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Forbes
29-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Meet The Net Zero Leaders 2025
Rivian Automotive's electric vehicles expect to have a 15% lower lifetime carbon footprint, with the company's goal being one-half of current levels by the end of the decade. Courtesy of Rivian Automotive Achieving net-zero, or the reduction or off-setting of greenhouse gasses to as close to zero as possible, by 2050 will cost nearly $300 trillion (about 7.5 percent of global GDP annually, on average), according to research by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Not achieving it, though, could cost double that, according to global reinsurance company Swiss Re. 'If we understood that alternative more, the benefits of climate leadership would be more clear, and the markets would be pricing in these risks and these opportunities,' says Vit Henisz, vice dean of the ESG Initiative at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. To not address emissions, Henisz says, would incur costs 'bigger than the great financial crisis, bigger than the housing crisis, bigger than the dot-com crisis.' To identify which companies have performed best in reducing or offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions, Forbes partnered with data providers Sustainalytics and Morningstar to create the third annual Net Zero Leaders list. Roughly 15,000 companies were evaluated for their efforts to achieve their net-zero targets within three ways in which a company can affect greenhouse gasses: emissions within the company's direct control, such as using energy to manufacture a product (known as Scope 1); emissions from purchased energy (Scope 2); and lastly, supply-chain emissions as well as emissions released from consumer use of the company's product (Scope 3). Firms are also assessed on how much of the emissions are managed by the company, their organizational preparedness, governance and financial strength to withstand challenges. At the top of this year's ranking are three electronic vehicle (EV) companies: Lucid Group at No. 1, followed by Rivian and Tesla. (Lucid and Rivian jumped to the top of the list after not even appearing on it last year.) The reason for EVs' dominance is strong Scope 3 emissions performance, says Alex Osborne-Saponja, Sustainalytics' director of ESG methodology and climate solutions. 'Essentially, their product use is close to zero, and we only expect that to continue as they invest in the manufacture of electric vehicles.' Anisa Costa, Rivian's chief sustainability officer, says that the company's 2026 vehicles will have a 15% lower lifetime carbon footprint, with perhaps greater improvements ahead: 'Our goals right now are launching a product with half the life-cycle emissions compared to our 2022 products by 2030.' Rivian is also engaged in a joint venture with the Volkswagen Group to create software and more efficient electric vehicle design for the next generation of Volkswagen's vehicles across its portfolio of brands, a project that will also generate data for both companies to pursue further emissions reduction. With more data generated by more consumers, 'there's a lot you can do in terms of working on how you drive on your impact,' says Costa. Seagate, which joined the list this year at No. 14, has been approaching its net-zero goals in stages. The data storage company first worked to improve efficiency within its operations to reduce its energy use across the board, and then eventually how much renewable energy it would need to the company is educating suppliers on sustainability practices to reduce the company's carbon footprint. Seagate also recently reduced its number of suppliers to further concentrate its investment, and projects that stronger partnerships among a few will ease tracking and result in a greater reduction of emissions. 'It's a journey,' says Balan Shanmuganathan, the company's senior engineering director of sustainability. 'It's not something where you flip a switch and suddenly everybody's carbon neutral or net zero.' For its efforts, Seagate says it is on track to be at 55% renewable energy by 2030. Host Hotels, which rose from No. 28 last year to No. 13, owns 80 upscale hotel properties in the U.S., including several Ritz-Carltons, and is actively upgrading them to meet its net-zero goals. The real estate investment trust has been running what Michael Chang, the company's head of sustainability, calls a continuous conditioning platform that involves analyzing a building's internal operations, such as its HVAC system, and investing in renovations to improve efficiency. 'It's difficult to find that baseline in buildings over 30 years old,' Chang says. 