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Rosie Austin speaking w panel looking on at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025 (l to r: Joan ...
More Michelson, Helle Bank Jorgensen, Rosie Austin, Danielle Azoulay, Jana Gerber In a poll at The Earth Day Women’s Summit last week in Dallas, Texas, 100% of respondents said that business is not doing enough to address the climate crisis. This aligns with a PwC 2024 study that found the same – and that a majority of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably-made products too. “Even as consumers look to cheaper, generic options for essentials, they nevertheless cite a willingness to pay 9.
7% more for sustainability,” the PwC reported, adding, “In the year ahead, companies must achieve a delicate balance between consumer affordability and environmental impact if they are to source and retain consumers.” They also found that a majority – over four-fifths – of “consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability,” and that “nine-in-ten (85%) say they are experiencing the disruptive impacts of climate change in their lives.” A panel of top business leaders focused on sustainability, clean energy and environment-social-governance (ESG)-related issues at The Earth Day Women’s Summit , dove into the issue of what business can do and some of the nuances of doing so at this moment in the global economy.
Slide of Business panel - Women's Summit 4-22-2025 The panel included: Helle Bank Jorgensen, Founder/CEO of Competent Boards training and certification programs for board members and prospective board members; Danielle Azoulay, former Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) of L’Oreal and former CSO of Bed, Bath & Beyond, and now CEO of The CSO Shop; Rosie Austin, Principal-Program Manager in AT&T’s Environmental Sustainability division; Jana Gerber, President of Microgrids at Scheider Electric. I moderated the panel. at The Earth Day Women’s Summit was one day of the five-day EarthX2025 Congress of Conferences.
Despite the Trump administration’s aggressively-anti-climate and anti-clean energy actions, the business sector is moving forward with sustainable practices. Market forces are demanding it, and they have to protect their operations in the face of extreme weather events wrought by a warming planet. It’s a business imperative.
Jana Gerber speaking at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025. Danielle Azoulay looks on. Remember the supply chain : Schneider Electric was recognized as the most sustainable company by both Time Magazine and Corporate Nights , so I asked Jana Gerber what she’s seeing is working.
“What we're seeing in the industry is really this opportunity for companies and, all of us, to step up,” Gerber explained that they are seeing companies across industries address both internal and supply chain sustainability practices, “upstream and downstream sustainability measurements,” focusing on “their supply chain to help to further decarbonize.” Keep the power on: As more ferocious and more frequent extreme weather events cause power outages across the U.S.
and the globe, it’s a business as well as a public safety imperative to have reliable power sources. Austin of AT&T talked about infrastructure as “the invisible threads” connecting our cell phones and buildings, keeping us connected and powered. Renewables and microgrids can be back-up systems that give homeowners and business leaders peace of mind, Gerber said, and can take stress off the main power grids, adding, “That's really the magic of a microgrid, is it allows for the ability to create a behind the meter power grid for a certain residential unit user, or a corporate user.
” Rosie Austin speaking at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025, Danielle Azoulay looks on Focus on three things consumers care about most: “The data is, or research is consistently showing that consumers care about three things that are the most tangible,” Azoulay explained. “They care about packaging and the recyclability of their packaging,” adding that, “the second thing is third party-validated certifications,” as long as “it's credible.” Thirdly, she said, “is being honest and transparent in your marketing communications.
” Consumers don’t “expect a hundred year old brands to be perfect,” she said, “But they do expect them to do something and they want to make sure that they're not overstating their actions.” She advised to, “be honest and have integrity when it comes to these issues and be open about what's challenging. Because if one business is struggling with something that's challenging, the chances are lots of other businesses are struggling with that too.
” Helle Bank Jorgensen speaking on panel at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025, Rosie Austin looks ...
More on Make sure the board is asking the right questions and keeping a long-term focus: “In a world where there's so many issues coming at it from geopolitical, political, from, you know, Mother Nature is sending us a few invoices now,” Jorgensen said, “So the role now (of a board director) is to ask questions, critical thinking, really understand the business and understand what's the purpose of this business, but also what's the purpose of the board.” She stressed that it’s especially important today for boards to have a long-term view, because CEO tenure is shorter than it used to be – and climate has a long-term impact. Danielle Azoulay speaking at Earth Day Women's Summit - 4-22-2025, Jana Gerber looks on Integrate sustainability into every aspect of the business: “Resilience doesn't occur in a vacuum, and I would argue that most things when it comes to corporate sustainability also do not happen in a vacuum.
” AT&T’s Austin said. Azoulay added that sustainability needs to be a budget issue across the company too. “I like to think about it as like the sustainability people are like conductors of an orchestra, right?” She added, “how do we permeate every single department and have them own their particular functions responsibilities to the whole and allocate the right budget for that,” and, “the correct way to operationalize sustainability today is to ensure that it's in everyone's budget.
” Companies may take these actions more quietly than they did over the past few years, but they are still taking them. Mother Nature is not waiting, so leaders can’t either..
