Guest author Jonathan Churchman-Davies looks at why sustainability is so important in business today and how your business can set sustainability targets.

2. On the face of it, setting ambitious business sustainability targets
looks great – it shows commitment to building a better world and
delivering customer and stakeholder goals. However, companies
need to think very hard about how they set, communicate, deliver
and report on these targets.
This is especially important now that mandatory carbon reporting is
here. All too often, instead of one harmonised system which
efficiently coordinates and reports, companies rely on ad hoc,
disjointed processes that suck in scarce resources which could be
better spent on performance delivery.
Jonathan Churchman-Davies
Managing Consultant, Sustainability and Energy Efficiency

5. Dodgy Corporate
Sustainability Targets:
A Symptom of Trouble to
Come

8. It’s no surprise that the best way to set a business sustainability
target that can be delivered is from basic planning data. The
process should start by listing specific company activities and the
associated sustainability issues. This list will include resources
consumed, interested and affected stakeholders, wastes
generated, impacts and exposure to risk. Following on, issues can
then be prioritised and linked to improvement plans. Well-
formulated plans will include specific delivery targets.

9. The Importance of Being
Targeted

12. The last thing to mention is how to communicate your business
sustainability targets. While targets should reflect reality, they
should also be living numbers. They should be plotted into the
future, with an actual performance updated at least yearly. They
should include commentary on successes and failures. Why
failures? Because honest descriptions of failures and corrective
actions are powerful evidence of an in-depth and ethical approach.
At the end of the day, isn’t that what your clients and stakeholders
want?

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