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<a id="_msocom_1"></a>Corporate social responsibility as a nice-to-have is a relic of yesterday—whereas today, driving innovation through Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) can be a crucial competitive advantage for companies around the globe. This is especially true as we navigate complex, interconnected and global issues such as climate change, inequity and cybersecurity.

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VMware is proud to have had a positive environmental impact over the years through the inherent energy efficiency of our products and solutions. We recognized that we could amplify our impact even further by baking ESG into our organization and culture. That’s why we created a framework that clearly outlines our ESG strategy and goals with progress that we can measure. We call this our 2030 Agenda. 

We know that we have a long way to go to realize VMware’s vision to build a more sustainable, equitable and secure digital future for all. However, the last year showed that we are well positioned to accelerate this critical work in the coming years.  Our latest <a href="https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/docs/vmware-esg-report-2022.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESG Report</a> shares customer stories and actions taken on our 30 cross-functional goals embedded within the 2030 Agenda.

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Here are a few of the highlights from the past year demonstrating our progress:   

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We invite you to learn more about our <a href="http://www.vmware.com/company/esg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2030 Agenda</a> and join us as we accelerate from strategy to action to drive outcomes of sustainability, equity and trust.

We’ll also be talking about ESG and sustainable product innovations next month at <a href="https://www.vmware.com/explore/us.html?src=so_6261c4a372891&cid=7012H000001KawBQAS" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">VMware Explore</a>. Learn more and <a href="https://event.vmware.com/flow/vmware/explore2022us/reg/form/contactInfo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">register</a> today.

Our 2022 ESG Report shows how VMware is accelerating into action by integrating sustainability, equity and trust into the core of our business. 

Our new ESG Report tells the story of how we’re integrating sustainability, equity and trust into the core of our business.

VMware’s 2022 ESG Report: How We’re Accelerating into Action

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VMware’s 2022 ESG Report 

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VMware’s 2022 ESG Report: How We’re Accelerating into Action  

Nicola Acutt

We're excited to announce our 2022 #ESG Report, highlighting our commitment toward creating a sustainable, equitable and secure future for all—and how we’re helping customers achieve those same goals. #VMware2030

You’ve probably read some less-than-flattering headlines about environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives in recent months. ESG has been called everything from a “scam” and a “loser” to another example of “woke capitalism.” One thing is for sure: the heat of the spotlight has landed on ESG.

With this heat comes a few questions. How much should we worry about the scrutiny being heaped on ESG? And what, if anything, should we do about it?

On the first question, I’ll answer it plainly: I’m not worried, and I’m also not surprised. ESG is no passing fad. In fact, ESG investing is on track to exceed $50 trillion by 2025<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1">[1]</a>—serious money that would represent more than a third of all projected global assets under management. It was only a matter of time before those who benefit from the status quo started pushing back.

The second question is more complex. While some critics are clearly leveraging this issue for political purposes, others are raising valid points about the dangers of greenwashing and how ESG performance vs. impact are ultimately measured. This is where we have important work to do to ensure ESG drives value for all stakeholders.

The fact is, ESG has come of age in a bit of a “Wild West” environment<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2">[2]</a>. Demand for sustainable, socially conscious investments skyrocketed overnight, with many organizations eager to jump on the bandwagon. But without regulatory guidance or standards in place, pretty much anything could be labeled as ESG. That ambiguity created the situation we find ourselves in now: a mess of conflicting rankings and standards that makes it hard to differentiate those who are doing the work from those who are talking a good game.

Thankfully, this ambiguity should start resolving soon. The desire for better standardization is strong, with VMware recently joining more than 80 other companies in calling for global alignment on sustainability reporting<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3">[3]</a>. And with regulators from the United States and European Union poised to act in this space, I expect a consensus around ESG disclosures and standards to emerge within the next year or so.

But reporting standardization is only part of the puzzle that we still need to solve. It is not enough. For ESG to truly fulfill its potential, it also needs to create real-world impact. To me operationalizing a fully integrated ESG strategy that is focused on outcomes is the holy grail.

This issue was top of mind for the CEOS, board directors, investors and practitioners who gathered at the <a href="https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/business-and-society-program/esg-summit/">Aspen ESG Summit</a> last month. I was there to help lead the dialogue on building a corporate culture that’s fully fluent in ESG principles—and one of the key points I made was that there’s a big difference between expertise and fluency.

Many companies are currently building out their ESG expertise—hiring dedicated specialists, researching industry best practices, collecting and reporting data. But fluency requires something more.