'The systems are sort of Frankenstein-ish.' But Chang says the process has led to 5 to 20 percent gains in efficiency so far, and they're further analyzing how heat pumps and other new technologies can continue to reduce emissions. He adds, 'By this year we'll more than double the amount of electricity that's being generated with solar rooftops and solar carports. We're also putting in batteries to shave the energy demand.' But for a business like Host Hotels, a lot of the gains come from knowing their operating partners are on board, and from continuous investments by utility companies to provide renewable energy to power the properties. 'All of these improvements and investments need to be made in tandem,' Chang says. 'We need to have this happen cross-industry to achieve net-zero.' Contrary to some reports that suggest companies might be de-emphasizing emissions targets due to the change in administration, Sustainalytics' Osborne-Saponja says the company has actually noticed an increase in company reporting. Since most companies have to consider more stringent European standards anyway, she says, they're not likely to stop anytime soon: 'I think there will be some green hushing. But, I don't think that necessarily means that we will see a lack of progress.' Methodology Forbes' Net Zero Leaders list was created using raw data from research firms Sustainalytics and Morningstar. Sustainalytics provided its Low Carbon Transition Ratings, which evaluate the robustness of each company's climate governance, strategy, risk management and more. Morningstar contributed analysis of how each company's financial position and competitive strength can overcome industry challenges and inevitable economic downturns. A formula using those data created a single metric that was then ranked, with the top 200 companies making the list. As with all Forbes lists, companies do not pay any fee to be considered. For questions about this list, please contact listdesk (at)
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Randstad: Employees appear more likely to make trade-offs as bargaining power weakens
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. Amid a changing labor market, workers seem willing to make trade-offs in pay and location to remain employable and flexible, according to a May 20 report from Randstad. In a survey of more than 5,000 workers worldwide, two-thirds said they'd choose greater employability — staying relevant, skilled and secure — over remote work. In return for working fully on-site, they said they would prioritize time autonomy over pay (59% versus 41%) or location (56% versus 44%). 'Against the backdrop of persistent talent scarcity and a shifting economic environment, talent are making thoughtful decisions about what they value most — like employability, wellbeing and time flexibility,' said Sander van 't Noordende, CEO of Randstad. 'For employers, this moment presents an opportunity to cement trust and strengthen engagement in a way that supports both talents' goals and business objectives,' he added. 'Leaders who respond with flexibility, fairness and long-term vision will be best positioned to attract and retain talent, as the value exchange must feel fair to both parties to be successful.' Fifty-nine percent of workers said they'd trade an inspiring role for greater employability, and 60% said they'd rather have less work-related stress than a higher salary. In fact, 40% had already taken lower-paying roles to reduce stress, and 43% have taken roles with limited career growth opportunities but better work-life balance. In cases where full-time on-site work is mandated, though, workers want more in return, including greater schedule flexibility, higher pay and more annual leave. Key long-term factors for retaining talent include inflation-matching pay increases, strong managerial support, alignment with company values and support from leadership, Randstad found. Although return-to-office rates have stabilized, flexibility remains key for work scheduling, according to a report from McKinsey & Co. Hybrid and remote options have become an 'entrenched norm' and could offer ongoing ways to compete for talent, McKinsey experts said. Even so, workers and managers are still clashing over RTO requirements, experts previously told HR Dive. HR pros can help by encouraging managers not to fall back on past experience, listening to workers' concerns and providing flexibility in work hours. For many employees, 2025 feels like a year of 'walking on eggshells' in a fragile workplace environment, according to a BambooHR report. Workers may decide to stay in their job and not apply elsewhere due to concerns about job security, the report found. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Employers are ditching remote work. Experts worry that's shortsighted.
