Frequently Asked Questions
What sets Affirmative apart?
Affirmative empowers your subject matter experts to Do Better with confidence. We hear a lot about what you “should” be doing, but Affirmative ensures you are making the right moves at the right time; for your company. That means that we help you to understand how to align your sustainability programming with your corporate core values. We ensure your stakeholders are not only a part of the process, but that they are receiving the information they need to trust and to love your product.
What is meant by “climate-risk”?
As global temperatures rise, the effects of volatile weather patterns, sea level rise and biodiversity loss, will have an immediate and devastating impact on how and where populations exist. This may affect the way you are able to operate your business. Affirmative will help you understand, assess and manage your climate risks. We’ll help you apply Science Based Targets for a Net Zero transition. There are many steps we can take to reduce our emissions footprints in line with the Paris Agreement. Let’s ensure that your business is protected, so you can continue to create a responsible product that benefits our world.
What exactly is Sustainability?
“Development that meets the needs of today, without compromising the needs of future generations”
“Sustainability” is a noun. It’s a concept. It’s about more than emissions reductions. Sustainability encompasses all of the factors that will result from our changing climate. From demand for new resources, to a transition of worker skills in fulfilling new markets, to creating an economy that is self-sustaining (or circular) and it serves to Do Better.
Affirmative helps you focus on the longterm economic viability of your company — after all, how do we do well for each other and our planet if we are unable to make impacts? These days, that means that we need to understand our climate risks. Affirmative will help you to set achievable targets and a great set of rules (your “governance structure”) for how you will operate more efficiently. We’re also going to have to manage the changes that happen as the demand for certain types of products changes. This also means certain sectors will see tremendous growth opportunities. We need to effectively manage people and our natural resources and how they all interact.
For now, we’ll achieve this by creating transparency. We need to be honest about not only our positive and negative impacts, but we also need to come up with a plan for the future and we need to shout it from the rooftops. Affirmative will help you to manage all of this, so that you can be a part of the global evolution.
More than “just” environmentalism; sustainability refers to the “triple bottom line” of people, planet and profit:
What are Economic Reporting disclosures?
Corporate longevity depends upon economic stability. First and foremost, we need to ensure that we are maintaining an economically viable business. Affirmative will help you to understand international best practices as well as the how social & environmental impacts affect your bottomline. Did you know that how you pay your workers (including savings & benefits), your economic impact on the local community (procuring local goods & services and developing local infrastructure) and the ethical approach your business takes, are all economic sustainability disclosures that you could be reporting?
We want to ensure that we are making positive impacts on the people our companies reach — from our employees, to our local community, to our investors, to our customers, as well as empowering our suppliers & distributors. Ensuring we’re representing, as well as reaching, a diverse set of stakeholders is imperative in protecting our planet from the effects of climate change. Let’s work together to create education and equal opportunity for everyone. Some social factors are as qualitative as they are quantitative. We want to draw a roadmap describing how we will accomplish our economic goals while protecting our environment. That starts with ensuring we are treating each other respectfully.
What are Societal Reporting disclosures?
But our company is too small to worry about this stuff…right?
WRONG! Get yourself ahead of the curve — we call this “future-proofing.” As public companies are increasingly required to disclose their impacts, they are evaluating their own corporate risks. This means, they want to understand more about the companies they are working with. If your product lifecycle touches any public entity, from other corporations, to government to financial institutions, you will be required to answer these same questions about your own climate risks. Banks are adjusting lending rates based on their understanding of the emissions you create. Insurers are limiting resources for high-climate-risk clients. This will lead to supply chain issues whether you are hoping to reach or provide materials through public partners. You are never too small and it is never too soon to consider your climate risks.
What about Greenwashing?
Many corporations are afraid to make a statement in case they are accused of “greenwashing” or misrepresenting the extent to which their strategies are sustainable. Greenwashing distorts relevant information, eroding the customer’s confidence and obscuring their ability to make informed decisions. Genuine disclosures are honest, inclusive, complete and accurate. Affirmative will give you the confidence to make thorough, substantiated and informed statements about your sustainability processes. We’ll help you to identify your blindspots and ensure that you are telling the whole story.
What are Certifications & Frameworks?
We’ll help you understand the options that exist for disclosing your sustainability programming. Let’s ensure you are achieving certifications for the right reasons — this way you can maximize the return you get for your efforts. Not every certification is for every company, but every company has options for validating their efforts.
Why work with Affirmative?
Our Sustainability managers work across all sectors and sizes of companies. This means we know what’s out there. We will empower your subject-matter experts with the best possible strategies, ensure you are aware of your blindspots and ease your climate transition in a cost-effective manner. Why pay more to train full-time staff when Affirmative offers cost-effective access to Certified Sustainability Professionals today?
These are the factors most people think about when they think of sustainability: emissions, waste disposal, water handling, energy usage and biodiversity conservation. These are all very important factors that form the baseline for our corporate sustainability strategy. The old adage goes “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.” Let’s ensure we are seamlessly tracking environmental data through our operations, so that we can make great decisions about managing our impacts.
What are Environmental Reporting disclosures?
Do Better.