Fluency happens when a company’s board, leadership team, and workforce are aligned around and share responsibility for creating ESG outcomes. It happens when an organization’s values, business model and ESG principles are one and the same. Put simply, it happens when ESG ceases to exist because it’s been naturally absorbed into a company’s culture and operations.

Achieving fluency is a journey, one we’re still only at the beginning of. But it is essential to delivering on the promise of ESG and creating the measurable impacts that will move us close to a more sustainable, equitable and resilient world.

As ESG comes off the sidelines and becomes more central to business operations around the world, it will continue to attract more scrutiny and criticism. These are growing pains in an emerging reality. But this isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of success. By focusing on transparent standards and real-world impact, we can achieve our ultimate goal: rendering ESG obsolete because it has become just the way business gets done.

This article may contain hyperlinks to non-VMware websites that are created and maintained by third parties who are solely responsible for the content on such websites.

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<a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> Bloomberg, “ESG Assets Rising to $50 Trillion Will Reshape $140.5 Trillion of Global AUM by 2025, Finds Bloomberg Intelligence,” July 2021.

<a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2">[2]</a> SDxCentral, “VMware VP: ESG Confronts Regulatory ‘Wild West’,” October 2021.

<a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3">[3]</a> A4S, “Business and Finance Community Respond to the Proposed IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards,” July 2022.

As ESG becomes more central to business operations, it will continue to attract more scrutiny and criticism. But this is a sign of success.

As ESG becomes more central to business operations, it attract more scrutiny and criticism. But this is a sign of success.

ESG is Having Growing Pains. Here’s What Comes Next.

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ESG is Having Growing Pains. - VMware News and Stories

As #ESG becomes more central to business operations around the world, it will continue to attract more scrutiny and criticism. But this isn’t a sign of weakness—it’s a sign of success. Read more. #VMware2030

Back when I was a girl on a hill outside of Johannesburg, dreaming of sucking up the world’s pollution with a <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/2030-esg-agenda">giant vacuum</a>, I never imagined I would one day climb another hill—in a gondola, no less—with heads of state, billionaires, and even a few members of royalty. But at the World Economic Forum (WEF), held in the Swiss village of Davos, moments like this are the norm.

I was invited to the Annual Meeting of the Forum to share a business perspective on the role <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/vmwares-journey-to-net-zero-and-you">nature-based solutions</a> play in strategies to achieve net-zero, like VMware’s <a href="https://www.vmware.com/content/microsites/en/global-impact.html">2030 Agenda</a>. And our team had a packed agenda. We were there to speak with global leaders about sustainability and the twin transitions happening in energy and digitalization, listen to policy concerns about digital and enterprise sovereignty and share our perspectives on the importance of a secure, interoperable and sustainable multi-cloud platform.

But as a first-time WEF participant, I didn’t fully know what to expect. Davos certainly attracts some of the world’s richest and most powerful people, leading to a fair amount of critique of the event’s ratio of discussion to action.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1">[1]</a> Would the first WEF gathering since the beginning of the pandemic be more of the empty promises Greta Thunberg called out previously?<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2">[2]</a> Or could the current zeitgeist engender dialogue that leads to real solutions?

In my view, the answer is probably a bit of both.

A somber tone for the event was set by bookending addresses from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2022/sessions/special-address-by-volodymyr-zelenskyy-president-of-ukraine-8fb26bbcb1">Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky</a> and German Chancellor Schultz. While sobering, I still found optimism in the conversations. Yes, I heard ambitious promises and some action plans that seemed fuzzier than others. And yes, the parade of luxurious black “internal combustion engines” pulling up—mere steps from the Congress Centre—for meetings to discuss the urgency of net-zero efforts was not lost on me.

Digesting some of the contradictions, here’s the reality that I kept reminding myself of: we don’t have the luxury of using purity tests to discount discussions as important as addressing climate change, inequality and food security. These complex, interconnected and global issues need every nation, every industry and every business leader at the table and engaged. And the World Economic Forum absolutely succeeds at assembling many of the stakeholders who are in positions to move the needle.

Something that surprised me was the breadth and nuance of the discussions. There were very few “single-issue” conversations. Instead, there was a consistent thread of interconnected dialogues like energy, agriculture, health, digital transformation, cyber resilience and social justice, along with impacts of changing global structures and multilateralism.

For example, the war in Ukraine was obviously top of mind for every attendee. But I was struck by how many speakers drew a clear connection between the war and countries’ dependence on fossil fuels. Accelerating the transition to clean energy was presented as not only a way to achieve better environmental outcomes, but as a way to create more resilience and better foreign policy outcomes.