This story was originally published on HR Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily HR Dive newsletter. It took a few years for the winds to shift, but employers began in earnest in 2024 to reverse course on their openness to flexible work. Return-to-office plans proliferated last year, with 58% of surveyed U.S. workers working fully on-site compared to 53% in 2023, according to McKinsey & Co. Now that trend is spilling over into employers' recruiting efforts: the latest edition of HR Dive's annual Identity of HR survey, which polled 578 HR professionals, found that fewer than half, 48%, said remote or hybrid work arrangements were part of their organizations' talent acquisition strategies last year, compared to 56% in 2023's survey. HR Dive's findings match up with broader industry sentiment, said Jamie Kohn, senior director, research at consulting firm Gartner. Despite strong demand for flexibility from candidates, HR teams are largely restricted from meeting that demand because of a shift by leadership toward RTO, she added. % of Identity of HR respondents who said each offering was part of their talent acquisition strategies in 2023 and 2024. Respondents were allowed to select multiple options. This embedded content is not available in your region. 'They kind of feel like their hands are tied by leadership decisions,' Kohn said. 'It's still a critical factor from the candidate side, but we're definitely seeing that factor less in offers, and it's still not being used as much as a carrot to attract talent.' It's a striking — if not foreseeable — trend after some studies in the years immediately following 2020 suggested that employers would settle on at least some degree of work location flexibility as a long-term strategy. But as far back as 2021, Kohn said she recalled having conversations with finance professionals who planned to push RTO when the then-candidate-friendly talent market cooled. In 2025, the share of HR clients asking Kohn to help them make the business case for remote work has dropped considerably; 'They're not really asking for that anymore,' she said. To the extent that organizations have made changes, '9 out of 10 of those cases is a pull back on remote work as opposed to an expansion,' said Bradford Bell, professor in strategic human resources at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. In addition to reversing policies on where people work, employers also have increased requirements on how far employees may live from a worksite, he added. Bell said a number of firms may have wished to change course sooner following the pandemic but simply couldn't given the leverage held by candidates for the past several years. The growing number of hiring pauses, hiring slowdowns and layoffs has changed that calculus, however, as have long-running concerns about productivity and company culture. Still, a large share of HR teams see value in meeting candidate demand for flexibility, Kohn said. She noted the example of companies such as Spotify, whose prominent Times Square advertisement declared that 'employees aren't children' as it displayed that company's intent to continue remote work. According to results viewed by HR Dive, Gartner's survey of HR leaders in 2024's fourth quarter found that the share of respondents who agreed that on-site work requirements made it more difficult to attract skilled talent dropped to a 78% majority from 93% in that year's second quarter. 'Over time, companies are going to settle into more one camp or the other,' on remote work, Kohn said. 'I do think it will come back to some extent, especially as the market continues to get more competitive for some roles.' Bell said he questioned the rationale behind basic RTO decisions on talent market dynamics alone, given that a future swing in favor of employees could end up causing recruiting issues for employers down the road. 'The short-term logic strikes me,' Bell continued, noting that current employees may be enticed to look for more remote-friendly jobs, especially if they feel that RTO is being imposed arbitrarily. 'If a company is really not offering flexible- or remote-work options, I think it's really imperative on the company to explain why or why not,' he said. A strong case could be made for seeking a collaborative culture or creating an environment in which new employees can better integrate with the rest of the organization, 'but I think a lot of times these decisions seem a lot more arbitrary,' Bell said. 'It creates a sense of unfairness or a lack of understanding.' 'Capitalizing on our leverage is probably a shortsighted and flawed mode of thinking.' Bradford Bell Professor in strategic human resources, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations Employers also could take into account what their immediate competitors are doing on the subject of flexibility, among other things. At the most basic level, however, HR should work with leadership to determine what the best operating model is for the organization and the job types therein, Bell said, which can help put into place a clear case for in-person or flexible work that candidates can take into account regardless of market conditions. 'Capitalizing on our leverage is probably a shortsighted and flawed mode of thinking,' Bell said. 