It has exactly been a year and five months since we’ve been embracing the ‘new normal’ under the name of COVID-19. Even after countless measures and efforts undertaken by governments and health organizations, the pandemic still looms at large. COVID-19 has changed our lifestyles in some of the most unimaginable ways. But, what it has probably affected the most are entire Economies around the world. Initially, the outbreak began with a state of panic around the globe. The demand shot up as the supply chain was affected, with people trying to stock everything up for themselves. This particular event initiated a Domino Effect and influenced the key areas.

Share Market: Every industry in the world experienced a plunging dip in their respective share prices and caused a global flux. But there was an exception amongst these sectors. While every industry in the world continued to struggle, the Pharmaceutical sector reached its peak, and rightly so.

Jobs: It was one of the worst affected sectors due to the pandemic. According to Asia-Pacific Employment and Social Outlook 2020, the economic backlash of the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out some 81 million jobs in 2020. There are still uncertainties as organizations have adapted to the changing circumstances leading to a reduction in the job roles. The number of new job opportunities is distressed in most countries as a result, a majority of them are in a recession.

Travel: With flights being cancelled by the airlines and fliers/travellers cancelling business trips and vacations, the travel industry got severely damaged. In 2020, the number of flights worldwide plummeted, and it is still a long way from recovery. Emerging variants of the virus only made countries enforce stringent restrictions. Travel restrictions are unlikely to be relaxed anytime soon.

Hospitality: Amid the initial scare of the virus, restaurants, bars, hotels saw fewer and fewer customers every passing day before countries went into complete lockdown. Millions of jobs were lost in the hospitality industry, as many businesses went bankrupt. The global tourism industry crumbled down losing billions of dollars. According to analysts, the forecast for 2021 appears to be improving but, travel and tourism will not return to pre-pandemic levels until about 2025.

Shopping: One of the worst impacts of this pandemic was toward in-store shopping. Shoppers stayed at home and preferred to purchase online, causing retail footfall to plummet. The notion of window shopping was lost when the volume of pedestrians decreased due to the surge in cases.

Pharmaceutical Companies: Pharmaceutical firms triumphed and benefited the most in this unforeseen race against time and adversity. Vaccines and treatment options for Covid-19 received billions of dollars in pledges from governments all over the world. Some pharmaceutical firms involved in vaccine development saw their stock prices rise.

Economic disturbances like the 2020 coronavirus pandemic occur only every few generations and cause lasting and far-reaching changes. The global economy has been devastated by this pandemic. Developed countries have pumped unprecedented amounts of fiscal stimulus into the economy, driving public debt ratios to a new high. Meanwhile, long-term development prospects remain bleak, raising concerns about the sustainability of such high debt levels and the global ramifications of the current scenario.

In terms of growth, the global economy is well on its road to recovering from a downturn that few of the world’s 7.7 billion people have witnessed in their lifetimes. Vaccines have speeded the recovery in 2021. Other Covid-19 legacies, on the other hand, will affect global prosperity for years to come.

Apparently, the Diwali festivities have completely come to a dead end, but the smog and pollution problems of Delhi hasn’t. The overall air quality index (AQI) of Delhi, as recorded by the Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB), still remains ‘poor’.
Earlier, vindication for such poor quality of air was given to bursting of Diwali crackers and stubble burning in neighbouring states. But those who’ve been to Delhi or those who live in Delhi are already familiar with the pollution problems which this city faces. Meager bursting of crackers and stubble burning can’t lead to sudden deterioration of air quality.

