THERE’S no denying the fact that we’re operating in an eco-aware economy. Glance at the cover of major business or IT magazines and you’re sure to see at least one article focused on the lowering of corporate carbon emissions or the greening of IT practices.
       Earlier this year, Gartner Inc highlighted 10 key predictions that would affect IT and business decisions in 2008 and beyond. Three of the items on the list were:

        There is a growing body of evidence—quantitative and qualitative—that demonstrates the bottom-line benefits of sustainability reporting and management, including:

        How can you begin to balance the risks and opportunities that environmental sustainability requires? What operational measures and behavioural changes can you pursue to improve enterprise-wide environmental sustainability? I propose the following five strategies.

1   Increase your company’s eco-awareness
        Eco-awareness begins with an evaluation of your organisation’s sustainability strategy. Start by measuring the consequences of your corporate activities in terms of tonnes of carbon, kilowatt hours, or litres of water. Once you’ve assessed your environmental impact, set realistic goals to reduce or offset those levels.
        The next step is to embrace a green accounting methodology that you can trust. It should be auditable and the data points collected can be used for what-if decision-making.
        Another step that some eco-aware organisations have pursued is to establish a specific governance body or a sustain-ability council to guide green investments. To maximise corporate investment, this cross-divisional group coordinates strategies that might otherwise remain in functional silos.

2   Lead with green in mind
        The more aware your organisation becomes about sustainability issues, the more its strategic plans will begin to reflect this new awareness. In particular, your short-term and long-term planning should include an evaluation of environmental risks and opportunities.
        Executives should set goals and targets for sustainability and communicate these goals to everyone in the organisation. Leaders should report on progress regularly and actively manage to reach goals by integrating environmental outcomes into business planning.
        Consider adopting a corporate sustainability report that complies with inter-nationally recognised standards, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, which offers globally applicable “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines” for voluntary use. If you begin following these standards, be proud of your accomplishments and integrate sustainability updates into your shareholder or annual reports.
 

3   Involve stakeholders
        Stakeholder engagement is a key ingredient in corporate sustainability. Customer advisory boards, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and supplier panels can all provide direct feedback to prepare you for market forces and demand transparency in your green initiatives.
        Stakeholders hold you accountable to follow through with commitments, and they can be the source of inspiration for new products, services and solutions.  In particular, engaging your suppliers as stakeholders in your strategic planning for corporate responsibility is critically important. Their supplies and processes directly affect your indirect carbon footprint.
        Even more importantly, the supply chain can deliver powerful market pressures when all suppliers are working towards a common goal. The combined activities of your supply chain can have one of the most substantial impacts on reducing total greenhouse gas emissions.

4   Invest in technology
        How can you use your existing business intelligence and performance resources to help with environmental sustainability?
        If you have invested in a technology infrastructure that allows you to see and manage performance indicators through-out your organisation, make it a priority to add green goals to the list of things you’re already measuring.
        Continue to break down information silos and learn how to leverage your intelligence platform to integrate and manage data assets that are related to your green initiatives. Understand what data are required for you to measure your corporate footprint with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and to meet reporting standards of the Carbon Disclosure Project.
        You should also work to understand data correlations so you can identify which metrics are the most important to improving sustainability, capitalise on talents in your human capital, and improve transparency internally and externally.
        In addition to conserving energy and water, organisations are also looking at ways to reduce waste as part of their sustainability strategies.

5   Focus on innovation
        Awareness, leadership, technology and stakeholder involvement are important in your green initiatives. But the most important factor in environmental sustainability is innovation. You have to set out to change paradigms, create new solutions, and collaborate with customers in new ways.
        Your corporate spirit attracts talent and capital to your organisation. If you can lead and communicate with innovative green initiatives, you’ll also attract new customers and better retain existing customers.

Green is Here to Stay
        Is corporate sustainability just a passing fad? I don’t think so. It is fundamental to business performance today because of the constrained energy and labour markets, and it is a standard that consumers will continue to hold companies to more and more as time passes.
        The most strategic enterprises will use data, and the intelligence gained from them, to their competitive advantage—driving increased brand value through innovation, improving internal efficiencies and accountability, and engendering loyalty of consumers, employees and other stakeholders.
        Effective sustainability tools are imperative to succeed. Sustainability management tools enables an organisation to measure, manage, and report on the Triple Bottom Line—environmental, social, and economic indicators—and determine business strategies that reduce risk and increase shareholder value.
        The five strategies mentioned can be combined to form a comprehensive management plan for sustainability, but you don’t have to treat them equally. If you’re just starting out in your green efforts, pick one of the five as your focus and work towards adopting the others in the future.
        The strategies you choose to emphasise through greater investment of time and resources will offer unique value to your customers and shareholders for generations to come.

1 “Gartner Highlights Key Predictions for IT Organisations and Users in 2008 and Beyond,” Gartner Inc press release, 31 January, 2008.