Sustainable Nation

Pamela Klyn was named Senior Vice President, Corporate Relations and Sustainability, on January 1, 2022. Klyn was most recently a Vice President in Whirlpool Corporation’s Global Product Organization. During her time with the company, Klyn has held advancing roles in engineering, product development, global innovation, and marketing. From 2013 to 2015, she lived in Italy and served as the Vice President of Products & Brands for Whirlpool EMEA. 

Klyn was hired into the company’s Technical Excellence Program in 1993 after graduating from Michigan Technological University with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. She earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1995 and has an Executive MBA from Bowling Green State University.

Klyn is currently a Board member for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton Harbor and a Trustee for the Whirlpool Foundation. She serves on the Michigan Technological University External Advisory Board for the Dean of Engineering and on the Board of Directors for Patrick Industries.

Pam Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• How Whirpool established themselves as a leader in sustainability 
• The importance of consumer education for best product usage practices
• Whirlpool’s 2022 sustainability report
• Whirlpool’s partnership with Habitat for Humanity including Build Better with Whirlpool
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Pam’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give to other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

I think it's always important to look at all the data and information you have. Don't get analysis paralysis, but create a roadmap. Understand what kind of traditional problem solving you can apply. Where do you need innovation? Where do you need partnerships? Where do you need a different way to solve it? Think about who else has this problem or this accountability and how you could jointly solve it together. Anytime there's an inflection point, like the focus on sustainability, that breeds opportunity, in my opinion. Use the skills you have, the problem solving skills, the experience you have, but be open to how this can be a completely new opportunity for you and your organization.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

Opportunity for partnerships. If you look at our 111 year history as a company, it's been about key partnerships at the right time in a continued evolution of doing the right thing, keeping the consumer at the center of it, and finding ways to reinvent for the future. What's outstanding is we have such a strong base to start from, but we know we can do better and we can make a huge impact and really lead the way here. I’m really excited to see what comes out of it, especially as you start to look at recycling and partnering with consumers in their homes. How do we get the message across that if you run this dishwasher at night, if that is workable for you and your lifestyle, you save 30% energy? How do we enable consumers to use appliances in the smartest way possible that doesn't compromise their lifestyle?

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

I don’t know if it only applies to sustainability professionals, but I recently read Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, which is about the Nike journey. I'm very proud of Whirlpool's 111 year history and the reinvention that it's taken, as I mentioned. But a company like Nike, which is such a powerhouse, came so close so many times to not making it, despite amazing orders and all the business they could handle. It really points to: sustainability means so many different things, but it really centers all around ensuring the longevity of a company. It points to the tenacity that it takes and the belief in doing the right thing for the customer, and keeping the customer and quality at the center of it all.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

It's the team, the cross-functional effort. It's our people here and the fact that people want to do the right thing. It's my team's job, the sustainability team's job to guide them and say, overall, here's our targets as a company. Manufacturing, we need this from you, procurement, we need your help here partnering with suppliers. What are our suppliers doing to think about the next level? Are there new suppliers to partner with? For example, information technology, we need systems to measure our emissions in a reportable way. Legal, how do we make sure we're managing the governance aspect? Product, our engineering organization, how do we continue to evolve our product in new and different innovative ways? It really is that aspect that we get to partner with every part of the organization, and our people come through time and time again.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work and check out your new 2022 sustainability report?

You can find our sustainability report on whirlpoolcorp.com, and we have a lot of great tips and tricks on how to use your appliances more efficiently. We have a consumer facing website called [email protected] and that talks about making sure you don't open your refrigerator too often, run certain appliances at night, don't hand wash, use your dishwasher, etc. It really gives a lot of those things that people haven't been told and so they're not doing routinely, but that can really make a difference in your water and energy bill.

Emilio Tenuta is senior vice president of Corporate Sustainability and chief sustainability officer for Ecolab. For the past 11 years, he has led Ecolab’s strategic sustainability journey and is actively involved in advancing global sustainability practices, with a significant focus on water stewardship and climate action. In recent years, he’s become a leader in environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices and reporting. Partnering with investor relations and Ecolab’s Chief Executive Officer, Tenuta has advanced Ecolab’s reputation as an ESG leading company. He is chair of the board of directors of the World Environment Center, a global non-profit, non-advocacy organization. Emilio is also on the leadership council of the Corporate Eco Forum. 

