The high global temperatures and the onslaught of floods after every rain have brought to the limelight the urgency with which every individual and organization must implement sustained action to mitigate its effects and adapt to the changes already in motion. This could explain why the climate change consulting market is expected to snowball, reaching $7.7 billion by 2033 with a CAGR of 7.7%from2024to 2033 (MarketResearch.Biz, 2024). Businesses have increased their demand for global sustainability standards due to heightened stakeholder interest in sustainable production (Do, 2023). This paper seeks to discuss the role of consultants in helping businesses and governments develop sustainable practices, reduce carbon footprints, and comply with environmental regulations.
Navigating Environmental Regulations
First and foremost, consultants help organisations to navigate the environmental regulatory space. For countries such as the United States, there arespecific laws, such as the Clean Air Act (CAA), that countries must abide by to ensure that they operate sustainably (Keter Environmental Services, 2023). Failure of companies to obey such laws will usually result in significant fines, legal penalties, and reputational damage for companies (Norton, 2023), (Integrated Sustainability, 2022). One such company that has faced massive criticism and reputational damage is ExxonMobil, an American oil and gas company. Documents have shown that this oil giant has dabbled in numerous climate scandals, such as paying off misinformers to deceive the public and their shareholders about the damages their products cause to the environment (Mulvey, n.d.). Meanwhile, ExxonMobil's consultants advised the company to align its strategies and priorities with the efforts to protect the environment and even advocate for climate policies to be obeyed. They ignored this advice and cut corners, which earned them more backlash (Mulvey, 2023). If they had yielded to the advice of the consultants, they may have incurred extra costs, but it would have saved them from further damage.
Innovating Sustainably
Businesses must be innovative to stay afloat, regardless of the industry in which they find themselves. Consultants guide businesses through sustainable innovations. Innovations such as those usually range from new products that are more environmentally friendly to building more eco-friendly ways of doing old things. Companies like Exolum, a Spanish multinational oil company, have implemented artificial Intelligence. AI has allowed the company to manage their demand better, conduct more competent maintenance, and detect leaks instantly (Ecanorea, 2023). Carbon Capture and Storage (CSS) technologies, electric vehicles and e-commerce tools that integrate carbon footprint tracking and green shipping options are just a few examples of the innovations that are steering the world towards a greener future(certilogo-commerce, 2022; Chomsky, 2024). However, there is more ground to cover in this space as the effects of climate change keep worsening. Companies need to employ the services of consultants to maximise their contributions towards a net-zero planet and implement sustainability plans that cover the entire life cycle of services and products (Ecanorea & Ecanorea, 2021). Consultants also aid companies in accessing funding to finance these innovation projects.
Building Effective Sustainability Practices
Furthermore, consultants help businesses build effective sustainability strategies. These sustainability strategies include decarbonising businesses' supplychains (Bain, n.d.). A company's supply chain is an integral part of a company and can considerably affect the environment. Decarbonising supply chain businesses reduces the supply chain processes that increase a company's carbon footprint, such as sourcing raw materials from suppliers that are apathetic about the environment. Consultants can help companies formulate and implement a supply chain management policy to ensure that they operate sustainably. Consultants also help companies undertake sustainability audits of their supply chains regularly to identify areas in their supply chain that need to improve and set new goals to reduce environmental impact. Samsung, a global consumer electronics giant, is one such company that has put effort into environmentally sustainable supply chain processes. The company has initiated its five sustainability pillars, which showcase its vow to its stakeholders, digital responsibility, and supply chain sustainability through its business practices (Birch, 2022). Business leaders' efforts go into reducing the social and environmental impact of these businesses and protecting the environment from further damage.
Managing Costs
Additionally, companies are very particular about the costs they incur since one of the primary goals of a business is to maximise their returns and, by extension, their shareholders' wealth. However, studies such as Bertini's (2023) study on the price of sustainability for businesses show that environmentally sustainable practices can be expensive for these companies. Implementing sustainable practices like renewable energy procurement, waste management systems, and resource efficiency can have significant upfront costs for businesses. Upgrading infrastructure and technology to become more eco-friendly can be expensive, especially for smaller enterprises (Inspiration Unlimited eMagazine [iUemag], 2024). In fact, according to Bertini (2023), companies may pass on the high costs of environmental sustainability to their customers as a "green premium" or assume the costs and injure their returns. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2021) study indicates that the assumption that sustainability initiatives will always lead to higher business costs can stifle their growth. To overcome the fear of rising costs, businesses can engage the services of seasoned consultants who will help them mitigate the costs through creative pricing mechanisms and coordination with all the business stakeholders to reduce the financial burden (Bertini, 2023).
Risk Management
Finally, many risks are associated with environmentally sustainable operations, such as fire and property damages, wind and hail damage risks and even a loss-of-focus risk (Gritzo, 2021; Libretexts, 2023). Sustainability measures such as solar panels and green roofs can increase the fire risk of companies since they are highly flammable if not correctly designed, installed and maintained. Companies need to ensure highly durable ground-mounted systems in areas such as the mountainous regions where hail and thunderstorms are prevalent (Gritzo, 2021). Since the COVID-19 pandemic, studies show eco-friendly consumerism has become a trend. This has led many companies to focus heavily on environmentally-friendly production. The risk with the new trend is that businesses might lose sight of the other primary goals, such as economic profitability (Emmert, 2021). The pressure on business leaders is rising rapidly, but that is when consultants come in. Consultants help businesses mitigate such risks by helping companies devise effective plans towards sustainable production, among other innovative ideas that manage consumer expectations. There are many tools companies also use to manage their risks, such as the risk maturity model (RMM). However, it can be difficult for these companies to assess the effectiveness of these tools (Schulte & Hallstedt, 2018). With their expertise, consultants ease business leaders' minds in this regard by conducting thorough risk assessments and providing tailored risk management frameworks.
Conclusion
Consultants play a vital role in helping businesses innovate sustainably, develop sustainability strategies, comply with environmental regulations, manage costs, and assess and manage other risks. Their expertise is vital for navigating ecological regulations such as the Clean Air Act to avoid fines and reputational damage. Consultants also help companies build sustainability strategies such as decarbonizing the supply chain and conducting regular sustainability audits. For every business activity, there are costs, including sustainable production. Consultants help businesses manage the costs they incur in implementing environmental sustainability practices through creative pricing mechanisms and coordinating significant stakeholders of the companies to mitigate financial burdens. For environmentally-conscious companies, there are common risks such as fire hazards and property damage. However, through tailored risk management frameworks and efficient risk assessments, the expertise of consultants will enable companies to reduce the occurrence of these risks.
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