INSIGHTS

Why Embracing Sustainability Can Be a Career Catalyst for CA Leaders

Discover how Roger Sharp, Chief Sustainability & Corporate Affairs Officer at BUPA APAC, developed a phased, democratised strategy and why he believes sustainability can elevate the roles of CA professionals.

Sustainability at Bupa Asia-Pacific has come a long way under Roger Sharp’s leadership. In 2019 the healthcare company’s sustainability efforts were relatively small, but the arrival of new Group CEO Iñaki Ereño marked a turning point when he made sustainability one of the key elements of Bupa’s new global strategy. “All of a sudden sustainability went from being a fringe part of what was then called CSR, to being a standalone, significant pillar of the business’s operations and commercial strategy globally,” he recalls. That elevation of sustainability as a priority led to it being represented at leadership team level and becoming part of his then role as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer.

His passion for the area was one driver behind the expanded role and the other was what he describes as “a natural fit” as the business felt there was an opportunity to drive the company’s narrative through its sustainability work. Roger warns against that being the sole focus though: “There are communications and PR benefits, but sustainability now has to be much more robust, rigorous and multifaceted than simply just a content driver for your comms.” 

A deliberate, phased strategy

In fact, the first 18-month phase of Bupa APAC’s sustainability strategy involved very little in the way of external communications. “We had to do the plumbing and the wiring of the thing we wanted to build,” explains Roger. “We couldn’t credibly go out and talk about decarbonisation and ambitions to be NetZero when we didn’t have the data, systems or processes set up.”

Putting in the hard work to get the basics in place isn’t easy but it is vital, he explains: “It’s the unsexy stuff, but it enables you to create the bedrock from which you can do more fundamental work around decarbonisation, waste management and engagement activities with the business. We couldn’t drive strategic change programmes until we could get the data and the verification right.” 

This phased approach is reflected more broadly across sustainability as leaders strive to make sure their work is trusted, verifiable and built on solid foundations. “What we’re seeing generally across the landscape is a focus on making sure that sustainability claims and ESG activity are rigorous and not greenwashing and that there’s a credibility to it, all of which is the right thing,” he says.

"It’s the unsexy stuff, but it enables you to create the bedrock from which you can do more fundamental work around decarbonisation, waste management and engagement activities with the business. We couldn’t drive strategic change programmes until we could get the data and the verification right.”

Focusing on three sustainability missions

Today, Roger leads a team of 45 across Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, tasked with external and internal comms and stakeholder engagement in addition to sustainability. Bupa’s sustainability strategy which started with a focus on robust and measurable de-carbonisation now encompasses three core “missions”:

  • Mission Zero: The aim to be a net zero carbon business by 2040
  • Mission Accelerate: Investments in innovation and technology to power sustainable healthcare
  • Mission Regenerate: Restoring and regenerating damaged natural environments

With the healthcare industry estimated to produce 4.4% of the world’s climate footprint — making it the fifth-largest emitter if it were a country — reducing emissions through ‘Mission Zero’ was a core priority. Bupa is now using 100% renewable electricity for operations across all three of its APAC countries and has even used its buying power to offer subsidised renewable retail electricity to its Australia-based employees.

“It’s one thing to say your offices, buildings and your footprint as a corporate is carbon neutral in terms of your direct energy usage,” says Roger. “But it gave me huge pride and also drove a lot of engagement to then be able to say to employees that if you want to make the switch at home, you can.” The switch to renewable electricity — alongside other measures such as energy usage reduction and replacing inefficient equipment — is a significant contributor to Bupa APAC’s estimated 75% reduction in direct emissions versus 2019.

Evolving sustainability through technology

With the current three-year sustainability strategy coming to an end, Roger and his team are working with Bupa colleagues globally to refresh their approach — a process he describes as more evolution than revolution. Leveraging technology and working with healthcare partners to be bigger and bolder will be a key part of their plans. With some Australians living many hours away from the nearest doctor, digital options can help them receive high-quality specialist care, advice and counselling and also cut out unnecessary carbon from travel. “Of course, some elements of health will remain hands-on and you can’t digitize it all,” he says. “But there is an immense opportunity from a health point of view and a sustainability point of view.”