Emilio Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Prioritizing sustainability work between customers and internal operations
• Ecolab establishing themselves as a corporate leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, CDP, and in other rankings
• Water and climate; the Ecolab Water for Climate strategy and The Water Resilience Coalition
• Closing the ‘say-do’ sustainability gap
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals 

Emilio’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

If you really want to make a difference from a sustainability impact, work in the private sector. I believe there is this myth that the only place people can make a difference is by working for an environmental nonprofit. I think today in our discussion we've proven that Ecolab is living proof that more and more companies can deliver a positive impact in the world while driving profitable growth and helping communities thrive.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

The rise of ESG over the last five years. I'm most excited about the tremendous investment in sustainability, climate and water by the capital markets and investors to help the world decarbonize. I think mobilizing finance is a huge catalyst to driving the change we need to see in the world.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

I'm a big fan of Thomas Friedman, the author of The World is Flat. His latest book is really good called Thank You For Being Late. It's an interesting perspective on the convergence of technology, climate, and geopolitical challenges facing the world; something that is obviously very relevant today.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I'm a big fan of The World Resources Institute, which is a think tank out of Washington DC. I'm also a big fan of CDP, the Carbon Disclosure Project and the Water Resilience Coalition. After two and a half/three years now, there are a plethora of resources available if you go to the Water Resilience Coalition website that support not only the actions we need to take for a water constrained world, but also driving climate resilience.

Where can people go to learn more about you and the work being done at Ecolab?

Ecolab.com. It's a tremendous resource and I really commend our global communications team and our digital enablement team. They've done a great job of providing some tremendous resources there. I would encourage folks to follow me on LinkedIn. I'm very passionate about sharing the incredible things going on in the world not only with Ecolab, but with all of our partners, and then Twitter as well. Then I'll shout out to a publicly available tool called the Smartwater Navigator, which is available on smartwaternavigator.com, which is another great place to really learn more about the work that we're doing. 

Josh Raglin has dedicated over 25 years in the fields of conservation, forestry, and environmental stewardship. As chief sustainability officer at Norfolk Southern, he leads efforts to transform the company’s sustainability strategy. He champions initiatives that integrate sustainability practices into daily operations to achieve efficiencies, control costs, generate revenue, and reduce environmental impacts. These efforts include close collaboration with department leaders company-wide, along with external stakeholders such as customers, investors, regulators, and communities.

Josh Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Advancing efficiency of rails including the Locomotive Modernization program
• The economic and environmental benefits of shipping by rail, and the feasibility of making the switch to rail
• Benefits to customers from Norfolk Southern’s carbon calculator 
• Norfolk Southern's five pillars of sustainability, specifically nature-based solutions
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Josh’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

I would say network. You can't know too many people. The more you network, the more connections you make. Not only internally within your company but externally as well. That's going to increase your knowledge base. Many of our customers have just started their sustainability programs in the last three or four years, and so I can be a resource for them in helping them start their journey, and I really enjoy doing that.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I think it's the excitement, the corporate commitment that you're seeing, and where we've gone in such a short period of time. And it's voluntary. We're getting the support of all of our stakeholders. It's important to our customers, our investors, our regulators, and it's important to our employees as well.

What is one book you'd recommend sustainability professionals read?

It's actually one I just completed. It's called How the World Really Works, and it's by an energy scientist Vaclav Smil. He's written a number of books over the years, and he's not a pessimist, he's not an optimist, he's a scientist. He really does a great way of explaining the science, particularly when it comes to energy. I really highly recommend that to anyone.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I would say probably my engagement with outside groups. I really enjoy engaging with conservation related groups or environmental groups and understanding our natural environment more and how Norfolk Southern can be a part of that. Whether it's employee engagement, whether it's financial support, or volunteering. A number of our employees, we volunteer on boards, we attend events, and it's not just about doing railroading, but it's also about how we can engage with the community to really make a difference.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the sustainability work being done at Norfolk Southern?

I'm on LinkedIn, so if you look up Josh Raglin Norfolk Southern, you'll find me pretty easily. And our website is http://www.nscorp.com/betterplanet.

Yogesh Chauhan is director of ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) at HubSpot. His brief is to develop a new and impactful ESG strategy covering all HubSpot’s operations. He oversees a range of environmental, community engagement, reporting, innovation and thought leadership initiatives designed to embed sustainability and responsible business across the company. Prior to HubSpot, Yogesh Chauhan was director of corporate sustainability at Tata Consultancy Services for nine years. He was also the BBC’s chief adviser on corporate responsibility and environment and worked for the corporation for 12 years.

