Sustainability/Risk

Karen's career has taken her through various roles within the extractives industry, with a heavy focus on managing and executing projects involving the characterization and mitigation of environmental risks and opportunities. She offers strategic direction, consulting, training and implementation services in the realms of embedding sustainability goals and environmental assessment requirements into business operations, strategic plans, decision making processes, and project plans and execution.

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Topics: Risk Management, Stakeholder Management, ProjectsAtWork

Project managers and organizations need to be mindful of the public stakeholders who might be affected by their initiatives in social, environmental or economic ways. They need to listen to their concerns and prioritize them alongside the potential benefits. This is the intersection of risk management and sustainability, and the cost of not practicing it can be enormous.

The term sustainability can mean many things. In business, it is often about ensuring an organization will thrive for the short- and long-term. And because the health of an organization is typically measured by its economic performance and stability, sustainability is most often viewed in terms of return on investment — to keep owners and shareholders happy.

But a significant shift is happening in the business landscape when it comes to sustainability. The general public is now taking notice of corporate practices, demanding that they act responsibly and ethically, shining a spotlight on poor performers, and “voting” with its buying power. 

Increasingly, for organizations to sustain their businesses — to maintain a “social license to operate” — they must also take into account their environmental and social performance. And they also must be transparent about what they are doing, how they are doing it, and the results of their efforts.

A truly sustainable …

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