Unique Contributions

Connecting purpose and profit

• RELX • Season 2 • Episode 7

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In this episode, YS Chi speaks with Márcia Balisciano, global head of corporate responsibility at RELX. Márcia joined RELX 18 years ago to establish a ‘global community programme’ which the then CEO thought would be a two-year gig. At the time, terms like ‘ESG’ (Environmental, Social and Governance) or ‘CR’ (Corporate Responsibility) hadn’t yet made it into the global conversation. 18 years later, RELX scores consistently at the top of ESG rankings. 

Márcia talks about the journey that has made this possible and explains what it means in practice to be a business that sees no trade-off between profitability and responsibility. We hear about her pioneering bottom-up approach to corporate responsibility, how RELX articulated its ‘Unique Contributions’, and about the free RELX SDG Resource Centre. But the work is never done and Márcia is now focused on the next challenge: meeting stringent carbon reduction targets.

This podcast is brought to you by RELX.



YS Chi:

The Unique Contributions podcast is brought to you by RELX. Find out more about us by visiting RELX.com.

Mrcia Balisciano:

When they were looking at a company to join, the corporate responsibility performance of RELX and the importance that we place on this was one of the factors that led them to the business. That definitely makes me feel happy.

YS Chi:

Hello and welcome to our second series of unique contributions, a RELX podcast where we bring you closer to some of the most interesting people from around our business. I'm YS Chi and I'll be exploring with my guests some of the big issues that matter to society, how they're making a difference, and what brought them to where they are today. My guest today is Marcia Balisciano, who is the founding global head of corporate responsibility at RELX, and also the chair of the United Nations Global Compact network UK. In the last few years, corporate responsibility has climbed up the agenda and is now top of mind for stakeholders. The pandemic has accelerated the trend and the business case for stakeholder capitalism is clear. Sustainable businesses are those that will be there for the long term. At RELX, we have understood this for a long time, largely thanks to Marcia who has been at the company for the incredible 18 years. RELX is one of the most sustainable business in the world and scores consistently at the top of ESG rankings. But the work is never done. I'll be asking Marcia about the journey that has placed corporate responsibility at the heart of RELX's business strategy, what her challenges are, and most importantly, how she ensures that we walk the talk. Mrcia, thank you for joining the podcast, great having you here. I know you've been around mostly around London. How has it been like trying to run the corporate responsibility team from home while also looking after your two young boys?

Marcia Balisciano:

Well, it has definitely been an interesting time, in such a year or so of challenge, for so many people around the world. And it's definitely been an exercise in learning how to juggle things well, while trying to work and for a number of months over the last year and a bit, homeschool at the same time.

YS Chi:

Well, from what I've been able to watch from afar, you've done a great job. Let's get to your personal story first Marcia. You've had a very interesting youth from what I know. You grew up in Salem, Massachusetts, and then you started moving all over the world. And somehow you moved and ended up in Japan, tell us?

Marcia Balisciano:

Well my mother, was an amazing woman, decided that Salem would be a very interesting place full of history, to raise her young family. And I just fell in love with the history. After having a paper route or paper round, as they say in England, I became a tour guide in Salem. So it was absolutely fascinating to be immersed in the history of that place. I was a very avid reader and I loved learning about different cultures. When I found myself in university, I once saw a poster for a trip called Semester at Sea, which was the opportunity to learn and go around the world. My ship was a 1950's container ship and our first port was going to be Japan. We were visiting 12 countries and I had a very unusual situation, in that it was a bit expensive and they took about 15 students as work study. So I was very fortunate in being very persistent and asking for one of those places and I got it. So I was able to work alongside a Taiwanese crew, it wasn't too difficult. I worked mostly in the library and duty desk in various ports. But our first place that we'd be arriving to was Japan and I had a great interest in visiting Europe. I thought, oh well, I hope I'll be able to see a lot more of the world. It wasn't really that high up on my list. But when I ventured off the ship, I was totally captivated and decided that after I had taken this amazing journey that I wanted to go back. I ended up spending the better part of a year, continuing my studies in Japan as part of my undergraduate training.

YS Chi:

Wow. And from that, where else did you end up going? And then how did you end up in London and then eventually at RELX?

Marcia Balisciano:

I just had a passion for all things international. When I finished my studies in Japan, I finished my undergraduate degree and began thinking about what was next. I wanted to get some experience and I actually moved to Chicago because the University of Chicago was in my sights. They have a very interesting interdisciplinary programme in international relations. But I needed to get some work experience first, and I saw that there was an organisation called the Japan America Society. I called them up and I said, oh, do you have any recommendations because I've had some period of time in Japan and I would like to find some interesting work. They said no, they didn't have any. So I hung up and then I called them back and I said, could you use a volunteer? They said that they could use, and that's how I began...

