Building the business case for sustainability is critical to getting senior leadership and decision makers within your business bought in to your sustainability vision and plan.

Sustainability isn’t always a cost and can drive improved financial and non-financial performance. Effectively communicating the business case for sustainability can help sway sceptical decision-makers and reinforce the need for action. Here are five of the benefits of sustainability for businesses:

🤗 Customer attraction and retention: Increasingly customers want to buy from sustainable brands (https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/consumers-care-about-sustainability-and-back-it-up-with-their-wallets). Making sustainability part of your customers communications creates opportunities for improving loyalty with existing customers as well engaging with new segments of customers. The results can have a positive impact on your ROI, reducing marketing spend. Are you effectively communicating your sustainability story?

🌐 Compliance: Sustainability regulations and reporting requirements are expanding, particularly in the EU. It is essential to be prepared to prevent business disruption and potential fines for non-compliance, minimising financial and legal risk for your business. Do you know your obligations?

🏆 Protecting your reputation: Sustainability is a critical element of brand image. Not taking action increases the potential for reputational damage. We’ve all seen how brands can be publicly criticised for their lack of action and transparency, for example around modern slavery and human rights. How openly do you report on your sustainability progress and challenges?

💡 Innovation: Innovating products and business models to integrate sustainability considerations creates competitive advantage amongst peers and can help gain access to new funding streams. Have you created a culture where sustainable innovation can thrive across every department in your business?

🧩 Operational efficiencies: Implementing sustainable practices often leads to resource efficiencies. Sustainability can be an investment not just a cost. Streamlining processes can reduce waste, create cost and time efficiencies and enhance risk management. Do you know where your potential savings are?

🙌 Employee engagement: Focusing on sustainability helps brands attract new employees and retain existing employees, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, who value working for purpose-driven companies. This can lead to a reduction in recruitment costs. Is your People team focused on how sustainability can enhance employee engagement and development?

Learn more:
Harvard Business School Online - https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/business-case-for-sustainability

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