According to a Deloitte study “nearly 1 in 3 consumers claimed to have stopped purchasing certain brands or products because they had ethical or sustainability related concerns about them”.
How can you retain that 33.33% of customers? Authentically commit to sustainability in your organization. If you are a change-maker or a leader in an organization here are a few tips to get you started.
Current Carbon Footprint
Use a tool such as The GHG Protocol to measure the current carbon footprint of the company. You can then use this to benchmark future reporting.
Environmental Impact
- Waste reduction – Assess internal and external waste, for example, remove single-use plastics or look at the packaging in your products. Terracycle does free recycling programmes.
- Toxin reduction – What products in your supply chain, not forgetting your cleaning products are toxic to the environment and change them. The Evening Standard has compiled a list of the best natural cleaning products here.
- Product Development & Life Cycle – How can you minimize the carbon footprint of your products, consider a circular economy approach to reduce waste.
Social Impact
- Community Projects – How is the business giving back to the community, what can you link to the overall purpose or to the hearts of the employees to make it authentic. Don’t know where to start check out Every One Of Us.
- Collaboration – Can the business engage with its supply chain and industry influencers to promote sustainability?
- Employees – Get them involved in your sustainable journey, create a focus style group. With more people on board, change can happen quickly and according to a University of Oxford study, Happy Workers are 13% more Productive.
Governance
- Processes and structures – Does the business have the necessary support and infrastructure to develop a strong sustainability program?
- Measurement – Track and measure your progress in the form of a Sustainability Report and share this with your stakeholders to show your commitment.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in 2015 require the carbon emissions to be cut by half by 2030 – that’s only 9 years away. If you think you can’t make a difference, you can. If we all start now, making small changes together, it would be a big step in the right direction.
Being sustainable will help you identify future business opportunities, strengthen your stakeholder relationships and build long term resilience. Book a discovery call and start your sustainability journey today.
Connect with me if you are passionate about #climatechange, #sustainability, #environment or you want to talk about your sustainability report.
Jade Pluck is a graduate of the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Programme and the Oxford Leading Sustainable Corporations Programme. Jade Consultancy works with companies to write their Sustainable Future Report documenting their ESG/sustainability goals and actions so they can do good and grow, ensuring the business has a sustainable future. Please email Jade to book a 15-minute discovery call to find out more [email protected]
Please connect with Jade on LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/jadepluck