Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people and organizations around the world in numerous ways. The impact has been particularly great in economic areas, resulting in changes that are often not desirable in both short- and long-term perspectives. In this study, the challenging aspects that many businesses around the world faced in terms of continuing their efforts in sustainability areas due to the situations brought by the pandemic are investigated. The economic and social difficulties are researched mostly through the analysis of the media reports regarding the issue since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. A survey was conducted with corporate representatives regarding the challenges they faced in their sustainability policies. The results were analyzed and suggestive ideas for overcoming the difficulties and new tasks that corporations will have to take up in the post-COVID-19 era are discussed.  

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our world in many significant ways. In this study, its impacts on businesses, especially regarding their sustainability-related policies and actions were researched. Both positive and negative aspects were investigated, mainly through Internet-based searches, and through a survey with corporate representatives. 

More specifically, the transition to telecommuting that many corporations implemented after the onset of the pandemic was investigated. The declines in manufacturing industries, especially in the initial phases of the pandemic in 2020, which resulted in lower carbon emissions were noted. 

In addition, the impacts of the declines in revenues faced by many businesses which led to new challenges in allocating resources for sustainability purposes were surveyed through e-mails. Other difficulties experienced by various businesses regarding their sustainability concerns were surveyed and discussed. 

The purpose of this research was to gain better perspectives on the experiences of the COVID-19 challenges in the business world, and thus the strategies regarding eco-friendly ways of operating businesses under such demanding situations are surveyed and discussed. It is the hope of the researcher that the results of this study can serve as a reminder for people and businesses that the concern for sustainability can be hampered by the pandemic and thus efforts should be made to counteract those possibilities. 

Methods

The contents of the major media reports on sustainability issues since the outbreak of the pandemic were analyzed. They were accessed mainly through Google keyword search. New challenges that were faced by corporations of different kinds as they switched to telecommuting formats and acted in accordance with the social distancing and other quarantine requests by the government authorities were examined. 

The media reports regarding the statements made by various corporations that pertain to environmental issues since the outbreak of the pandemic were searched and analyzed in order to find connections between their policy changes and the situations that followed the pandemic. 

Furthermore, in order to get more direct information about how the corporations fared in terms of their sustainability during the pandemic, a short survey sheet was prepared. It was targeted at corporate PR (Public Relations) or IR (Investor Relations) representatives. It contained four simple questions. It was sent out to PR and IR representatives of major corporations listed in the Fortune 500 lists (25 out of the top 100th corporations to be contacted were picked by the researcher, based on her judgment of the corporations’ degree of public recognition and/or influence). The e-mail addresses of the corporate representatives were obtained from Internet sources. 

(The actual survey form that was sent to the corporate representatives is attached as  Appendix A)

Results

Impacts on the environmental conditions:

The examination of the media reports through Internet searches revealed that there have been both negative and positive impacts from the pandemic on the environment and sustainability conditions. According to Murphey (2020), there were negative impacts of the pandemic on sustainability in several aspects. One was the obvious increase in medical wastes, especially in disposable items like hand gloves made of rubber. Also, they pointed out the fact that the decreased movements among people in general amidst the pandemic hampered the recycling activities overall, leading to worsening cases of water and soil pollution. 

There have also been reports of positive impacts. Rumea and Didar-Ul Islamb (2020) reported that the reduced mobility due to the quarantine efforts in many countries generally resulted in lowered emissions of carbon gases. They identified the restrictions in movements and social activities that were enforced by many countries as the causes behind the reductions. They also indicated the increased incidents of telecommuting adopted by many companies in different parts of the world were also responsible for the improvements in air quality, in addition to certain degrees of cut-backs in industrial activities, although this was quickly made up with many countries arranging back-to-normal operations of industrial facilities with proper prevention measures. The improvements in air quality were confirmed by other reports (e.g., Reuters, 2021). Related to this was the reduction in traveling by people. Murphey (2020) reports that reductions in tourism result in less pressure on the preservation of tourist attractions. 

Fuentes, et al (2020) reported mostly positive impacts from the pandemic on sustainability issues. They said that the COVID-19 halted public transportation operations in some cities which in turn increased bike usage among people. This also could be viewed as beneficial in reducing the risks of public transportation while lowering carbon emissions. This further led to some city governments improving their public bike infrastructures. They conclude that CO2 emissions and human mobility have been reduced, generally leading to the improvement of air quality. In addition, the increase in the number of people working at home has also contributed to reducing carbon emissions.

Responses to the questions in the survey:

The results of the survey which was sent out to corporate representatives with the intention to collect more direct information on the impacts of the pandemic on corporations were analyzed. Out of the 25 surveys sent to the corporate representatives via email, 8 were returned (response rate of 31.3%). The unusual nature of this research and the way they were individually contacted might have been the reason behind this rather low response rate. (The researcher introduced herself truthfully as a high-school student who was conducting research on the issue of sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic. No financial incentive was offered.) 60% of those who responded indicated that their companies experienced a change in their companies’ budget allocated for the purpose of promoting sustainability after the onset of the pandemic. 40% indicated that ‘spending on alternative energy’ was the aspect of their sustainability policy that was most affected by the pandemic. Since the number of responses was only 8, statistical analysis was not performed; the results were taken as simply an indication of what might have happened to the policies of corporations at large. 

Conclusion & Discussion

Both positive and negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been researched in this study. Fortunately, there do not seem to have been significant negative impacts while some unexpected positive ones came along. Many corporations also did not seem to have given up their policies or reduced their efforts to pursue sustainable policies.

However, due to the limited extent of the surveys and examinations of the academic and media reports in this study, a definite conclusion cannot be made. Much more research is needed in this area, especially considering the fact that the impact of the pandemic will be long-lasting and more substantial than was previously thought. 

It is the hope of this researcher that more research efforts on this issue will be made, and new guidelines that take the impacts of the pandemic into account will be offered, like how one university has done (Northern Arizona University, 2020). Efforts like this can then eventually turn the pandemic into a historical event that actually boosted various measures that are intended to promote sustainability. 

*References:

Murphy, D (2020), How COVID-19 is impacting the environment and sustainability. Retrieved through:

businesswest.co.uk/blog/how-covid-19-impacting-environment-and-sustainability

Northern Arizona University, 2020, COVID-19 Sustainability Guide. Retrieved through:

in.nau.edu/green-nau/covid-19-sustainability-guide/

Reuters (2021, JAN. 15), China air quality improved in 2020 on lockdowns, tougher quality control. Retrieved through:

reuters.com/article/us-china-pollution-idINKBN29K0E4

Rolando Fuentes, Marzio Galeotti, Alessandro Lanza, and Baltasar Manzano (2020), COVID-19 and Climate Change: A Tale of Two Global Problems. Retrieved through: mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/20/8560/pdf

Tanjena Rumea and S.M. Didar-Ul Islamb (2020), Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability. Retrieved through:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7498239/