'Think about what's best for us.' Flexibility often revolves around discussions of work location, but it can be just as important to consider schedule flexibility as a potential appeal to talent, Kohn said, particularly for front-line workers who cannot work remotely. Results from Gartner's 2024 Voice of the Candidate Survey found that while 24% of job candidates cited location flexibility as a factor that led them to select a job offer, a higher share, 35%, said the same of time-based flexibility. That finding suggests employers should consider what they might be able to offer in terms of flexibility even if RTO policies have taken hold at their organizations, Kohn said; 'this can be a good way to approach it.' HR also should continue to monitor the effect that a lack of flexibility has on recruiting, where applicable, Kohn continued. Leaders should be able to provide data on how many candidates and employees an organization has lost because of RTO. Even if the employer assumes some degree of candidate loss because of in-office requirements, those effects may not be felt evenly across all job types, especially within high-demand roles. 'Maybe we're allowing some sort of talent loss as a result of this change, but especially as companies are trying to compete for tech talent, AI and digital transformation, it's really important to know and to be able to size what the talent costs are,' Kohn said. In-office requirements may create a number of headaches for employees, from a sudden lack of toilet paper or dip in Wi-Fi quality to the resumption of long commutes in a car-dependent country with few quality alternatives. Yet, one emerging issue concerns the way in which hybrid work options are reserved only for certain categories of workers or executives. That possibility is giving way to concerns about the potential for 'hybrid hierarchy' to flourish within organizations, according to a recent Korn Ferry report. The term describes employers that give work-location flexibility to top candidates, top performers or top leaders but not others. Concerns about such stratification are not necessarily new, though. In fact, hierarchical approaches to remote work were common among pre-pandemic organizations, Bell said, and flexibility was then a way to reward high-potential and high-performance talent. 'The difference now is that you have such a large proportion of the workforce working remotely and, in some sense, maybe viewing it as an entitlement that I think that hierarchy may be much more salient,' Bell added, which can create more issues. 'If it's something that is given out as a privilege indiscriminately, then that's where I think we have challenges.' Jamie Kohn Senior director, research, Gartner One way to approach potential pitfalls is to create an explicit, transparent policy on who has access to flexible work and how employees can earn that access, Kohn said. 'If it's something that is given out as a privilege indiscriminately, then that's where I think we have challenges,' she added. 'If that flexibility is something you can earn and we can understand how to do that, I think it can make sense.' As part of that process, employers should consider how and where decisions are made as to how many days a week employees must work in-office, Kohn said. That is likely to involve extensive discussions with managers and team leaders to determine what works best for them, and HR can equip managers with explainers on those decisions to help them avoid RTO-related conflict with direct reports. Beyond coming up with a rationale for RTO or flexibility, employers will need to cite data or other evidence to back up their decisions, Bell said. He advised HR to go beyond vague leadership statements on the value of in-office work to make the case to candidates and employees that a shift is worth doing. That said, allowing individual managers to decide what RTO approach is best for their team, rather than articulating a top-down policy, 'is the worst possible approach,' Bell said. 'I think that was the default approach early on post-pandemic and I think most companies have realized that that does not work well.' Instead, employers should have clear guidelines and a clear rationale around who has location flexibility and why; this can allow managers to have input without creating the kind of disparities that may fracture an organization, he added. HR can consider multiple factors, such as the degree of contact with customers that a given position may have, an employee's past track record and performance, and the effect of remote work on different teams within the organization. Sign in to access your portfolio
The National
14-04-2025
- Business
- The National
'Next decade of innovation will come from Global South', says Business of Fashion chief Imran Amed in Dubai