Roger has no doubt that technology, data and AI are the biggest change agents in the sustainability space, but they are also ways to repair the damage done by technological advancements over many years. “Economic developments, technology and Western industrialisation got us into many of our current sustainability challenges and created much of the environmental damage which we’re now facing,” he says. “But I believe it’ll be economic advancement through green technology and smart AI that improves traditional processes which will help get us out of it. The challenge is we’re just running out of time and we need to move a bit faster than we’re doing at the moment.”

Prioritising impact over reporting

CA leaders moving into the sustainability space could feel daunted or unsure where to begin given the myriad of challenges and potential solutions. Roger’s advice is to start small and avoid getting caught up in anything that isn’t going to deliver a meaningful result. “In the beginning, focus on working with others to change your business for the better,” he says. “It can be small changes that you layer up over time, but don’t be distracted by some of the bureaucracy around modern-day sustainability roles.” 

One of these potential distractions is the growing level of compliance and reporting surrounding sustainability, something he feels has reached a tipping point given some corporate sustainability teams are spending more time and resources on gathering data and reporting than implementing meaningful change. “You have to drive the change first, then you have to ensure it’s credible and make sure the reporting can prove that it’s credible, but reporting in itself is not the end game,” he says. “Reporting is a by-product of driving the progressive change you need to make your organisation more sustainable. Sustainability in a modern business is fundamentally a change and transformation programme and that’s where you need to focus support and resources.”

“In the beginning, focus on working with others to change your business for the better,” he says. “It can be small changes that you layer up over time, but don’t be distracted by some of the bureaucracy around modern-day sustainability roles.”

Getting people on-side

To deliver the large-scale organisational change that sustainability represents involves getting people engaged and motivated at all levels of the business. It can’t be delivered by one team alone and your approach shouldn’t be adversarial, says Roger: “You need to meet people where they are. Put yourself in the shoes of others and ask yourself what their motivations are. There might be people who don’t want to go out and save the world, but they do want to solve a business problem and deliver great customer service.” 

Finding ways to connect, engage and motivate colleagues across the business — including through financial incentives linked to sustainability targets — has been fundamental to success. “Whether it’s problem-solving, making money, saving the world, getting involved with innovation or delivering something that customers believe in, you should find ways to plug sustainability in,” he adds. “When you do that you start to make sustainability something which the business owns, not just the sustainability team and that’s the secret.”

Having a deep level of understanding and empathy of others’ motivations — and what drives the bottom line — can help avoid sustainability being seen as “someone else’s job” or something that’s out on its own “saving the world,” he says. Being commercially savvy is a big part of that approach. “If you talk to finance teams about how we can run our business more efficiently — for example through reducing the cost of processing waste — they listen to you. If you say you’ve got to do this and it’s got a big cost attached to it, they tend not to listen to you.”  

This democratised approach means a small, central sustainability team can mobilise the power of a much larger network to drive change. Roger underlines this philosophy by describing his job title as “recyclable” when engaging with teams across the business. “The best thing I can do to make sustainability successful at Bupa is make everyone feel like it’s part of their job. If you want to put sustainability in your job title, then go for it. ‘Dental Clinic Receptionist and Chief Sustainability Officer,’ for example. 

Embracing sustainability to increase impact

For CA leaders looking to develop their careers, taking on responsibility for sustainability could be transformational and an opportunity to elevate the profession more broadly. Roger certainly sees the move into sustainability as being “a game changer” for his career development and strategic influence at the top table of the organisation. He also reflects on the COVID crisis as a time when many CA leaders were elevated to more senior, influential positions, but feels the profession as a whole hasn’t fully capitalised on the opportunity to build on that platform.

He encourages other CA leaders to take on sustainability if they’re looking to get ahead: “It inherently builds reputation, it puts you right in the centre of many business-critical issues and helps with learning and career development because it’s such a dynamic and changing space.” More broadly, it’s also an area where you can feel your work is making a tangible difference to the health of the planet and the communities living on it, he says: “It’s good for the soul. When you’ve finished working you want to feel like you’ve made some positive impact on the world and there’s no better place to do that than in sustainability.”

“If you talk to finance teams about how we can run our business more efficiently — for example through reducing the cost of processing waste — they listen to you. If you say you’ve got to do this and it’s got a big cost attached to it, they tend not to listen to you.”

Andrews Partnership are the reputation experts, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney working globally, as the leading specialist corporate affairs, communications, sustainability/ESG and investor relations executive search firm. We excel at understanding each organisation's unique challenges and appointing the right talent, who make meaningful business impact.