The world has endured a lot in recent years -the temperatures have seen extreme rises, leading to fishery collapse and massive crops; hundreds of thousands of species have disappeared, and entire communities have become uninhabitable. Currently, climate change is the biggest existential threat to the planet, causing suffering and death. In this landscape, businesses have no option but to embrace sustainability if they don’t want to fall behind.
Sustainability became a corporate strategy a long time ago, but in most cases, it didn’t translate into tangible action within companies because business leaders were skeptical about implementing it. However, this is no longer the case, as adopting green practices is a corporate imperative, particularly now that consumers are increasingly shifting their shopping habits and making more eco-conscious decisions.
To put it simply, sustainability in business isn’t just a fad, and it’s imperative to pay attention to it if you want to enhance your brand reputation and build long-lasting relationships with customers.
The solution to responding to environmental issues is to develop sustainability strategies, as this will help businesses reduce their impact on global systems and make a positive change in the world.
A sustainable strategy involves actions that can improve business practices or eliminate them if they harm the environment, and it can provide numerous benefits for your company that go beyond a positive impact on the planet. In this blog, we will dive deeper into the topic of sustainability strategies, so keep reading to learn more.
What are the different types of sustainability strategies?
Sustainable business strategies can have an impact on different parts of a business’s supply chain. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that incorporating them takes energy, time, and dedication, but they are undoubtedly worth the effort.
There are various examples of sustainable elements you can include in your strategy:
Embrace ethical manufacturing
When opting for external vendors for product manufacturing and material procurement, you could request that the supplier check its labor and extraction methods. This will give you insight into the practices they use and ensure that they meet the standards in your sustainability strategy, thus creating a more ethical supply chain.
Optimize logistics
Route optimization is an effective solution for reducing emissions and pollution in the supply chain process. Some companies rely on adaptive learning technology to enhance the space utilized in shipping containers for international delivery and to predict raw material requirements.
Commit to conservation
Some business conservation activities involve stocking office kitchens with reusable glasses, flatware, and cutlery, shifting to a paperless workplace to eliminate waste, and conserving energy in the office, to name a few. Many companies have incorporated the remote work option as part of their sustainability strategy, which helps decrease emissions associated with commuting.
Decrease overproduction
Considering production and ordering only what’s needed can benefit businesses, resulting in more productive inventory management, efficient use of warehouse space, and efficient use of raw materials. Waste has a major impact on the supply chain globally, as well as the planet and a business’s profit—especially if the raw materials cannot be reused.
What steps should you take to create a sustainable strategy in your company?
At the beginning of the article, we mentioned that a sustainable strategy makes sense for a company in today’s world that’s been heavily affected by climate change. But how do you really implement it in your company?
Below are some of the most important steps you can take.
Identify potential issues
Before you can change anything in your company, it’s essential to first examine your current policies, practices, and operations. This will help you understand your business’s impact on the planet and identify areas for improvement. For instance, you may notice evident issues, such as waste management, which means you would have to come up with a solution like Mil-tek’s waste compactors or other machines. However, not all the issues may be so obvious, and in this case, it may be necessary to localize your efforts and participate in community charities, or opt for a more sustainable supply chain.
Involve employees and stakeholders
Consulting with stakeholders can be very helpful when looking to embrace sustainability in your business. They may specifically know the needs of the community and offer you ideas for establishing policies that drive meaningful change. Furthermore, you can also ask employees for help when developing strategies, as they will likely come up with valuable ideas on the company’s current issues that the strategy could tackle.
Establish goals
A good strategy is based on realistic, attainable goals that reflect your business’s vision. If you recognize different issues in the operations of your business, it may be helpful to adopt a phased approach and prioritize issues based on their impact on the environment or the company or on time sensitivity.
Consider using the SMART goal-setting framework, as it can be a lot more effective; for instance, instead of establishing a goal to participate in more community service, you may want to consider increasing community engagement in activities supporting food insecurity elimination by 20% annually.
Write an actionable plan
Once you have figured out what you want to achieve with your strategy, you can write a plan to guide you. Creating a plan with a realistic timeline and budget in mind will set your business up for success, allowing you to adjust based on changes in your company.
Remember that goals that are larger in scope can always be divided into smaller milestones and that it can take time to achieve some of the sustainability goals that you want to implement, so give yourself enough time.
Monitor your progress
It is also important to monitor the progress of your strategy against the goals you set to determine the effectiveness it has. If the changes you implement don’t perform as expected, it may be worth reevaluating your strategy and adjusting it as needed.
Remember that it will take time to see the real impact of your sustainability strategy and establish a reliable method to help you monitor long-term goals and inform stakeholders and clients alike of your progress, as this will showcase your ongoing commitment to sustainability.
Takeaway
Climate mitigation is paramount in order to undo the widespread consequences of deadly pollution, and companies can play their part by creating a truly sustainable culture. This will not only benefit the planet but also result in long-term value for the business itself, attract eco-conscious customers, and improve profits.