Ready, get set, go..als
How to set sustainable goals to reach net zero
All businesses must seriously consider a sustainability plan to meet business needs, such as ethical or green branding, cost reductions, and legal compliance. After all, today’s consumers are very demanding. In a recent online retail report, it highlighted that millennials currently represent the largest group of consumers that seek environmentally friendly products.
Everyone loves to have that guilt free feeling of knowing that their purchase is from a company that has put in place sustainable practices. Sustainable Leaders in Business helps businesses to set out sustainable goals. These can be done in the short and long term. Our goal setting function (STEP 2) in our sustainability tool will provide all sorts of ideas that could be implemented. The cost to implement change can be low or high and can result in low or high returns in terms of carbon or pollution reduction.
Tips for “green” goal setting
- Consider what would benefit the business – e.g. reputation, cost reductions, compliance with regulations
- Do not overwhelm yourself with too many tasks, choose those that work for you in terms of costs and benefit. Low cost high environmental improvement is ideal but do not underestimate long term (higher cost) investments.
- Each goal will have a list of suggested targets to get you started. You can add to this and DELEGATE tasks.
- Login into your area on Sustainable Leaders in Business and complete STEP 2, goal setting. Your task list will help you measure progress – SHARE WITH YOUR LINE MANAGER.
Measure success
If, like me, you love a list (and sub lists) where you can tick off tasks as you complete them, then why not use this as a way to measure progress. Our goal setting system allows you to Each item ticked can be converted into a percentage of the whole list. Being able to measure progress is important. Another way to measure the success of your actions is to complete a carbon footprint for your organisation and repeat the calculation annually. This would reveal the fruits of your efforts and see your progress in moving towards a net zero target. For those that are familiar with excel, you may wish to model actual data (CO2e) against predicted. This will enable you to prepare targets for the following year.
Every job’s a green job
The task of managing a transition to net zero may have been put on your shoulders, but this does not mean that you should do it yourself. In fact making a cultural shift within an organisation needs not only someone to drive it. It also needs the full (and visible) support of Directors. Tasks should be delegated to the most appropriate people within the organisation and they should be encouraged to offer solutions and ideas. However, every employee needs to embrace change, and every job should be a green job.
