Thomas Gonzalez-Cruz, director of the Chair of Business and Humanism, has spoken with Isabel Castillo, of the Valencia Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Office, and with Elena Galante, Advisor on Corporate Responsibility and Development Cooperation, in the webinar 'Women executives and sustainability experts.
In this live chat between the three CSR experts, who are part of the faculty of the 1st Diploma of Specialization in Social Responsibility and Sustainability from CEiH, the different challenges that exist in implementing sustainability in companies have been discussed.
"Sustainability is an integrative concept that links various sectors such as social, economic, governance, and transparency, among others."
Isabel Castillo
One of the main challenges is the total lack of knowledge about what sustainability actually is. “There is a general perception that sustainability is only linked to environmental issues; however, it is an integrative concept that connects several sectors, such as social, economic, governance, and transparency, among others.”"Sustainability is a management tool for companies, technically advanced and ready to be implemented," emphasized Isabel Castillo, who also highlighted that.
This requires companies to have staff trained in social responsibility and sustainability, but this is currently not the case in the vast majority of companies.
"The manager or person responsible for CSR must have a 360° knowledge of sustainability, not only focused on the environmental aspect, but also knowledge of other aspects ranging from social to financial.". In addition, they must have leadership skills to transmit that knowledge to their colleagues in other departments,” explained Elena Galante.
But it's not just the person responsible for CSR who must have training in sustainability; it's also important for managers in other areas to have knowledge on the subject in order to successfully achieve companies' sustainability goals.
