HOW TO BUILD A GREAT ESG MISSION STATEMENT
More businesses are recognizing the value in committing to more sustainable measures in their business practices, and if you’re reading this… you might be one of them.
According to KPMG’s 2021 CEO Outlook, the uncertainty that came with the pandemic brought a level of certainty in business leaders to prioritize ESG in their recovery and growth efforts. “If there is a positive outcome to come out of the past 18 months, it is that CEOs are increasingly putting ESG at the heart of their recovery and long-term growth strategies.” – Bill Thomas, Global Chairman & CEO of KPMG.
So you’ve decided to make sustainability a priority for your business, what now? To lead your organization towards the future you’ve envisioned, developing the right ESG mission statement is a great first step.
Tips for building the right ESG statement for your organization
1. Get clear on your biggest sustainability drivers
For companies that are hoping to improve their ESG efforts, it’s critical to take a very close look at what sustainability measures are already in place. Evaluate your current business strategy in the ESG space and identify all factors that have influenced your decision to go green. Try to be as objective as possible.
Next, envision what the future looks like for your company, in terms of how committing to sustainability could contribute to your business’s short-term and long-term goals. For example, how ESG can help your business expand into existing markets or even tap into new ones. Once you’ve gotten clear on what’s driving your organization’s commitment to becoming more sustainable, you can easily map out a roadmap to lead the company towards the future envisioned.
2. Be genuine in your approach
After figuring out the “why” behind your decision to go green, come up with a plan for how to do it in a genuine way. The key here is to be sincere yet strategic. Otherwise, your sustainability measures may come across as performative and off-putting to all relevant stakeholders.
When done the right way, incorporating more sustainability measures into your business plan could impact your organization’s growth in a very profound and positive way. More specifically, an exceptional ESG proposition can make a business appear more attractive to investors and consumers. According to Mckinsey, “We’ve found that upward of 70 percent of consumers surveyed on purchases in multiple industries, including the automotive, building, electronics, and packaging categories, said they would pay an additional 5 percent for a green product if it met the same performance standards as a nongreen alternative.”
3. Get everyone on board with your vision
Building a strong ESG proposition can help boost employee productivity, while increasing their emotional ties to the workplace. According to Mckinsey, employees with a sense of satisfaction and connection perform better. “The stronger an employee’s perception of impact on the beneficiaries of their work, the greater the employee’s motivation to act in a ‘prosocial’ way.”
Now that you have a better sense of why sustainability is important for your organization, make sure everyone on your team (at all levels within the structural hierarchy) is on board. Invest in educating employees on what sustainability really means for your organization and how to ensure they’re upholding this commitment in their everyday decisions.
Ensure your ESG mission statement supports the company’s overall goals
Whether you’re new to the ESG space or just hoping to refine your current ESG proposition, building a great ESG mission statement makes it easier for a company to communicate its purpose and role in progressing the community, while improving company performance.
The bottom line: Identify your organization’s biggest sustainability drivers, ensure authenticity and stakeholder alignment, and then leverage these insights to build an ESG vision statement that truly supports your company’s overarching vision! Stay tuned for more tips on building an ESG mission statement.