YS Chi:

Always a free labourer, huh?

Marcia Balisciano:

Yes. But there was a barter agreement because I said, if I volunteer, what I want to do is put an ad about myself in your newsletter. Somebody saw that ad, who was looking for a wood products company to develop an export programme in Japan. That's how I ended up working for a short time in wood, to understand what it would be like to develop an export programme. So it was a great opportunity for a young person and I eventually did go to the University of Chicago and do degree, a master's degree in International Relations and that was really great. When I finished, I thought, well, I'm going to continue my trajectory because my studies were about Japanese political economy, kind of the intersection between the economy and politics. How I could correlate that into work that was focused on Asia, but actually, the job that I found was needing someone in Latin America. So I was based in Chicago, but looking at markets in the fashion industry for a Chicago manufacturer and who had licence agreements. So again, it was a brief stint, because I've spent most of my career at RELX. But it was very eye opening and I got to see that part of the world. I knew that I wanted to go back and do a PhD as an exercise and thinking. I thought, well, I have a background in Asia, and maybe this experience that I've been having in America, I'll propose a comparative topic. So I was very interested in the London School of Economics, which has a great programme and economic history. I remember writing to them and saying, why I was a nice person and they should let me in. This research tutor wrote me back and said, that's all well and good, but we need a testable hypothesis, methodology and sources. So I put together something looking at the economic development, and particularly planning in Japan and Argentina, which both had planning boards in the early 20th century, and why one seemed to do better than the other. The research tutor wrote to me back and said, well, we have serious doubts about your topic, but we're going to let you in. That was fine, because I had serious doubts about my topic too. In the end, I ended up doing something on the US experience with economic planning, but that's what brought me to London.

YS Chi:

Wow. We're glad it brought you to London because you found RELX. And you are the, founder having spent 18 years really starting the work around corporate responsibility, and put us at the top of the league tables on ESG. How has corporate responsibility developed? How has it grown over the better part of the last two decades?

Marcia Balisciano:

I think when I started there was more of a use of the term corporate social responsibility. There was a burgeoning interest when I started at RELX. I was hired by our then CEO Crispin Davis, who was interested in developing a global community programme, but I could see just months into the job that there were questions being asked of us that we didn't necessarily know the answer to. How are we avoiding child labour in our supply chain? How were we ensuring that we were procuring paper that was used in our supply chain, making sure that it was from known and legal sources? We didn't really have a good sense of what that was all about. So I raised my hand and said, I think this is all part of how we look at the extra financial performance of the company. But there was a much stronger emphasis on the S of the social, but linked to philanthropy at that point when I started. But just over time, these issues have grown in terms of the importance. I think also relative to an awareness of the climate crisis as being one of the most important issues of our time. The need for business along with other stakeholders to address this, which has helped to move this agenda forward from something that sometimes businesses were criticised, was this a bolt on activity to being something that's really integral to how we're assessing our risks and opportunities.

YS Chi:

Yeah, so it went from social to just general corporate responsibility, now to ESG. Which is in the forefront of everybody's mind?

Marcia Balisciano:

Yes, all our stakeholders matter. I think we have been very clear right from the beginning of our focus on risk corporate responsibility, that there is not a trade off between our different stakeholders. We need to be responsive to our investors, we need to be a profitable business, we also need to have the right people and to make sure that we are treating our people well. So they stay, that they decide to develop their careers RELX, as well as being responsive to government and their expectations, NGOs, etc. But the investment community began looking at socially responsible funds, and socially responsible investment. And that really wasn't always core to the business of the investors. But over time, seeing how integral these issues are to the financial health of a company, they rose higher in how they were assessing companies. So today, ESG, as you say, is very prominent. So the E stands for environment, the S for social in the widest sense of that term, and the G for governance. And it has become something more mainstream in the conversations that we have with our investors. I work very closely with our excellent investor relations team, to talk with them about the questions that they have in what are those specific risks that we face? And how are we working to minimise those, for example, on an environmental basis. And what are the long term opportunities? How are we working to maximise those?

YS Chi:

Right, and the prominence is getting from all segments, from governments, from investors, companies, individuals and employees, future employees as well. And because we've been doing this thing for long term, it's good thing for RELX. But there is something different about our approach to corporate responsibility that has driven the success so far, and has this incredible momentum. It is also the title of our podcast, the concept of unique contributions. Marcia, please tell our audience about how that really drives a different kind of energy to what you do with your team.

