The 4 pillars of a corporate sustainability program

The structure of a corporate sustainability program is the most significant indicator of its sophistication. Yet while corporate sustainability has evolved significantly over recent decades, there’s no handbook on how best to structure a program. As a result, companies looking to embrace the triple bottom line may feel they are building in the dark.

During my time as a corporate sustainability journalist for GreenBiz and most recently working with companies as a竞彩足球app怎么下载Edelman的可持续发展策略师和讲故事者，我已经看到了我相当多的可持续性结构，它们与阳光下的行业数竞彩足球app怎么下载量一样多。

创建标准化结构指南以为跨行业提供公司可持续发展计划的标准化结构指南的问题是：零售公司的合适性可能不是最适合能源公司或制造业业务的。竞彩足球app怎么下载我们正在与穿越行业的公司打交道，并在不同的情况下运营。

These four principles can serve as guidelines for executives to develop more effective sustainability structures.

Principle 1: Sustainability rests on a continuum

There is no such thing as a sustainable brand, and there never will be. All that exists are relatively more sustainable companies or — depending on how you look at it — less bad ones. Once you accept this, you’ll be ready to build a sustainability program that will last.

Most major companies have some type of corporate sustainability initiative and policy, and smaller firms increasingly are more active. Corporate sustainability has grown and matured in the past decade in particular. Yet there is a widening gap between organizations taking advanced steps toward sustainability integration and those without in terms of activities, attitudes and infrastructure, according to2015 researchfrom Siemens.

In other words: On the corporate sustainability continuum, some companies are progressing to the more advanced levels, while others are lagging.

Don’t be afraid to start small, but build into your program’s structure room to constantly grow and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

There’s no easy answer as to why, but it’s tough for many companies to move beyond the "low-hanging fruit" stage to the more advanced actions of embedding sustainability into core operations. Failure at the latter is preventing businesses from unlocking the full value and potential that a more dynamic approach might deliver, according to a2013 KPMG study。

Don’t be afraid to start small, but build into your program’s structure room to constantly grow and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Principle 2: Identify your core purpose

Before building or renovating a sustainability strategy, executives must first answer a simple question: Why does your company exist? Yes, to make money is the obvious answer, but there’s got to be something more. Companies with a clear understanding of their core purpose are much better-equipped to design and construct stronger corporate sustainability programs.

As I wrote earlier this year, we are entering the age of thepurpose-driven business。越来越多的数据支持消费者希望支持他们认为具有比利润更高目标的品牌的想法。这种想法还允许公司加强核心产品，以更好地承受未来的未知数。

As some of my Edelman colleagues say: "Sustainability is something that should be built in, not bolted on."

Principle 3: Your employees are the mortar

作为公司可持续发展高管，很容易竞彩足球app怎么下载被用来构建您的计划的“砖”（例如特定的计划，领导结构和测量机制）。尽管这些很重要，但没有有效地吸引您的员工 - 它们是将所有砖块固定在一起的砂浆。

根据2015年，接受调查的公司中，有40％的公司试图在2014年专门研究可持续性问题竞彩足球app怎么下载Ceres的报告。However, of those 613 companies, Ceres classified only 6 percent as "Tier 1," setting the pace on employee engagement.

为什么贵公司存在？是的，要赚钱是显而易见的答案，但是还有更多的东西。

报告说：“让员工参与公司可持续发展使命是成功的必要条件，但是员工通常是竞彩足球app怎么下载公司开发和实施可持续性计划和战略的利用不足的资源。”

除了提高生产率，减少营业额以及改善整体士气的明确业务利益外，教育，鼓舞和赋予员工权力，这是确保您的计划经受时间考验的关键。竞彩足球app怎么下载

Principle 4: Learn how to talk about your sustainability walk

You might think most companies struggle with greenwashing — "talking green" when in reality they're operating in a less than sustainable way. Yet some have the opposite problem: They fail to effectively communicate to stakeholders on their good work.

即使我们生活在一个很棒的数字化沟通时代，许多公司仍在继续依靠Dusty PDF来讲述可持续性故事。竞彩足球app怎么下载是的，年度可持续性报告仍然是公司竞彩足球app怎么下载可持续性高管预算和带宽的祸根。但这可能很快就会改变，我在谈话中得知earlier this yearwith Michael Meehan, GRI’s former chief executive.

"The information needed to tackle current and future sustainability challenges must clearly inform the user about how the organization sees the relationship between its real challenges and its strategy and operations," he said. "In order for this information to truly support decision-making processes within every organization, it must be more accessible, easier to analyze and available in real time."

In the future, reporting or disclosing for shareholders and regulators will become digital, rapidly updated and tagged.