Sustainability Strategy Implementation
A great strategy leads to nothing if there isn’t a great execution to go with it. Winning must-win battles relies on determining the right place to start, on building the internal capacity to get there, and on engaging with stakeholders in a meaningful way. At Finch & Beak we support our clients with a proven method to change management, action planning and engagement, as well as day-to-day sustainability program management.
Double Materiality as the Foundation for Sustainability Strategy
For organizations to remain competitive, embedding ESG in their business strategies is imperative. As a first step in strategy-making usually entails analyzing and understanding the organization’s inside and outside contexts, a double materiality assessment is a great tool to help organizations consider the impacts of both of these. On top of the assessment being foundational for integrating ESG in organizational strategies, it will be required as part of the EU approved Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). In this article, we discuss the importance of considering materiality as a starting point for your strategy, elaborate on other strategy building blocks, and provide tips and practical guidance for a successful double materiality assessment.
Accelerating the Race to Zero for Steel, Cement, and Construction
Today, the world emits 50 billion tons of CO2 equivalents of greenhouse gases (GHG) each year. As part of this, so-called "harder-to-abate" industries are responsible for 27% of the global CO2-emissions, being the second largest source of GHG emissions. Materials, steel, cement, aluminium, and chemicals are jointly responsible for almost two-thirds of these emissions. Directly affected by the generated emissions in the harder-to-abate industries is the construction industry, which relies on materials like steel and cement. According to the Global Alliance for Building and Construction, the construction industry emits 38% of global energy related CO2-emissions, with the expectation to grow if no urgent actions towards net-zero targets are implemented.
ESG Ratings: Index, Impact or Both?
Just before the results of the 2021 Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI), were announced, Finch & Beak conducted an ESG survey among DJSI-eligible companies. In the attached report, you can find the main survey results. The overall conclusion from 143 respondents is that for most of the companies, the undesirable trade-off between index and impact occurs frequently due to mounting workloads to generate ESG data and the absence of standards. The report suggests solutions to avoid the 'reporting trap' by scoping sustainability performance as a supply chain challenge, avoiding over-instrumentalism by engaging closely with stakeholders, and selecting and prioritizing the right ESG benchmarks.
Human Engagement Missing Link in Activating ESG Performance
Earlier this month, Finch & Beak conducted a business survey to explore the approach that companies are taking towards ESG ratings, and to find out how such ratings contribute to the successful activation of sustainability programs. As a winning sustainability strategy is increasingly important to create and maintain business value, participants shared insights into their tools and challenges for ESG activation.
Activating Materiality to Accelerate ESG Performance
How can a materiality assessment be used to effectively accelerate a company’s sustainability performance? On September 23rd, Finch & Beak organized a webinar focused on materiality activation: transforming the materiality assessment from a reporting tool to the steppingstone for activation of company’s sustainability program. In this article, you can find a summary of the session including three tips for a successful activation of materiality.
3 Steps for Effectively Implementing Sustainability Strategies
Sustainability needs to be effectively integrated into the core of the business for it to flourish. An example of a sector that is struggling to put sustainability into practice is the transportation sector – evident from its 21.7% contribution to the total CO2 emissions of the European economy in 2018. A sustainability strategy must directly connect to a company’s must-win battles. Such a strategy can be made actionable through the development of roadmaps, well-prioritized actions, and convincing communications. This article looks further into ways to effectively implement a sustainability strategy with an example of transportation company Farm Trans, that strives to be a frontrunner in sustainability in the sector.
Materiality activation: ownership, actorship and more
ESG Acceleration Webinar: Materiality Activation
This webinar dealt with the challenge of generating real change while implementing sustainability. Together with guest speaker Rebecca Dunn, Head of Sustainability at Spectris, we explored how to transform the materiality assessment from a reporting tool to an accelerator for the activation of your sustainability program.
Traceability: The Path towards More Sustainable Supply Chains
In the improvement of sustainability practices, there is still massive potential in the supply chain. For example, according to CDP, if suppliers to 125 multinationals were to increase their renewable electricity consumption by 20%, over a billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved: equivalent to the combined emissions of Brazil and Mexico. Nevertheless, only 23% of tier-1 suppliers are engaging on emission reduction activities with their own suppliers. Evidently, business processes such as planning, sourcing, producing, and logistics require restructuring and redesigning. One of the factors that can play a major role on enhancing efficiency and optimization in the supply chain is improving traceability: the ability to track and monitor all steps involved in the development of a finished good, from the procurement stage of raw materials to production, consumption all the way to the disposal of goods.