Marcia Balisciano:

Well, I have to say I credit you YS as head of corporate affairs, our CEO Erik Engstrm, for really encouraging us to think through what is different about the work that we do and the impact that we have on society, and to articulate our unique contributions. So we are constantly thinking about these issues. The overarching one is universal sustainable access to information, which is a common denominator across our four business areas. Then the others really map to the expertise and the contributions that those businesses make. Elsevier is very much focused on advancing science, improving health outcomes. LexisNexis Risk Solutions has expertise in fighting fraud and crime, but also reducing inequalities. I know something that I'd like to talk about during our conversation today, around reducing the gap on financial inclusion that is experienced, that our colleagues have at our LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group. But it's also about furthering the rule of law and access to justice at LexisNexis, Legal & Professional. In terms of the work that we do to improve the judges decisions that they may make through the legal information that we can provide, to help judges and lawyers be more effective. And just to ensure that we are promoting the rule of law everywhere around the world, as a foundation for how business and society is conducted. But then we also have fostering communities, which really map so well to Reed Exhibitions, which is one of the world's largest events businesses. In terms of how we bring different communities together, both buyers and sellers that improve the efficiency of those markets, and also have an impact within the sectors that are represented by those shows.

YS Chi:

Right, and you mentioned earlier about how RELX does not see any trade off between being profitable and being a responsible business. So it sounds to me like unique contribution goes to the heart of what we do daily anyway, whether it's science information, health information, fraud or crime prevention, and so on. So it's the stuff that we do daily. It's just that we orient them toward multiple use. Is that a good way of looking at?

Marcia Balisciano:

Yeah, I think so. That's when we talk about the positive impact that we have through conducting our business, that is definitely at the essence of it. It's ingrained in, as you say, what we do every day. But we also think about how we minimise the risks of what we do. So at LexisNexis Risk Solutions Group, thinking about data privacy and security, ensuring that we have the highest levels of data privacy and security, given how integral data is to that business. Or, as we think about access issues through Elsevier, through Research4Life, for example, which is a programme that we have been a founding partner of, providing access to our content in 2020. There were over a million downloads of content through Elsevier's amazing ScienceDirect database, which can help researchers in different parts of the world that would not necessarily be able to access that content otherwise. To be able to have it, to inform the knowledge that they're progressing. So maximising these things, but also looking at addressing any risks that we face in conducting our business is the opposite side of the equation.

YS Chi:

As you said, we're gonna touch on financial inclusion in a minute. But one of the things that is truly remarkable about your leadership, has been how you can continue to anticipate and go along and lead the new focus that the society is placing on corporations. So one of those examples is the SDG Resource Centre. I would very much like you to tell us a little bit about how that came about and what it's doing, please.

Marcia Balisciano:

Yeah, absolutely. Working with our colleagues at Elsevier in 2014, in the run up to 2015 when the SDGs were adopted, we thought there's content that we have that can inform knowledge on this agenda. We didn't even know all of the 17 SDGs at that point, but we knew it was a focus on people and the planet. We produced this piece of research called sustainability science in a global research landscape. On the very day that all the nations of the United Nations adopted the SDGs unanimously, we were at One UN Plaza, just across the street, when we presented the findings of that research. We asked Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet to provide the highlights of that research. There were a number of us sitting in the audience thinking, this is really fantastic, and we need to keep going because it's a 15 year agenda, which concludes in 2030. Very much focused on raising the bar around the world in issues that affect both developed nations but also some of the least developed nations the hardest. In terms of avoiding poverty, focusing on gender equality or quality education or life on land, life below water, etc. So we thought long and hard about what we could do, and out of that came in 2017, the RELX SDG Resource Centre. It is a free resource for the world, it is available at sdgresources.relx.com. There are over 1500 content sources from across our business. All four of our business areas have contributed content and continue to. Our content actually grew between 2019 and 20, by over 50%, and our number of users grew by about 80%. So we had nearly 90,000 unique users of the site last year, but we really want to grow that because this content is just so good. For example, you can see the 17 SDGs, you can click in and get some of the best knowledge in the world on the those SDGs. Our colleagues at LexisNexis on the homepage, built for us an SDG news tracker. Where you can get up to the minute news on the SDGs in all the UN languages including German. You can also find original research. So we did a big project working with Elsevier's Scopus, a citations database and also SciVal, this great analytical tool that can run over the top of Scopus to pull out these SDG graphics. On what is the state of knowledge today underpinning the SDGs, and the findings were incredible. You can see each individual graphic on the site. You can also see a free report where we package it together, ran some overlays looking at gender, for example, and the SDGs. It's called the power of data to advance the SDGs. It's really fascinating because of 4 million publications that were produced over a five year period up to 2019, you can see that less than 2% of the output are from low income countries. So that really points to the fact that we really need to be doing more to encourage indigenous research. Also, we can dig in and see the amount of collaboration and just how important collaboration is between the global north and the global south. And what we can do as a business to try and encourage more output and more collaboration between researchers in both places.

