5 Steps to Embed Sustainability into Business Models

While many companies claim to embed sustainability into their business models, very few actually do, says research from SustainAbility.

Integrated sustainability is urgent because the business sector should consider environmental and social issues — resource scarcity and climate change, among them — in every business decision, according to SustainAbility. Plus, this benefits companies by helping them prepare for future risks and create added value.

To help companies do this, Sustainability Incorporated: Integrating Sustainability into Business, highlights five pathways that sustainability practitioners can use to further integrate sustainability into their businesses. These are:

1. Employing business model thinking.
2. Putting materiality to use.
3. Applying a sustainability lens to products and services.
4. Tapping into culture.
5. Leveraging transparency.

Late last year SustainAbility launched a tool to help companies improve transparency in their sustainability reporting. The Transparency Advancement Tool coincided with a report that found companies are spending too much time and resources creating lengthy reports that few read, noting that it is time to start a new type of reporting and transparency that has a greater impact on improving performance.

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