After days of rich meetings with professionals and partners, three master classes and a board room conference, on April 13 the international experience of OMTRA Società Benefit at the i-Sigma Conference & Expo 2022, the unique industry exhibition on records and information management and secure data destruction, came to an end.
Giorgio and Giovanna Spadoni, CEO and GM&DPO respectively, reached Orlando (Florida) to discuss OMTRA's business and sustainable best practices to an international audience.
At the end of the event, we would like to dedicate three articles written by Giorgio and Giovanna Spadoni on the importance of Social and Environmental Sustainability in the Information Governance sector. Read on to discover the first one!
Environmental and Social Sustainability integrated with Economic Results
First we would like to frame the situation of our sector in Italy and in Europe. We have to admit that historically, our industry has been slow to lower its environmental impact. Disposal of documents, the shredding or burning of paper and mixed materials (paper, plastics and metals), the throwing away of electronics, and so forth... These are all activities which require a certain cost, not only for our clients, but also for the Earth.
Only recently we have started to “wake up”, due to rising costs of raw materials and processes, a lack of supply of some components such as microchips, and of course the effects of climate change, which become clearer day after day.
Today’s challenge is to match people, skills and knowledge, so that our services and capabilities fit customers’ needs, desires and expectations. As our customers grow and evolve, so must we, not only in terms of services offered, but also in terms of goals, philosophies and engagement with the community and the environment.
For the last thirty years, we have made it our prime objective to get to know and understand our customers, by attending conventions, conferences and chamber of commerce meetings in various countries around the world.
What we have learned from these experiences has been the following, that customers are now asking for much more than high-quality and impeccable service: that is, they are demanding adequate respect for and protection of the environment and people. This is not only coming from trend analysis or inside corporate boardrooms, but also in the questions and pressures placed at shareholder meetings, in meetings with customers and clients, and in the form of new types of annual financial reports that also include Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance that evaluate a company’s practices and collective consciousness of social and environmental factors.
Mainstream publications in the financial world such as Forbes and in normal media, such as US News have been full of stories about the critical importance of adopting ESG to maintain a company’s reputation and viability in the future.
“It is my belief that the next 1,000 unicorns — companies that have a market valuation over a billion dollars — won't be a search engine, won't be a media company, they'll be businesses developing green hydrogen, green agriculture, green steel and green cement,” said Laurence Douglas "Larry" Fink, CEO of Blackrock recently at the Middle East Green Initiative.
These shifts concern not only the environment, but also social impact. As an example: at the 2019 annual meeting of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Italy, the CEO of the Italian subsidy of Elettrolux (a Swedish multinational home appliance manufacturer, consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool) asked attendees what they plan to do in Italy for the homeless.
We believe that it is not enough to do “green/social washing” with minor changes to some business practices. We need a real, clear shift toward a circular economy and way of life, with attention to the social and environmental impacts of our business practices. All this is reflected in a more virtuous economic result.