April 2, 2019
As companies across industries experience rising pressure from stakeholders for a formalized Environmental, Social & Governance/Corporate Sustainability strategy, Outsourced Sustainability Program Assistance can help companies with a lean Sustainability Team – or without any fully dedicated associates – to effectively develop, drive and message a value creating strategy that will resonate with key stakeholders and senior management.
In 2013, SR Inc worked with dozens of Charter Members to define corporate sustainability as “a more strategic approach to business innovation and optimization in a world of rising resources constraints.” This definition, which is aligned with the longer and more detailed definition that the Dow Jones Sustainability Index published in 1999, intentionally distinguishes itself from the UN-adopted definition of “Sustainable Development” which focuses on economic development. SR Inc’s focus, in contrast, is helping enterprises create value in a rapidly changing world where many of the most sought after customers, employees and investors – as well as regulators – are increasingly concerned about human caused climate breakdown.
SR Inc regularly assists Operating and Sustainability Executives (where they exist) in: Setting Goals, Driving Progress and Reporting Results in the their move to more sustainable high-performance across their offices, energy, waste and water and relevant employee, customer, investor and community engagement. Rising stakeholder interest in more sustainable corporate operations has created an unprecedented opportunity for operating executives, in particular, to move from managing costs to helping to create value that resonates with leading customers, employees, investors and their C-suite. See: An Unprecedented Opportunity & Moment for CRE
Demand for Sustainability Strategies Is Rising Across Key Stakeholder Groups
Earlier this month at a multi-client SR Inc Executive Symposium in Denver, SR Inc presented trend data on the growing interest in and demand for corporate sustainability programs by top talent, customers and investors. A few highlights:
Additionally, despite the science defying retrenchment occurring at a federal level in the U.S., sustainability related regulations in the U.S. and around the world at the local and municipal level which govern building and facilities, continue to progress towards responsibility in regard to the challenge of climate breakdown – a fact that our real estate and facilities member executives are acutely aware (See SR Inc’s member briefing “Energy & Sustainability Program Management Becomes an Issue of Compliance and Professionalism,” for evidence of the growing market and regulatory demands for sustainability strategy.)
Sustainability Program Assistance Helps Make A Sustainability Strategy Possible for Any Company
According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, published in collaboration with MIT Sloan School of Business, 90% of companies consider a sustainability strategy important to remaining competitive.[1] However, only 60% claim to have a sustainability strategy. What’s more, companies with <100,000 employees are significantly less likely to have a strategy than those with >100,000 employees. There are numerous explanations for this gap, but one of the most common reasons SR Inc has encountered over the past several years is that small- and mid-size companies do not have the resources or bandwidth to dedicate to a sustainability program. Without dedicated sustainability professionals more often than not it is difficult to know where to begin – particularly given the competing demands for attention and resources in fast-growth enterprises.
Unfortunately, many companies’ ESG/Corporate Sustainability ambitions are stymied by the incorrect assumption that without a dedicated Full Time Equivalent associates or approval for expensive consulting a company – even a publicly traded company with more than a thousand employees that needs to develop an impressive ESG/Corporate Sustainability program to meet the expectations of the most sought after talent, customers and investors – cannot develop an impressive ESG/Sustainability program. This is true even of far larger companies that may have a developed Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) team and program but are struggling to “add a second S” for Corporate Sustainability without a substantial additional budget for additional FTEs or consulting.
SR Inc’s Outsourced Sustainability Program Assistance is designed precisely for those companies who want – or are increasingly being pressured by stakeholders to have – a sustainability strategy, but haven’t developed a business case for multiple full-time sustainability focused associates or expensive consulting . Through over a decade of experience working with dozens of leading corporate Member-clients, ranging in size from 1,000 – 100,000+ employees, SR Inc is able to efficiently and effectively help clients to build and deliver best-in-class sustainability programs customized for their company’s industry and operations. We help companies across industries and size categories to help them:
One Member-Client SR Inc has been privileged to support is Hakon Mattson, Director of CRE Sustainability at Anthem, a health insurance company with approximately 55,000 employees located across the United States. Hakon summarized our assistance in a recent testimonial:
“SR Inc’s Outsourced Sustainability Program Assistance was of substantial value to Anthem as we developed and drove a Sustainability Strategy. SR Inc’s assistance was pro-active, deeply informed and available daily. It included confidential benchmarking, the development of a multi-year Roadmap and a multi-stakeholder Materiality Analysis that helped Anthem determine the Environmental, Social & Governance items most material to our business. It helped Anthem win a spot on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index less than 30 months after setting out to do so. SR Inc’s original best practice management research and tools are grounded in case studies of peer enterprises and has helped us to continue improving our sustainability performance year over year. I very much value SR Inc’s direct one-to-one assistance that is available to Anthem every business day.”
Though much earlier in its sustainability journey, TripAdvisor, the Boston area based world leader in web-based travel, has also recently benefited from SR Inc’s Outsourced Program Assistance. Matt Mayerhofer, Infrastructure & Sustainability Engineer, explains:
“SR Inc’s full-time team has been a remarkably valuable and guiding in helping TripAdvisor develop and drive a Sustainable Operations program worldwide. SR Inc’s Outsourced Sustainability Program Assistance has helped TripAdvisor develop goals, select metrics, select advanced energy solutions, create a multi-year roadmap and implementation dashboard as well as help communicate our move to more sustainable operations. The Executive Guidance & Tools across all areas of Corporate Sustainability in SR Inc’s Digital Library are excellent as is SR Inc’s expert guidance, conferencing with peer executives, confidential benchmarking and every business day on-demand assistance. I recommend SR Inc enthusiastically to all those wondering how, in regard to more sustainable operations, they are going to develop strategy and get it done.”
As demand for formalized, effective and reported ESG/Corporate Sustainability strategies continues to increase, SR Inc is energized by our mission: “to accelerate the development and adoption of best practices in more sustainable business.” And the opportunity our growing team has to help Member Executives and their teams to drive meaningful impact across their own company’s national and global operations – regardless of where they are in their sustainability journey. Don’t hesitate to reach out SR Inc to learn how we can help support your own company’s needed move towards leadership in more sustainable business.
[1]“Sustainability at a Crossroads,” the Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan School of Business, 2017
As Senior Manager of Research & Consulting, Kelsey Wallace supports members of SR Inc’s confidential, strategic advisory & support service in their move to more sustainable high-performance. With several years experience at the intersection of business and sustainability, Kelsey provides specialized program assistance to clients on a one-to-one basis, supporting all aspects of strategy development and implementation for management teams overseeing corporate sustainability strategies, policies and projects. Prior to joining SR Inc, Kelsey worked for The Cadmus Group, where she provided technical support to the Environmental Protection Agency and US Green Building Council on projects to improve the sustainability of federal infrastructure. Kelsey also devoted a year to national service with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps, where she worked on team-based conservation and community development projects throughout the Southwest United States. Kelsey has her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Connecticut College.
