A Meeting Of The Minds On Sustainability
Community and philanthropy have always been part of Orion’s core DNA, but this year we are particularly focused on sustainability. We have adopted many mindful practices ourselves to reduce our carbon footprints, but sustainability has also been a passion project for Orion’s CEO, Yacov Wrocherinsky.
Yacov wanted to do more and became inspired to ignite sustainability practices to fellow CEOs. As a board member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) NYC Chapter he became a co-chairman and champion for the Sustainability Initiative Pledge for YPO NYC Chapter members, calling for commitment and action. Last month surrounding the UNGA Climate Summit, he partnered with a large UNGA sponsor, Salesforce, to help organize a Climate Action Reception where his fellow YPO members and special guests were able to join together with high level NGO representatives, elected officials, and VIP friends of Salesforce to discuss the important topic of climate change and sustainability.
The Climate Action Reception was held on the Ohana floor at the Salesforce Tower Bryant Park with breathtaking views of NYC and hosted by Suzanne DiBianca, Executive VP & Chief Impact Officer at Salesforce, Michael Hartman, SVP Financial Services & Healthcare/Life Sciences Salesforce, and Eric Eyken-Sluyters, SVP Retail & Consumer Goods Salesforce.
The reception created a space for the invited guests to participate in their own conversations followed by special speakers Arianna Huffington, Alexandria Villasenor, and Paul Polman.
Host Suzanne DiBianca with speakers (left to right) Paul Polman, Alexandria Villasenior, and Arianna Huffington
Arianna Huffington, CEO of Thrive Global, spoke about the need to address burnout and stress at a company level instead of managing to “short-termism” so employees can be healthier.
Fourteen-year-old activist, Alexandria Villaseñor, spoke of her journey to understanding the need for climate change action after being removed from her home in California because of its proximity to the wildfires and the exacerbating of her asthma. She is a follower of the Fridays for Future movement and of fellow climate activist Greta Thunberg as well as the founder of Earth Uprising.
Paul Polman is the co-founder of Imagine, whose foundation and corporation aims to help companies meet UN global goals for sustainable development. He recited sobering statistics about the unbalance of wealth and the fact that there is enough money in the world to feed the hungry and fund sustainability, if it was all redistributed.
Deteriorating infrastructures, stressed ecosystems, and economic inequality are examples of the impacts of environmental change that the world has been experiencing as well as huge financial strain from natural disasters. A global movement continues to grow, and huge strides are being taken to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions by countries, businesses, and communities around the world. A global partnership of developed and underdeveloped nations has come together to form the Sustainable Development Goals and have been adopted by the United Nations Member States including the US.
As a global leader in technology innovation, Salesforce has achieved net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and delivers a carbon-neutral cloud to their customers. And just days before the Summit, Salesforce announced their launch of the Sustainability Cloud platform. The platform is “a carbon accounting product for businesses to drive climate action that will accelerate the world’s efforts towards carbon neutrality,” giving users a tool to measure their carbon emissions and report on their impact.
The Climate Action Reception was an inspiring event with tangible takeaways. It was meant to bring a “meeting of the minds” together to get the conversation started and push the momentum of this global movement forward.
Top Left and Top Right: Attendees of the Climate Action Reception
Bottom: Orion Global Solutions team members with Suzanne Dibianca, EVP & Chief Impact Officer Salesforce