Newsletter | With our first year of action and growth behind us, we look forward to 2022.
December 17, 2021
Notes from the Council | December 2021
In December 2020, the Council for Inclusive Capitalism issued the public invitation to global business leaders – whether of a local store or an international conglomerate – to join us in pursuit of fairer, more sustainable economies through enlightened business actions. Every day since, we have been humbled by your tremendous response to this mission and celebrate each milestone with you.New Council members join our movement daily. The Council launched with 27 pioneering leaders 12 months ago and has grown to nearly 200 diverse leaders who have made more than 450 commitments to concrete action. And, as the community has grown, our efforts to support Council members’ work have grown with it. We have tripled the size of our staff to help new members network and share ideas, support strong commitments, facilitate workstreams for collective action, and spread the word about your actions as business leaders to address inequality and climate change.Our challenging times call for new ideas and bold leadership. The Council was founded in part to foster the collaboration needed among industry peers, experts, and civil society groups to accelerate ground-breaking innovation and adoption of best practices.From our earliest collaboration in support of common metrics for disclosures to a monthslong collective effort to develop the first private sector guide for a just transition that was also relevant to markets, Council members have demonstrated their dedication to work together to bring the change we need. In June, we convened our full community for the first time to receive guidance from the Vatican and to engage in conversation about business’s role in bringing about more equal, prosperous, and sustainable economies and societies.When our members work together, we have the ability to advance market moving reforms. But it is the daily action and dedication of our members that deeply inspires us. Our members’ best ideas, innovations, and initiatives as recorded in their commitments are being multiplied as others find and apply the knowledge and strategies they contain. This year, the commitments pages of our website were viewed more than 46,000 times.Let us celebrate the milestones we have achieved together and anticipate the good work to come. With gratitude,
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🌱Council Grows to More Than 190 Members Worldwide
Pictured from left to right: Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani, Boston Consulting Group’s Rich Lesser, African Development Bank’s Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Bizzoly Transport & Logistics’ Patricia Nzolantima.
Recently, the Council announced a new milestone among its membership of global organizations and an expansion of its steering committee. New steering committee members include Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of African Development Bank Group, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries, Greg Brown, Chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions, and Rich Lesser, Global Chair of Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In addition, Council members Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Chairman of Ayala Corporation, and Ramez Sousou, Founder, Co-chair, and Co-CEO of TowerBrook Capital Partners, will also serve on the steering committee.One of the most powerful leaders reshaping Africa’s economy, Dr. Adesina joins the Council at a time when he is working for a more fair and equitable Africa. “I am a firm believer in the private sector,” he said. “Africa needs private sector investment to progress. But I also believe that progress means nothing unless it is shared by all.”Ramez Sousou of TowerBrook, the first mainstream private equity firm to be certified as a B Corporation by the non-profit B Lab organization, joined the Council to be a resource to other leaders committing to ESG standards and responsible business practices as a B Corporation. “By building excellent companies, we make a positive impact on society,” said Sousou. “By deepening our relationship with the Council, we are advancing our goal to demonstrate for others that Responsible Ownership is excellent business practice that creates value for all stakeholders.”Click below to read more about new members who have joined the Council, including Tak Niinami, CEO of Suntory Holdings, Laura Kiernan, Founder and CEO of High Touch Investor Relations, and Patricia Nzolantima, Founder and Chairwoman of Bizzoly Transport and Logistics.
⚡Investors and Council Members are Pushing for the Green-Energy Transition to Address the Needs of People
“As fiduciaries, we see human capital management as critical to risk-adjusted returns. It’s all about risk and return.”— Anne Simpson, managing investment director for board governance and sustainability, CalPERS
Companies in all industries can take action to deliver a just energy transition for workers and communities. The energy transition will not succeed if it leads to greater inequality. Find out what your company can do with the Council’s Just Energy Transition Framework for Company Action, developed in partnership with members bp and BCG, and with the support of Climate Action 100+ and the world Benchmarking Alliance.In an interview with Pensions & Investments, Council member organization CalPERS – who contributed to the Framework – described their approach toward a just and fair transition as an investor. Read the full article at the link above; excerpts below:“While net-zero emissions goals grabbed the headlines at the United Nations global conference on climate change in Glasgow, Scotland, this month, interest from countries, investors and advocates to make sure that the green transition is just and fair also got a boost.“Just transition refers to ensuring that as economies shift to greener energy sources, the benefits are shared so that workers and communities do not lose out economically.“Asset owners and managers are also paying closer attention, for financial as well as humanitarian reasons. Some, such as the $495.3 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), Sacramento, got an early start. Spurred by beliefs developed after the financial crisis, CalPERS’ investment criteria following extensive research now include considering physical as well as financial capital, including workforce issues.”
