Management is key
If a company-wide sustainability strategy is to be successful, the issue has to be firmly anchored at the highest level. It also needs people to be responsible for driving its implementation. A Chief Sustainability Offer could be appointed specifically for this purpose, for example, or it could also be assigned to another area of executive management.
As well as this internal organization and defining of objectives, it is also of utmost importance to look outside the company. This means that managers need to consider their customers’ wishes in detail. Just meeting targets set by the regulatory authorities, to reduce CO2 for example, may not be enough. According to our study, legal requirements remain the most important driver of sustainable measures today. If your customers have higher standards (and they often do now), it is essential that this is reflected in your sustainability strategy. As a result of this, your own business model needs to have much more ambitious targets.
It is therefore important to set interim targets: milestones that need to be achieved in two, four or ten years. This will make the change seem more manageable, and high expectations will not immediately dampen enthusiasm for the subject. These interim targets do, however, need to cover the full impact of your company from the outset. This means that emissions throughout the supply chain need to be included.