Sustainability in the organisation - reality or chat, and who is responsible for it?

There have been so many articles written over the last year or so about how businesses and society at large need sustainable transformation, but what does that all really mean?

With climate change, over consumption and the need to ‘build back better’, arguments have been put forward stating that organisations who do not have a solid sustainable development plan now risk consumers disengaging, employees leaving and investors refusing to invest, but I’m not convinced.

I speak to investment managers about the attitude and appetite of their clients for ESG funds, and time and again I get the same answer; first and foremost investors want to see a return, and only after that they may put some money into ESG funds, either as a token gesture or to hedge their bets as part of a broader portfolio. Now that could be harsh, and I’m sure that there are some investors who may have stronger beliefs, but I can’t help but feel that there is a lot more noise and chat than the majority putting their money where their mouth is.

Sustainability is a societal goal that broadly aims for humans to safely co-exist on planet Earth over a long time. There are many strings to it ranging from recycling to carbon sequestration and renewable energy to minimising waste. True corporate sustainability is not just about the organisation, but about all stakeholders - the employees, the suppliers, the business operations, the delivery of outcomes and the customers, and the challenge is how to harness all of that in unison.

Increasingly, marketers and PR practitioners are being asked to work and advise the business on sustainability but many fear being accused of greenwashing due to gaps in knowledge, and I would argue that it isn’t their role to lead on this anyway.

Sustainability has to come from the top down and from the bottom up. Everyone needs to engage and the role of marketers should be to communicate internally and externally what is happening, what the vision is and how the organisation will bring about change. Business sustainability is an increasing business priority and yet there remains a fine balance between sustainability commitments and commercial needs - the organisation’s competitiveness and its outcomes.

Is sustainability a key topic in boardrooms? Where does it rank against profits? Business leaders need to be convinced that commercial and ethical objectives aren’t at odds and can, in fact, exist in perfect harmony.

There are claims that Millennials and Gen Z passionately demand action against climate issues, emerging as a key demographic for businesses to engage for sustainable products and services, and yet true responsibility still lies with the decision makers.

Aside from the above, there is the other consideration as to who should regulate and check sustainability claims made by companies? In an ideal world each business will self-regulate, but there are likely to be some that stretch the truth so will the government need to introduce an audit scheme? That will of course incur cost to implement and run at a time when there is so much concern around general rising business costs and interest rates, but surely there should be some form of regulation - it really is a minefield at the moment.

In a recent survey conducted by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, 53% of respondents (people already actively engaged with the topic) said that they don’t always buy products listed as sustainable due to costs, whilst at the same time 49% of adults claimed to be adapting their behaviours to be more sustainable in day-to-day activities.

I get the feeling that on the whole sustainability and environmental policies are still a ‘nice to have’ rather than a ‘must’ for the majority of businesses and consumers, but the world certainly does need people to keep driving the agenda. It isn’t a topic that is going to go away, and neither should it. Whilst most barriers to change are linked to costs, we perhaps need to yet again revisit the importance of ‘value’, both as a consumer and as business leaders.