5WAYSTOIMPLEMENT SUSTAINABILITY

Look to the PLANET for apractical guide to getting started on your sustainable journey, say Kevin Duncan and Sarah Duncan

It’seasy to feel overwhelmedby thescaleofthe challenge when contemplating what youcan do to makeyour business more sustainable, butthere arethingsthatyou cando.

Here arefivepractical things that anybusinesscan do overthe next few weeks to kickstart theirsustainability journey –and whytheymatter

1. Panic Confront theissues directly.Start by putting your business under the sustainabilityspotlight and getting everyone to realise that they need to put thesubject at thetop of the agenda. Take thePLANETSystemfree ESG self-audit to discoverwhere you aretodayand what youdon’t know.

Output: Current status report

2. Learn

Getproperly informed. It is important to fill in your gaps in knowledge: what do youneed to learnabout and understand beforeyou formulateafullplan? First, get ahandle on your current carbon emissions –starting simply withyour gas, electricityand companycar fuel –what is known as Scope 1&2

Nowyou have abaseline youcan start thinking about ways to reduce and switch to renewable sources. Also find out what is really important to your stakeholders by surveying your employees and customers, and lookatyour industry: who is leading theway andwhatare they doing?

Output: Scope 1&2 emission data, employeesurvey, customer survey, industry best practices.

3. Agree

Decide your strategic direction. Then comes one of thehardest parts: getting everyone to agree. It is essential to have arobust board-level conversation about theissues. It is crucial that astrategic direction is clearly decided upon, without anyroom for misunderstanding, and that everyone signs up to it. Thereshould be no artificial harmonyinthese conversations.

Output: Initial plan of action.

4. Navigate

Overcome obstacles. It is important to work out what all theobstacles to progress are. Be realistic and don’t forget theSinESG. Sustainabilityis not just about environmental issues. Remember employees, customers, communityand charity.

Output: List of potential pitfalls and obstacles withpossiblesolutions.

5. Enact Getstuff done. This is often easier said than done. Foracompanytotruly embed sustainable thinking, it needs to become part of thecoreorcultureofthe business, not just aside project. To get started straightaway,identify themaximum returnyou can generatefor theminimum effort, leading to aseries of quickwins.

Output: Quickwins to get on with.

The last stage of thePLANETsystem is Tell. Avoid making public claims about anysustainabilityissues until you have worked through thefivepoints above,otherwise youmay be falling intothe easy trap of greenwashing.

Kevin and Sarah Duncan areauthors of TheSustainableBusiness Book.Useful sustainabilitytools can be found at sustainablebusinessbook.com