(本文翻譯自 陳冲 公路駕駛 也能ESG 2021.11.21.)
The accident in which a driver’s vehicle sideswiped a Maserati sports car and be assaulted with a baseball bat in Taichung made headlines these days, and those perpetrators are even dubbed “the baseball bat team” on the internet. The news reminds me of a story when I gave speech about ESG last August.
In the speech three months ago, I cited Ben & Jerry's social mission as the example of ESG. Coincidently, in late August, the company had again made the news as it announced to rehabilitate Jerusalem forests after wildfires and end sales of ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. But what’s the link between these news and the Taichung car accident? By chance, in that speech, I mentioned that the company has been devoted to improving the quality of life at home and abroad, so on its website and daily business, it often advocates “ Fifty Ways to Promote Peace”, in which that impressed me the most is “Drive with patience and tolerance”. Simply put, don’t get angry while driving.
Well, does not being angry while driving have anything to do with world peace? Many years ago, someone had rewritten the phrase “A man's home is his castle” as” A man's car is his castle”, illustrating the subtle changes of driver’s mentality. People in castle are emotionally protected and care less, so may behave out of control with an attack of schizophrenia. The AAA foundation for Traffic Safety calls it Road Rage, and it may simply be verbal insults at first, but may further be physical threats.
Ben & Jerry's social mission include not only to improve the quality of products with innovative methods, but also the quality of human life. And not only locally and nationally, but even internationally. However, is it too naïve to think that it will help improve world peace simply by encouraging customers to stay calm while driving? If fact, driving without getting angry, or assisting relatives or friends to stay calm as they drive can really help to avoid disputes. The aforementioned Taichung car accident is a dreadful one. If people of high positions can drive without getting angry in daily life, they can also encounter difficulties with patience and tolerance, and that’s important regarding world peace. Trump was so temperamental when he was in office that Mark Milley, the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had twice secretly telegraphed Beijing to appease China. Perhaps he thought it better to take precautionary measure first to avoid conflict as he saw Trump behaved without patience and tolerance.
ESG has become a famous study recently. I needn’t elaborate any further about the details. It is basically transformed from CSR. It seems that is has nothing to do with self-improvement, but actually the implementation of ISG still lies in individuals, corporate leaders or department heads. If he or she is quite cultivated with sense of morality, then he or she is admirably suited for the job performing tasks related to environment, society and governance. And it will truly have positive impact on the overall ESG performance of the company.
Road driving itself can already fulfill social responsibilities, such as frequent maintenance to reduce carbon emissions, to carpool to conserve energy, and to obey rules for road safety. If we can further drive with patience and tolerance, though it seems just a personal business, in fact we can help improve the level of corporate ESG. On the other hand, if the company’s executives behave badly and deceives customers, no matter how hard the company promotes its efforts on ESG, all will return to nothing. It is undoubtedly good to promote ESG and adopt accounting standards like SASB or TCFD, but for the public, it seems more practical to promote Ben & Jerry's fifty ways to promote peace!