To better prepare for future shocks and meet external demands, companies are increasingly recognizing that they must shift their view of long-term resilience. The SustainAbility Institute by ERM has prepared this report to explore what resilience is and why it matters to business, particularly in this critical decade of action.

In the report we focus on three areas which ERM believes will be of paramount importance to companies in the decade to 2030:

  • ESG Integration;
  • Low Carbon Economy Transition; and
  • Human & Social Capital management.

The document’s tri-part focus stems from the belief that no company will prove resilient long-term without embracing the role they must play in helping society decarbonize, ensuring outstanding ESG performance, and recognising that people are at the heart of business.

In the report we explore:

  • why these three areas are critical for resilience;
  • what evidence exists to support this; and
  • what companies can do to start taking action now.

This paper builds on the recent World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) Vision 2050 issue brief - Building long term business resilience, developed in partnership with the SustainAbility Institute by ERM. In that issue brief, we defined long-term business resilience as “a business’s ability to anticipate and prepare for change, then adapt to circumstances in the manner that provides the greatest chance of thriving over the long-term.”