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Blog | Tuesday October 7, 2025

The CSDDD: Implications for the Tech Sector

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Apurv Gupta

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Peter Herweck

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Peter Herweck is a seasoned business leader in technology, industrial automation, and digital transformation. He served as CEO of Schneider Electric (2023–2024) and AVEVA (2021-2023), and previously held senior leadership roles at Siemens, as well Schneider Electric. Throughout his career, he has led global organizations through significant transformation, with a strong emphasis on innovation, sustainability, and performance. He serves on several international boards across the technology and industrial sectors, like Teradyne Corp., Pragmatic Semiconductor Ltd, and others. As Chairman of BSR, he brings his experience to advancing sustainable business and strengthening responsible corporate practices.

Blog | Thursday October 2, 2025

Climate Week 2025: The World Shows Up at A Critical Time

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2025 has been a roller coaster ride for sustainable business, and for action on climate in particular. With so many questions swirling, many of us wondered a few months ago who would come to Climate Week NYC and what level of commitment they would bring.

While Climate Week did not magically solve the many economic, policy, cultural, technological challenges we face, it did deliver a solid rejoinder to those who have declared the end to the energy and ambition that has laid the foundation for progress over the past several years. As we’ve heard from our partners at The Climate Group, this year’s Climate Week was the biggest in its 16-year history, with more than 1,000 events, a high level of government participation, and a noteworthy level of business engagement. Many of us are walking away from this year’s edition of Climate Week with more cause for optimism and hope than we entered it.

First of all, the world showed up. In the spring, many people responded to political changes in the U.S. by expressing their reservations about coming to New York. Some preferred to show up—and they did!—at other events, such as London Climate Action Week. For those of us who felt it was important for the world to show its commitment to climate action on U.S. soil, it was gratifying to see participants from so many corners of the world. Going solely by the diverse turnout at the CSO dinner BSR hosted for its members, representing companies from Asia, Europe, and the U.S., the worries that people would stay away (mostly) didn’t come to pass.

Second, the dialogues were more candid than in past years. At past Climate Weeks, companies, non-profits, investors, and governments expressed optimism bordering on triumphalism. Events suggested unstoppable progress, and a “What, me worry?” mindset that often minimized or ignored the thorny challenges to achieving a Paris-aligned future. Not this year. CSOs, journalists, BSR, and our peer organizations stepped right into the hard questions about why momentum has stalled and why progress toward a 1.5°C future was looking far more challenging. This is mostly a function of the realities of the world in 2025, but it felt far more “real” than in past years. 

Third, the hard questions were tackled. With fewer splashy public events, there was considerably more effort put into quiet dialogues that addressed the hardest questions head on. I welcomed the opportunity, for example, to engage with a diverse group discussing how to address climate in a way that can be supported across the political spectrum. I also had numerous discussions with CSOs about how they are navigating a less forgiving environment inside their companies, with budgets shrinking and executive support declining or distracted.  The impact of AI—positive and negative—was taken up frequently by both developers and deployers. Continuing a theme from throughout 2025, the sustainable business community is tackling the need to paint a picture for the public that emphasizes the way sustainability makes life better in tangible ways. Too often, we’ve fallen short of that mark. It is high time we look in the mirror and start to communicate in ways that more people can appreciate and embrace.

Finally, the world is accepting the challenge of making progress on climate change without the support of the U.S. government and with global cooperation fragmenting. The macropolitical situation has changed. The world cannot take for granted a fully functioning multilateral system. The fate of COP30—and the COP system generally—is highly uncertain. Geopolitics have transformed global energy priorities from climate action to energy security. The slow but steady drive to convergence in rules and regulations has lost its momentum, and in many ways has gone into reverse. Last but not least, the U.S. government, at least at the federal level, has resolutely walked away from climate action in both rhetoric and policy, while seeking to dismantle the tools needed for future administrations to respond to climate change. While all these developments are regrettable (or worse), it was very clear that most businesses are getting on with things. And in some corners, there is a growing acknowledgement that while the world may have become disillusioned with climate politics, it has pivoted to being more concerned with the climate economy.

In retrospect, perhaps the past Climate Week gatherings suffered from the “irrational exuberance” that former U.S. Chair of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan famously used to describe a frothy stock market. This year, while there were reasons for optimism, it would be a mistake to glide past the very real challenges facing more rapid progress on climate. That said, everyone was more clear-eyed about the challenges we face—and dedicated to keep pushing forward with determination to make the progress we need in spite of the conditions we face. This may just reflect a necessary maturation that will deliver more of the results that we all need.