YS Chi:

I mean, it's a perfect segway into the next topic I wanted to touch with you, which is about data. You said power of data to advance ESG and CR. So that relationship between data and corporate responsibility, there have been some debates about the benefits of big data in the context of breaches that have compromised consumer privacy, or sometimes fallen in the hands of criminals. In a previous podcast episode, I spoke with Stephen Topliss, who is an expert in digital identity, to talk about cybercrime. How can business like RELX, ensure that the data analytics benefits society and create benefits for all, meaning data for good?

Marcia Balisciano:

I think it's a really critical issue and we need to make sure that we are definitely focused on data for good. Our colleagues are doing just that. As we've mentioned about financial inclusion, we have had pilots that have been running in places like Mexico, where we use some of our tools like ThreatMetrix that use alternative sources for identifying creditworthiness. That would make someone fall out if they didn't have, for example, a credit history. But using some of these alternative sources, like a person's academic background, that they have pursued higher education or the fact that they have paid back on student loans. Different ways of looking at their ability to pay back if they were granted a loan for advancing education or starting a new business. So this has been a really exciting project for us through LexisNexis Risk Solutions. In fact, one of the pilots in Mexico, now working with a fintech partner has become a commercial venture. So it's not just about philanthropy, it's about growing new markets. I think that's what the opportunity side of ESG really means.

YS Chi:

You know, I have to say, it reminds me when I last met former president of Mexico, Enrique Pea Nieto. We were a dozen or more businesses meeting with him at the Summits of the Americas. Everybody else was talking about trade, and entry barriers and all that. When my turn came around, I raised the issue of what the country was doing for financial inclusion using these tools. It just went over everybody's head at that moment. To hear from you that Mexico is our pilot country, and that it is now getting into our private venture is incredibly satisfying. It's incredible. I hope that we continue to use data for these very good enhancement of our society's equity. At this point Mrrcia, I want to pivot a little bit and talk about your role as a chair of the UN Global Compact network UK. How do you see your role overlapping with your role as the head of CR at RELX?

Marcia Balisciano:

Well, we're very much a strong supporter of the United Nations Global Compact, we were an early signatory. We have taken those 10 principles which relate to human rights and labour, environment, anti corruption, and incorporated that in our code of ethics and business conduct, and also in our supplier code. We have been producing over many years a communication on progress, showing how we have advanced those 10 principles in a given period of time. So it's been a really great guide star to our business as the kind of business arm of the UN. I have had the privilege of actually being one of the founders of the Global Compact Network here in the UK, and served on the board and now have the privilege of serving as the chair. It gives a really fascinating insight into the challenges and also how companies are advancing in their work, which I can take back into our business, looking across a wide range of both large companies. But also SMEs in dealing with the challenges that businesses are trying to grapple with. In terms of raising their performance on the environment or dealing with issues around inclusion. Or looking at some of the the issues on the social side of avoiding modern slavery in our supply chain, but also in our direct operations. So there's a really good best practice sharing element that has been beneficial to the work that I do and my team does here at RELX.

YS Chi:

It's probably completely unfair to ask this, but is there any particular moment or particular accomplishment that stands out as a pivotal moment of acknowledging that what you have poured so much into, is arriving at a point that you wanted to? I'm not saying destination, because we have so much to go still. But are there some moments like that you can share with us?

Marcia Balisciano:

Well, I think the strength of corporate responsibility at RELX is definitely not about me, it's about the 33,000 people across our business. I am energised every day by talking with my colleagues and how passionate they are. We have a very simple model where we really embed these issues in the heart of our business through our corporate responsibility networks. Examples would be our green teams, which are employee led networks or employee resource groups where we're expressing aspects of inclusion and diversity in our business that are grassroots-led. Or networks around accessibility or editorial policy, quality, etc. So these networks are a place where we can see how these issues are important to employees. I guess, when I hear from colleagues that are involved with recruitment, how they say to me I've heard over the years and including some of those colleagues themselves, not only just in their own recruiting. That when they were looking at a company to join, the corporate responsibility performance of RELX and the importance that we place on this was one of the factors that led them to the business. That definitely makes me feel happy.

