How to Influence Sustainability Conversations and Actions in Your Organisation?

By Sarah Shannon

Sustainability regulation is looming on the horizon for many big organisations. This impending legislation serves as a powerful motivator for change, compelling businesses to meet legal requirements and align with economic, political, social, and stakeholder expectations. However, beyond compliance, many organisations genuinely want to reduce their material impact and reverse environmental damage.

So, how do you change hearts and minds, get everyone on board, and drive action within your organisation?

Involve Everyone in the Conversation

The first step is to openly engage everyone in your organisation – share the goal that together we can shift to a sustainable organisation. Encourage a diverse range of people across all levels to join the conversation – especially those working on the frontline. Their varied perspectives and inputs are invaluable in understanding the complexities of reducing your business’s material impact.

Understand the Resistance

People tend to resist change as they focus on what they must give up rather than what they will gain. So a good place to start is by identifying the core reasons behind any resistance to change. For example, do they worry lower quality materials will replace current materials, will it cost more to be sustainable so another core offer is dropped, will it take longer at the expense of tried and tested efficiency. Understanding these blockers allows you to start improving processes and practices effectively while reviewing innovative alternatives too.

Identify and Remove Blockers

Once you know the blockers, you can then identify gaps and bottlenecks to provide ideas and practical solutions that help overcome the resistance. A simple first step is to focus on quick wins. This not only demonstrates progress but also signals your commitment to change. Talk to your employees and suppliers about alternative technologies and sustainable materials that could improve processes.

Remember to celebrate these wins to stimulate further conversations.

Create a Supportive Culture

Fear of failure can hinder progress. Foster a culture where trying new approaches is encouraged, even if they aren’t 100% perfect. Ring-fence a budget to support your sustainability strategy, showing that the organisation is serious about making a change.

Ensure Leadership Commitment

Ensure the senior team demonstrates a commitment to listening to the conversation and removing blockers. Their active participation can significantly accelerate the shift towards a sustainable future.

Set Targets and Track Progress

Every organisation can set its own sustainability targets and track progress. They key is to gather all non-financial information, such as policies and carbon emissions data, in one place to gain a comprehensive view. Going forward it is easy to visualise year-on-year progress and proudly share your successes.

By incorporating these steps, you can effectively influence sustainability conversations and actions within your organisation, leading to meaningful environmental impact and a more sustainable business.

Be proactive, not reactive.

Reach out to Pulse Market now and find out how to streamline your non-financial reporting and spearhead your sustainability initiatives.

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CDP Reporting: Building a Sustainable Future

By Sarah Shannon

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Corporate environmental accountability has become crucial in recent years, as stakeholders evaluate how companies are addressing climate change impacts and emissions. A key resource in this effort is CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project), an international non-profit organisation that helps corporations create sustainability programs aimed at reducing emissions and pollution into our environment. Keep reading to learn more about the role CDP reporting can play in helping a business move towards greater sustainability!

What is CDP reporting and why it matters?

In today’s world, environmental sustainability is a pressing concern for investors, companies, and the public. As climate change continues to affect people and the planet, stakeholders are increasingly interested in how companies are addressing the challenges posed by a changing environment. The “E” in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting has gained significant attention, and CDP is helping addressing ‘E’nvironmental factors with its reporting framework. A Framework designed for companies to disclose their environmental impacts and efforts to reduce emissions, pollution, and other forms of environmental damage.

What is CDP reporting?

CDP reporting is a process through which companies score and share their environmental data. A broad range of stakeholders rely on CDP as a process for companies to report their environmental impacts and demonstrate they are managing the risks and opportunities associated with climate change, deforestation, and water security.

How is CDP data used?

A CDP score provides a quick snapshot of how environmentally well a company is doing. CDP data reveals which companies are better long-term investments and helps investors manage environmental risks within their portfolios while assessing their investments’ carbon footprint. It’s not just investors that value CDP reports. More and more companies are turning to environmental scoring to evaluate their own environmental impact and of the third parties they work with.

Exploring the Benefits of Environmental Reporting:

The benefits of environmental reporting extend beyond accountability to investors and clients. They include:

boosting reputation by fostering transparency
benchmarking progress towards climate targets
staying ahead of environmental risks, and aligning with evolving regulations

Looking Towards the Future with Environmental Reporting

There are many more advantages to gain. Transparency, standardisation and a culture of accountability create trust among investors, shareholders, and the public, contributing to a positive image for the business.

Environmental scores allows companies to measure their environmental impact against industry peers and gain valuable insights.
Consistent reporting ensures organisations do not overlook environmental risks and aids in the development of future environmental strategies.
Environmental reporting enables companies to align with regulatory requirements, such as the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

The additional advantages of reporting are significant when it comes to supply chain transparency. It helps identify supply chain risks, mitigate reputational risks and evaluate carbon-reduction performance compared to competitors – increasingly more important with Scope 3.

Ultimately by embracing greater accountability and transparency, companies become more attractive to sustainably-conscious stakeholders: investors, suppliers, customers, and employees.

Talk to Pulse Market about our ESG Passport designed to kickstart SMEs ESG journey.

How green are we?

By Sarah Shannon

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At Pulse Market we are always looking for ways to do better and be greener. So we decided to survey our global team to find out how green are we.

You can check out the results below and read our 6 top tips for more sustainable living.

Here are some simple ideas for your business to become more environmentally friendly

How can businesses become more environmentally friendly?

By Sarah Shannon

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ESG reporting is top of mind for organisations in 2022 and beyond. But who is ready?

While larger organisations are appointing heads of sustainability or head of impact many smaller organisations are struggling to keep up and are feeling overwhelmed.

There are many ways businesses can become more environmentally friendly. Some small changes include:

Switching off equipment when it is not in use
Using recycled paper and ink cartridges
Encouraging employees to take public transport or cycle to work where possible
Installing energy-efficient light bulbs
Swapping to biodegradable cleaning products
Using reusable cups and water bottles
Composting food waste
Make a donation to an environmental charity or cause.

Individuals can also contribute to sustainable procurement and ESG initiatives by:

Buying products from companies that prioritise sustainability
Reducing the amount of waste they produce by recycling or reusing items instead of throwing them away (e.g., shopping bags made out of plastic bottles) and donating unwanted clothing to charity shops.
Choosing low carbon footprint alternatives like electric cars over petrol vehicles, which produce more CO₂ emissions per mile traveled due to combustion engines being less efficient than batteries.
Making a donation to an environmental charity or cause can also help further these initiatives because the money donated provides funding for research on how we can make our lives greener and more sustainable.

More and more consumers are making environmentally focused decisions it is driving positive change – this is having a knock on effect on supply chains. To help financial services buyers we designed the ESG Passport. It is a turnkey solution that is simple, educates and aligns buyers and suppliers ESG goals and vision.

Read about our ESG Vision