Most organizations around the world have already set themselves a series of goals for becoming a sustainable business. The reasons vary: some are responding to growing demand from consumers, while others are truly convinced that sustainability is essential to the future of the planet.
Whatever the motivation, the fact is that a great deal of progress has been made in just a few years. Most companies have gone from having a handful of plans assigned to a small CSR department to making sustainability a challenge that cuts across the entire organization.
When we talk about sustainable businesses, companies like Patagonia or LUSH probably come to mind. They have become distinctive, innovative brands in their sectors thanks to a philosophy and operating model built around their social and environmental impact. These are market leaders that have established a new way of doing things.
What steps should you take to start down the path toward sustainability?
Below, we share four that will help you take the first steps:
Design a sustainability strategy
One of the main problems organizations face when they try to transform is that they don’t know where to start. First of all, it is essential to understand that sustainability and business are two concepts that go hand in hand.
With that clear, we need to begin with a thorough analysis of the business, examining sustainability through the triple impact we have on the world as an organization: economic, social, and environmental.
Since this is a strategic transformation, it is necessary to redefine business models and choose metrics that allow us to track our strategies at an operational level, among many other things.
Although the approach can vary widely depending on the sector, there are several methodologies for tailoring the roadmap you will follow.
The B Corporation certification
B Corp is a global movement of people whose purpose is to use the power of business to generate a positive impact. To achieve this, they have designed a tool that provides a 360-degree analysis of how good the companies that aspire to certification really are. The assessment focuses primarily on measuring the balance between a company’s social purpose and its financial returns. And no, passing the test is far from easy. More than 4,000 companies in Spain have started the process, but only around 93 have reached the finish line. Worldwide, some 100,000 companies have tried and 3,500 have succeeded.
It is an advanced concept of sustainability, since B Corp rethinks the traditional business model by analyzing the social role a company plays in society. With a specific framework, it allows executives to make decisions that take economic, social, and environmental impact into account.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The SDGs are another good indicator for assessing a company’s impact. To carry out the measurement, there is a tool called the “SDG Action Manager,” a free measurement instrument developed by the UN Global Compact together with B Lab to support internal management and measure companies’ contribution to the SDGs.
The Sustainable Development Goals were approved by the UN in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The initiative was created precisely to encourage countries and their societies to set out on a new path to improve everyone’s lives, leaving no one behind. The Agenda includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals, ranging from ending poverty to fighting climate change, education, gender equality, protecting the environment, and how we design our cities.
Social accounting to become a sustainable business
Another tool for going a step further is sustainability accounting; in other words, translating impact into monetary terms. This is assessed using a social accounting tool designed by the GEAccounting (Global Economic Accounting) network, a network led by several universities in Spain. It reports on the social value a company generates for society as a whole and for its stakeholders.
The road is long, but it is essential to secure a future that is prosperous and, above all, sustainable.