Yogesh Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Upstream and downstream supply chain challenges to reducing emissions as a SAS company
• Getting buy-in from leadership for SBTI or sustainability goals
• Activating the workforce around sustainability strategy
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Yogesh’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Authenticity. My advice to all sustainability professionals is don't get tempted to say and do things that really are not authentic and genuine in terms of how you are driving the sustainability agenda, because you will get caught in the greenwashing mill. Authenticity would be my key advice. Be authentic as much as you possibly can.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I would say sustainable innovation is something that I'm really getting excited about. Whether that's things like green aviation fuel, more sustainable building materials that are coming on stream, scaling renewable energy and the dramatic reduction in costs for renewable infrastructure, and what we see visibly now amongst most populations is the change in lifestyles that people are beginning to adopt and consumers making individual choices. Those are the things that really excite me. As part of that innovation, there's obviously a whole leap of technology that is being built to drive a more sustainable future, whether that's digital technology or engineering technology, and those are the bits that really do excite me.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

Just looking at my bookshelf at the moment, what caught my eye is the Dalai Lama's Book of Wisdom. It's just a tiny little book with a few quotes on each page, and it isn't about sustainability. It's rather about the broader concepts that drive sustainability, the essence of being. What does contentment mean? What does joy mean? What does the art of giving and receiving mean? I think once you get that into your system and start to live and breathe those core beliefs that are ingrained in us as human beings, from that flows a sustainability mindset. I would recommend people have that by their side and consult that now just to get a sense of realism about what life is all about.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

Well, actually HubSpot has a number of publications that are part of independent publications but are owned by HubSpot. There's something called The Daily Hustle and the Weekly Trends, again not directly about sustainability, but actually very much about innovation, new ideas, and really capturing the essence of the energy behind startups and small and medium-sized businesses, and all the creative ideas and innovations that are coming out from that. That always gives me a huge amount of inspiration, because nearly always there are things that are going on that people are inventing, developing new business models, new business ideas that have a sustainability focus. At the professional end for the sustainability practitioners, I would say McKinsey's website and podcasts tend to be my go-to on a regular basis. Finally, friends and colleagues that I've kind of nurtured and developed over the years and the opportunity to bounce ideas off and have conversations all things sustainability with.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the sustainability work being done at HubSpot?

HubSpot has a website which is engaging, lively, and has lots and lots of information. I would encourage everyone who's interested to go there. We have a sustainability section that's got lots of information about what we are doing, including the current report as well. If anyone wants to connect with me directly, then LinkedIn would be the place I would recommend.

Bridgette McAdoo leads the Global Sustainability practice at Genesys. She is responsible for sustainability as a management approach that holistically optimizes our economic, social, and environmental impact. In her role leading sustainability at Genesys, Bridgette drives our stakeholder engagement, education, and the evolution of the sustainable strategy and programs across Genesys. She also leverages sustainability metrics to track our non-financial performance and deliver integrated reports to our stakeholders

Bridgette has over 20 years of experience in sustainability leadership roles across multiple sectors, including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), where she most recently led corporate strategy and engagement for WWF’s Freshwater and Food goals, Global Director of Sustainability for KFC, where she headed all sustainability issues for the brand, internally within Yum! Brands and externally with various sustainability stakeholders, and operations roles that were part of NASA’s Space Shuttle and Mars Rover programs.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and an MBA in Strategy from the Drucker School of Management.

Bridgette Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Creating the foundation of sustainability at Genesys

• Advice for finding and hiring good sustainability talent

• Quantifying product use emissions

• Strategies to align sustainability with work from home

• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Bridgette's Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Don't underestimate the power of two words: value and differentiation. Value, because one, it's usually not a group that has P&L responsibility, but you need to show that you can drive pipeline, help with attrition and retention. You have to show all the value that sustainability brings to the business so that it's a value proposition, not just a buzzword. Differentiation is how do you use it to set you apart from your competitors? Use it as a way to help put the company in a different lens than it usually would, and show that value. Show all the intangible values of sustainability, not just the tangible ones, all the qualifiable values, not just the quantifiable ones. That will help you to really get it elevated versus it sitting in the middle of the organizations as some people struggle with.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I'm excited that I'm starting to see a lot of emphasis on intersectionality. For so long I felt that people felt like they could only talk about one pillar at a time. It's either an environmental conversation or a diversity conversation or a governance conversation. But those should be integrated. There should be an integrated, holistic approach to how we look at sustainability, because when those things are looked at in tandem, when we integrate it, we get the real wins. I'm glad to see that even organizations are starting to restructure to be that way and not silo out the work. When that happens I just feel like the work is really not as impactful as it should be.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

