Corporate Citizenship in the Global South During COVID-1: Part 1 – Africa. In Part 1 of this 4-part series, Jeff Hoffman, Institute Leader of Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy, speaks with Dorcas Onyango, Head of Sustainability, Southern & East Africa Business Unit, Coca-Cola, and Ruth Lewin, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Discovery Limited, to learn how their companies are navigating the pandemic and providing critical support throughout the continent.

This blog is based on the April 22, 2020 webcast How COVID-19 Might Impact Consumers’ Attitudes about Sustainability, hosted by The Conference Board. Some responses have been edited and condensed for this format. To view the entirety of the webinar or download the presentation click here.

From Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock to the Gates Foundation, leaders from the investment and philanthropic worlds are making public and bold statements about climate change. Paul Washington, head of the ESG Center, speaks with Carl Pope, former Executive Director & Chairman of the Sierra Club and Satyajit Bose, Columbia University Professor about the roles of asset managers and philanthropists in addressing climate change.

For the nonprofit sector, the disruption from COVID-19 has created a new set of challenges. In addition to the government response, what role should businesses play during this crisis to support charitable organizations and communities most in need? Lindsay Beltzer, Program Manager of The Conference Board’s ESG Center, chats with corporate citizenship and nonprofit leaders on how businesses and nonprofits are coming together and evolving their partnership models in the face of the pandemic.

Today, we find ourselves in one of the most disruptive periods in modern history. Public discussion about ESG has taken the backseat to surviving and getting through the COVID-19 pandemic. This podcast explores how corporate communications can support your company’s ESG initiatives, and how to use ESG to guide your company through the COVID-19 crisis response.

Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School Professor and author discusses her new book, ‘Reimaging Capitalism in a World on Fire,’ which explores why we need to, and how we can, build a more profitable, equitable, and sustainable capitalism.

Dottie Schindlinger from the Diligent Institute interviews with Paul Washington, Executive Director of the Environmental, Social & Governance Center at The Conference Board, about climate change, where it ranks as a priority for CEOs and Directors, and the potential impact of Larry Fink’s letter to CEOs and the Davos Manifesto on corporate disclosures and practices.

There are over 40,000 cases of coronavirus, concentrated in China, but the outbreak is now reaching over two dozen countries across the globe. A health crisis like this demands a government response, but what is the corporate response? Paul Washington, head of The Conference Board’s Environmental, Social and Governance Center, chats with a team of experts on how corporate social responsibility (CSR) leaders worldwide are marshalling resources to respond to this health crisis.

With government regulation lagging, technological outcomes depend on how businesses develop and apply them. It’s important that companies fill that gap by complementing their digital transformation journey with a governance arrangement that drives ethics and builds trust.

Companies conduct materiality assessment to identify, refine and assess potential environmental, social and governance issues which are sufficiently important that they should inform corporate sustainability strategy and reporting. The Conference Board surveyed 50 senior sustainability executives to examine the current trends of materiality practices.