The sustainability report is the new black for a company’s marketing arsenal.
The problem is that they are usually as dull as dishwater. In a previous article, “White Papers—no dust, no starch, no snoring,” I discussed the importance of being different. Well, the same applies to your sustainability reporting.
What is a sustainability report?
Sustainability reporting is all about understanding your business’s impact on three categories: environmental, social and governance (ESG). It should include information on the following:
- The sustainability risks your organisation is facing and how you plan to overcome them
- Your business model and its impact on the environment
- How you work with sustainability within your business, through codes of conduct or other policies
Although sustainability reporting was once the domain of specialist green or environmentally oriented companies, it is now available to everyone.
Why is it important?
Apart from strengthening your ESG focus on your activities, it also helps investors, clients, and other stakeholders become more aware of your efforts to lessen your environmental impact.
The data it provides will also help with data-driven decision-making in the long term.
What does a good sustainability report look like?
In the words of McKinsey: “The early days of sustainable investing were values-based: How can our investing live up to our values? Now, it is value-based: How does sustainability add value to our investments?”
A good report will cover the following eight areas:
1. A sustainability vision statement
After your introduction, introduce your sustainability vision statement. It should relate to your philosophy and beliefs and explain how your business can contribute to a more sustainable future. However, it should remain within the realm of your business capabilities.
2. Issues to address
Talk about the issues you’ve identified as crucial action points for your business. This shows your awareness of the need for sustainable development and sets the stage for the rest of your report.
For example, your issues may include plastic waste, supply chain traceability, a lack of sustainable materials, and energy waste on your premises. Ask all your people to contribute to the issues raised in your report to ensure you get the big picture.
3. Current sustainability activities
Now, you can discuss where your business is today. Be honest, as this will effectively add context to your strategy while indicating the progress you’ve already made toward making your business more sustainable.
4. Goals and objectives
These should relate to the specifics of your ESG strategy in the short and long term.
Because you’ve already identified the issues (point 2), it should be easy to outline achievable goals and objectives.
5. Clear strategy
Now, you must discuss how you will achieve your goals. This is the real meat of the report because it is where you examine each goal, identifying the risks and opportunities it presents and the steps you need to take to achieve it.
Think about the details investors will want to see. For example, how much is a move towards more sustainable working practices likely to cost? And what are the risks and rewards?
6. KPIs
What performance indicators will you use to show your progress as you implement your strategy? Stakeholders will want to see a benchmarking and reporting process to evaluate your ongoing strategy.
7. Governance structures and implementation
Identify who, within your company, will be responsible for driving progress and ensuring consistent improvement. This will show that sustainable development is a vital operational area of your business.
8. CEO statement
This will round off your report, re-emphasising the business’s commitment to improving sustainability while delivering a clear message of intent to shareholders, trade partners and customers.
Finally, A good sustainability report will also be engaging. That means using simple and effective language and graphics. A document full of stunning images and graphs will be far more impactful than just pages and pages of text.
Pulling it all together
As you’ve probably guessed, pulling a sustainability report together is a long and complex process. Therefore, it’s essential to have a good team around you.
You’ll need someone within your company to coordinate information gathering in a meaningful format. They should also be able to relate the information collated to your identified ESG targets.
You’ll need a designer to help you create something eye-catching that people will want to read.
Finally, you’ll need a copywriter to help you find the right words and voice to make your report impactful.
Sally Ormond is a professional copywriter who has worked with corporate giants to create impactful sustainability reports. Find out how she can help you by calling 07905 273252 or dropping her a line at sally@briarcopywriting.com.