This search for win-win solutions defined many of my conversations at Davos. While there was a clear recognition that a better future will demand certain tradeoffs, there was also a wariness of polarization and the idea that we’re playing a zero-sum game. Put simply, it’s not a matter of investing in climate or energy, health or digitization. The world needs to invest in climate and energy and health and digitization—and when we do, the sum will be greater than the parts and we’ll all benefit.

By the end of my week in Davos, many connections were made, many conversations were had,  and I was witness to many commitments announced.<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3">[3]</a> Will this lead to measurable outcomes? It’s too soon to know for sure. The months and years ahead will reveal the actions behind the good intentions.

But my final impression from the World Economic Forum was one of hope.

After riding that gondola up to the ski chalet where the closing event was being held, I found myself among many of the “Davos elite” I’d brushed shoulders with the whole week —and I still felt a bit out of place. But then I spotted a table of young people—the Global Shapers,<a href="#_ftn4" id="_ftnref4">[4]</a> a group of amazing leaders under 30 who were invited to Davos to share and evolve their ideas for a better future. I recognized a few of them. They had been the first in line after my own session earlier in the week, eager to talk about how innovations like ML and LiDAR could support carbon auditing and verification for companies like VMware who have made commitments to planting <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/vmwares-journey-to-net-zero-and-you">trees</a> as part of our commitments. So, I approached their table—and they were kind enough to welcome me with open arms to join their table.

We immediately launched into a spirited discussion, and I got to hear more about their passions and projects. For instance, I learned about a project to regenerate and reforest the Sahel, an area stretching coast-to-coast from Senegal to Djibouti. But beyond the specifics of any one conversation, what struck me most about these Global Shapers was their clarity of purpose and optimism. It wasn’t a matter of if they would achieve their goals—but when. And that attitude was contagious.

That’s when I realized that this might be one of the most important parts of the World Economic Forum. It’s a convening that allows people and ideas to reconnect with the power of possibility. To remember that big things are achievable. To recharge our batteries for the journey ahead.

<a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> NPR, “Is Davos As Bad As Critics Say? Global Leaders Weigh In,” January 2020.

<a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2">[2]</a> The Washington Post, “Greta Thunberg Says World Leaders’ Talk on Climate Change is ‘Blah Blah Blah’,” September 2021.

<a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3">[3]</a> Fortune, “Davos 2022 Had Some Moments of Real Importance,” May 2022.

<a href="#_ftnref4" id="_ftn4">[4]</a> World Economic Forum, “Global Shapers,” 2011.

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2022 Davos allowed us to reconnect, remember and recharge for the journey ahead.

A Davos spring: VMware's Nicola Acutt shares impressions from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting.

Impressions from the World Economic Forum

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Impressions from the World Economic Forum - VMware News and Stories

A Davos Spring: A First-Timer’s Impressions from the World Economic Forum

The @wef annual meeting allowed us to reconnect with possibilities, remember big things are achievable and recharge for the #ESG journey ahead. Read more from @VMware @NicolaAcutt. #wef22 #sustainability #VMware2030

Like a lot of people who work in the corporate responsibility space, I have complicated feelings about today.

Earth Day has helped raise awareness about the health of our planet and our impact on it for decades, earning its spot as a noteworthy day on just about every business’s calendar. In the best-case scenario, it can serve as the cornerstone of a much broader Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) agenda—an opportunity to focus efforts and make progress on ambitious goals. But in the worst-case scenario, it can easily become a vehicle for greenwashing—a marketing push fueled by vague commitments that won’t be mentioned again until next year’s Earth Day. It can be difficult to find the signal in the noise.

But finding the signal is more important now than it has ever been before. The <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/">2022 IPCC Report</a> makes it clear: we are losing the war against climate change. If we’re going to turn the tide, we desperately need to close the gap between good intentions and measurable actions. Demanding a more meaningful Earth Day is a great place to start.

To find solutions to this problem, it’s first important to examine the source of this gap between intention and action. If just about everyone agrees on the need for a healthy and sustainable planet, why are we still struggling to make substantive progress? I see a few things at play here.

First, intention doesn’t cost anything—action does. Improving sustainability requires both financial and human resources that have to come from somewhere. This can mean making new investments or diverting resources away from another priority. This can be perceived as a tradeoff—one that’s especially difficult to make when it’s in service of long-term benefits that are far less tangible than the short-term pain being felt today.

