Climate change, global warming, extreme temperatures—these and other environmentally focused headlines are increasingly consuming our media feeds each day. From ongoing commentary on the cost of weather-related climate disasters in 2017 to the water drought crisis unfolding in Cape Town, it’s clear that the effects of climate change are global, and the impact can be seen and felt all around us.
As a company with operations in more than 100 countries around the globe—and $2.8 billion in purchasing power that we deploy through our global supply chain—we recognize that we are not immune to the effects of climate change on our business and operations. Climate change presents a current and future issue for our planet. Only collective solutions focused on both the short and long term will enable us to slow its effects, thrive in its existence and significantly impact the future outcomes for generations to come.
Organizations across the globe, such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals or CDP’s efforts to measure environmental impact, are already working on such solutions. These are just two examples of the many initiatives that seek to bring companies, organizations and individuals together to address climate change today, while also identifying what we can all do to make a positive impact for the future.
在尼尔森，我们看到气候变化以多种方式对我们的业务产生影响。例如，气温上升导致我们数据中心的冷却成本增加。燃料价格上涨会影响我们的数据收集和客户服务模式中的差旅效率。气候变化与行业无关。在不同程度上，它是大多数全球公司风险状况的一部分，无论行业如何。而这一视角不仅仅局限于与成本上升相关的风险。
2017 年底，我们亲眼目睹了这一点。在去年秋天发生的多起与天气有关的气候事件中，我们最关心的自然是我们的员工。确保员工的安全和照顾是我们的首要任务，并将始终如此。多年来，灾难恢复和业务连续性一直是我们企业风险管理（ERM）流程的一部分。但是，这些事件使我们更有必要为未来的可能性建立无缝系统，既能为我们的员工提供帮助，又能最大限度地减少对我们向客户提供服务的负面影响。
Understanding the climate-related risks to our people and business, and ensuring we have the proper governance channels and tactical systems in place, are integral to our climate-change strategy. We are currently finalizing our first climate risk assessment, working with an independent provider to evaluate what the physical and transition risks related to climate change mean for our unique business and global footprint. By better understanding and quantifying our susceptibility to the effects of climate change, we seek to prioritize our risk management activities, inform our evolving climate-change strategy, and share more information with our stakeholders about potential climate risks related to our business.
By being prepared to respond to, mitigate, or even prevent a business risk from climate change, we look to address the vulnerability that bridges the gap between present realities and future success in an increasingly resource-constrained world. We plan to share the results of this assessment in our second Nielsen Global Responsibility Report, publishing in June.
We’re committed to continuing our global sustainability efforts in the work we do every day. Our Technology/Operations Sustainability Council already guides our environmental sustainability work, particularly when it comes to identifying and creating new operational efficiencies. We also acknowledge the power of grassroots efforts and the role each one of our associates has to play in this. Our volunteer Nielsen Green leaders work with teams across real estate, facilities, and operations in their offices and communities to continuously identify and advocate for more sustainable ways of interacting with our natural environment.
地球周即将来临，我们很高兴能动员并支持世界各地的员工进一步减少我们对环境造成的负面影响。
尼尔森正踏上征程。我们认识到，我们有责任坚持走下去，加快积极变革的步伐，继续创造新的环境效率，从而减少我们的足迹，并尽可能地降低风险。
Crystal Barnes is SVP, Global Responsibility & Sustainability, Nielsen, and Executive Director, Nielsen Foundation.
