Planetary health: moving beyond Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

Universities and business schools around the globe position themselves as spaces to address wicked problems such as the challenges thrust upon us by the Anthropocene epoch, especially humanity’s profound influence on the Earth’s biophysical conditions. On the one hand, the health of the average global citizen has improved substantially in the past century, bolstering our life expectancy. On the other hand, this progress has come at the cost of destabilizing our planet’s life-sustaining systems, jeopardizing recent advancements in public health and overall development.

Global-scale air, water, and soil pollution, the scarcity of arable land and freshwater, sweeping alterations in land use and cover, and the deterioration of marine ecosystems are some of the anthropogenic environmental alterations that compromise the air we breathe, the water we drink, the quality and abundance of our food sources, our vulnerability to infectious diseases, and even the habitability of our dwellings. Compelling evidence points to the imminent sixth mass extinction of life on Earth.

The existing economic system drives climate change and biodiversity loss, threatening human health. In this pivotal juncture for humanity, where no nation fulfills basic needs within a globally sustainable framework, innovative paradigms like ecological economics, public health, and planetary health resurge. They scrutinize and endeavor to tackle the pressing issues confronting society and the planet, as highlighted by Brand-Correa et al. (2022).

Emerging as a growing field, Planetary Health delves into the intricate interplay between the degradation of Earth’s natural systems - a product of human endeavors - and its far-reaching ramifications for human health.

The canvas of our global environment is clearly changing. We are witnessing record-breaking temperature surges, the widespread vanishing of crucial pollinators, the global collapse of fisheries, and the conversion of nearly half of Earth’s habitable expanse for food cultivation.

Changes in natural life support systems are already impacting our health and are poised to constitute the primary drivers of disease in the coming century, disproportionately affecting today’s most vulnerable individuals and future generations.

Educational processes must acknowledge and address structural inequalities, recognizing the historical and political injustices that have contributed to marginalized communities and a degraded environment. Forces such as colonization, white supremacy, racism, patriarchy, and the dominance of capitalism or neoliberalism have played pivotal roles in shaping societal disparities and planetary conditions. Future practitioners in the field of Planetary Health must be able to rebuild institutions - including legal frameworks, healthcare systems, and education - that have perpetuated inequities and influenced the state of our planet’s living conditions (Guzmán et al., 2021).

Universities, business schools, and corporations cannot be limited to internal issues and relying solely on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) policies - an idea introduced in 2004. This approach is no longer tenable as a guarantee for organizational profits and sustainability.

Conversations surrounding ESG have revolved around aspects like return on investments in this domain (Christensen, Serafeim, & Sikochi, 2022; Daugaard, 2020), the importance of metrics regarding investments perceived as socially responsible (Widyawati, 2020), the sway of ESG scores in assessing corporate sustainability performance (Drempetic, Klein, & Zwergel, 2020), the origins and semantic underpinnings of the denomination “ESG” per se (Eccles & Viviers, 2011), the intricate interplay between corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (Aluchna & Roszkowska-Menkes, 2019), and the pivotal role of ESG factors in steering financial decision-making processes (Ziolo, Filipiak, Bąk, & Cheba, 2019).

In strict terms, none of these discussions is novel (Irigaray & Stocker 2022), as their roots are in earlier dialogues concerning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Socio-Environmental Responsibility (SER), which trace back to the late 19^th century.

Originally, the role of companies as socially responsible entities bore a resemblance to the ideals of utopian socialism propagated by figures like Saint Simon, Fourier, and Blanc. Even today, certain perspectives associate Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies and practices with voluntary organizational acts. For instance, Friedman (1962) argues that a company’s primary mission is profit generation and the optimization of returns for shareholders. Consequently, investments in social responsibility endeavors are deemed justifiable only when directly aligned with the organization’s core business. From this standpoint, it is necessary to differentiate between the organization’s and individuals’ responsibilities. Individuals can allocate their funds as they see fit, engaging in charitable deeds or contributing to community churches. However, discretion over allocation is restricted when dealing with money not belonging to oneself - such as partner investments. Thus, managers who divert resources toward social responsibility may ostensibly clash with the interests of shareholders, potentially reducing profits to support causes not universally shared (Friedman, 1962).

In addition to the shareholders’ perspective, there is that of the stakeholders, according to which the company’s accountability should encompass shareholders, employees, unions, suppliers, consumers, and society as a whole (Freeman, 1994).

Regardless of the terminology adopted, the company remains the central locus of discourse. The instrumental perspective prevails, given that socio-environmental endeavors should invariably be woven into a company’s strategy. This integration, in turn, engenders a fertile ground for innovation, competitive advantage, and opportunity generation.

Hence, the need to delve into Planetary Health emerges. It consists of a transdisciplinary field aimed at developing solutions addressing the impacts of human activities on the planet’s ecosystems, with the overarching goal of safeguarding human health.

Planetary Health identifies solutions that will help populations, both human and animal, to promote resilience in the face of changing environments (Guzmán et al., 2021).

As captured in the book Cloud Atlas, a character remarks, “[...] our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future” (Mitchell, 2004, p. 43).

Everything is connected. Meddling with our planet’s natural systems may produce unexpected consequences. Effectively comprehending and addressing these challenges requires collective efforts across disciplines and borders, all in the name of preserving our health.

An interdisciplinary endeavor is paramount to formulate a solution that secures our existence. Since 1950, the human population has increased by nearly 200%, fossil fuel consumption has escalated by over 550%, fish consumption has risen by more than 350%, almost half of the temperate and tropical forests have been ravaged, nearly half of Earth’s habitable surface has been appropriated for sustenance, and approximately 60% of global rivers have been dammed.

