Across the world, brands have a significant influence over their internal and external stakeholders, giving them the power to drive real change. By embedding sustainability and jumping on the Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) wave, organisations can revolutionise the way of doing business and become more resilient in the long run and reap benefits such as improved operations and performance, greater customer satisfaction, and better financial results.
According to the MIT Sloan management review, as of 2021, while 90% of executives agreed on the importance of sustainability, only about 60% of companies had a sustainable ESG strategy.
The first step for a company in achieving full sustainability potential for improving its operational performance is to integrate necessary sustainability goals with overall business goals, especially those for setting and delivering financial KPIs. To do this, businesses must examine both their corporate and sustainability strategies to see how closely they align and reinforce one another. The strategies can also be put under stress using a variety of criteria, such as peer comparison, competitive pressures and stakeholder expectations.
However, to smoothly execute a sustainability strategy, it's necessary to onboard experts who are aware of emerging environmental and social trends, and the risks and opportunities they create for business. Organisations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies, have created positions such as Chief Sustainability Officers or Directors to ensure their sustainability objectives are met.
For good reasons, businesses from all sectors are focusing on the "E" aspect of the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) requirement. Both big and small businesses are expressing their dedication to, among other environmental ideals, renewable energy infrastructure, and lowering carbon footprints. However, they must not disregard the social and governing values, which are equally important and many times the focus of international regulators. Companies that ignore challenges with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), data privacy, compliance and human capital may put themselves in serious financial, reputational, and other legal danger. According to data recorded in The Wall Street Journal, shareholders and customers are exerting pressure on businesses to address "S" and "G" issues, such as the diversity—or lack thereof—on their boards of directors.
Greater employee engagement is a natural outcome of companies adopting their ESG strategy by integrating it into the foundation and culture of their business. ESG strategies have proven to improve financial status even though they come with an upfront cost like any investment. It has been demonstrated that involving employees in sustainability-related issues over and above the conventional CSR/philanthropy departments can improve a business's competitive edge, financial performance, and brand reputation. Getting employees to actively participate leads to a boost in morale which, in turn, creates high performance leading to a business edge and a positive brand reputation.
Being honest about both, your positive and, more crucially, your negative impacts will help you avoid criticism from others by demonstrating your grasp of the areas where your business needs to develop and advance sustainably. Take the example of the “Footprint Chronicles” which was created by leading green business Patagonia to demonstrate their products' environmental benefits and drawbacks and bring transparency to their ESG framework. This transparent outlook will further help to articulate your future roadmap for the direction you want the business to take.
It is important for organisations to take into account the need of all stakeholders and deliver on all pillars within the framework through a holistic approach. Case in point, VFS Global's key sustainability achievements in 2021, captured the company's sustainability strategy based on five distinguished pillars - Contributing to Sustainable Economic Growth, Delivering Good Governance, Nurturing our Colleagues, Protecting our Environment, and Supporting our Communities.
Businesses can better handle sustainability challenges if they concentrate on each issue that the company wishes to prioritise (for example, green hydrogen or its subtopic, operational decarbonisation). Companies should use processes like materiality assessments to determine the list of sustainability topics that are important to the firm and its stakeholders to do this effectively.
From the perspective of the board, this will comprise two significant categories: goal formulation, ESG governance and communication. ESG objectives frequently have time horizons that are longer than those of the current leadership team, hence specific activities should be actioned within the duration of the existing executive team so that individual leaders can get the ESG ball rolling and help the company achieve its larger, long-term ESG goals.
To sum up, an integrated future is one in which businesses prioritise sustainability challenges alongside financial gains in their overarching corporate strategy and reporting. Every decision will consider environmental, social, and economic values in relevant and meaningful ways. This is how we can work towards a sustainable future.
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