Want to be a sustainability leader? Get away from the screen and go see it in action

• Business leaders need to get out into the world and see sustainability in action.
• Strong collaborative efforts between governments, businesses, and communities can preserve the planet.
• This article is part of the "Financing a Sustainable Future" series exploring how companies take steps to set and fund sustainable goals.

It's easy to view sustainability and climate change as abstract problems — saving a rainforest from deforestation thousands of miles away or preventing invisible carbon emissions from warming the planet so that polar ice caps don't melt. That's why I encourage any business leader focused on impact to step away from the screen and see sustainability in action.

Standing on the banks of the Brazos River south of Houston, alongside representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Nature Conservancy, I got to see how an unlikely community partnership can reshape the future. The Harris Reservoir has seen extended drought conditions over the past several years, threatening water supplies for the community, including our facilities near Freeport, and spurring the Corps to stabilize supply by expanding the reservoir. All three groups see this as an urgent issue and are providing funding and technical knowledge to preserve water supplies now and for generations.

It's one thing to see the photos on a screen, but it was another thing to see mother nature's sheer power up close. She can move a vast flood plain wherever she wants, whenever she wants, regardless of the impact on our business or the community. Confronted with forces this powerful, it will take all of us — government, industry, nonprofits, and communities — working together to preserve our planet for future generations. And there are steps companies can take right now to make it happen.

Innovate new tech throughout your supply chains

Brands that make products that help lower carbon emissions have an obligation to put our best efforts to use in creating a more sustainable world, both in terms of the products we make and how we make them. This includes listening to our customers and partnering with subject-matter experts who can help us operate more sustainably.

Nonprofit organizations can be excellent sustainability partners. Take the Marine Stewardship Council, a global nonprofit that "seeks to end overfishing and ensure seafood is caught sustainably." The group offers certification programs that can advise fishers, suppliers, and food companies on techniques to avoid overfishing and protect ocean ecosystems, all while still turning a profit.

Cross-industry collaboration is another way to find the best technologies to solve sustainability challenges. At Dow, we've partnered with UK-based Mura Technologies to find ways to recycle even more plastic materials at the end of their usable life by converting them back into the chemicals they were made from — and keeping them out of the environment.

Support economic advancements in communities

I've always believed that people are the key to our success in building a more sustainable world. Governments and corporations can set the direction, but it is the efforts of local communities that can often make the biggest impact in promoting solutions to recycling, climate change, and a whole host of other issues. Simply put — communities know best what they need and how to accomplish it.

That's why it's so important that any company looking to promote sustainable operations invests in support community partnerships. Take Just Rural Transition, which arose out of a 2019 U.N. Climate Summit. The nonprofit initiative brings together national governments, financial institutions, and multinational corporations like Nestle and Unilever to provide financing for community solutions to food and water stress in developing countries.

That type of work is a big part of what gets me so excited about what's possible by harnessing the power of communities. Project Ybá, an initiative from Dow designed to protect biodiversity in Brazil, sits at the heart of our commitment to social and environmental partnerships driving our business results. Run through a collaboration with the Peabiru Institute and The Nature Conservancy, Project Ybá sets up a local cooperative on Dow-owned land that will drive income generation for communities through Amazon preservation work.

Much of the talk concerning corporate sustainability has focused on commitments, but in my view, we can do just as much good by investing in our communities, investing in the planet, and most importantly, investing in people.

Eunice Heath is the global corporate director of sustainability at Dow.