What does sustainability actually mean for your business?

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The commitment to become a more sustainable organisation carries a lot of weight—and is typically accompanied by a long list of promises and buzzwords. It can be hard to keep them all straight! Here’s what these common terms mean and how your business can move toward greater environmental, social, and corporate responsibility.

8 March 20227 mins

Sustainability

Sustainability means meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of future generations. Sustainability is more than just environmentalism—it encompasses all aspects of social, ethical, and governance practices. Leading with a social conscience is a crucial component to how organisations are viewed by customers, employees, and investors, and yet it’s often overlooked. Talk to your vendors to see how they are tackling this. Remember, who you engage with is a reflection on your organisation. Create socially responsible partnerships and commit to your own efforts by obtaining certifications for more ethical operations and building diverse leadership teams to ensure many voices are being heard and supported.

Renewable energy

Seek opportunities to improve global operations and meet environmental goals by tapping into naturally replenished energy sources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. See if there are renewable energy alternatives to reduce or eliminate your organisation's reliance on fossil fuels. The best places to begin are the most energy-intensive areas, like your data centres and production facilities. If there are environmentally friendly options powered by renewable energy, like colocation offerings, go for it.

Climate neutral

Organisations striving to be climate neutral focus on reducing their own emissions as much as possible and invest in activities that remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere to offset any emissions they’re not able to eliminate. Climate neutrality means not only reducing energy consumption within your own operations but also the emissions from your supply chain. To begin on this path, organisations need to gather data, establish a baseline, set short- and long-term goals, and then publicly report on their efforts and ambitions to stay accountable. Connect with vendors throughout your supply chain to minimise activities that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and pollution so you can work together to reduce your overall environmental footprint.

Together, we challenge ourselves and inspire others to create innovative business solutions that protect our planet and have a positive social impact.