Sustainability isn’t just about creating a plan; it’s about implementing, tracking, and adapting.
In today's rapidly changing global landscape, the successful implementation of sustainability initiatives hinges not only on crafting robust strategies but also on effectively monitoring and evaluating their progress.
Whether you're a sustainability manager, a business leader, or an environmental enthusiast, understanding how to measure and track the impact of sustainability efforts is essential for driving continuous improvement and achieving meaningful results.
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The effectiveness of sustainability plan needs to be measured against the indicators specified in sustainability plan. For example:
Carbon footprint in a workplace is the number of greenhouse gases produced due to day-to-day activities. It can be measured weekly, monthly, and yearly. The carbon footprint of different sustainability issues can be calculated using mathematical calculations.
Energy
| Energy Source |
Consumption (kWh) |
Floor area (m2) | Consumption/ Floor area (kWh/m2) |
Co2 Emissions (Kg/m2) = (kWh/m2) * Carbon Conversion Factor (CO2e) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electricity | ||||
| Gas | ||||
| Oil |
| Total | |
|---|---|
| Total/1000 = tonnes CO2e/m2 |
Water
Water intensity (litres/person/day) = water consumptions (m3) / Number of staff / Working days
Or
Water intensity (litres/m2/day)= water consumptions (m3) / Floor Area (m2) / Working days
| Water consumption (m3) | Carbon conversion factor (CO2e) | CO2e emissions (kg/m3) (m3) * (CO2e) |
|---|
Waste
| Types of Waste | Waste Generated (kg or tonne) | Carbon Conversions factor (CO2e) | CO2e emissions (kg) Waste generated (kg or tones) * Carbon Conversion factor (CO2e) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food Waste | |||
| Dry mixed recycling | |||
| Glass recycling | |||
| General Waste |
Paper and Printing
| Paper and Timber Products | Weight of Materials used in tonnes | Conversion Factor (CO2e) | CO2e emissions (Weight of the material used 8 * Conversion factor) (kg or tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper | |||
| Paper (recycled) | |||
| Wood | |||
| Total |
| Total weight of paper and timber purchased | |
| 0% of paper and timer purchased that has been sustainably sourced |
Once the footprint of the workplace has been determined, data must be documented and assessed against the target for the timeframe. The data must be taken care of to ensure quality, reliability, and accuracy.
The performance of the indicators is not calculated overnight, it takes a long time to reach a threshold so that it becomes reliable for comparison against the target. So, they must be archived and maintained.
There are many ways to collect data to access the performance of the indicators. One example way to collect data for environmental indicators are as follows:
| Indicators | Timescale | Current | Target | Responsibility | Performance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total amount of material used | |||||
| Total amount of water used | |||||
| Total amount of renewable resources used | |||||
| Total amount of non-renewable resources used | |||||
| Total amount of energy used | |||||
| Total amount of renewable energy used | |||||
| Total amount of greenhouse gases generated | |||||
| Total amount of waste generated | |||||
| Total amount of solid waste | |||||
| Total amount of liquid waste | |||||
| Total amount of waste recycled |
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Next watch this video explaining the SDG- Sustainable Development Goals
Software
Today, businesses have a facility to use different types of software to collect, manipulate, and analyse sustainability indicator data. Some of the sustainability management software are listed below:
Novisto
"Our vision is to be the world's leading software solution for integrated corporate sustainability management."
Features
- Benchmarking
- Energy Management
- Performance Metrics
- KPI Monitoring
- Waste Management
- Inspection Management
- Reporting/Analytics
- Environmental Compliance
- Emissions Monitoring
IntegrityNext
"IntegrityNext enables companies to monitor their entire supply base regarding sustainability and compliance to meet regulatory requirements and reduce risk."
Features:
- Energy Management
- Performance Metrics
- KPI Monitoring
- Environmental Compliance
Emex EHS & ESG Software
"Track and quantify the most important sustainability metrics for your organisation and your investors."
Features:
- Benchmarking
- Energy Management
- Performance Metrics
- KPI Monitoring
- Waste Management
- Activity Dashboard
- Inspection Management
Despite all the benefits of the sustainability plans, there are some complications when the plans hit the operation. Different factors define a successful and unsuccessful sustainability plan.
Strategies for a successful sustainability plan
- clear goals
- monitoring and evaluation system
- gradual but consistent performance
- adoptability
- proper allocation of resources
- stakeholder involvement
Clear Goals
Defining good and clear goals is the first step towards any plan. Many indicators define three pillars of sustainability, as in features. To achieve these pillars of sustainability, one has to prepare clear goals.
Examples:
- target level of carbon emission
- waste minimisation/waste reduction
- alternative/renewable energy
- ISO 14001
- ISO 5001:2018
Gradual but consistent performance
Sustainability plans take time to show progress. It's a journey, not a destination. It starts with small changes leading towards making a big change eventually. A small change in a workplace like proper management of waste bins, different bins for different waste can have a huge impact in the long run. Consistency is key for better performance of any plan to achieve its goals.