The other factors causing NCR’s pollution woes include biomass burning, rising vehicular emissions, and industrial pollution; power plants and restaurants being major offenders. Accumulated dust, ‘trapped’ when there are no winds, from large-scale construction work is another major pollutant. The Graded Response Action Plan was implemented to traverse this menace, by temporarily banning construction sites, diesel generators and waste-burning, alongside ‘odd-even’ car rationing, mechanized watering of roads, and closure of brick kilns and stone crushers. But these solutions lack long-term implications.
A lot of improvement needs to be done to make the environment a better place to live. Reduced use of coal and increased investments in renewable energy, reduced infield burning, and wise crop residue management through alternative uses, quotas to limit new vehicles and retiring old polluting vehicles, while strengthening the mass rapid transport system, a greening drive in the form of setting up urban forests and parks, a potential congestion cess, and buildings having internal green belts to purify air are the solutions which experts suggest.
Suggesting these solutions is easy but the execution of these solutions is where another challenge lies. With strict supervision, vigilant inspections and prompt penalties for any breaches, proper policy coordination between Delhi and its neighbouring states. And most importantly, with the shedding of the smog of lethargic behaviour of authorities, tackling air pollution problem will become easier and will ensure a safer living environment for all the living beings in the city.

Businesses are founded and run for economic purposes. The development of sustainable strategies requires the linking of sustainability to the creation of shareholder value. To link shareholder (economic) value with environmental or social value creation requires the development of a business case for sustainability. This produces a situation where enhanced economic success is achieved with positive social and/or environmental impacts. The link between sustainability and business benefit is not automatic, meaning that strategic business objectives must be purposefully linked to and oriented towards sustainability.

After the Industrial Revolution, business owners across the globe didn’t spend too much time stressing about their potential impact on the planet and its people. The rise of industrialization was a game-changing catalyst for technology, trade, and convenience. Over the last few decades amidst the rise in devastating natural disasters, labor scandals, massive oil spills, and trash-islands floating across the ocean, consumers and businesses started paying attention to the practices each business performs no matter what the industry they are in.

Businesses now frame their strategy not only for mere profitability but also take various decisions considering the sustainable way their main organization functions perform.
Sometimes the way the consumers behave is how businesses function. If we as consumers do not buy products wrapped in plastics, businesses will start packaging them in eco-friendly ways, and there’s a possibility of the alternative solutions being available at cheaper prices because of the economics of scale. Here are few ways by which sustainable business strategies are being followed and we as earth-habitants can also practice a few of them in our daily lives.

WITHIN THE OFFICE

1. Go paperless – Do not take printouts or paper copies unless necessary. The Indian Government too has been promoting this and you can almost get all your official government work done online without using a single paper. Biometric verification methods have come in handy where you do not need to take a printout to sign pages and tonnes of paper documents.

2. Ditch the plastic – Switch to metal bottles in your meeting rooms. Start buying from vendors who only provide you goods in eco-friendly packaging.

3. Recycle – Recycle your e-waste as well. In this age of digital devices, and the frequency we change them due to newer technologies every day, recycling them also provides businesses the metals they would need at a cheaper cost than having to make them from scratch.

PRODUCTION
Limit overproduction and reduce waste: With newer technologies coming in every day, mass production of objects and discarding them when they don’t get sold is not the right business approach. Fortunately, software with business intelligence helps us with the right data to make decisions to produce just as much that is needed.

SUPPLY CHAIN
Depending on your industry, and the depth of your supply chain, it is necessary to determine the ethics, trade, and practices from where your raw materials come from especially across cross borders. Few companies have been time and again facing this difficulty especially in the cosmetics industry. . To make a more sustainable business and supply chain, you need to understand how your suppliers extract or produce raw materials, and more difficultly, if these suppliers have ethical labor and trade practices in action
Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology allow businesses to take a closer look at vendor and supplier procurement practices, as well as monitor and report on environmental and working conditions.

LOGISTICS
Electric vehicles in catching up at a fast pace and businesses are moving towards using them across their logistic fleet as well. But the problem still exists when products are used in cargo ships and air cargo and the amount of pollution they cause. It is a problem that is yet to be tackled but businesses still use techniques such as route optimization and space optimization to make use of the available space to deliver as much as possible

FEW ORGANISATIONS WHICH HELP BUSINESSES MAKE SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY DECISIONS

– The Sustainability Consortium (TSC)
– World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
– The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB)
– CDP
– Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

Even the smallest changes can help make the biggest impacts. If you’re practicing even one of the business sustainability strategies, both in your personal or your professional life, your efforts are valuable, and you are making a difference. Be proud of yourself, of your company, of your supply chain, of your profits, of your community, and, of course, be proud of your planet.