In this scenario, the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA) has been established as a consortium comprising more than 360 universities, non-governmental organizations, research institutes, and governmental entities worldwide. Their shared commitment revolves around comprehending and addressing global environmental changes and how they reverberate to human health.

The PHA contends that business schools are responsible for engaging in discussions concerning public administration and business management. Moreover, they are expected to devise solutions that delve into the very core of Planetary Health - grasping the intricate interplay between nature, the Anthropocene epoch, health, equity, social justice, the endeavor of fostering movements and catalyzing systemic change, as well as embracing systemic thinking and complexity.

This issue of Cadernos EBAPE.BR was conceived considering the themes debated within the PHA. The issue encompasses articles selected in the thematic call for papers “Labor, migration, and mobility: a Lusophone dialogue.”

The first article, “The social practices of immigration: the everyday life of Brazilian immigrants in Denmark,” by Gabriel do Carmo Yamamoto and Elisa Yoshie Ichikawa, undertakes the overarching objective of unraveling the organizational framework of social practices among Brazilian immigrants in response to Denmark’s immigration laws. Employing a practice-based approach rooted in Michel de Certeau’s notion of practice, the authors argue that ordinary people can reimagine and reshape their everyday existence through shrewd strategies and maneuvers integrated into their everyday actions.

Subsequently, the article by Leandro de Carvalho, “Obstacles to validating professional experience and the productive integration of refugees: a study among recruiters in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo,” is presented. The research was conducted in collaboration with professionals operating within recruitment and selection departments and aimed to capture the technical and subjective factors that might influence the validation of immigrants’ qualifications and experiences in their pursuit of refuge.

In the third article, “Hegemonic masculinities as counter resistance in the university context,” Aline dos Santos Barbosa, Marcello Romani-Dias, and Heliani Berlato delve into the analysis of how young men exercise hegemonic masculinities as a form of counter-resistance against the emergence of a feminist collective within the university setting.

Moving forward, the fourth article, “Favela Won! - Resistance conveyed in bregafunk music videos,” by André Luiz Maranhão de Souza-Leão and Mariana Almeida de Souza Lopes, investigates the role of musical production in disseminating ideologies, with a focus on how genres, particularly bregafunk, are intricately intertwined with political discourses.

Subsequently, the article by Thais Lustosa Carreira, Jefferson Lopes La Falce, and Diogo Henrique Helal, “Enterprise social media: a study from digital natives’ perspective,” tackles the perceptions of digital natives concerning the utilization of internal social media (ISM) within corporate contexts.

In the sixth article, “Practicing citizenship: creation and validation of a measurement scale,” Patrícia Trindade Caldas and Carlos Eduardo Cavalcante propose a comprehensive scale designed to quantify citizenship practices, validated within the unique framework of the Brazilian context.

The seventh article, “Social management based on the language of law mediating the lifeworld and the system,” by Marilene de Souza Campos and José Roberto Pereira, conducts an in-depth analysis of how legal language mediates the intricate relationship between the realm of daily life and institutional systems. This perspective substantiates the concept of social management, positioning society as a central actor in shaping public initiatives.

Jefferson Rodrigues Pereira, José Vitor Palhares dos Santos, and Alice de Freitas Oleto authored the eighth article, “‘I respect your amen, do you respect my axé?’: an ethnographic study on candomblé terreiros as resistance organizations in the light of a decolonial perspective.” This study is dedicated to unraveling the organizational structure and significance of candomblé terreiros as bastions of resistance against religious racism.

The ninth article, “Women and management careers: the construction of leader identity in a male corporate environment,” by Patrícia Maria Figueredo and Flávia Cavazotte, examines the construction of successful leadership identities within a traditionally male-dominated technology company. The authors explore women’s journeys in this context, shedding light on the factors contributing to the social construction of leader identities amidst the challenges of a male-centric corporate world.

In the tenth article, “The process of construction of social values: revisiting the concept of social value from the point of view of the symbolic interactionism tradition,” Talita Ravagnã Piga and Silvia Marcia Russi De Domenico delve into a comprehensive reevaluation of the concept of social value through the lenses of three strands of symbolic interactionism (traditional, contemporary, and structural). Rooted in the work of Thomas and Znaniecki (1927, 2006), the authors propose a contemporary conceptual definition of social value and offer a theoretical model elucidating the intricate process of constructing these values. Their exploration facilitates understanding the dynamic interplay between macro-level societal structures and individual agency (micro) in shaping the meaning, reinterpretation, and even relinquishment of these values.

The article “Perspectives on guilt in modern capitalism: a dialogue between Deleuze-Guattari and Walter Benjamin,” by Alessandro Gomes Enoque, delves into a contemplation of the intersections between Deleuze and Guattari’s characterization of the “capitalist machine civilized” in “Anti-Oedipus” and Walter Benjamin’s examination of the “capitalist religious structure” in his fragment titled “Capitalism as Religion,” especially regarding the notion of guilt.

Concluding this edition is the Case Studies & Teaching Cases section, featuring the contribution of Richard Felipe Savisky, Jailson Lana, and Raul Beal Partyka in their narrative “Two steps from paradise: the case of Pousada Bravo House.” This case study reveals the intricate predicament faced by two brothers, proprietors of Pousada Bravo House in Brazil, as they grapple with the decision to either expand the existing facilities or embark on a fresh endeavor by renting a nearby plot of land and constructing an entirely new establishment. Their deliberations encapsulate the challenges and considerations inherent in such strategic choices.

We trust these insightful readings will help you contemplate the multiple dimensions and potential perspectives on Planetary Health.

We wish you a pleasant read.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  22 Sept 2023
• Date of issue
  2023