Because of all the time reading all these white papers and case studies, I like to read things that are way more inspiring and motivating and so far away from sustainability. However, I just started reading Net Positive by Paul Polman and Andrew Winston. I'm enjoying that book. It highlights the way we look at traditional CSR or philanthropy or impact, however your organization refers to it, is just not adequate for where we are today. That we, as leaders in this space, really need to rethink about how we drive the business differently and how we can be the change that we want to see. Another book that has been extremely impactful is Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X Kendi. It talks about and it details how racist ideas were created, spread and deeply rooted in society. It's thought-provoking and intense, but it's a fantastic read.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I have a few different distribution lists that I'm on like GreebBiz Weekly. I get a lot of things where I can see a lot of articles. Our marketing team also does a fantastic job of scouring the industry or all the latest sustainability news to make sure that we can have a pulse on what's happening. So that's been extremely useful for me as having that inside outlook and then getting it from different shareholders or key stakeholders across sustainability when I get to see different articles. The climate pledge also being a part of that; you get to see what's happening across different signatories. It's always good to be able to benchmark and look how you're trending against all the different other companies that have the same commitments.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at Genesys?

You can always go to our website and you can visit genesys.com/sustainability to learn more about our sustainability initiatives, read our latest report, and stay up to date on our progress.

Michael Cooke has held senior EHS positions in various industries ranging from pharmaceuticals and chemicals to inks and coatings and engineering. In these roles he has led businesses to world-class performance against industry peers and the top centile when benchmarked against all industries.  

Michael has also held senior positions outside of EHS – as business director for a pharma division and Strategy, Mergers and Acquisition director for EMEA/Asia regions.

Currently, Michael is the Vice President of Social and Environmental Responsibility for Jabil, based in Zurich, heading EHS and Sustainability globally. In this role, he balances various functional activities, from site and people, social responsibility and human rights, HSE, health and wellbeing — linking this to a clear and effective sustainability strategy creating business value. 

Michael earned his BSc (Joint Hons) in Chemistry and MSc in Environmental and Pollution Control from the University of Manchester and his MBA from Henley Management College. 

Michael Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• The history of sustainability at Jabil
• How to engage employees with sustainability goals across a large number of sites and employees
• Jabil’s strategy to achieving reduction in emissions without purchasing carbon credits: reduce, produce, procure 
• The challenges to achieving scope 3 emissions reductions a large number of suppliers 
• The importance and incorporation of health and wellness into Jabil’s strategy 
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Michael’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give to sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Make it real. If it's window dressing or something like that, you will very soon lose traction within the employees or your other stakeholders. So make it real. Understand what your stakeholders want. Not that you can always do things for all of the stakeholders, but you can prioritize the ones where you can do that. By doing that, look to create some real value, both in terms of the companies that you work for, but also in the communities and the people in and outside of the business which will also be impacted by what you do.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

You might find this actually a bit strange; greenwashing, or the fact that greenwashing is now being looked at more closely. Right now, as I said earlier, we really are doing things in a way that is having a positive impact. We want to continue doing that. It is also important that people who make big announcements about things but aren't really delivering anything are called out. You see in the SEC in the USA that's already happened. There has been some falling out in terms of greenwashing. I also think that the way that legislation is changing in the EU, the European Union Corporate Sustainability Reporting Director, for instance, and link to the taxonomy, means that you can't make claims as easily as you could do before without actually backing them up better. For me that's a really good thing.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read?

This is something actually when I was doing my master's degree I was referred to and read and that is Small is Beautiful. It's a book by E. F. Schumacher. He entitled it Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. I love that part because if people matter in what we do, then we generally respect the social dimension of things and the environmental and the financial aspects of what we do. Within that book, he talks about the use of natural resources and how we actually value those things, along with how people contribute negatively or positively to those things. What reminded me a bit of it was, I was actually at a conference on putting people into sustainability in London last week. What I thought was quite an interesting point: on the balance sheet, a robot is seen as an asset, but on the balance sheet, a person or people are seen as costs. That seems a bit strange that people are seen as a negative and a robot is seen as a positive. Looking at how we put people into sustainability discussion is a very important thing. And hence, I like that book.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

There's lots on the internet that you can use, but I get most of my inspiration from other companies and other people and listening to what they're doing. I think networking and that respect is probably the most beneficial way of actually being challenged and seeing how we can do things better.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at Jabil?