Despite running one of the fashion industry's most influential platforms, Imran Amed has always been something of an outsider. The founder, chief executive and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion (BoF) started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. When he first explored a pivot to fashion, he was bluntly told: 'We don't need people like you in fashion.' Yet last week, Amed was in Dubai hosting BoF Crossroads, the first offshoot of its kind from BoF's successful Voices conference series. Taking place at the One&Only One Za'abeel, the event gathered creative and business leaders to discuss new opportunities across fashion, beauty and luxury in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, reflecting BoF's global approach to the industry, as well as its focus on often neglected Global South markets. 'The event is actually not focused on Dubai or the Middle East,' Amed says. 'Over the last couple of years, I went to Egypt, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Kuwait, Brazil and obviously here in Dubai. The people I would meet were asking the same questions. These markets, with young and digitally connected populations, share similar challenges and yet they often feel disconnected from the West.' The lightbulb moment came last year during a visit to Dubai after a decade away. 'I felt like Dubai had become this crossroads,' he says, 'for people interested in this market from the West but also from sub-Saharan Africa, India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia.' Though Amed left McKinsey nearly two decades ago, the structured thinking he developed there still shapes BoF's editorial lens. 'There are frameworks I learnt that we use in our editorial process. The fashion world wasn't professionalised or globalised when I arrived. I hope we've been able to bring some structured thinking,' says Amed. 'What we're trying to do is really look at this industry holistically as a global industry with global consumers, a global supply chain, and global retail footprints. That's how the industry works.' BoF itself was founded in 2007, a year before the global financial crisis. Amed believes the platform's greatest value emerges during times of turbulence. When the industry is in crisis, people go to BoF for clarity. That was true in 2008, again during Covid-19, and now with the tariff situation. 'Our tariff analysis pieces are still the most-read content on the site right now,' says Amed. 'This is obviously a new challenge that the industry is going to navigate.' A cross-section of speakers and attendees from 25 countries were at the Crossroads event. From Saudi Arabia, Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud of Culture House and Diriyah Company's Kiran Haslam took to the stage to discuss the kingdom's cultural and luxury transformation. Aika Alemi of Kazakhstan's Born Nomad gave insight into Central Asia's creative renaissance and Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee reflected on building a global luxury brand from the Global South. Felipe Matayoshi, Anand S Ahuja and Iretidayo Zaccheaus spoke about how Brazil, India and Nigeria are shaping streetwear with UAE-based fashion critic Osama Chabbi. Laduma Ngxokolo of MaXhosa Africa; Alara's Reni Folawiyo; and Maryse Mbonyumutwa of Pink Mango and Asanti explored opportunities across the African fashion value chain. Meanwhile, Khalid Al Tayer, chief executive of Ounass and managing director of Al Tayer Insignia, joined Amed to discuss operational excellence in the Gulf. Other Emirati figures on stage included Anas Bukhash and Sultan Bin Rashed Al Darmaki, who discussed Dubai's status as a global crossroads and when emerging brands should go global. Amed's efforts have always been about opening up the fashion conversation. 'Fashion used to be a bubble,' he says. 'Fashion people talking to fashion people. The conference was designed to challenge that, to connect the dots of how the industry fits into wider global dynamics around economics, politics, tech, culture. A good conference creates tension.' Today, Amed is one of fashion's most connected insiders. But his mission remains rooted in access, insight and global relevance. 'Fashion has gone from an industry that talked itself, to a pillar of popular culture. People follow fashion now like others follow sport. There are obsessive fandoms. BoF helped bring what was once a closed-off conversation into the wider world.' He also wants to remind outsiders that fashion isn't just about glamour. 'It's a complex industry – logistics, supply chain, IP, brand, tech, e-commerce and increasingly artificial intelligence. If you have professional skills that can help the industry address some of these big questions, there's opportunity here.' On where fashion is headed, Amed names Paris as the undisputed legacy capital. But when it comes to the future, he's looking further afield. 'Before Covid, I would've said Shanghai. But it feels increasingly cut off from the global now,' says Amed. 'Mumbai, as a city in the country with the largest population in the world, has some incredible creativity. The craftsmanship of what you can do there is incredible. But you could say the same about Lagos and Bangkok. That's what's exciting about these cities in the Global South. They are huge cities. They're bustling with creativity and ambition and optimism.' It's that optimism that fuels Amed's global outlook. 'Things feel pretty depressing in the West right now,' he says. 'But when I come to places like Dubai, Mumbai and Bangkok, I just feel a sense of optimism that we have the creativity; we have the ingenuity; we have the innovation that's going to make the next 10 years really exciting.'
