Bain & Company announced today the launch of FurtherSM, it’s integrated suite of ESG capabilities to deliver the firm’s collective ambition of creating a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive world. This announcement builds on Bain’s decades of industry leadership, working to create transformative impact against the world’s most pressing challenges, including the sweeping effects of climate change, structural inequities and environmental degradation.
“Bain has been on this journey for many years and made meaningful progress, from becoming carbon neutral certified 10 years ago to committing $1.1 billion in investments toward social impact work,” said Manny Maceda, Worldwide Managing Partner of Bain & Company. “The challenges of this past year made it all the more evident that a new model of leadership and collaboration is needed, one that inspires bold action and allows organizations to move out in front of the systemic issues facing businesses and communities. Steady progress is no longer enough.”
In 2020, Covid-19 increased the urgency of this mission. Bain teams worked to increase supply of critical equipment and expand treatment options for Covid-19. The firm worked alongside a global biopharmaceutical leader to redesign its operational processes and facilitate partnerships with industry peers to support clinical trials for the development of a Covid-19 hyperimmune therapy.
“The pandemic has proven that the old ways of doing business and running operations is no longer efficient and unprepared companies are bound to collapse in times of crises if they remain behind. The world today needs dynamic and realistic solutions that can address pressing challenges such as inequality, security breaches, effects of climate change and many others, said Tom De Waele, Middle East Managing Partner at Bain & Company. “Bain & Company has been playing an active role in the Middle East to ensure that businesses recover, and communities can proactively address any obstacles they may face. FurtherSMbrings a full force of talent, expertise, and energy to step beyond the incremental and deliver positive impact for all stakeholders.”
Additionally, in support of Stop the Spread—a consortium of more than 1,300 business leaders who have pledged to help Americans weather the pandemic—Bain has helped bring more PPE, ventilators and testing equipment to the market, building more than 30,000 critical care ventilators through a Bain-organized partnership. As tragic injustice reminded the nation of the critical need for racial equity and social justice reforms, Bain worked to help form OneTen—a coalition of more than forty CEOs and executives across industries committed to hiring, training and promoting one million Black Americans over the next 10 years into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement.
As evidenced in these recent examples, Furtherworks to apply Bain’s talent, energy and expertise to create transformative impact across three levels—as a partner to its clients, as a champion for global communities and as a firm. Today, 2,500 Bain team members are actively involved in this work.
- Bain’s clients are facing increasing and often existential demands around sustainability, social impact, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Through new models of leadership and collaboration, organizations can create growth engines for the business and energize employees while having a transformative impact on communities. Going Further means taking a step beyond the incremental to deliver positive impact for all stakeholders.
A decade ago, Bain formalized its Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility practice to support the firm’s corporate clients on their journeys. The practice has grown significantly since. In the past two years alone, it has served more than 500 client projects that tackled sustainability and corporate responsibility, carbon emissions and the energy transition.
In 2020, Bain launched a global DEI practice to directly support its clients’ goals of increasing diverse representation, achieving more equitable outcomes and creating a more inclusive environment. For example, Bain recently helped a global private equity fund define its DEI ambition and chart a course for progress across its portfolio of companies in North America.
- Bain is on track to achieve its commitment to invest $1.1 billion in pro bono consulting over ten years to help leading social pioneers scale and amplify their impact. Since setting this commitment in 2015, the firm has invested nearly $500 million in pro bono support of more than 260 nonprofit organizations. In recent years, Bain has used this investment as a springboard to mobilize the kind of innovative, multistakeholder partnerships needed to deliver systemic change. In addition to the OneTen coalition, Bain’s teams have also recently invested in catalyzing partnerships to build more inclusive, sustainable and nutritious food systems, including:
- Scaling profitable, farmer-allied African food companies. African food systems are under stress from growing urbanization, youth unemployment and the climate crisis. Farmer-allied intermediaries are linchpin firms in unlocking Africa’s food production and economic potential. Along with the Global Dairy Platform and Land O’Lakes Venture37, Bain has designed and launched Dairy Nourishes Africa—a public-private partnership to create a more resilient, inclusive and environmentally sustainable dairy industry in East Africa through supporting the growth of farmer-allied dairy processors.
- The business case for sustainable tuna. Bain partnered with The Nature Conservancy to set up a canned tuna company focused on fair labor practices and environmentally sound operations, in collaboration with stakeholders from both the private and public sectors. This work will prove the business case for a more sustainable and commercially viable tuna supply chain that retailers and consumers can trust—and other companies can emulate.
- Bain’s dedication to social and environmental standards starts at home. The firm embeds these values into its business strategy, taking steps every day to reduce its environmental footprint, create a more diverse and welcoming workplace for employees, procure supplies and services sustainably, and practice high levels of ethics. This year, Bain celebrates 10 consecutive years of carbon neutrality across its global operations, and it is ranked as Glassdoor’s #1 Best Place to Work.
