Lindsay Zwart, the the Chief Enterprise Director of One New Zealand, will be discussing how the world has changed and why environment, social and governance (ESG) and sustainability matters are increasingly important.

Digitisation has increased, and we're more than ever interconnected globally. In fact, the internet accounts for 3.7 per cent of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. Can both digital transformation and ESG work hand-in-hand to support today's stakeholder economy by improving business outcomes with technology? And also utilise technology to improve ESG outcomes?

The tech industry has produced profound and, in some ways, “breakthrough” changes to the way people live, work and play. Many organisations who disclose their ESG data sets yield superior results over their competitors in the long run.

COVID-19 has resulted in a transformational shift to working from anywhere. Connectivity and the ability to be productive no matter where you are have changed how we support remote working. We asked the thinkstep-anz organisation to carry out a consequential life cycle assessment (CLCA) to measure how working from home one day a week affects the size of an employee's carbon footprint. They found that working from home one day a week can save 4.2kg of carbon emissions per day, compared to daily commuting to the office.

So why is “hybrid” working so important post COVID-19? US job seekers said they would be prepared to take a 14 per cent pay cut to work remotely and 30 per cent of staff say they expect hybrid working from an organisation. We can see a similar sentiment in New Zealand, with an internet survey in March 2023 showing that 6 out of 10 New Zealanders were allowed to work from home and 78 per cent worked from home partly or all of the time.

Climate change has become a climate emergency and consumers expect businesses to play their part. So, has business developed a conscience? Millennial consumers are driving a trend: 40 per cent of those polled by Deloitte state they believe the goal of businesses should be to “improve society”. According to NZ Ipsos, climate change has become one of the top five issues to monitor, along with housing, crime, healthcare and inflation.

The shift from Vodafone to One NZ was not just a name change, but an opportunity to stand for more for Aotearoa New Zealand. I will tell you the story …