How companies in Latin America are embedding sustainability amid shifting dynamics

In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we're on the ground in Mexico City, Mexico, to explore how companies in Latin America are embedding sustainability into their business strategies amid shifting market dynamics and new regulations.

We speak with Mauricio Bonilla, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Mexico, on the sidelines of the organization's annual Business Meeting for Sustainability, which took place in June.

The UN Global Compact is a voluntary corporate sustainability initiative involving more than 20,000 companies across 160 countries. Participating companies have committed to operate responsibly in line with sustainability principles on human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption, and to support the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

UN Global Compact Mexico is a country-level network of the UN Global Compact, and Mauricio explains how the network is working with companies of all sizes to drive sustainable business practices.

We also sit down with three UN Global Compact Mexico participant companies:

-Alejandro De Keijser, Director of Energy and Sustainability at Mexico-based Grupo DEACERO, a steel manufacturer with global operations.

-Alfonso Martínez, CEO of Industrias Marves, a Mexico-based textile recycling company.

-Tania Rabasa Kovacs, Orbia's Chief Sustainability Officer, Vice President of Corporate Affairs and President of Orbia Mexico. Mexico-based Orbia operates in more than 50 countries and focuses on several business lines.

Tania outlines challenges companies in Latin America face. This includes balancing the need for positive financial returns in the short term with longer term sustainability objectives; navigating regulatory uncertainty; adapting to the physical impacts of climate change; and ensuring local communities and economies benefit from the company's operations.

At the same time, she says: "Nobody is really giving up because the cost of inaction is much higher than that of the transformation."

Read the latest edition of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) adoption tracker from S&P Global Sustainable1 here.

Learn more about S&P Global Sustainable1's Physical Climate Risk data.

This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1 and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

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