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Adrian Monck

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Case Studies | Wednesday October 1, 2025

Developing a Financial Resilience Program with a Corporate Foundation

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Introduction 

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and The Estée Lauder Companies Charitable Foundation (ELCCF) worked with BSR to pilot, develop, and scale a bespoke financial literacy program to equip women shea nut collectors and processors across the Ghanaian shea supply chain with the tools needed to better manage their finances. Over a five-year period, this program yielded significant positive impacts for the women and communities, as well as participating companies.  

Background 

The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. (ELC) is a major global manufacturer of cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, and haircare products. With gender equality at the core of its values, ELC is committed to supporting the next generation of leaders, creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Through ELCCF’s global partnerships, the company helps connect women and girls with education, skills training, leadership development, and career placements. 

The Challenge 

An integral ingredient in many ELC products, shea butter is derived from the nuts of shea trees that grow almost exclusively across sub-Saharan Africa’s “shea belt,” with Ghana among the leading producing countries. Women working in the shea sector occupy a critical position within the global shea supply chain, but they have been unable to gain financial security through their work. Their labor is essential: women perform the majority of all shea nut collection and shea butter processing in the value chain, yet their access to economic opportunities and financial services is limited.  

The sector is characterized by informality, limited access to capacity-building opportunities, a seasonal income cycle subject to global market volatility, and difficulties in finding other income sources during the off-season. Even during the shea collection season, market fluctuations leave women collectors and processors exposed to agricultural and financial shocks, which are further exacerbated as changes in biodiversity and climate affect the yield of shea trees and the amount of nuts that can be collected from these trees each year. These dynamics drive the need for secondary income activities to smooth earnings, both during the season and particularly during the off-season. 

Altogether, these factors create financial precarity for women workers, impeding their ability to engage in formal markets, build financial assets, and navigate periods of economic stress. 

Shea is an important raw material in the cosmetics industry, so empowering women working in this sector presented an ideal opportunity to advance ELCCF’s commitment to women’s development with action on a key material. Since identifying this opportunity, ELCCF and BSR have worked together for four years to develop and implement financial resilience training programs for women working in the shea sector in Ghana.  

BSR’s Approach 

BSR’s work on this program first started in January 2021. The pilot phase took place over two years and started with an in-depth scoping study conducted with local stakeholders. This identified key needs of women shea workers, specifically that financial resilience was both a critical need and enabler of empowerment for these women, helping to shape a program that would be tailored to women’s lived realities. Consequently, BSR developed and piloted a training-based approach in two shea cooperatives, focused on building financial literacy through modules on savings, budgeting, and financial planning, as well as talking about finances with trainees’ families.  

Following the pilot, BSR partnered with ELCCF to expand the program to both existing and new partners, reaching additional cooperatives and communities. To maximize reach and impact, BSR worked with our implementation partner, Pure Trust Social Investors Foundation, and two Ghana-based shea suppliers, Global Shea Alliance (GSA) and Savannah Fruits Company (SFC), to trial different training and engagement models, while also partnering with a local microloan service to embed gender and savings information into trainings delivered during loan disbursements. Key messages were further amplified through a local radio station to engage women in remote areas. BSR is now building the business case for financial resilience by developing a data collection approach to capture tangible benefits for participating brands and suppliers. Through 2025, the program will continue to advance uptake by working with and training additional partners. 

Recognizing the need for improved financial resilience across the sector, BSR launched a practical guidance toolkit for organizations interested in replicating the trainings to maximize reach and scale. BSR encourages buyers, suppliers, and NGOs operating in the shea sector to use the toolkit to boost the financial resilience of women workers. 

Impact 

“Since 2006, our primary commitment has been to position women at source as co-creators, not beneficiaries. This project with BSR and ELCCF exposes financial resilience as a vital component for achieving this goal: it builds women's abilities to more confidently negotiate and to better navigate debt cycles and ongoing financial burden. We plan on continuing this training to further reinforce our commitment to building ethical sourcing relationships.”

- Raphael Gonzalez, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Savannah Fruits Company (SFC)

To date, the program has engaged more than 8,000 women shea nut collectors and processors in more than 90 shea cooperatives and communities. Surveys delivered both before and after the trainings revealed significant improvement in core financial management practices among women workers, including increased savings (an average of 96% of interviewed women now save every month), more consistent budgeting (an average of 75% of women interviewed now track both their income and expenses, compared to 21% at baseline), greater willingness to engage in financial dialogue at the family level, and better preparedness for income fluctuations and unforeseen expenses.  

