It’s Good (For Business) To Be Green
It’s Good (For Business) To Be Green
One of the questions we receive most frequently during our webinars and at conferences is: “how do I convince my boss (or CEO or board) that we should invest in sustainability?” Those of us in the field understand the many reasons why sustainability makes sense, from regulations to reputation, from convincing customers to engaging with employees. And honestly, if your CEO still doesn’t believe in the connection between successful business and sustainability, my first reaction is to tell you to find another place to work – but I realize that’s a hasty judgement. On a more measured note, there’s nothing like a few data points to win over skeptics. Our Verdantix 2024 ESG & sustainability global corporate survey reached 400 respondents, and when asked about the business benefits of ESG and sustainability investments:
- 91% named lowering risks
- another 82% selected increased revenue
- 78% identified lower costs
Let me tell you a little more about our respondents. We use a phone-based survey of people with senior ESG and sustainability titles, from more than 30 countries around the globe. When breaking down the data by countries and regions, interesting variations emerge. For example, in the UK, lowering risks is recognized as a business benefit by 100% of respondents. Looking just at the United States, we see even more agreement in the connection between sustainability and revenue: increased revenue climbs to 85%.
Now that we have some convincing data, let’s expand our reasoning with a little more colour. I’m a big believer that the sustainability transition we’re going through is much like digital transformation, but with even greater business impact. And of course, I have some data to tell you exactly how we see business changing because of sustainability. Here are the top three ways firms told us they are increasing their commitment to ESG and sustainability:
- Supplier selection requirements and contracts
- New OPEX and CAPEX project evaluations
- New product development
Many businesses are changing – and changing for the better. One important outcome of linking business success with sustainability is that firms are re-evaluating their sustainability strategies, much like they would re-examine their business strategies. For four years running, our corporate survey results have revealed that updating sustainability strategy is a high priority.
So what should you do if your CEO needs convincing that sustainability is good business?
- Frame it as business transformation and business fundamentals: It’s about how you conduct business, in your products, your processes and your strategy. Share the information we’ve provided here, but make sure you connect the dots to your own organization.
- Analyse competitors: Do a scan of what your competitors are doing by reviewing their sustainability reports.
- Engage with sales and delivery teams: Ask your sales and delivery teams about the ESG and sustainability-related data your customers are asking for. You’re in their supply chains, and more and more firms are working hard to improve the quality of their supply chain data.
- Build internal support: Find like-minded colleagues within your own organization so you can support each other, especially since the work of sustainability is not a one-person job.
Ready to learn more? If you’re a qualified practitioner, we’ve created a portal just for you – Vantage. We’ll be publishing the full set of findings from our survey in the coming weeks.
