ESG Lessons Learned from the Coral Restoration Foundation™

Clarendon Partners is a proud supporter of the Coral Restoration Foundation™ in Key Largo, FL. In the past week our Practice Leaders had the opportunity to learn about the efforts, technology, and holistic approach required to restore the Coral Reef on Florida’s East Coast. As of 2023 only 1-2% of the original coral reef remains.  You may ask why we have lost over 98% of Florida’s Coral Reef and may think that there is a singular cause. As we learned from the dedicated experts at the Coral Restoration Foundation™ there are a number of environmental, social, and governance factors that resulted in this significant impact to the Coral Reef echo-system in Florida.

Corporate ESG Risk

Environmental

• Impact(s) and resource usage and risk management practices

Social

• relationships with all stakeholders in the community

Governance

• Including the policies, procedures, and structure
  adopted to meet regulatory and stakeholder requirements

Coral Reef ESG Risk

Environmental

• Climate change / warming temperatures

• Diseases affecting the echo-system

Social

• Human impact both commercial and recreational

• Protection and Restoration

Governance

• Policy
  

What was impressive to observe and learn about is the integrated and holistic approach the Coral Restoration Foundation™ takes to restore the coral reef echo-system through focus not just on restoration, but also on science and education to create force multipliers for their efforts. This integrated and holistic approach enables the Coral Restoration Foundation™ to affect all three elements of ESG and as such have a much larger result on their mission to rebuild the Coral Reef.

"As CEO of Coral Restoration Foundation™, I truly believe in the value of an integrative approach to ecosystem restoration. Factoring socio-economic components into our strategies is critical. Our reefs are part of a complex system deeply intertwined with human societies. We must consider not just the biological and environmental aspects, but also the social and economic influences that have contributed to their decline. By doing so, we can address the challenges more holistically, building not only healthier reefs but also resilient communities. Our success lies in the understanding that restoring our reefs is not just a scientific endeavor, but a social one as well." - Dr. R. Scott Winters, CEO, Coral Restoration Foundation™

Corporations should take the lessons from this amazing cause into consideration and apply an integrated and holistic approach when evaluating their ESG Risk Management practices. Only when focusing on environmental and social factors as part of their strategy and simultaneously implementing the appropriate risk governance, controls, and reporting will corporations be able to pro-actively identify and manage their ESG risks and plan for the future regardless of if they are looking for continued growth or restoring their performance as the Coral Restoration Foundation™ is doing for the Florida coral reef. Clarendon Partners is here to help you in your journey.
 

It’s Time to Evolve

Clarendon Partners helps you engineer your organization’s DNA to prepare you for a more efficient, brighter, and more agile future considering the rapidly evolving ESG landscape and regulatory environment. Our industry experts are here to work shoulder to shoulder with you to deliver immediate results.

Contact us at digital@clarendonptrs.com to discuss how we can help.