Three trends have been on the rise for sustainability: the number of companies in the S&P 500 has increased by almost 40 percent, a majority of CEOs believe that measuring analyzing, and reporting triple bottom line data with corporate sustainability ratings is key to long-term success, and a high majority of sustainable corporations in the Corporate Knights Global 100 list distributed bonuses to executives who achieved sustainability targets. With these in mind, the question now is “what is the first step that new corporations should take in their pursuit to becoming sustainable?” The answer: start by understanding what is material in the business, specifically the core inputs or factors that contribute to the long-term success of the business.
Once these material inputs and factors have been determined, corporations need to set high-impact goals. This requires corporations to not only report their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in their reports, but to also set and report their goals in relation to their KPIs and the ability of the planet to support its activities and operations indefinitely financially, socially, and environmentally. With these sustainability goals put in place, corporations can be more conscious about the business decisions they make and how they execute their activities, which leads to the last step of planning for and executing successful implementation of sustainability initiatives.
There are three key material inputs and factors that will contribute to the long-term success of corporations: people, process, and technology. With regards to people, there needs to be a team fit for driving this sustainability strategy and this will involve employees across the board from operations to management to finance and even to human resources. The key to mobilizing people successfully is to engage employees in the mission to have a mindset of meaningful impact. With regards to process, corporations need to have the right policies in place and accountability and transparency to enforce those policies. Investors and the general public need to be able to see how companies do what they do. Lastly, technology has been one of the biggest drivers of evolution and growth for corporations and continues to be to this day. Corporations can take advantage of this new age by creating new software solutions that are committed to managing and driving sustainability to the forefront. There is huge potential in technology and with the right technology, corporations can inherit and maintain long-term success with their sustainability goals at the core.
I totally agree on your opinion which changing the material towards sustainability may make a huge difference among corporate, environment and buyer behavior.
Stella McCartney, a leading luxury designer focusing on sustainability, suggests that since we cannot do everything towards sustainability at once, we should come up with a solution on an achievable level in order to make it happen. In addition, as luxury fashion industry relies heavily on natural raw material to manufacture their products, the core strategy for luxury fashion brands is building a well-known brand reputation and environmental ethics. Therefore, any measures to utilize more sustainable raw material and reduce the volume or impact of raw material with the original premium quality may be an effective methodology.