hile 2020 will be known for the pandemic, lockdowns, and the “new normal,” I predict 2021 will be known as the year of rebuilding, acceleration, and impact. Due to COVID-19, the world took a step backwards in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), wiping out about 25 years of work in about 25 weeks. While the impact of the pandemic has been life altering, the silver lining is that it has made building back sustainably even more relevant. The pandemic created an opportunity to think differently about how we’re tackling the world’s biggest challenges and how we build back better to expand access and ensure a more sustainable future for communities and the planet. We can think creatively about how we rebuild, to accelerate action, and to create lasting impact. 2021 will be about recommitting to and accelerating action against all of the SDGs, with a heightened focus on SDG3 access to healthcare, SDG 10 inequality, and SDG 13 climate change. Here are my predictions for how this will come to life in 2021.
Turbocharging ESG Commitments
We will see company commitments to ESG take new form, with sustainability truly becoming embedded into the fabric of how a company operates. Siloed sustainability strategies will become unacceptable as the stakeholders continue to grow. We can look at this across a number of audiences:
Investors: at the start of 2020, BlackRock sent a letter to CEOs stating sustainability would be at the center of their investment strategy going forward. Many other funds have followed suit. For the first time, The Wall Street Journal ranked “The Most Sustainably Managed Companies in the World,” which was decided based on how companies were adding long-term shareholder value based on the ESGs. In 2021, companies will need to embed sustainability, or they risk shareholders choosing other investments. At Bayer, sustainability targets have been integrated into the company strategy, as well as the remuneration systems of the Executive Board and management.
Consumers: Sixty-two percent of consumers think companies have the opportunity to be more thoughtful about how they incorporate sustainability into their business models moving forward. Consumers have always made their choices known with the pocketbooks, but when it came to sustainability, the focus was largely being green. We’ll see this shift in 2021, with consumers looking more broadly at climate change, as well as how a company incorporates societal goals (treatment of employees, supply chains, equality) and purpose into the way they do business.
Employees: Employees are demanding companies be governed by societal values. In fact, seventy-three percent of people believe their company can take specific actions that both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions in the communities where it operates. We saw the role equality plays in business values and culture take center stage in 2020. This will certainly continue into 2021 and will be magnified as employees look for their company to act, not just show support.
Governments: During the recent Climate Ambition Summit, 45 countries set more ambitious goals around climate action, including 24 net-zero emission commitments and 20 new adaptation and resilience plans. This included China’s commitment to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65% from 2005 levels by 2030 and the EU’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. Companies must take action in order to future proof their business.
SDG 3 Takes Center Stage
Health was the focus of 2020, but “for all” will be the emphasis in 2021. While health disparities are certainly not new, COVID-19 magnified these inequalities in healthcare, disproportionately impacting underserved communities. Attention should be placed on the systemic hurdles many communities face. This will come to life in a few ways:
The expansion of the healthcare continuum: Many people think of healthcare as the care they get from a doctor or hospital. As a society, we don’t put the same stock in the care we give ourselves at home to prevent and treat illness. We don’t think of that as healthcare. But it is. Self-care is about taking control of your own health, which includes all of the things you can do at home with or without the supervision of a healthcare provider. With more than half the world without basic and essential healthcare services, we need to teach people how to take care of themselves and enable access to self-care solutions.
A good example is the work the Indonesian government has done to create long-term micronutrient access and education. A few years ago, they recognized about a quarter of women of reproductive age had nutrient deficiencies and 30% of children were born stunted. Through partnership, they carved out significant resources from their health budget to help educate their communities about the importance of prenatal micronutrient supplementation and distributed interventions. The partners were able to help the government create infrastructure so they could embed this into their health system and now it is an ongoing program.
Evolution of health systems: COVID-19 has highlighted the fragility of existing healthcare systems. We have an opportunity to build back better and evolve health systems that need to work differently in our “new normal.” We should focus on shifting the current healthcare paradigm from a model in which people are passive recipients of healthcare to one in which people become responsible for some of their own care. This would save a tremendous amount of money that could be reinvested in reimagining health systems. For instance, in the United States, approximately 10% of visits to doctors could be avoided by the use of appropriate non-prescription treatments and avoiding even half of those unnecessary visits would save up to $5.2 Billion annually. Imagine what could be done with this surplus of billions of dollars.
Non-traditional venues for healthcare: We need to bring healthcare to the people in need, instead of hoping people will find it. We’ll see this come to life in a few ways. First, virtual care will become even more accessible. Telehealth isn’t new, but we’ll see more healthcare providers offer remote options, more insurance and managed care systems encouraging it, and more tools becoming available for HCPs to ensure quality of care.
Second, we’ll see pharmacies and other retail locations becoming a center for healthcare. In many underserved communities these establishments are more accessible than a traditional healthcare provider. We’ll see the role of the pharmacist expand and the number of in-store healthcare providers increase, becoming a one-stop-shop for counsel and treatment.
In my mind, COVID-19 certainly has some silver linings, which we’ll see play out in 2021. Our global community has come together against the virus and can continue to do so to rebuild better and to accelerate sustained change.
