Are you spearheading the sustainability initiative for your organization? Well, take a breath and think about sustainability reporting. Your noble objective of making the world a better place will not only catapult the organization to the next level but also yield ultimate satisfaction from the knowledge that the future generation will benefit. So, the first step is crafting a strategy for sustainability, and you need to get the right goals. Keep reading to identify the right goals for ESG sustainability reporting and help to make the world a better place:
Sustainability Defined
Before kicking off with your strategy for sustainability reporting, let us go back to the beginning and answer the main question, “What is sustainability?” This term came to the fore during the first UN Conference on Sustainability and Development (UNICED), and it means being able to meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to enjoy the planetary resources.
As highlighted in the subsequent summits, especially the World Summit on Sustainability and Development (WSSD) held in 2002 in South Africa, sustainability reporting focuses on encouraging companies and businesses to engage in activities that produce positive social, environmental, and economic impacts. Finally, they generate the reports that stakeholders can follow to make their decisions about the company. Some of the benefits of ESG sustainability reporting include:
- Lower cost of production.
- Safer workplace for your staff.
- Higher profitability in the long term.
- Higher staff commitment.
- A stronger brand.
- Faster business growth.
To make sustainability reporting more effective, you should consider automating it. Using appropriate sustainability management software, it becomes easy to gather correct data from different parts of your organization and achieve the targeted goals. Here are some goals you can use for your organization’s sustainability reporting.
Pollution Prevention
This is one of the most important areas that you can focus on as a business. Indeed, it starts right at your doorstep. You can target to cut down or eliminate pollution at the source or reduce carbon footprint as you anchor the bigger goal of pollution prevention. Here are some specific actions that can help you to prevent pollution:
- Modifying your production process to cut down emissions and other waste.
- Using non/less-toxic substances.
- Reusing materials used in your facility to increase their utility.
Promoting Social Justice
The definition of ESG sustainability reporting emphasizes three crucial things, the social, environmental and economic impacts. On the social level, one of the areas you can target is promoting social justice. This can be achieved in a number of ways, including supporting policy reforms for social justice in your country or other jurisdiction of choice. Other options include:
- Supporting community empowerment projects.
- Working with organizations that promote education for all.
- Promoting access to clean water in a community of choice.
Switching to Renewable Energy
Adopting renewable energy in your organization is one of the strong points that you can focus on in your sustainability efforts. Many organizations prefer to use solar energy to reduce the globe’s dependence on fossil fuels. If the cost of changing the entire infrastructure is too high, you might target phased changes. For example, you can start by shifting only one section of your facility to renewable energy in the first year and the rest in a period of five years.
Although ESG sustainability reporting offers managers and entrepreneurs the freedom to decide on what to do, it will be a good idea to select what delivers the biggest impact. Also, you should consider using sustainability reporting software to make the data easy to collate and generate the report. If all companies focused on sustainability, this planet would be a happier place for all. This has to start now, and you have a role to play by selecting the right goals.