Additionally, women described increased self-confidence and accountability, higher participation in household financial decisions, and strengthened investments in their shea work as well as supplementary business and income streams. Perhaps most striking were the broader ripple effects: increased collective investments in community infrastructure, such as water pipelines, and intergenerational change, as children began practicing some of the financial behaviors learned by their mothers via these trainings. In addition, many women participants have either established new businesses or expanded existing income-generating activities, applying the financial planning and resilience strategies gained through the training to entrepreneurial ventures. 

These outcomes highlight the program’s role in fostering not just individual empowerment, but also more resilient and economically vibrant communities. Community benefits have included growth in entrepreneurial activities, investments in community infrastructure improvements, and an increase in local savings groups that help members pool resources for emergencies and invest in small businesses.  

"This program demonstrates the impact that is possible when we align the expertise of partners like BSR with the commitment of local communities. What began as a pilot in Ghana is now becoming a blueprint for embedding financial resilience in ingredient supply chains. By centering women’s voices and needs, we are not only strengthening the shea sector but also helping to shape more equitable and sustainable practices across the industry."

- Mindi DeLeary, Vice President, Responsible Sourcing, Sustainability, and Upstream Procurement, The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.

The program illustrates the value of investing in upstream supply chain actors. Financially resilient workers are better positioned to sustain their livelihoods and express higher job satisfaction, thereby enhancing productivity and contributing to long-term sourcing stability. 

Conclusion 

Integrating contextual and gender-responsive approaches into supply chain sustainability strategies can help address barriers women face with tailored solutions, and also help to meet tangible business outcomes, such as improved productivity and retention, as well as more consistent and reliable supply. By investing in women’s financial resilience, companies can contribute to more inclusive and equitable value chains while reinforcing the operational resilience of key sourcing geographies. 

BSR encourages all stakeholders operating in the shea sector, including buyers, suppliers, and development actors, to leverage the financial resilience toolkit and join us in scaling proven approaches that support women’s economic empowerment and responsible sourcing outcomes. For more information on improving financial resilience within your value chains, please contact BSR’s Supply Chain Sustainability team.  

Reports | Tuesday September 30, 2025

Integrating Nature within Climate Scenarios

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As climate change and its impacts intensify, business is increasingly turning to scenario analysis to assess risks, build resilience, and meet disclosure requirements. Yet most approaches do not integrate nature into their considerations, despite its profound influence on economies, societies, and ecosystems. 

To address this gap, BSR has begun embedding nature considerations into its four climate scenarios. These depict how policy alignment, technology, and biodiversity protection measures define the futures of climate and nature, providing the basis for developing actionable business strategies integrating both themes. Without addressing both climate and nature equally, achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework and Net Zero 2050 targets—critical for reversing biodiversity loss, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and safeguarding long-term business resilience—will be extremely difficult. 

Companies can continue to use BSR’s Climate Scenarios to bolster their climate strategies, while those looking to weave together climate and nature can use Integrating Nature within Climate Scenarios to understand how connections between the two affect and reshape material risks and opportunities to their business. 

As knowledge and data systems evolve, BSR will update this approach, ultimately releasing fully integrated climate-nature scenarios. By making the connections between climate, nature, and business explicit, these scenarios can help companies understand how they both depend on and impact nature in a changing climate, identify relevant risks and opportunities, and strengthen resilience.

Insights+ | Tuesday September 23, 2025

ESRS Revisions Mark a Turning Point Toward Principle-Based Reporting, With Open Questions

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Reports | Friday September 19, 2025

From Climate Science to Corporate Strategy

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Over the past decade, financial practices and climate science have converged to a point where the materiality of climate risk can be quantified with increasing precision. Long‑standing financial disciplines, such as corporate finance, access and cost of debt, and corporate performance measurement, now intersect with advances in climate science, scenario design, and impact modeling. How can Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) best reconcile the complexity and uncertainty in climate science with preserving and creating shareholder value?  

In this paper, BSR provides a quantitative framework that translates scenario‑based climate drivers into financial outcomes. Combining scenarios from the Network for Greening the Financial System, macroeconomic models, and hazard datasets with established financial principles, the framework links transition and physical climate risks to the cash flow, capital expenditure, and risk metrics used for capital planning, performance targets, and board reporting—making climate risk measurable in the same terms that guide financial decisions.

Going beyond compliance with emerging disclosure requirements, the methodology can help support internal discussions on strategy, resilience, and capital allocation. With this approach, CFOs and CSOs can see how plausible climate futures may affect enterprise value and communicate those findings clearly to their boards. 

Reports | Wednesday September 17, 2025

Harnessing AI in Sustainability: Emerging Use Cases

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