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Silver Linings: Turning COVID-19 into an Opportunity for Sustained Impact in 2021
December 31, 2020
W
hile 2020 will be known for the pandemic, lockdowns, and the “new normal,” I predict 2021 will be known as the year of rebuilding, acceleration, and impact. Due to COVID-19, the world took a step backwards in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), wiping out about 25 years of work in about 25 weeks. While the impact of the pandemic has been life altering, the silver lining is that it has made building back sustainably even more relevant. The pandemic created an opportunity to think differently about how we’re tackling the world’s biggest challenges and how we build back better to expand access and ensure a more sustainable future for communities and the planet. We can think creatively about how we rebuild, to accelerate action, and to create lasting impact. 2021 will be about recommitting to and accelerating action against all of the SDGs, with a heightened focus on SDG3 access to healthcare, SDG 10 inequality, and SDG 13 climate change. Here are my predictions for how this will come to life in 2021.
Turbocharging ESG Commitments
We will see company commitments to ESG take new form, with sustainability truly becoming embedded into the fabric of how a company operates. Siloed sustainability strategies will become unacceptable as the stakeholders continue to grow. We can look at this across a number of audiences:
Investors: at the start of 2020, BlackRock sent a letter to CEOs stating sustainability would be at the center of their investment strategy going forward. Many other funds have followed suit. For the first time, The Wall Street Journal ranked “The Most Sustainably Managed Companies in the World,” which was decided based on how companies were adding long-term shareholder value based on the ESGs. In 2021, companies will need to embed sustainability, or they risk shareholders choosing other investments. At Bayer, sustainability targets have been integrated into the company strategy, as well as the remuneration systems of the Executive Board and management.
Consumers: Sixty-two percent of consumers think companies have the opportunity to be more thoughtful about how they incorporate sustainability into their business models moving forward. Consumers have always made their choices known with the pocketbooks, but when it came to sustainability, the focus was largely being green. We’ll see this shift in 2021, with consumers looking more broadly at climate change, as well as how a company incorporates societal goals (treatment of employees, supply chains, equality) and purpose into the way they do business.
Employees: Employees are demanding companies be governed by societal values. In fact, seventy-three percent of people believe their company can take specific actions that both increase profits and improve economic and social conditions in the communities where it operates. We saw the role equality plays in business values and culture take center stage in 2020. This will certainly continue into 2021 and will be magnified as employees look for their company to act, not just show support.
Governments: During the recent Climate Ambition Summit, 45 countries set more ambitious goals around climate action, including 24 net-zero emission commitments and 20 new adaptation and resilience plans. This included China’s commitment to lower its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by over 65% from 2005 levels by 2030 and the EU’s commitment to reduce GHG emissions by at least 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. Companies must take action in order to future proof their business.
SDG 3 Takes Center Stage
Health was the focus of 2020, but “for all” will be the emphasis in 2021. While health disparities are certainly not new, COVID-19 magnified these inequalities in healthcare, disproportionately impacting underserved communities. Attention should be placed on the systemic hurdles many communities face. This will come to life in a few ways:
The expansion of the healthcare continuum: Many people think of healthcare as the care they get from a doctor or hospital. As a society, we don’t put the same stock in the care we give ourselves at home to prevent and treat illness. We don’t think of that as healthcare. But it is. Self-care is about taking control of your own health, which includes all of the things you can do at home with or without the supervision of a healthcare provider. With more than half the world without basic and essential healthcare services, we need to teach people how to take care of themselves and enable access to self-care solutions.
A good example is the work the Indonesian government has done to create long-term micronutrient access and education. A few years ago, they recognized about a quarter of women of reproductive age had nutrient deficiencies and 30% of children were born stunted. Through partnership, they carved out significant resources from their health budget to help educate their communities about the importance of prenatal micronutrient supplementation and distributed interventions. The partners were able to help the government create infrastructure so they could embed this into their health system and now it is an ongoing program.
Evolution of health systems: COVID-19 has highlighted the fragility of existing healthcare systems. We have an opportunity to build back better and evolve health systems that need to work differently in our “new normal.” We should focus on shifting the current healthcare paradigm from a model in which people are passive recipients of healthcare to one in which people become responsible for some of their own care. This would save a tremendous amount of money that could be reinvested in reimagining health systems. For instance, in the United States, approximately 10% of visits to doctors could be avoided by the use of appropriate non-prescription treatments and avoiding even half of those unnecessary visits would save up to $5.2 Billion annually. Imagine what could be done with this surplus of billions of dollars.
Non-traditional venues for healthcare: We need to bring healthcare to the people in need, instead of hoping people will find it. We’ll see this come to life in a few ways. First, virtual care will become even more accessible. Telehealth isn’t new, but we’ll see more healthcare providers offer remote options, more insurance and managed care systems encouraging it, and more tools becoming available for HCPs to ensure quality of care.
Second, we’ll see pharmacies and other retail locations becoming a center for healthcare. In many underserved communities these establishments are more accessible than a traditional healthcare provider. We’ll see the role of the pharmacist expand and the number of in-store healthcare providers increase, becoming a one-stop-shop for counsel and treatment.
In my mind, COVID-19 certainly has some silver linings, which we’ll see play out in 2021. Our global community has come together against the virus and can continue to do so to rebuild better and to accelerate sustained change.
