We’re back with the final instalment of our Sustainability for Business FAQ (read Part 1 and Part 2 here)!
This time we’re delving further into topics such as supply chain sustainability – exploring why it’s important and how it can make your organisation more robust in challenging times.
Read on to discover the commercial benefits of advancing your green credentials, the difference between carbon insetting and offsetting and much more in our sustainability for business FAQ Part Three.
Sustainability doesn’t end within the four walls of your immediate business – it needs to extend throughout your entire supply chain.
Your third-party suppliers are inextricably tied to your business. Their sustainability credentials subsequently have an impact on your business’s environmental impact and reputation. You can’t claim to be sustainable if your supply chain isn’t!
A big part of supply chain sustainability is scope 3 emissions. These are the emissions generated by your supply chain and need to be accounted for when reporting on key emissions data. Scope 3 emissions are increasingly gaining traction in the world of business sustainability – and it looks likely that more and more businesses will be obliged to measure and report on scope 3 emissions moving forwards.
It’s therefore essential to ensure that your business is doing everything it can to improve sustainability throughout the entire supply chain, as these efforts will be reflected in scope 3 data.
Becoming more sustainable isn’t just good for the planet – it’s good for business, too!
Taking action to reduce carbon emissions and minimise your organisation’s environmental impact can bring a range of benefits from a commercial perspective. This is because it shows that you’re an ethical and socially aware organisation, which can be particularly attractive to investors looking to expand their green portfolio.
Increasing your business’s sustainability is also an effective strategy if you’re aiming to secure bigger contracts, too. Carbon Reduction Plans are a great example. These were designed to help both suppliers and customers understand the impact that a contract, and subsequently their wider operations – have on the environment.
Carbon Reduction Plans are now a requirement for all firms bidding for major contracts worth over £5m for UK Central Government and arms-length public bodies. This means that competing organisations must have one, which includes details of their current carbon footprint – as well as plans which outline how they are aiming to achieve net zero emissions.
Although the threshold currently limits the requirement to major contracts, sustainability is increasing in importance every day and it seems likely that soon similar measures will be adopted by organisations looking to secure smaller contracts. Having your sustainability credentials prepared and ready therefore puts you at a good advantage – positioning you in a better place to achieve both your short and long-term goals.
From a global pandemic and rise in the cost of living to supply chain issues – the last few years have been especially challenging for businesses.
These conditions have highlighted just how important it is to ensure that your business is as robust as it possibly can be – and a key part of this involves its sustainability. In addition to helping your organisation stay compliant with increasingly stringent legislation and expectations, becoming more sustainable offers you a valuable opportunity to review operations and replace inefficient practices that are stalling your growth.
In our previous FAQs, we mentioned how engaging in formal sustainability initiatives such as collecting and measuring data are effective ways to identify areas of unsustainability and take action to improve them.
However, there are other ways to implement sustainability across your business. It doesn’t just have to be something which is prioritised behind the scenes from an operational perspective – it can also be embraced in other ways. This includes shouting about sustainable accreditations on organisational social media platforms, or actively looking for ESG focused holidays or awareness days that are relevant to your business.
It could also include something as simple as recognising the efforts of your employees’ individual sustainable efforts – for example, investing in cycle-to-work schemes or acknowledging any charity work they may have supported.
Carbon insetting and offsetting are terms which come up frequently in the world of business sustainability – so it’s useful to know the difference!
Carbon offsetting is a way of lowering emissions by reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases made to compensate for emissions made elsewhere in the company. For example – this could include planting trees or supporting reforestation initiatives.
Carbon insetting, however, is slightly different. It’s a strategy designed to reduce emissions by investing in sustainable practices not only in an organisation’s immediate operations, but that of its supply chain, too.
In practice this could include supporting third party suppliers financially by helping them obtain new machinery that’s better for the environment or guiding them to make better decisions.
Implementing sustainability within your business can get complex – so it’s been great to address some of the most common questions we get in this series of FAQs.
However – if there’s a query we haven’t answered, we’d be happy to help! With years of experience guiding and supporting businesses on their sustainability journey, we will work with you to help advance your organisation’s green credentials.
Want to know more? Book your free demo and get in touch here.
Want to know more? Please get in contact with our team here.
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