The growing role executives have in sustainability: Pip Marlow, CEO ANZ, Salesforce

The amount of interest and dialogue coming from the board and c-suite around ESG, especially sustainability has elevated according to Pip Marlow, CEO ANZ and ASEAN at Salesforce.

Marlow spoke to Digital Nation Australia on how the board and c-suite are tackling sustainability.

She said years prior, sustainability was pushed more by employees, now its embraced by executives too.

“It is a C suite in a boardroom discussion, and people are saying, what are we as an organisation doing around that? We are starting to see more stakeholder philosophies, not just shareholder philosophies,” she said.

Marlow said people are thinking not just about their own footprint, but their partners.

“How do they measure what they're doing themselves, being accountable, setting targets, being accountable for what they control themselves, but extending those discussions to how the whole supply chain is working,” she explained.

“They're choosing partners who have similar goals or values around sustainability. It is changing in the organisations that companies do business with.”

Those executives and board members who talk a big game about sustainability but do nothing, shows their commitment to the issue, Marlow explained.

“Show me your wallet and your calendar, where you spend your time and where you spend your money and I'll tell you what you really care about. If you are not putting time and money into sustainability, then I do question how deep your commitment goes,” she said.

“In my experience, be it gender equity or policies that allow for better diversity in your workplace. If you care about it, you invest in those policies.”

She added, “That's why we've been giving people 26 weeks paid parental leave for some time. That's why we've done new trans benefits to support people in their life choice and in that transition. Those cost our company money, but because we believe in the diversity and the outcomes, we do it.”

Marlow said because she and Salesforce believes in the climate crisis, they want to put time, effort and money into protecting the planet.

She said, “The planet is one of our stakeholders, we put time and money into supporting that stakeholder. That's the difference to me with some of the greenwashing or tokenism.

“I'm sure it exists, but you don't have to scratch the surface very far to find that because they're not setting science-based targets, they're not holding themselves accountable to it.”