Integrating Sustainability and Climate Change Value
Integrating sustainability into your core business strategy ensures your organization’s long-term viability, strengthens the brand, and streamlines adaptation to evolving technologies, market conditions, and regulatory requirements. The process helps identify and create qualitative and quantitative data to collect, benefiting your core business strategy and processes, creating verifiable credit information, and asking questions for continuous improvement and value.
Here are general benefits and questions that sustainability and climate change plans should address, but there are more pertinent ones for each client.
- Will I be affected by California’s Climate Disclosure Reporting requirements (SB253 or SB261) because I am “doing business in California”
- If your revenue is over $1B and you are “doing business in California,” begin the process of gathering Scope 3 emissions data and start with screening,
- Attract customers who value Sustainability goals, increasing your top-line,
- Improve profitability through lower costs in energy consumption and environmental compliance,
- Reduce risks through better health and safety and less environmental liability,
- Reduce environmental insurance costs,
- Attract and retain employees who prioritize sustainability and environmental stewardship,
- Elevate performance through a more engaged workforce,
- Increase access to capital and outside investors based on sustainability performance or determining a more accurate capital investment to set aside for the future; too much negates potential earnings; too little impacts operations,
- Identify what information and data is necessary to collect to pass verification or assurance now and for pending regulatory needs,
- Are my planned projects/solutions accurately priced and will work as accurately as predicted to have the intended effect,
- Is the order of the solutions in my plan logical in providing the most GHG reductions or the highest return on investment?
- What is considered high greenhouse gas or direct emissions in my industry? Identify source levels and regulatory deadlines accordingly.
- Starting early allows all entities to do a better job, and it enables phasing in a more flexible plan along with the appropriate amount of funding.
- Could I have projects with a different motivation or incentive that will count as reducing greenhouse gas emissions? How do I get credit for them? Who’s accounting for them? Will your accounting or template miss them?