YS Chi:

I too have heard it so many times, that those who are looking to join have paid attention to what we do in corporate responsibility and the difference that it makes. So kudos to you. You have the knack of orchestrating, as you said, people from bottom up to participate. That's not the usual corporate responsibility process that we see in large companies, right? How are you able to so successfully orchestrate these things bottom up, and have this tremendous momentum within the organisation itself? Because you do all this activity with extremely few people who are dedicated to see our work as their professional job description.

Marcia Balisciano:

I think that we just recognise that the strength of our business is in the people that we have, and that we have these four areas plus our corporate colleagues. If we can empower them to take action, then we just need to kind of stand out of the way and let them let them help to direct the agenda. We've seen that in so many instances. Just the other day, I was having a conversation with colleagues at LexisNexis Legal & Professional here in the United Kingdom, who have been looking at how to advance the environmental law portfolio and how they've been sharing that with other people outside the organisation. For better knowledge of environmental law, or an example would be, my colleagues at Elsevier who have set up a climate board to look at the expertise that we are addressing through our products and services and how we can help to take that expertise and drive it through in our own performance as a business. So there's so much interest, and it's just about tapping into that and giving an expression, I think,

YS Chi:

Yeah and looking at it from a unique angle of the resources that we we have, and being able to do things that no one else can do. So at this point, I want to look out to the future a little bit Marcia with you. There have been many challenges so far already in the 18 years. If you look out the next 18 years in corporate responsibility at RELX, what do you see as some of the challenges and opportunities?

Marcia Balisciano:

Well, we were very happy in terms of our 2020 performance to be able to achieve a net zero carbon emissions on our, what's called, scope 1 and scope 2 emissions plus business travel. Where we always try to err on being humble. So we have yet to formulate a longer term net zero ambition, which is definitely one of the things that we want to do going forward. We know that to be credible, our net zero ambition has to be about reduction. We set very stringent environmental targets. Our most recent set concluded between 2015 and 2020 and now we have new goals that we're trying to reach. For example, reducing our scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 46%, over a 2015 baseline. So this will be challenging. We want to advocate and we do that considerably through our products and services, which we consider to be our best environmental impact. We do it also by looking, using those green teams and engaging with colleagues who are experts, for example, in global procurement or in global real estate, to help us improve our portfolio and to engage on reduction efforts. So that always has to be the starting point, reducing. But also, if we are going to be involved with offsetting on our carbon emissions for what we can't do through buying green terra through reduction. That really has to be of exceptional quality, where it is additional. So no one else would be claiming those offsets, but also that they are about removing carbon from the atmosphere and then involved with long term storage. So the technologies coming alongside, we need to be aware of what that is, as we look through our shows like World Future Energy Summit, or All-Energy, and through some of our journals and the books and other things that we're producing, that we continue to drive this forward. But we also need to be part of industry initiatives, which we are. We're part of something called the Responsible Media Forum. We're a founding member of that, and we signed up and took the plunge last year to be part of the Climate Pact, which launched in 2020. That requires us to have a science based carbon reduction target, which we do. It also asks us to do a couple things around our content, to look at how we can train using our content, but also how we can influence on the agenda. Very excited YS to say, watch this space, the colleagues at Elsevier are working on a net zero report, which we will have on Elsevier.com, but also on the resource centre freely available in terms of leading edge knowledge on net zero. That will be launching around COP26, the global climate conference, which will be happening November 2021.

YS Chi:

Right here in the UK. Let's hope that we can all be there in person by then. I want to bring the whole circle back to you. You've been in this seat, the driver's seat for a long time, and you have never been tired. You have incredible energy. How do you keep that passion going?

Marcia Balisciano:

Well, it definitely comes back to the people that I get to work with, like you and other colleagues throughout the business who inspire me, as I said. And just seeing how much this agenda, as we talked about in the beginning of our conversation, has become integral to how a company is assessed in terms of their immediate performance but also their long term performance. As you said, we know that we have more to do and I want to be part of that continued effort to ensure that we are among the best in our peer group on corporate responsibility and on ESG. So I am excited for the things that we will do in the future.

YS Chi:

So with all this that you're doing, you're a true pioneer in many ways, not just within RELX but in the whole world of corporate responsibility. From the passion for all things international, here you are really impacting the globe. Thank you, Marcia, or should I say Dr. Marcia, unique contribution, Balisciano.

Marcia Balisciano:

Thank you YS.

YS Chi:

Thank you also to our listeners for tuning in. Don't forget to hit subscribe on your podcast app to get new episodes as soon as they're released. And thank you for listening.