By Arjen de Bruin, Group CEO at OIM Consulting

With Coal & Energy Transition Day taking place this month, the discussion around sustainability and coal mining ramps up, as the sector grapples with the desire and responsibility to lower its carbon footprint – but not lose its very reason for existence.

Green gung-ho

I would wager that all shareholders across every mining or manufacturing company in South Africa understand the onus on their business to ‘go green’; a broad term that essentially encompasses lowering one’s carbon footprint, seeking and utilising renewable energy sources, environmental conservation, recycling, waste reduction and more.

Yet in recent times, our initial ‘green gung-ho’ seems to have slowed down. We still want to do this, but now we’re realising that the shift to go green may not be as rapid as we initially envisioned.

Is this because we’ve stopped caring? Most certainly not – I would say that now more than ever, business leaders recognise their moral imperative to whole-heartedly embed ESG principles – in both letter and spirit – into their operations.

Rather, and after an especially turbulent few years, we’ve come to realise that going green is a marathon, not a sprint, and to become meaningfully sustainable, we need to do this…well, sustainably.

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Source: africabusiness.com