Many companies are not sure what to measure related to sustainability, let alone, what sustainability goals to set. Setting sustainability goals (and actually achieving them) is the easiest way to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability, which is why I am providing you with 23 sustainability goals for your business!
The first step that I always recommend to companies who are just starting their sustainability journey is to complete Emerger Strategies’ Basic Sustainability Assessment Tool (BSAT) to get a better understanding of what your company is already doing, what it can do to immediately improve, and obtain a sustainability score. The next step usually consists of gathering different types of data, such as energy, waste, and water, measuring your carbon footprint. Then, you will want to create a Strategic Sustainability Plan, and part of the planning process is setting sustainability goals, and many companies struggle with what goals to set, which is why I am providing you with 23 break-even sustainability that were created by the Future-Fit Business Benchmark
23 Sustainability Goals for your Business
Break-Even Goal
Ambition
Energy is from renewable sources
A Future-Fit Business ensures that all the energy it consumes – as electricity, heat or fuel – is derived from renewable energy sources: solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, geothermal resources, and biomass.
Water use is environmentally responsible and socially equitable
A Future-Fit Business protects freshwater resources by minimizing water consumption in its commercial and industrial activities, and by ensuring its discharges do not degrade the water quality of receiving watersheds.
Natural resources are managed to respect the welfare of ecosystems, people and animals
A Future-Fit Business preserves the health of all natural resources it owns or manages, as well as that of all ecosystems and communities impacted by sourcing activities it conducts itself (e.g. farming, fishing, hunting, rearing animals, mining).
Procurement safeguards the pursuit of future-fitness
A Future-Fit Business seeks to reduce – and eventually eliminate – any negative environmental and social impact caused by the goods and services it depends upon, by continuously striving to anticipate, avoid and address issue-specific hotspots in its supply chains.
Operational emissions do not harm people or the environment
A Future-Fit Business eliminates all forms of harmful emissions from its operations – gaseous, liquid and solid.
Operations emit no greenhouse gases
A Future-Fit Business emits net zero GHGs as a result of its own operational activities, including energy it consumes.
Operational waste is eliminated
A Future-Fit Business seeks to eliminate operational waste completely, and ensures that all by-products are repurposed. Organic waste may be composted and returned to the soil, and materials that can be reused must be reclaimed.
Operations do not encroach on ecosystems or communities
A Future-Fit Business preserves the health of all areas of high biological, ecological, social or cultural value – both by protecting them where the company is already active, and by avoiding further expansion into new areas if degradation is possible.
Community health is safeguarded
A Future-Fit Business actively seeks to anticipate, avoid and address the concerns of all local communities whose wellbeing may be affected by its operational activities.
Employee health is safeguarded
A Future-Fit Business safeguards the health of its employees by ensuring physically safe work environments, having zero tolerance for harassment and bullying, and by nurturing emotional and mental wellbeing.
Employees are paid at least a living wage
A Future-Fit Business pays all workers in all regions enough to meet their basic needs and secure essential services for themselves and their families.
Employees are subject to fair employment terms
A Future-Fit Business ensures that all its workers are treated fairly. Contracts between employer and employee afford individuals the basic protections, freedoms and rights expected in a prosperous and just society.
Employees are not subject to discrimination
A Future-Fit Business proactively investigates and monitors key practices – such as recruitment, pay structures, hiring, performance assessment and promotions – to ensure that no discrimination occurs, however unintentional it may be.
Employee concerns are actively solicited, impartially judged and transparently addressed
A Future-Fit Business takes steps to minimize employee concerns, and implements internal controls to identify and deal fairly with any issues that do arise.
Product communications are honest, ethical and promote responsible use
A Future-Fit Business does everything it can to help customers make responsible decisions regarding the purchase, use and (in the case of physical goods) post-use processing of its products. In addition, it markets its products honestly and ethically to appropriate audiences.
Product concerns are actively solicited, impartially judged and transparently addressed
A Future-Fit Business gives a voice to its customers by actively soliciting any concerns they have, impartially investigating them, and fairly and transparently acting to address legitimate grievances.
Products do not harm people or the environment
A Future-Fit Business ensures all of the goods and services it offers are completely benign to people and nature, both as a result of their use and (in the case of physical goods) at their end of life.
Products emit no greenhouse gases
A Future-Fit Business sells no goods or services that emit greenhouse gases as a direct consequence of their use.
Products can be repurposed
A Future-Fit Business does all it can to ensure that the physical goods it provides to others can be repurposed at the end of their useful life.
Business is conducted ethically
A Future-Fit Business actively seeks to anticipate, avoid and address ethical breaches that may arise as a result of its activities.
The right tax is paid in the right place at the right time
A Future-Fit Business commits publicly to a responsible tax policy, and works continuously to ensure that it lives up to this policy, across all its areas of business.
Lobbying and advocacy safeguard the pursuit of future-fitness
A Future-Fit Business never seeks to influence market dynamics in ways that may contribute to hindering society’s progress toward future-fitness.
Financial assets safeguard the pursuit of future-fitness
A Future-Fit Business implements investment policies and related internal controls that continuously seek to improve the future-fitness of both the financial assets it owns, and any that it manages or controls on behalf of third-party asset owners.
Source: Future-Fit Business Benchmark
Why Pursue Sustainability?
Your company is likely feeling the impacts of climate change, or you are feeling pressure from regulators, employees and your customers to demonstrate your commitment to sustainability, but what does sustainability look like, and why pursue sustainability? According to The Natural Step, there are four sustainability principles, which make a sustainable society:
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances from the earth’s crust (such as fossil CO2, heavy metals and minerals)
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society (such as antibiotics and endocrine disruptors)
In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to systematically increasing degradation by physical means (such as deforestation and draining of groundwater tables).
And in that society there are no structural obstacles to people’s health, influence, competence, impartiality and meaning.
You see, the problem is not mining for metals, or producing synthetic materials, or even logging forests for building materials and paper. The problem is that we live on a planet with finite resources and a growing population, so we cannot indefinitely burn fossil fuels, produce single-use plastics, and convert forests for cattle grazing, and still have a habitable planet. Furthermore, the reason that these environmental conditions are tied to society is that as long as people’s basic needs go unmet, we will continue to mine, overdevelop and overfish. For these reasons, your company should pursue these sustainability goals for your business.
If every company were to achieve these 23 sustainability goals, our society would cause no harm to people and the planet, which is why they are called “break-even” goals. Going beyond these goals to actually create a positive impact on people and the planet is also possible. “For instance, a company might provide financial and technical support to install a rainwater harvesting system for an agricultural supplier operating in a water-stressed region, with the intention of reducing the supplier’s burden on the local watershed while increasing supply security. A positive outcome would be a reduction in depletion rates of local aquifers, translating into greater water security for both the supplier and local communities.”
All of these break-even goals also contribute towards the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 interconnected global goals designed to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice.
How Emerger Strategies Can Help Guide Your Business
At Emerger Strategies, our mission is to measure and improve your sustainability performance, all while boosting profits.
We provide trustworthy sustainability and ESG guidance and support across a variety of industries, including: fishing, outdoor, consumer products, and more. We work with leading industry associations, member organizations and individual companies who are choosing to measure their environmental and social performance, but need experienced sustainability support to make the business case for sustainability.
We specialize in Corporate Sustainability/ESG Services, Carbon Management Services, Waste Management Services, and Retailer Sustainability Compliance.
