New Year, New You – And New Sustainability Opportunities
New Year, New You – And New Sustainability Opportunities
“Exercise more” and “decrease screen time” – those are two of the resolutions on my list almost every year, and this year is no exception. But I need to update my resolutions with some that are essentially more sustainability focused. I know I’m not the only one still working on creating 2025 goals with sustainability impacts; many of the organizations we speak with are too. In our annual corporate survey, 63% of senior sustainability professionals told us they consider updating their sustainability strategy to be a high priority. I think it’s safe to say they also have some sustainability objectives baked into their resolutions.
Sustainability strategy + materiality assessments = a path forward
For many organizations, we expect sustainability strategy updates to be anchored by double materiality assessments (DMAs) – in other words, the combined evaluation of a firm’s impact on the environment and society and the impact of environment and society on the firm. In 2025, we predict that organizations are upping their game when it comes to these assessments, for example requiring their sustainability committees to align DMAs with established enterprise risk management practices. Upgrading sustainability strategy and conducting a structured assessment are also going to help firms address the voices claiming that sustainability of any kind (think E, S and G) has no place in the business world.
Impacts, risks and opportunities in 2025=>happier and healthier businesses
‘Understanding double materiality impact’ and ‘assessing sustainability risks of all kinds’ – both are actions critical to making the right decisions, not only when it comes to sustainability reporting and performance, but also for business performance. Although we often hear about how organizations are addressing impact and risk, we’d like to learn more about how firms are evaluating opportunities from incorporating sustainability into the business. There’s no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to sustainability opportunities. There are plenty of initiatives to be found to increase revenue and decrease cost, such as decreasing energy consumption and introducing new sustainable products that the market is asking for. But there are other ways to evaluate the opportunities besides obvious financial benefits.
Personally, I struggle with what I consider is an uninformed claim: “sustainability has no business benefit”. But I get it; many of the benefits are tough to measure. Can you really say how many employees joined your workforce or stayed because of your sustainability initiatives? How about the impact of your sustainable products on customer acquisition and retention? If you can’t answer those questions, maybe you should ask. To get closer to a data-driven answer, we are also seeing more organizations using sustainability software to produce analysis that allows them to evaluate projects and understand the impact of their sustainability investments.
I’m reminded of an article Andrew Winston published in December about how the argument for sustainability is that it’s strategic and creates value, always, though not necessarily in the short term. In the same way as my resolutions – and I’m sure many others – aren’t necessarily going to translate into measurable benefits, but they are going to provide opportunities for me to be happier and healthier.
Let’s compare notes – what are you and your businesses doing to be happier and healthier in 2025?