Second, taking action involves some measure of risk—something most organizations try to avoid at all costs. Setting ambitious sustainability goals can open a company up to criticism if they don’t meet them. This can incentivize either staying quiet or setting the bar low enough that there’s no doubt about clearing it.

When you consider both factors, it’s easy to understand why some individual companies make the choice to avoid sticking their neck out. But when every company makes that same choice, it adds up to devastating consequences for the planet. And those consequences pose the greatest possible risk—to the businesses themselves, as well as their employees, customers, stakeholders and communities.

So how do we reverse this equation? How do we make pursuing the collective good outweigh the perceived tradeoffs that hold companies back from delivering more sustainable outcomes? The answer comes down to collective accountability.

Collective accountability happens when corporate, regulatory, and consumer interests are aligned around a shared goal. That may sound like an impossibly high bar to clear, but there are examples of it working. Commercial aviation is the safest form of transportation in the world because of <a href="https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/out-front-airline-safety-two-decades-continuous-evolution">voluntary reporting programs</a> that allow airlines to share information about safety issues without fear of negative repercussions. The system succeeds because airlines, regulators and the flying public are all united around protecting the safety of our skies.

A similar system is needed now too—one that brings together regulators, businesses and individuals in service to our planet. Because as a great Canadian philosopher, Marshall McLuhan, once said, “There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.”

The good news is we’re already seeing movement in this direction. The SEC has <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-46">proposed rules</a> that would require publicly traded companies to disclose the risks of climate change to their business and their own contributions to climate change. This would be a gamechanger—one that puts the world’s largest companies on a level playing field and ensures everyone has skin in the game. Imagine a future Earth Day that is a truly meaningful day for climate accountability—because it’s the filing deadline for climate disclosures. That possibility is within reach.

We’re also seeing more consumers vote with their wallets for green solutions. It’s estimated that there are more than $330 billion<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1">[1]</a> currently in ESG funds. And these investors are expecting more meaningful actions from ESG initiatives—a fact made clear from the pressure<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2">[2]</a> on ESG funds to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and focus on the geopolitical risks of our dependence on fossil fuels. This level of interest and scrutiny is only going to increase in the years ahead.

And what about corporations? While greenwashing is still far too prevalent, many companies are being recognized<a href="#_ftn3" id="_ftnref3">[3]</a> for their substantive sustainability efforts. At VMware, for example, we’re embedding ESG principles into the core of our business through our <a href="https://www.vmware.com/content/microsites/en/global-impact.html">2030 Agenda</a>. This includes achieving <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/net-zero.html">net zero carbon emissions</a> for our operations and supply chain by 2030. And speaking of recognition, we’re honored to have recently been <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/vmware-named-one-of-americas-most-just-companies">recognized by JUST Capital</a> as the leading company in our industry—rated #1 for the environment amongst our peers.

I’m especially excited about how we’re using Earth Day to inspire engagement among our team this year. We’re asking our employees to join us in taking climate action in ways that are uniquely meaningful to each one of them. For example, we’re challenging employees to download and use the United Nations’ <a href="https://aworld.org/">AWorld</a> app, with special rewards for the most highly engaged participants. We’ve also made Earth Day one of our EPIC2 days off and have encouraged employees to spend the time in service to their communities or reflecting on how they can make more sustainable climate choices.

We’re doing this because that’s what collective accountability requires. Each of us working together toward the same goal. Each of us owning our piece of the problem and taking action. I’ve always believed in setting higher standards for yourself than the ones the world sets for you. If we all embraced and embodied that mindset, there’s no question that it would create a virtuous cycle that turns the tide in our battle against climate change. So, I hope you’ll join me today in creating a more meaningful Earth Day—one that’s not defined by our intentions, but by our actions.

<a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1">[1]</a> Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, “ESG: 2021 Trends and Expectations for 2022,” February 2022.

<a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2">[2]</a> Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, “War in Ukraine: Is ESG at a Crossroads?”, March 2022.

<a href="#_ftnref3" id="_ftn3">[3]</a> JUST Capital, “America’s 32 Industry Leaders for Environmental Performance in 2022,” April 2022.

We can create a more meaningful Earth Day by aligning corporate, regulatory and consumer interests around a shared goal.

Happy Earth Day! We're working towards a more meaningful Earth Day—one defined by our actions, not by our intentions.

