Giving Compass' Take:

• Governments and companies are now pursuing their 2020 sustainability and climate action plans more urgently, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• What barriers remain for sustainability planning? How can donors work with government and corporate leaders to achieve climate goals? 

•  Read more on how COVID-19 may be helping climate efforts.

The pandemic has provided a wake-up call for companies and governments that were set to miss their 2020 sustainability targets, believes sustainability and risk management veteran Aida Greenbury.

It has forced them to speed up measures to address biodiversity loss, escalating emissions and other underlying causes of crises, said Greenbury. “When humans do not act, nature will,” she said. “Covid-19 has forced us to work harder to get back on track.”

Greenbury was recently appointed to global communications firm APCO Worldwide’s international advisory council, a group of more than 100 distinguished leaders around the world who provide counsel to businesses and governments. She previously served as managing director of sustainability at Asia Pulp & Paper Group for 13 years and led the global company’s efforts to shift to a new, responsible business model based on zero-deforestation.

In a wide-ranging conversation with James Yi, managing director of APCO Southeast Asia and Korea, Greenbury spoke about how countries and corporations can adopt circular bio-based economies and pursue inclusive growth.

You’re one of our newest members to the APCO international advisory council for Asia—a group comprised of more than 100 global leaders. Tell us what it’s been like.

Aida Greenbury, international advisory council member of APCO Worldwide. Image: Aida Greenbury
My background is in forestry and wood science, so knowledge about forests, biodiversity, climate change, social issues and natural resource industries has been drilled into me by my father, who was a forestry professor, and by many great leaders in my professional life. I’ve also been lucky enough to have held several interesting positions which addressed many major crises in this space throughout my career.

Read the full article about leaders in climate action by  Aida Greenbury and James Yi at Eco-Business.