Elokuu 1/2022 – ESG – sustainability: a risk or an opportunity for Internal Audit?

”Stating that the world is changing at a rapid pace might be an understatement. Today we are living in a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). The environment in which businesses operate are rapidly changing, regardless of the fact whether this business is operating locally or globally. The global COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing since early 2020, has forced governments, companies, and stakeholders around the world to question strategy, priorities and resilience capacity.

While some might consider this as a once in your lifetime event, it would be good to reflect on the natural catastrophes that happened across the globe. Not only were there the recent forest fires in the US caused by draught (California and more recently Denver, Colorado), but also closer to home the floodings affected several river basins across Europe including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. At least 243 people died in the floods, including 196 in Germany, 43 in Belgium, two in Romania, one in Italy and one in Austria. These floodings were caused by a combination of massive rainfall and lack of human oversight.”