An increasingly latent theme in large corporations and in the open innovation ecosystem (startups + corporations), ESG has become a trend for a market that turns its gaze to the problems and challenges of society, mainly used in order to generate value oriented to the sustainable growth of companies.
Startups classified into one or more ESG pillars are considered agents of transformation and acceleration to make the corporation more aligned with the set of standards and good practices that define an ESG company. The complexity for the digital transformation of large corporations can have their journey accelerated through suppliers and partners that already fit these criteria.
Let's see how it works, but first...
After all, what is ESG?
ESG is the English acronym for Environmental, Social and Governance, or in Portuguese, Ambiental, Social e Governança.
Even in the 80's there was a prevailing thought in the market spread by the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Milton Friedman, who believed that companies existed to make a profit for their stakeholders, anything different from that could be considered a deviation of function.
As early as 1984, this idea is questioned by philosopher and professor Edward Freeman, who believed that companies existed to provide financial returns not only to stakeholders, but to all parties interested in the business. Such thinking generated an exponential growth of the theme that would in the future be defined as sustainability.
The 1992 Earth Summit, also known as Eco-92, a United Nations event in which 178 countries gathered to discuss the impact of environmental problems on the planet, gave even greater magnitude to the issue. With it, it was possible to consolidate this awareness movement, bringing sustainability to the corporate environment and presenting the embryo of what we now call ESG.
The acronym has already become a purchase criterion for the Millennial generation, which is increasingly seeking to combine their consumption choices with companies that are dedicated to minimizing impacts on the planet.
As a result, in recent years, we have noticed a growth of ESG startups that dedicate their activities and business models to driving large corporations and the market through positive actions.
ACE Cortex carried out a mapping of these startups in March 2021 and found 343 startups with solutions related to ESG in Brazil, of which 180 are active in the environmental market, 130 related to the social context and 33 dedicated to governance solutions.
Startups focused on "E" solutions make up more than 52.4% of corporations working with ESG solutions. Among them, the highlights are clean energy management actions, control of carbon dioxide emissions and electric mobility. For companies focused on the sustainable scenario, the actions taken are expected to have an effect on intrinsic consumption initiatives and integrated into the corporation's strategy and not just on the speech.
The main focus of the social sphere is the care and development of human relationships, whether with employees or customers, with the objective of delivering better services and higher quality products. The "S" strand, where 38% of the mapped startups operate, has actions aimed at the education, health and cybersecurity sector.
In conjunction with the mapping, ACE Cortex conducted a survey with entrepreneurs from its database, seeking to understand which areas involved with ESG in companies would be the most deficient.
The result showed 50.8% of respondents pointing to governance as the greatest deficit. ACE Cortex
Precisely the pillar where we have the fewest startups positioned as a solution.
Why are so few startups looking this way? Is the market looking for solutions to improve its governance processes? Or for large corporations this is an inherent and well resolved topic?
Everything indicates no, but let's better understand the pains of governance and how Yapoli acts as one of the solutions.
Governance
The G for governance in the acronym ESG is broad, ranging from policies against forced and child labor, anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-discrimination, conduct with suppliers to compliance and LGPD.
A corporation that has its corporate governance processes in order is healthy. When we talk about better use of teams, optimization and reduction of bureaucracy of processes, we talk about saving time, money, and consequently, we talk about sustainability, reinforcing your commitment to the ESG pillars.
Compliance and LGPD should mainly be themes inherent to the structure of large corporations, but they are still part of the great challenges they face.
The challenges for a large corporation due to the lack of governance of its digital assets, for example, can generate a cost of up to BRL 1.5MM per year due to operational inefficiency. Distribution and sharing of digital assets without control and security, misuse of materials: version, validity and restriction, decentralized materials, direct/indirect costs to find and distribute materials.
Yapoli, as a DAM platform (Digital Asset Manager) that operates in the management, distribution and optimization of digital materials, centralizing them, with an audit trail, within the parameters of the LGPD and GDPR, with real-time reports and intelligence behind the assets. Playing the role responsible for eradicating the inefficiencies that prevent large corporations from having corporate governance and consequently positioning themselves as an ESG.
Does your corporation need help putting “order in the house” and finally positioning itself as an ESG company? Book a demo.