Around 90 percent of German companies consider the implementation of sustainability measures to be a competitive advantage. There are many reasons for this:
- Regulations such as the ESG-Reporting-Pflicht or the Supply Chain Act
- The prospect of lower fixed costs through economical resource consumption
- The preservation of value creation bases through sustainable supply chains
- Better market communication
- Intrinsic responsibility for people and nature
However, this is offset by the low proportion of companies that take concrete measures: Only around 40 percent of all German companies have a sustainability strategy. This is certainly also due to the fact that many companies consider the introduction of a sustainability management system to be too complex and risky - and it is if you want too much too quickly.
However, you don't have to want everything at once. A working sustainability management system can be introduced step by step:
1. Expand your corporate mission statement.
Get clear about what you want to achieve for your company in terms of sustainable business:
Include your aspirations for greater sustainability in your business operations in your corporate mission statement - your vision, mission and values - and formulate how you want to change your corporate culture in this regard. I will guide you through this process and help to ensure that the necessary self-reflection takes place - and that employees and other stakeholders are involved.
2. Do the sustainability check.
Take stock of exactly where you stand in terms of sustainable management:
- With me, go through all aspects of sustainable management in the company and along the value chain in the three pillars of "ecology", "economy" and "social affairs".
- Learn which criteria are possible fields of action and where your company already has a competitive advantage and takes sustainability aspects into account.
I will guide you through the process with the help of a checklist tailored to your situation.
3. Clarify your commitment.
At this point, you need to decide how many resources you want to use to introduce a sustainability management system. This concerns, for example, the questions of how to set up a sustainability team in your context and what know-how those involved need to build up, but also how best to integrate sustainability into corporate management.
In my sustainability consultancy, I am happy to give you suggestions on this.
4. Develop your sustainability strategy.
Assemble an interdisciplinary sustainability team to work with you to develop a strategy:
- Firstly, analyse the interests of your stakeholders and prioritize them.
- Secondly, find your hotspots along the supply chain and prioritize these aspects.
- Thirdly, carry out a risk analysis of the hazards for your company in accordance with the principle of double materiality.
- Finally, determine a materiality matrix from the three analyses.
With this matrix, you can identify your four to seven key areas of action in all three pillars and ultimately derive the corresponding sustainability goals from them.
I support you in this process with customized tools.
5. Develop your action plan.
Define measures together with your team that will help you achieve your goals in the key areas of action. I will support you in this and ensure that the individual sub-goals are quantifiable and that their realization can be verified.
Then initiate the implementation of the action plan. Here, too, I suggest a division of labor: You create the appropriate timelines, resources and funding and delegate responsibility for individual projects. My job, on the other hand, is to act as your sparring partner and ensure that the measures are effective.
6. Communicate your sustainability strategy.
Finally, develop a comprehensive communication strategy:
- Inform and involve all employees.
- Establish internal regular communication.
- Disclose your activities to your stakeholders.
- Communicate the degree of achievement of your sustainability goals on a regular basis.
- Establish your sustainability reporting according to legal standards.
- Deliver data for ratings and scores, according to the requirements of your customers and financing partners.
I would be happy to support you here too!
Conclusion: Introducing sustainability management step by step
Your company will benefit on many levels if you make sustainability part of your corporate strategy. To minimize the complexity of such a project, I recommend proceeding step by step when introducing a sustainability management system - for example in accordance with the ZNU standard. This way, you can achieve your strategic goals as planned without disrupting your day-to-day business.
