Many companies in Israel and around the world are faced with dozens of new concepts and standards regarding sustainability and the need for green planning of their businesses (among them: CDSB, CDP, IIRC, VBA) following the decisions of the last Glasgow conference. Regardless of the important climate conference and its conclusions, many companies understand the need to optimize themselves environmentally and organizationally, and even choose ‘environmentally friendly’ suppliers while the climate crisis continues to worsen.
This has become even more complex in the recent period when companies in Israel and around the world are dealing with an ongoing supply crisis and transportation prices that have reached a peak following the war in Ukraine and the restrictions in Russia and the effects of the corona virus that have not ended – transportation prices from Asia to the western United States have doubled tenfold in the past two years as a result of the global goods transportation crisis, and this is one The causes of the increase in the price of basic consumer goods as we all feel recently.
For example, the NIKE company knew how to deal with sustainability at every stage of its supply chain. From the design process, through distribution to sales. At Nike, sustainability touches every layer of the company, starting with the required production emissions, logistics, ethical considerations regarding the workforce, and the materials used for production. Nike is not the only one “on the green field”, it was joined by other giant brands such as Unilever, Toyota, Starbucks and more. The “green field” is expected to be a large part of the local and global discourse – both business and public.
But these companies do not teach about the overall picture of the situation – most of the businesses in Israel and in the world are in a ‘panic’ and are trying to catch up, deal with the failures in the field and meet ‘green’ obligations and sometimes they use the many startups that have arisen to provide a solution to this need, such as the Israeli startups: The Caja company has developed modular robots, which, through the software that manages them, turn a normal warehouse into an efficient and smart warehouse managed by automation, in order to save time and manpower. Another example is the company Bringoz – a delivery management platform that optimizes the delivery management process by automation and advanced algorithms for managing logistics operations in organizations.
Being a green and transparent company does not amount to one or two actions, but to a comprehensive change of the company’s strategy and its implementation in every layer of the company’s activities – from recycling and waste separation to reducing emissions and green computing. These requirements are accompanied by the need for diversity. Today, investors, customers and employees are also becoming more aware of the social responsibility of companies towards the community in which they operate. They expect businesses to drive positive DE&I (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) impacts through their policies, processes and conduct, both within the organization and at all levels of the business, including their supply chain. The meanings are many and there is a need to inform and reflect the activity to all the parties with whom the company comes into contact – shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and more. Since this is not an easy task, many companies these days employ “environmental trustees” who are responsible for assimilating these values into the company’s activities internally and externally.
Cloud solutions are another solution for companies facing these challenges, and enable advanced digital management of supply chains and integration between all elements in an efficient and innovative way. This process is done while assimilating requirements and regulation into a simple and convenient set of indicators that the company needs to operate on an ongoing basis.
The global importance is great, as large and small businesses are a very significant link when it comes to climate warming and the sad situation we are in today. They are responsible for what we buy, eat and use, and therefore the impact is great and the ability to reduce future damage depends mainly on the business world.
With the rise of e-commerce, the end consumer has, more than ever before, a wide variety of choices between products and retailers. In order to remain competitive, businesses need on the one hand to find solutions that are compatible with the regulation and the public’s growing demand for a green approach and on the other hand to be careful and constantly maintain the increase in profitability. Supply chain technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, can help businesses identify risks, patterns and opportunities – enabling them to minimize wasted resources and improve operational efficiency. It is interesting to see that according to recent studies, consumers have testified that they would prefer companies that conduct themselves in a green and transparent manner throughout the length and breadth of their supply chain management. This figure shows that consumer thinking has changed and is no longer motivated solely by the price of the product.
The challenge is not simple and there is a need for transparency and the assimilation of green values in the context of the whole activity, but the world is changing and companies in Israel that do not know how to take the next step and go through a digital transformation for smart green management of their business, will be exposed to fines of hundreds of thousands to millions of shekels, and this without talking about wasting resources Many following mismanagement of their businesses. In Israel, the awareness at the business level of environmental issues is mainly about ESG, but there is another whole ocean that needs to be crossed before businesses in Israel become full-fledged green. It’s time to dive deep.