The Anti-Racist Organization

6A Sustainable Future Needs Equity at the Heart

The wealth gap between American whites and Blacks is projected to cost the US economy between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion in lost consumption and investment between 2019 and 2028. This translates to a projected GDP penalty of 4 to 6 percent in 2028.

Losavio, 2021

In France GDP could jump 1.5 percent over the next 20 years – an economic bonus of $3.6 billion – by reducing racial gaps in access to employment, work hours, and education.

Bon‐Maury et al., 2016, cited in Losavio, 2021

Opinions and perspectives about what it means to be a sustainable organization are now commonplace. Traditionally, sustainability was associated with the environment, your green credentials, but over time it has become much more than that.

You could be forgiven for assuming I would immediately lead with a lofty and somewhat predictable declaration that anti‐racism and racial equity need to be at the forefront of sustainability. Yet my view of what a truly sustainable business means is simple: one that does business consciously aware of its impact on colleagues, the environment, the community or society as a whole. This is encapsulated with the traits and values shared between the Sustainable Development Goals, as championed by the United Nations and robust ESG frameworks and evolved stakeholder capitalism approaches.

If 2020 proved anything it was that our world is getting smaller, so your community is now not just local or regional but global, ...