Given the business challenges presented by the outbreak of COVID-19, many industries face the prospects of mass bankruptcies and unemployment. Following the crisis, experts worry that sustainability will hit a pause as companies plan for the short-term to recover from their losses. In a new feature for Women’s Wear Daily, CSB’s Kevin Eckerle explains how as climate change worsens, sustainability must remain a priority because no industry will be immune to future outbreaks, shortages, and inequalities. 

Excerpt: “Speaking about the connection between climate change and near-term threats like an infectious disease, Kevin Eckerle, the director of corporate research and engagement at NYU’s Stern Center for Sustainable Business’s Return on Sustainability Investment Framework (ROSI), told WWD: ‘Planning for one, in isolation of the others, doesn’t prepare you to deal with the additive and multiplicative impacts of these things co-occurring – and they are co-occurring. The biggest challenge will be making new investments and continuing prior investments in sustainability if the negative economic impacts of COVID-19 continue to grow and reach the worst-case scenario.’”

To read the full piece, click here.