A More Meaningful Earth Day Demands Collective Accountability

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Creating A More Meaningful Earth Day- VMware News and Stories

How can we create a more meaningful #EarthDay — one defined by our actions, not by our intentions? It all starts with collective accountability—when corporate, regulatory and consumer interests all align around a shared goal. #VMware2030 #ESG

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? If this is the first time you’ve thought about them in weeks, you’re not alone. We’re now in March, which means <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2020/02/11/this-is-the-month-when-new-years-resolutions-fail-heres-how-to-save-them/?sh=481413e5272f">80%</a> of New Year’s resolutions have already failed. It always goes the same way. You kick off January full of energy and action plans about how this year is going to be better than the last. Then life starts to get in the way, your old habits beckon and your good intentions for the new year start to feel like good enough.

Corporate Responsibility programs have long functioned like New Year’s resolutions—born in a flurry of excitement and commitments that eventually give way to periodic reports and a few feel-good events. And for a long time, this was good enough.

But expectations have changed dramatically in recent years with the rise of ESG. It is no longer a “nice to have.” It’s a necessity. Investors use ESG to decide where to invest their money. Customers use ESG when they choose who to do business with. Employees use ESG to evaluate where they want to work. And these stakeholders aren’t just looking for a company’s commitments—they’re looking for action. In this environment, good intentions don’t cut it anymore.

I’m not the first person to point this out. And I won’t be the last. But if the writing is on the wall, why do <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/07/study-worlds-biggest-firms-seen-exaggerating-their-climate-actions.html">so many companies</a> still fall short?

The answer is pretty simple and even a bit cliché—creating substantive and systemic change is really difficult. It is not enough to have a plan. It requires a strategy and a theory of change.  And that requires buy-in from every level of your organization and the resources to operationalize it. It requires having tough and sometimes uncomfortable conversations. It can even require making tradeoffs between short-term needs in the pursuit of long-term benefit.

I’ve spent the past few months talking about <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/2030-esg-agenda">VMware’s 2030 Agenda</a> and why its three outcomes—<a href="https://news.vmware.com/sustainability/sustainability-is-a-value-driver">sustainability</a>, <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/equity-requires-doing-a-little-bit-good">equity</a> and <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/intersection-of-trust-digital-ethics-esg">trust</a>—are important. Now I want to get into the nitty gritty and talk about how we’re going to make our goals a reality. We’re rooting our efforts in:

I’ll talk more about transparency, accountability and innovation in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, what’s the biggest obstacle you see between your organization’s <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/esg.html">ESG</a> goals and your ability to implement and deliver progress on them?

Why do many companies fall short of their ESG commitments? Substantive and systemic change is very difficult and requires more than a plan.

Why do many companies fall short of their ESG commitments? Because substantive and systemic change is very difficult.

Delivering on ESG Commitments

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Delivering on ESG Commitments - VMware News and Stories

When Good Intentions Aren’t Good Enough: Delivering on ESG Commitments

Why do many companies fall short of their #ESG commitments? Because substantive and systemic #change is very difficult and requires more than just a plan. #VMware2030

I never imagined working for a tech company at the start of my career. For the longest time, I thought my path would keep me in academia. I set out to inspire class after class of business students at Presidio Graduate School to care about sustainability. I made sure they all read <a href="https://debram.people.stanford.edu/book">“Tempered Radicals” by Debra Meyerson</a>, a guide to driving positive change from inside organizations. And I encouraged them to be those change agents for a better, greener world when they entered the corporate space.

What led me to give up teaching and become a corporate change agent myself? I’ve always been motivated by the desire to make a difference in the world—to create as much good as I possibly can. And when the chance to join VMware came up in 2010, it was clear to me that the future—of sustainability, education and business—would be shaped by technology. So I had to say yes to the opportunity and jump in with both feet. I wanted to be part of making sure the future of technology could also support a better future for the world.

More than a decade later, technology has become more enmeshed in the fabric of our lives than I could have anticipated. It’s part of the foundation for how people learn, work and connect with each other, especially in the past two years. But with this centrality comes mixed feelings.

We’re long past the rose-colored heyday of people thinking Silicon Valley would save the world. Yes, technology can enable extraordinary advancements that make our lives easier, solve complex problems, and improve productivity, connection and communication. But it can just as easily cost jobs, sow social divisions and exacerbate inequality.

These tensions have only been amplified in recent years. Increased regulatory scrutiny, misinformation on social media, and incidents like Cambridge Analytica, SolarWinds and the recent Log4j vulnerability have sent trust in tech plummeting. The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer found that trust in technology reached <a href="https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2021-03/2021%20Edelman%20Trust%20Barometer%20Tech%20Sector%20Report_0.pdf">all-time lows</a> in 17 out of 27 countries last year. This was particularly pronounced in the United States, where tech dropped from first to ninth place in trust by sector between 2020 and 2021.

