The Green Business and Sustainability waves have certainly started to break across the corporate world. From wanting to address risk to looking for opportunities, corporations are ramping up efforts to integrate sustainability into their businesses. Beyond grass roots green teams, positions dedicated to corporate social responsibility and sustainability are increasingly common at all levels of companies right to the C-suite, namely the CSO or Chief Sustainability Officer.
While corporations are advancing sustainability efforts such as measuring and reducing their carbon footprints to undertaking full blown sustainability assessments covering social, economic and environmental sustainability indicators, many small and medium sized enterprises are watching from the sidelines. It is likely they either cannot afford a dedicated position or don’t see any value by integrating sustainability into their businesses.
I believe that the sustainability advantage is not only for leading corporations, but also leading SMEs. From short term cost savings by increasing energy and other operational efficiencies to increased revenue resulting from product or service innovation, sustainability can be a key differentiator in a competitive business environment.
One particular advantage gaining attention of progressive businesses is the strong correlation between sustainability and employee engagement. Employee engagement is important for retaining top talent and with another labour crunch likely in the cards, business leaders should be aware of the increasing expectation from the next generation of employees. They will be asking questions: what is the sustainability maturity level of my organization? What are my company’s carbon and ecological footprints? Do they have a sustainability strategy? What level of involvement will I have in contributing to the triple bottom line?
Has your business considered the sustainability imperative?
