Not so long ago, corporate social
responsibility (CSR) was the pri-
mary programme for a corpora-
tion to demonstrate its commit-
ment to the community. Today,
CSR seems limited compared to
Environmental, Social, and Gov-
ernance (ESG) goals, according to
Steven Commander, HID's Head
of Consultants and Regulations,
Mature Markets.
"Sustainability has become
a major influence on business
decisions, with nearly two-thirds
of organisations around the world
now considering it when upgrad-
ing their systems," states Steven
Commander. He adds:
"The result of interviews with
more than 1,200 enterprise de-
cision-makers around the world,
our State of Physical Access Trend
Report identified five main trends
in physical security. One of them
was a strong movement towards
aligning security decisions with
environmental goals."
Topping the corporate
agenda
Sustainability has been pushing
its way to the top of the corpo-
rate agenda for some time now.
"Some of the world's largest
companies are recognising that
the next generation of consumers
are linking brand reputation to
a broader spectrum of behav-
iours beyond just the viability,
availability, and price of goods
and services," says Steven Com-
mander.
Steven Commander's claim is
supported by the fact that more
than 90 percent of S&P 500
companies and 70 percent of
Russell 1000 companies in the
United States now publish ESG
reports.
Europe is ahead
In Europe, organisations listed on
the FTSEurofirst 300 and KOSPI
200 indices are ahead of their
market peers when it comes to
climate transition plans, with 77
percent and 74 percent of organi-
zations respectively disclosing at
least two-thirds of the indicators
that make up a credible plan,
according to a climate transition
plan report developed by CDP,
a global non-profit that runs the
world's environmental disclosure
system for companies, cities,
states, and regions.
Customer-driven trend
The changing attitudes of
the public are rippling across
industries to corporate procure-
ment teams, many of which want
suppliers to be more transparent
about operations, product sourc-
ing, and R&D practices, claims
Steven Commander.
"This shift is driven by busi-
nesses listening to their custom-
ers. HID's survey reflects this
trend, finding that 87 percent
of respondents rank sustainabil-
ity as `important to extremely
important' to their customers,"
he states.
Energy-saving
a top priority
Security leaders are increasingly
consulting other stakeholders
before upgrading or replacing
systems. About 63 percent of
respondents in HID's survey said
sustainability officers have some
degree of influence when it comes
to upgrading physical access
As businesses increasingly prioritise sustainability,
aligning physical access control with environmental
goals is becoming crucial. Steven Commander from
HID discusses how ESG influences decision-making
in security systems, with trends like energy-saving
solutions, mobile access, and eco-friendly alterna-
tives leading the charge.
Green access control the importance of integrating security with sustainability
Bamboo cards offer a fitting alternative in use cases where physical badges are a
requirement.
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Special Feature: Access Control & Smart Buildings
Steven Commander, HID:
This shift is driven by businesses listen-
ing to their customers. HID's survey
reflects this trend, finding that 87 percent of
respondents rank sustainability as `important
to extremely important' to their customers."