Incorporating sustainability in business strategies is no longer an option today. Sustainability initiatives contribute to an organization’s overall success.
Sustainability has become more of a strategic and operational imperative. It is important that executives must lead the way to set up a sustainability organization that’s right for their companies.
Sustainability strategies might feel like a short-term investment, but it leads to long-term benefits. Studies have proven that most sustainable companies are also the most profitable ones.
Sustainability in business means to operate a business without any negative impacts on the environment, community, or society. More companies, and their investors, are recognizing sustainability as a strategic priority that involves significant business risks and opportunities.
But historically, few companies have organizational structures that are designed to treat sustainability as a material business issue. Instead, sustainability activities—and the organizations that support them—have focused primarily on investor relations, PR, and corporate social responsibility.
The goal of a sustainable business strategy is to impact the environment or society positively. They ensure that their short-term profits don’t affect the long-term operations of the business.
Businesses usually pick up a global challenge and address it at organizational levels with their initiatives to create a positive impact.
To get sustainability programs right, companies have big decisions to make.
To start, they should choose which issues under the broader sustainability umbrella should be the responsibility of their sustainability organizations and which issues should be left to other parts of their businesses.
The issues range widely, from building new low-carbon businesses and commercializing green products to managing environmental compliance and ESG reporting more proactively.
As companies mobilize to respond to increasing sustainability concerns, many have struggled with the differences between sustainability and other business issues in the trade-offs involved, decision-making and governance processes, and even employee and leader mindsets.
According to Euromonitor, there are five steps to create and build a sustainable business strategy:
Sustainability doesn’t mean sacrificing or reducing profits. A business without a sustainable business strategy is less successful in profitability, growth, employee retention, etc.
Many company websites these days have also included a separate section exclusively to update their sustainability initiatives. Global companies are also launching powerful messages and slogans to create awareness and build a more sustainable future.