The best thing is to go to our sustainability pages on our website. You'll see we have some great resources there. We've got some blocks from my team and other members on circular economy, on how to create a strategy for carbon reduction. We really would like some feedback on that and to see if other people are finding the same challenges, and also, I think our solutions may be helpful.

Fawn Bergen leads Intel Corporation’s Global Water Stewardship program. Using her 21 years of experience as an environmental engineer, she manages Intel’s global water strategy and their commitment to achieve net positive water use by conserving water in operations and restoring more than 100% of their global water use by 2030. Under her leadership Intel has been honored with the 2018 US Water Prize by the US Water Alliance, 2019 Sustainability Champion by Arizona Forward, and 2019 Innovative Partnerships in Philanthropic Giving by the Portland Business Journal, for their achievements in water stewardship. Fawn is a graduate of the University of Florida.

Fawn Leads Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• How Intel set their RISE 2030 Goals on climate, water and waste 
• Carbon neutral computing
• The critical importance of water in manufacturing semiconductors and Intel’s water goals
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Fawn’s Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

I would say: keep an open mind. I've known so many people that I went to school with; they had their career path set and of course, things changed. A lot of people would have no idea who they would be working for. That's been a fun part of my journey, the unexpected changes. The sustainability field itself is changing and growing so rapidly as the world realizes that sustainability is not a nice to-do, it's critical. Keeping yourself agile and learning new things is really important in this field. Just keep fighting the good fight. Sometimes it feels like you're only moving the needle a tiny bit, but then when you look back at what you've done, you realize that it really was a big impact. It can be daunting when you're just making that incremental change because sometimes it's one step forward, two steps back, but you have to keep trying to make just that little step forward and you will make progress over time.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

Other than our net positive water goal, our net zero greenhouse gas bill. That is going to be an immense challenge, not just for Intel, but our whole industry. What excites me is thinking about the huge impact it's going to have by getting Intel there and working with other companies as well to get everyone there. It's a huge hill to climb, but I think once we get there, it's going to have a profound impact. That potential has me very excited to work through all of these challenges.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability leaders read?

I think my favorite sustainability book is called Let There Be Water by Seth Siegel. It was a fantastic book, very well written, and I just kind of flew through it. The book is all about how Israel built one of the best (probably along with Singapore) role models of what a country can do to value water. It's a really fascinating story about how Israel did that and how they're in a desert now, but they're a very water secure country. They can even at times share water with neighboring countries. Really fascinating; it just opens your eyes to what countries can do.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

Our resources that I love are our partners; our external partners, our nonprofit environmental groups like the Nature Conservancy, the National Forest Foundation. Why I consider them a resource is because they're experts in building and supporting natural resilience of our watersheds, reforestation after wildfires. We really look to them as the experts and they shape a lot of the projects that we fund. I take back what I learned from them as far as water challenges and what companies like Intel can do from a broader sustainability standpoint. Water is so connected to climate, so a lot of our investments in water projects also have a climate benefit, they have biodiversity benefits. I learn so much from all of them. They're just a tremendous resource.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at intel.

Intel.com/responsibility is where you can get our corporate responsibility report and a lot of other details, and intel.com/water where you can read all about the projects that we funded.

Amanda Cimaglia is currently serving as our Vice President, ESG and Corporate Affairs. Prior to joining us in January 2021, Ms. Cimaglia served as the Managing Director of Solebury Trout’s ESG 360 platform, where she advised private and public companies on the development and communication of ESG strategies, including investor relations and corporate communications initiatives. Prior to that, Amanda served as the head of investor relations and ESG at Hannon Armstrong (NYSE: HASI), the first U.S. public company solely dedicated to investments in climate solutions, providing capital to leading companies in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other sustainable infrastructure markets. During her seven-year tenure at Hannon Armstrong, Amanda built an award-winning investor relations program, garnering the Best Overall Investor Relations (Small Cap) Award by IR Magazine, as well as being named a finalist for both Best ESG Reporting and Rising Star of investor relations. She has served as a member of the ESG working groups for both the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Amanda Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• How a background in investor relations helps with managing ESG
• The history of sustainability as AZEK
• Creating recycled material and sourcing at AZEK
• Advice on zero waste events including the TimberTech Championship 
• AZEK’s process of widening emission accounting 
• The importance of leadership in integrating ESG into the business strategy at AZEK

Amanda's Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

I would again say ESG is a journey and not a destination. Focus on what's impactful and prioritize your ESG initiatives accordingly. We will always have the opportunity to evolve. Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good. 