Take Action for a Just Energy Transition
📖Council Leaders Share their Response to “Laudato si'” in New Vatican Publication
Pope Francis’ first encyclical “Laudato si'” called on every global citizen to be caretakers of our common home and uniquely connected environmental responsibility to human development. Its ethical discourse on global climate policies and development objectives inspired political cooperation in the lead up to the 2015 UN General Assembly ratification of the Sustainable Development Goals and the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement by the 195 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change member states and the European Union. The momentum it generated worldwide led to the creation of initiatives taking action, including the Council for Inclusive Capitalism.In a new e-book from the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development that celebrates the various ways people have brought Laudato si’ to life, leaders of the Council for Inclusive Capitalism share their personal reactions to Francis’ pivotal leadership and underscore the Council’s mission to take concrete action that will promote sustainable, inclusive, strong, and trusted economies around the world. Click below to download and read our reflections in the Laudato si’ Reader.Download the Laudato si’ Reader
🤝 Welcome New Council Members
Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina
President, African Development Bank Group
Henri Nyakarundi
CEO, ARED Group Inc.
Robert Caruso
Chairman and Co-Founder, Architects Fund
John Kristensen
Co-Founder, Astrid
Anish Nagar
CEO, Corecentra
Abbey Ogunwale
CEO and Principal, Defined Impact Group
James Fierro
CEO, ECO Capacity Exchange Ltd.
Dasa Silovic
President, European Partners for the Environment
Jenny Johnson
President and CEO, Franklin Templeton
Jon Kaufman
CEO, Global Water First
Joel Makower
Chairman and Co-Founder, GreenBiz Group
Christopher Jennings
CEO and Co-Founder, Human Elevation
Michael Pirson
Co-Founder, International Humanistic Management Association (IHMA)
Kate Byrne
CEO, KatapultX
Zainab Zeb Khan
CEO, Muslim American Leadership Alliance
Facundo Rawson
Founder and Managing Director, Patagonia Capital Advisors LLC
Gabriela Tomasini
Founder, Plan País Argentina
Audrey Hametner
CEO and Founder, THG Advisory Group
Fran Seegull
President, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance
Wilmot Allen
Founder, VentureLift Africa
Audrey Treasure
Vice President and Executive Director, Workforce Innovation Center at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber
📰 Inclusive Capitalism in the News
Business Mirror | Firms Reckoning with Society’s ‘Pain Points’Pensions & Investments | Investors are Pushing the Energy Transition to be FairRitz Herald | Council for Inclusive Capitalism Releases Framework to Guide Companies in Delivering a Just Energy TransitionManila Bulletin | Zobel Cautious About Sustainability of Economic GainsEdie | World Benchmarking Alliance: Companies Unwilling to Draw Up Net-zero Transition Plans are ‘Being Willfully Obtuse’Forbes | The Conscience Of A CEO: The New ‘Moral Imperative’
🌟 Members in the News
Upstream Online | Lorenzo Simonelli: Baker Hughes and Shell Collaborate on Net-Zero TargetsDevex | Rajiv Shah: How a New $100bn Philanthropic and Corporate Green Energy Alliance Will WorkThe Global Herald | Mark Carney: A Report from COP26 with Mark Carney, UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and FinanceMarket Research Telecast | Josu Jon Imaz: Repsol Reaches Agreement with Pontegadea to Invest €245 Million in Delta Wind FarmBloomberg | Lynn Forester de Rothschild: Rebuilding the Global Economy: 2021 Bloomberg New Economy Forum Panel Discussion. (Segment begins at timestamp 1:25:30)Independent.ie | Alistair Philips-Davies: SSE Reveals £12.5bn Boost in Renewables InvestmentFortune | Brian Moynihan: Bank of America’s CEO has a Message for Governments on Carbon Markets: ‘Give Us a Price’Consultancy.eu | Rich Lesser: BCG and Kearney Sign Sustainable Aviation Fuel PartnershipsTIME | Darren Walker: It’s Time for a New Progressive Era, With Informal Workers at the CenterMiningNews.net | Mark Cutifani: ‘If We Don’t Explain the Problem, We’re the Problem’