In short: Tech is playing a bigger role in our world than ever before—and collectively, we’ve never trusted it less. So where do we go from here? Answering this question is a key reason why trust is the third and final outcome we’re pursuing as part of VMware’s <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/esg.html">2030 Agenda</a>.

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I’ll confess: The inclusion of trust within an ESG framework has caused more than a few furrowed brows, even inside our own organization. Shouldn’t trust be table stakes for any reputable company? And of course, the answer to that is yes. We care about customers trusting us with their data, relying on the security of our products and counting on our people. But we also recognize that our obligations are much bigger than that.

VMware is part of a larger tech ecosystem whose rules and norms are still being created. As an industry, we have yet to reach a consensus around what constitutes digital ethics. I’ve heard some say that you can’t attribute problems enabled by technology to the technology itself—that it’s an agnostic tool wielded by individuals who are ultimately responsible for what they do with it. But this has always struck me as a misleading argument. Tech can’t be neutral because it’s created by people. And people aren’t neutral. Acknowledging this is the first step in our industry getting real about what we owe a world we’re fundamentally reshaping by the day.

We also can’t ignore that the digital infrastructure we create is under unprecedented levels of malicious threat. Cybersecurity has traditionally been viewed as a technology issue. But with so much information being shared online and so many industries relying on digital tools to conduct business-critical operations, cyberattacks and data breaches can have significant societal impacts.

This issue is especially top of mind for me this week, during Data Privacy Week. It’s an annual opportunity for businesses to reflect on how they can be more intentional and transparent about collecting, using and securing personal data. And it gives me hope that one day, cyber resilience will be part of every company’s ESG strategy.

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That’s what we’re doing at VMware. We’re holding ourselves to the highest transparency and reporting standards not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because we want to raise the bar for our entire industry. We’re embedding ideas like <a href="https://news.vmware.com/releases/vmworld-2021-security">Zero Trust security</a> and <a href="https://cio.vmware.com/2021/08/future-proof-your-modern-apps-using-privacy-by-design.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=future-proof-your-modern-apps-using-privacy-by-design">privacy by design</a> into our products not because we want them to be competitive features, but because we know it’s what we owe our customers, the end users for our products, and society as a whole.

I’ve previously written about why <a href="https://news.vmware.com/sustainability/sustainability-is-a-value-driver">sustainability</a> and <a href="https://news.vmware.com/esg/equity-requires-doing-a-little-bit-good">equity</a> are part of the 2030 Agenda. They’re not unique. These two issues are so universal and so urgent that they should be on every company’s agenda, no matter what your business or product is. But being stewards for trust, security, and privacy in the ever expanding and encompassing digital world is a responsibility that uniquely falls on the shoulders of the tech industry. It’s time to start bearing the weight.

Where is the intersection of trust, digital ethics and ESG? Read why trust is an important outcome of our 2030 Agenda.

Why should cyber resilience be part of every company's ESG strategy? Because cybersecurity is a key ESG concern.

The Intersection of Trust, Digital Ethics and ESG

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The Intersection of Trust, Digital Ethics & ESG - VMware News and Stories

What Does Tech Owe Society? The Intersection of Trust, Digital Ethics and ESG

Why should cyber resilience be part of every company's #ESG strategy? Because more companies are starting to recognize #cybersecurity as a key ESG concern. #vmware2030 #trust

Once you see inequity, there’s no way to unsee it. The first time I really understood this was during my first year at the University of California, Berkeley. College in America was a culture shock—so different from the life I’d left behind in Johannesburg, South Africa. But what surprised me most was just how much my classmates knew of and cared about what was going on back home.

Berkeley had been at the center of America’s anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s, with protests held on Sproul Plaza against South Africa’s racial segregation policy. I had spent my entire life up until that point in Johannesburg, and I had never really grappled with the injustice playing out in my own country. Going to Berkeley rocked my world view.

I had grown up in a bubble. And by the next time I returned to South Africa, that bubble had burst. I saw my homeland through new eyes. I still loved my country—but I now understood the systemic injustice for what it was. How it needed to change. And how I needed to change with it too.

That experience taught me that inequity thrives in darkness and misinformation. It feeds off fear. It is amplified by systems of all kinds. So when people ask me why equity is important to me and why it plays such a prominent role in VMware’s <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/esg.html">2030 Agenda</a>, the answer is simple: because it has to. Because combating inequity is a shared responsibility. Because there is no such thing as a sustainable future without an equitable future.

