Running a commercial or industrial business is no minor effort. It takes a collection of many individuals and skill sets to operate successfully. Once established, successfully maintaining your business requires a significant level of managing risk and preparing for future growth and development.
Increasingly the risk-management narrative has centered around the topic of sustainability. Just read Larry Finks letter to CEOs or General Electrics (GE) 10/15 announcement to become carbon neutral by 2030 to get a sense of how (and why) businesses are taking action to address greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and climate change.
Like the many parts that make up the collective operations of your business (people, product /service, customers/consumers, finances) sustainability is multi-faceted.
In a recent whitepaper we prepared for the virtual steel success conference we used the WSA (World Steel Associations) grouped sustainability metrics which consist of three overarching segments; economic, social, and environmental, to help facilitate meaningful discussion. Within each grouping are measurable metrics businesses can score themselves on.
Assessing your business practises at each metric can uncover where opportunities exist to improve processes, equipment, training, and energy use for example and help identify the changes that will make the biggest impact.
The fact is that businesses that commit to future-proofed sustainability projects will be better prepared for the socio-economic implications of climate change that pose a risk to both the planet and economic growth.
It’s when we take a holistic view of sustainability we see that these efforts aren’t only an altruistic mission to protect our precious planet. There is demonstrable evidence that commercial and industrial businesses can set sustainability goals that actually contribute to profitability rather than detract from it.
Hopefully we now have you thinking, what’s your sustainability score?
Check out some of the businesses we’ve worked with who take their sustainability goals seriously and have some serious points to show for it.