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

Having been in this space for the last decade of my career, the momentum that we've experienced over the last two years alone is remarkable. ESG and ESG stewardship is no longer optional. It's table stakes for everyone. I would add to that, that I am constantly encouraged and inspired by what innovations are being brought to the market, what partnerships are being created to drive circularity, drive sustainability, and the conversations that are being had across companies from the senior level of the organization to the manager level, to other employees and even hourly employees across the organization. It is a point of empowerment and a point of conversation and a point of inspiration for all of us.

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

I just finished a brand new book written by the Harvard Business School professor and ESG rockstar I like to call him, George Serafeim, who I had the opportunity to host for a fireside chat a couple of years ago. The book is called Purpose and Profit: How Business Can Lift Up the World, and it offers a roadmap really for people at any stage of their career who seek to align their professional aspirations with their personal values. It's relatable no matter where you are in the organization, and no matter what level you are in the organization, it's relevant to both corporates and investors alike. George really discusses how the purpose of business has changed over time, how we can implement more purpose-driven strategies, and how companies can capture value. I think my favorite part of the book is how he highlights that we all have choices on what we buy, how we invest, and where we work.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I like to keep up to date on ESG issues by reading the many newsletters that are published in the ESG space such as Bloomberg Green and Harvard Law School's Forum on Corporate Governance and ESG. I would also say, being an NYSE listed company, the ESG team at the New York Stock Exchange, they do a great job on ESG programming and best practices. And finally, LinkedIn. I find a lot of inspiration from LinkedIn and I seem to wake up every day to find out something new and exciting that is happening in the field of sustainability.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work?

I'm on LinkedIn, so your listeners are welcome to find me and follow me there. Then, of course, our website, azekco.com. We have our full circle ESG report on there and a lot of additional resources to learn more about the AZEK company and how we are revolutionizing outdoor living to create a more sustainable future.

Clarke Murphy is a leadership expert who advises the world's top companies on leadership strategies that fuel profitable growth and value for all stakeholders. He has particular expertise helping boards include sustainable competencies and track record into multi-year CEO succession processes. As the former CEO of Russell Reynolds from 2011-2021, he spearheaded a purpose-driven approach to business and led the firm through its greatest period of growth. In his new book, "Sustainable Leadership: Lessons of vision, Courage, and Grit from the CEOs Who Dared to Build a Better World," Clarke tells the stories of dynamic business executives who are using their position to solve the most complex social and economic challenges of our time. Since 2021, Clarke has co-hosted the Redefiners podcast, interviewing courageous leaders who are redefining their organizations—and themselves—to deliver extraordinary results.

Clarke Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• Commercial Leadership vs. Sustainable Leadership
• The mindset and four competencies of sustainable pioneers
• Insight on companies using sustainability to recruit/retain top talent
• How companies are preparing for potential SEC regulations
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Clarke's Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

Start the action. Don't be a hundred percenter. Hundred percenters want all the answers. They wanna manage all the risk. They want to know all the answers. That doesn't work. Perfection slows down progress and sustainability. Just take the first step.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

I think the energy around several younger generations, not just the Gen Zs and millennials, but thousands and tens of thousands of young executives who want to be involved or are getting involved. That will accelerate the pace of change. 

What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read?

Well, I hope they read mine! Sustainable Leadership by Clark Murphy. But there's another one that Henry Timms wrote called New Power. It talks about the dynamics of these generations and kind of the way companies are run. Henry Timm's New Power is a great book.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I read a lot of the research by BCG, McKinsey and the World Economic Forum, which I think are really at the moment around processes, marketing and data that's real information, not anecdotes or popularity. I like having real time data as it happens.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and your work and maybe find your book?

They could go to the website russellreynolds.com or they also could listen to our podcast Redefiners on wherever you get your podcasts.