Equity, of course, comes in different shapes and forms. It can be a complex concept with multiple dimensions. VMware’s own origin story can be traced back to one such dimension: digital equity. Our co-founders laid out a simple vision: that our technology free people and businesses from the digital constraints holding them back from reaching their full potential.

VMware’s approach to equity today is rooted in this simple idea. And today we’re going much further by striving to embed equity into every part of our business, from the products we make to the outcomes we create for all our stakeholders.

Our efforts span from the individual to the organization and industry. It starts with creating a diverse and inclusive work environment that allows every person in our organization to feel a sense of belonging and part of a community. Creating this environment is a collective effort that we empower every employee to take part in. For example, our numerous <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/diversity.html">geographic- and identity-based employee groups</a> called PODs (Power of Difference) help to connect, network and grow our diverse community of leaders.

Responsibility also spans to the team. One of the most profound insights I gained from our very first diversity training at VMware was that unconscious biases are part of the human condition. Even when you recognize them and work to combat them, they can be persistent. As leaders we therefore must create systems that short circuit these biases to drive more equitable outcomes in our teams. This is where VMware is concentrating a lot of our efforts, particularly when it comes to how we recruit, hire and promote people.

Expanding outward, we have commitments to driving equity as an organization and within our industry. As a big company that makes a lot of purchasing decisions each year—and by prioritizing supplier diversity through our <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/responsible-sourcing.html">Responsible Sourcing</a> program—we can intervene in the procurement system and direct our dollars to have an impact in our communities. As part of our 2030 Agenda, for example, we have committed to spending a cumulative $1.5 billion with diverse suppliers by 2030.

At the product level, we’re making equity a desired outcome for our solutions by focusing on accessibility. And at an industry level, our technology like <a href="https://www.vmware.com/solutions/anywhere-workspace.html">Anywhere Workspace</a> solutions are supporting social equity by enabling people to work where and how they choose and access greater opportunities through remote and distributed work.

Finally, we recognize that technology is driving fundamental changes in the world and that it has the potential to serve as a bridge—or as a wedge—between people. That’s why we’ve made the conscious decision to do our part to be a bridge—using our expertise and technology to promote digital access and transformation for communities that need it. We’re doing things like providing students and women returning to the workforce with digital skills training, and helping nonprofits design and build technology that helps them accomplish their missions.

VMware—like all companies and organizations—still has a long way to go before we can achieve true equity. Equity work is a constant practice that requires ongoing learning and action. And even with all the good work we’re doing, we recognize that we most likely still have unconscious biases and areas we could improve. But we are committed to remaining curious—to being part of a community of learning that is constantly asking questions, testing assumptions and striving to get better.

In the end, the only way to make progress against inequity is through dedicated, consistent and collective action. There’s a quote I like from Desmond Tutu, one of the world’s most prominent activists and a key figure in finally ending apartheid. He said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

As I reflect during this time of year, I can say with confidence that people at VMware are doing their little bit of good. There is certainly more to do. And my great hope is that our actions can inspire—and enable—others to do the same.

Why is equity so prominent in our 2030 Agenda? Because there’s no such thing as a sustainable future without an equitable future.

Why is equity so prominent in our 2030 Agenda? Because there’s no sustainable future without an equitable future.

Equity Requires Doing a Little Bit of Good, Wherever You Are

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Equity Requires Doing a Little Bit of Good - VMware News and Stories

Why is #equity so prominent in our #VMware2030 Agenda? Because combatting inequity is a shared responsibility. Because there’s no such thing as a sustainable future without an equitable future. #ESG

VMworld was a huge success due to the participation of all of you: our customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders. As the leader of VMware’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Office, I am especially proud of all those who participated in the <a href="https://octo.vmware.com/vmworld2021-setlist/">Inspire Change</a> track, which included sessions to deepen understanding of the connection between digital transformation, technology, and business imperatives of sustainability, equity and trust. Together, we learned new skills and ways of thinking to build our careers; how to be an ally for diversity, equity and inclusion; and how to be a change agent for a better planet.

Whether you had the opportunity to take part in the Inspire Change sessions or not, each participant at VMworld made a tangible contribution to VMware’s environmental sustainability efforts as we planted trees in honor of our attendees. Trees are a nature-based solution to climate change and part of our <a href="http://www.vmware.com/company/net-zero">journey to net zero emissions</a>, which includes a goal to plant and protect 1 million trees by 2030. Conserving, restoring and growing trees around the world helps clean the air we breathe, filter the water we drink and complement emissions reduction efforts to reverse climate change.

For this year’s VMworld, we planted 80,000 trees to thank our attendees! 