The National
14-04-2025
- Business
- The National
'Next decade of innovation will come from Global South', say Business of Fashion chief Imran Amed in Dubai
Despite running one of the fashion industry's most influential platforms, Imran Amed has always been something of an outsider. The founder, chief executive and editor-in-chief of The Business of Fashion (BoF) started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. When he first explored a pivot to fashion, he was bluntly told: 'We don't need people like you in fashion.' Yet last week, Amed was in Dubai hosting BoF Crossroads, the first offshoot of its kind from BoF's successful Voices conference series. Taking place at the One&Only One Za'abeel, the event gathered creative and business leaders to discuss new opportunities across fashion, beauty and luxury in the Middle East, South and Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America, reflecting BoF's global approach to the industry, as well as its focus on often neglected Global South markets. 'The event is actually not focused on Dubai or the Middle East,' Amed says. 'Over the last couple of years, I went to Egypt, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Kuwait, Brazil and obviously here in Dubai. The people I would meet were asking the same questions. These markets, with young and digitally connected populations, share similar challenges and yet they often feel disconnected from the West.' The lightbulb moment came last year during a visit to Dubai after a decade away. 'I felt like Dubai had become this crossroads,' he says, 'for people interested in this market from the West but also from sub-Saharan Africa, India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia.' Though Amed left McKinsey nearly two decades ago, the structured thinking he developed there still shapes BoF's editorial lens. 'There are frameworks I learnt that we use in our editorial process. The fashion world wasn't professionalised or globalised when I arrived. I hope we've been able to bring some structured thinking,' says Amed. 'What we're trying to do is really look at this industry holistically as a global industry with global consumers, a global supply chain, and global retail footprints. That's how the industry works.' BoF itself was founded in 2007, a year before the global financial crisis. Amed believes the platform's greatest value emerges during times of turbulence. When the industry is in crisis, people go to BoF for clarity. That was true in 2008, again during Covid-19, and now with the tariff situation. 'Our tariff analysis pieces are still the most-read content on the site right now,' says Amed. 'This is obviously a new challenge that the industry is going to navigate.' A cross-section of speakers and attendees from 25 countries were at the Crossroads event. From Saudi Arabia, Princess Noura Bint Faisal Al Saud of Culture House and Diriyah Company's Kiran Haslam took to the stage to discuss the kingdom's cultural and luxury transformation. Aika Alemi of Kazakhstan's Born Nomad gave insight into Central Asia's creative renaissance and Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee reflected on building a global luxury brand from the Global South. Felipe Matayoshi, Anand S Ahuja and Iretidayo Zaccheaus spoke about how Brazil, India and Nigeria are shaping streetwear with UAE-based fashion critic Osama Chabbi. Laduma Ngxokolo of MaXhosa Africa; Alara's Reni Folawiyo; and Maryse Mbonyumutwa of Pink Mango and Asanti explored opportunities across the African fashion value chain. Meanwhile, Khalid Al Tayer, chief executive of Ounass and managing director of Al Tayer Insignia, joined Amed to discuss operational excellence in the Gulf. Other Emirati figures on stage included Anas Bukhash and Sultan Bin Rashed Al Darmaki, who discussed Dubai's status as a global crossroads and when emerging brands should go global. Amed's efforts have always been about opening up the fashion conversation. 'Fashion used to be a bubble,' he says. 'Fashion people talking to fashion people. The conference was designed to challenge that, to connect the dots of how the industry fits into wider global dynamics around economics, politics, tech, culture. A good conference creates tension.' Today, Amed is one of fashion's most connected insiders. But his mission remains rooted in access, insight and global relevance. 'Fashion has gone from an industry that talked itself, to a pillar of popular culture. People follow fashion now like others follow sport. There are obsessive fandoms. BoF helped bring what was once a closed-off conversation into the wider world.' He also wants to remind outsiders that fashion isn't just about glamour. 'It's a complex industry – logistics, supply chain, IP, brand, tech, e-commerce and increasingly artificial intelligence. If you have professional skills that can help the industry address some of these big questions, there's opportunity here.' On where fashion is headed, Amed names Paris as the undisputed legacy capital. But when it comes to the future, he's looking further afield. 'Before Covid, I would've said Shanghai. But it feels increasingly cut off from the global now,' says Amed. 'Mumbai, as a city in the country with the largest population in the world, has some incredible creativity. The craftsmanship of what you can do there is incredible. But you could say the same about Lagos and Bangkok. That's what's exciting about these cities in the Global South. They are huge cities. They're bustling with creativity and ambition and optimism.' It's that optimism that fuels Amed's global outlook. 'Things feel pretty depressing in the West right now,' he says. 'But when I come to places like Dubai, Mumbai and Bangkok, I just feel a sense of optimism that we have the creativity; we have the ingenuity; we have the innovation that's going to make the next 10 years really exciting.'
