do a lot of good in our society and he hopes to specialize in sustainable business as part of his MBA education.