Following the release of the IPCC report;

Robert Pritchard, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, offers his view:

“All aspects of life are being affected by climate change – and that stretches to the provision of telecoms and networking services to enterprises. Corporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies have become the next generation of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and a credible and measurable ESG strategy is absolutely necessary – it can no longer just be a tick box exercise.

“Thankfully, you would struggle to find a large enterprise without a commitment to lowering its impact on the climate, not embracing evolving and more inclusive social attitudes, supporting community activities, and paying attention to the needs and welfare of its employees.

“Service providers have recently intensified their focus on ESG. Such initiatives have moved from a ‘tick-box’ activity to a core company ethos – driven by a combination of changing attitudes, the science of environmental change, regulation, investor pressure and customer demand. An end-to-end ESG value chain is emerging where service providers need not only to claim, but to prove through independent auditing, their commitment to ESG goals. It is not unreasonable to consider that ESG reporting will go hand-in-glove with financial reporting over time.

“The good news is that enterprise networking providers are well placed to deliver such benefits through services ranging from broadband to unified communications to smart cities – and many other use cases. By assessing and measuring the positive impact their services can have on the planet, society, and business, they can lead in responding to the challenges ahead.

“A few years ago, this might have been a bit of a fantasy, but enterprise networking’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic proves what can be achieved.”