We partnered with <a href="https://www.1t.org/pledges/one-million-trees-for-a-thriving-planet">1t.org</a> to support our tree planting initiatives, part of the World Economic Forum’s work to accelerate nature-based solutions in support of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

VMware’s Journey to Net Zero

Nature-based solutions are an important part of VMware’s commitment to achieving net zero carbon emissions for our operations and supply chain by 2030. As part of our <a href="http://www.vmware.com/company/esg">Environmental, Social and Governance</a> strategy, our net zero goal builds on approved <a href="https://sciencebasedtargets.org/">science-based targets</a> and expands the scope of our climate commitments. In addition to implementing nature-based solutions to achieve net zero, we also participate in renewable energy initiatives like the <a href="https://rebuyers.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance</a> and <a href="https://www.there100.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RE100</a>, a global collaborative representing businesses committed to using 100% renewable electricity. VMware is proud to be a <a href="https://www.carbonneutral.com/news/vmware-becomes-a-carbon-neutral-company-two-years-ahead-of-schedule" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Certified CarbonNeutral® Company</a> since 2018, and we are excited to announce signing <a href="https://www.theclimatepledge.com/content/amazonclimatepledge/us/en/Signatories/vmware.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Climate Pledge</a> to further our net zero progress alongside companies around the world and across industries.

The ability to drive and inspire change is paramount to my role leading ESG at VMware. However, ESG is a team sport, and we are only as successful as the people that participate in these sustainability efforts. My personal gratitude to everyone who attended VMworld and to the trees that will grow in your honor.

VMware's journey to net zero as part of our 2030 Agenda continued at VMworld 2021 as we planted trees in honor of our attendees.

ESG is a team sport. Read about our latest net zero partnerships as we continue on our path to 2030.

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The Road to 1 Million Trees: Net Zero and You - VMware News and Stories

#ESG is a team sport. Read about our latest #netzero partnerships as we continue on our path to #VMware2030.

VMware is committed to embedding <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/esg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)</a> into everything we do<meta charset="utf-8">—throughout our technology strategy,  business model and culture. We are applying the same strategic focus to ESG that we’ve used to launch our most innovative products and services and fueled by our EPIC2 culture to make sure our progress is meaningful and transparent.

Baking ESG outcomes directly into our operations, products and solutions is The Next Normal. We’re doing this because we see <a href="https://news.vmware.com/sustainability/sustainability-is-a-value-driver" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ESG as a value driver.</a> The Next Normal reflects both our responsibility and opportunity to support customers and partners in achieving their own ESG goals through VMware technology solutions. It’s the kind of big picture perspective that every company, in every industry, should be thinking about right now.

Our <a href="http://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/company/vmware-esg-report-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2021 ESG Report</a> highlights our ESG performance over the past fiscal year and showcases our <a href="https://www.vmware.com/company/esg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2030 Agenda</a><meta charset="utf-8">—our decade-long ESG commitment to foster a more sustainable, equitable and secure world. We believe transparency is crucial to keeping ourselves accountable, which is why we routinely share our progress. VMware has a long history of leveraging data to improve our decision making and capacity for innovation and has shared our ESG performance annually since VMware’s inaugural report in 2015 (formerly known as the Global Impact Report).

While we are less than a year into our 2030 Agenda, we’re starting to see results, and some highlights over the past fiscal year include: 

VMware has embraced both an “outside-in” and “inside-out” approach to driving ESG that not only addresses our internal operations and supply chain, but also focuses on our ability to support customers in achieving their own ESG goals through VMware technology solutions. As our technology solutions have grown, so too has our ability to drive ESG outcomes through decarbonization of digital infrastructures, equity through distributed workforce technology, and enhanced security and privacy to build trust with our customers and their stakeholders.  

This year’s report showcases inspiring customer stories such as Fujitsu, Moderna, WVV and Zoom, who have used our digital foundation and digital workspace solutions to help empower their distributed workforces while prioritizing employees’ health and safety as part of The Next Normal in 2021.  

Enabling our customers and partners is a cornerstone of how we amplify our impact and demonstrate transparent progress towards our 2030 goals. We also align our performance data to leading ESG frameworks, including the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Sustainable Accounting Standards Board (SASB), Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and the Principles of the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). We have also mapped the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) to our 2030 outcomes of sustainability, equity and trust. Something I am especially proud of that is new this year is incorporating accessibility considerations into the visual design of the report to ensure that all stakeholders can read it.

Our leadership in ESG has been acknowledged over the last year through awards and recognition from leading organizations, including: 

Nicola Acutt

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