Six steps to moving towards a sustainable business

A sustainable business is one that is able to make positive trade-offs between economic, environmental and social issues. Companies do this by balancing people, profit and the planet, and it’s clearly a requirement of a successful business, but many are still wondering how to make this happen. We have six concrete steps to help: 

Make sure your strategy is aligned with the megatrend. 

Go beyond simply trying to reduce your carbon footprint, and really make sure your company’s purpose and ESG are at the forefront of your strategy. For example, rather than trying to offset your use of fossil fuels by reducing your footprint elsewhere, figure out how to move away from them entirely. 

Make sure you walk the talk. 

Financial institutions, investors and customers are more interested in what you do than what you say. So make sure your promises are backed up with credible, measurable actions. 

Make the business case for sustainability. 

If you fail to make a clear business case for your shift to sustainable strategy, it will be difficult to scale it and you will likely lose out on opportunities, so make sure you actually lay out a plan for how sustainability will help drive your success. 

Focus on the material issues. 

You need to define what is most critical to your business. A materiality assessment can unlock improvement and commitment in large organizations.  

Include sustainability in all key functions. 

Every function today should have a stake in sustainability. The chief financial officer needs to determine how to best report on ESG and how to respond to investor pressures. The chief marketing officer needs to recognize and address new customer demands. The head of operations needs to reduce waste, create circular solutions and be lean in terms of carbon footprint. The chief human resources officer needs to address how to offer support to employees and local societies where the company operates. 

Align sustainability with purpose. 

By aligning sustainability with your purpose, you not only reveal the positive societal contributions that you are making, but you also realize how easily you could do more.   

Making the paradigm shift to put sustainability at the center of your business shouldn’t be difficult. Remember, it’s not only better for your bottom line, it’s better for everyone.