I'm Shalini and I lead the topic
of sustainable food systems and nature-based solutions
in our Climate & Sustainability
and Social Impact practices at BCG.
Nature is already at the brink
and we've only begun to see the effects of climate change.
Many of these systems are failing.
Our food systems, for instance, were fragile to begin with
and while we made great advances in productivity
in the past few decades
with which we're now producing enough food
to feed the world, we still have a billion that are hungry.
Just a few shocks in a year or two,
a flood here or a drought there,
a geopolitical crisis somewhere,
it's brought on its knees,
creating a humanitarian crisis, a supply-chain crisis,
challenging access, quality, and affordability of food.
The same can be said for many natural systems
that are at strain,
the rivers and the oceans
that are at the brink with plastic waste,
the land and biodiversity challenges from deforestation.
In this context, only transformational change will work.
We will need to modify centuries-old traditions
on how we grow food.
We'll need to embrace some forgotten ideas on what we eat.
We will need to transform what and how we grow
and consume and wear.
In my role as the leader
of climate sustainability and societal impact
for consumer and retail companies,
what I see around the world is the tremendous opportunity
and impact that consumer and retail companies can have.
Many of the leading companies have bold ambitions,
really exciting initiatives,
that can support this transformation that is happening.
Companies can affect the way consumers think
about the products that we buy,
what we do with those products after we use them.
They can create resilient supply chains
that have lower carbon footprints.
They can create access to products
that are not reliant on deforestation
and don't result in loss of biodiversity.
What we see leading consumer and retail companies
to in this space is integrate sustainability
into the core of their business,
into every aspect of decision making.
They look at sustainability as a source of value creation,
as a way to drive advantage for their business,
not just as a cost,
and they invest in digital to create a robust backbone
and real transparency into sustainability
to be able to drive this transformation for their business.