Building More Sustainable and Resilient Communities: An Interview With Cisco’s Chief Sustainability Officer - Seite 2

As I shift into my CSO role, I am still thinking about designing for impact. When making public goals, such as positively impacting 1 billion people by 2025, we need to do the work to define the outcomes we are looking for and plan in ways that allow us to pivot, make shifts, and changes. It's important to understand what it takes to design for impact and how to execute that plan to make that impact a reality.

What are your primary objectives as CSO?

Mary: First, being Cisco´s CSO is an honor and privilege. There is a rich history of hundreds of people across the company who have worked passionately in this space. There has always been a sense of community, and I am proud of the network of people who have been setting and achieving goals, carrying the work forward, and making a real impact in this space.

My primary objective as CSO is to steward environmental sustainability initiatives across Cisco. As we think about our strategy, we're focusing on how we can decarbonize our business and embed circularity. Equally important is looking at how we can enable sustainable growth and innovation. The greatest opportunity is on helping our customers, partners, and other stakeholders decarbonize their business and embed circularity. Cisco's technology and ecosystem can play a significant role in the twin transition to a digital and low-carbon economy.

We also want to continue enhancing how we report our progress in an authentic and transparent way. As we think about achieving sustainability goals, it often involves a bit of math. How we measure our actions is underpinned by data, which guides our decisions, and it allows us to create more robust conversations with our stakeholders, so they can also make informed decisions around their sustainability commitments. Data helps understand what sustainability strategies work for one community and how we might shift and adapt for another.

Sustainability is integral to Cisco's purpose to Power an Inclusive Future for All. Can you tell us more about why a sustainable future includes a more inclusive one?

Mary: We can't have inclusive and resilient communities if we don't have a healthy planet. As we look at climate change, the communities impacted the most are our most vulnerable. Research shows that people most affected by climate catastrophic events, like hurricanes or droughts, live in poverty. In the Horn of Africa, over 20 million people's lives and livelihoods are being threatened by drought, and we are working with our nonprofit partner, Mercy Corps, on a climate adaptation and resilience program to support pastoralist farmers in Northeast Kenya, who have been severely impacted by the drought.