Stacy joined Shopify in January 2020 where she is the Head of Sustainability and oversees and leads the company's sustainability initiatives. She also serves on the advisory board of the Carbon Management Research Initiative (CaMRI) at Columbia University. Prior to joining Shopify, Stacy was Head of the Ozone Layer Protection Program at Environment and Climate Change Canada. Stacy has worked on several chemicals management regulatory initiatives and represented Canada as a member of delegations for the Stockholm Convention and Montreal Protocol.

Stacy Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss:

• How Shopify began and continues to evaluate quality carbon offsets for investment
• Shopify acting as a customer and a demand signal for high quality investments; especially for startups 
• How is shopify engaging customers in the fight against climate change
• Shopify’s carbon removal playbook
• Advice and recommendations for sustainability professionals

Stacy's Final Five Questions Responses:

What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers?

I started this off by talking about how I came to the job that I'm at and I'm not a typical sustainability professional. What I have done is prioritized impact over everything else. That's clear in how we're trying to set up our sustainability fund and the companies that we choose, but it's also in how I've made my career choices. I've always wanted to make sure I'm in the best position at the right time to use my specific skill sets to have the most positive impact possible. I think everyone knows in the pit of their stomach when they're not playing for the right team. I think it's really important to act on that and to be strong in the skills that you do have, and to find ways to apply those to a career in sustainability or climate. There's a lot of people who are transitioning from accounting or marketing or communications and want to use their skills in sustainability or in climate. I think that it's really important to find your spot and use those skills for good. I think that's the most impactful way to drive change.

What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability?

This isn't something to be excited about, but I'll get to why I'm bringing it up. This past year we've seen a lot more of the negative effects of climate change, and they're not just being felt by populations around the equator or populations that live on the coastline. We're starting to see mainland Europe experiencing very intense heat waves, we're seeing these things become more and more commonplace in a larger swath of the planet. I'm not excited about that, but what that brings me to is the fact that a larger component of the world's population is now experiencing the negative effects of climate change that other countries and other populations have been experiencing for decades. I'm hopeful that this is going to bring this topic to the forefront and we're no longer going to be seeing the effects of climate change as somebody else's problem and we don't need to change our day to day existence or how we're operating our businesses. I think we're seeing early signs of people taking notice, because we're getting a lot of momentum in terms of funding commitments from government and the private sector to really start addressing climate change in a meaningful way. I'm hopeful that these unfortunate events are going to catalyze an acceleration in action.

What is one book you'd recommend sustainability professionals read?

I thought a little bit about this one because you've had a lot of guests and I don't want to pick the same book. I really loved The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson. He's an American biologist known for speaking a lot about how behavior in the natural world combined with natural selection can alter biology through evolution. The book describes the the breadth and depth of the planet's biodiversity, but then also talks about the effects that we're seeing on biodiversity worldwide and how this is going to be detrimental to the planet. It also offers some solutions. What I get most from this book is that our natural systems are very complex and the interconnectedness of an ecosystem is super complex. That complex system to me is almost analogous to how complex the system is that we need to drive change in to solve climate change. When we're thinking about biodiversity, the effects of one small action can have an immense impact on an ecosystem, but it's only because of its second, third and fourth order effects. It's not that one action that causes the problem. It's everything that happens after it. I think about that when I think about how to solve climate change, because it's not one action that's going to solve climate change. It's the knock-on effects of that single effort that drives more change and gets momentum. Then that complex system starts to shift and adapt. I like to hold both together. That's a great book I'd recommend it if you're wanting to think about systems and also learn more about biodiversity.

What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work?

I love reading research papers and reviews specifically related to carbon removal technology; I'm a bit of a tech nerd when it comes to things like that, being an engineer. I get a lot of my information from the AirMiners community and that's a little play on words about mining the atmosphere for carbon dioxide. They have a great community that they've set up where everybody working on carbon removal can come together and they put on all sorts of excellent webinar programming and there's publications and things like that. One of the things that works really well for me that's really basic is a list serve mailing list, almost like a Google group. It's run by professor Greg Roe who is one of the leading experts worldwide in ocean alkalinity enhancement. Again it's that connectivity that's provided. Everybody shares new journal articles or new findings from different research projects, so it's a great way to stay up to date.

Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work being done at Shopify.

We mentioned this earlier, but I'd recommend hitting up Shopify's website www.shopify.com/climate. You'll see what we offer in terms of services for our merchants and how we're building sustainable commerce. You'll also be able to click through and see our playbook and read up on the 22 companies in our fund. If you want to get the play by play and stay up to date, I'd recommend following myself on Twitter and you can get up to date news and announcements there as well.