Proper allocation of resources
A plan needs to have adequate resources for implementation. The sustainability plan needs different resources, mainly people, materials, and budget. Proper allocation of these resources will define the consistent operation of the constancy plan. There are many benefits of proper allocation of resources, such as maximum utilisation of available resources and better resource management.
A successful sustainability plan with proper allocation of resources will positively affect its implementation.
Stakeholder Engagement
From customers to the CEO of the business, all are business stakeholders. Stakeholders should have their say or opinion before implementing any plans, such as sustainability plans, because it will affect them.
The involvement of stakeholders in the sustainability plan leads to better decision making, and provide solutions to conflict areas and problems
Adoptability
A sustainability plan should be adaptable in the workplace. It should be able to change and adapt fast enough to changing circumstances such as law and policy. A sustainability plan should be open to changes and fir into those changes. For example, a business decides to have two bins for waste collection, but they might have to change into three bins as time passes. In this process, they should be able to change the environment and educate the employees about the new waste collection in a short time.
Monitoring and evaluation system
A proper monitoring and evaluation system will help identify trends, changes, and performance of the plans and increase transparency. The managers will be able to track down the implementation process and the resources being used. A sustainability plan should have a proper monitoring and evaluation system. Without one, managers or higher-level staff will not have accurate information about the plans and their performance, affecting decision-making.
Reasons that can affect the sustainability plans
Three pillars of sustainability provide three areas to focus on:
Focusing only on one area will not create a path to sustainability. Mainly the social aspect of the sustainability plan gets left behind. If you have a perfect economical plan, that plan may disturb the community, which will not help for long-term sustainability. All three areas must be properly addressed while implementing plans for sustainability.
Setting goals without prior research
Sustainability has been a trend, so many businesses and organisations set up random goals to achieve sustainability. They need to first identify their roles in the three pillars of sustainability and figure out what must be done to decrease the level of participation. Tools like (LCA) can help identify the impact according to the three pillars of sustainability.
Proper allocation of the resources
A sustainability plan, in theory, won't help a business or organisation achieve sustainability. It needs resources, humans. budget, and materials, to implement the plans. There are many two types of resources to implement sustainability plans:
- people who decide what plans to execute and required resources
- people who perform the work
Using sustainability only for public relation
Nowadays public has a different vision for those businesses that promote sustainable products and services. That's why many businesses promote sustainability plans just to protect the public relationship. They have no goals, no proper allocation of resources, and a monitoring and evaluation system leading towards the inevitable failure of the sustainability plan. Instead of taking sustainability as a pressure, the business should consider them as an opportunity and spend some time formulating the plans.
A document is written information that describes an event or a process, printed or stored in a computer. In the workplace, documentation is a process of recording the actions and events required by the law and policy changes of the company.
Characteristics of well-prepared documents for evaluation of sustainability plans:
- no grammatical errors and formatting
- descriptive figures and tables
- easy to understand
- information should be up-to-date
Documenting the sustainability plan and its evaluation provides a path for future improvement. The collected data can be used to analyse the performance of the plan. The outcomes from the evaluation can be stored or documented in many documents, mainly reports;
WATCH
Before we start exploring the different reporting and analytics that can help you to understand the implementation of your sustainability plan, watch this short video explaining the difference between Analytics vs Reporting.
General compliance reports
General compliance reports confirm that a business is following its standard and policies supported by a large amount of data collected. Sustainability in the business and its workplace requires following many standards and formulating different policies. This report will help the business determine the level of commitment to those standards and policies.
One of the examples of a general compliance report is as follows:
Board reports
A board report is simply a set of documents sent to the members on the board before any board meetings providing the required information to be discussed at the meeting.
One of the pieces of information can be about sustainability plans and their evaluation at a specific time. This way, the board members can get involved and have their share of the plans and their performance.
Analytical Reports
A business uses an analytical report to analyse and evaluate its strategy and decision through qualitative and quantitative data. This report purely depends on historical data to provide predictive analysis of a given situation. These reports can be used to determine the effectiveness of the sustainability plan and provide further information on how to improve it.
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The next video is a quick overview of how to use and understand Google Analytics Reports.
There are many tools and software in the market to help create reports. One of the popular software that has conquered the market is Tableau.
It has helped many businesses to understand their data and transform and visualise them. This software is suitable to form any business structure, from small to large.
Tableau
As the market-leading choice for modern business intelligence, our analytics platform makes it easier for people to explore and manage data, and faster to discover and share insights that can change businesses and the world.
Everything we do is driven by our mission to help people see and understand data, which is why our products are designed to put the user first—whether they’re an analyst, data scientist, student, teacher, executive, or business user. From connection through collaboration, Tableau is the most powerful, secure, and flexible end-to-end analytics platform.
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Businesses are prioritising sustainability in recent years, as it affects the operation of the business and public relations. Sustainability plans are a journey that requires change over time, resources, planning, and leadership.
Some of the ways to improve the sustainability plan in a business environment are as follows:
Don't Overpromise
A sustainability plan should be realistic that can be achieved considering the size, budget, and available resources. But saying that, it should include all the pillars of sustainability i.e, environment, social, and economics.
A sustainability plan should be sustainable on its own. They aim high and the whole thing falls apart. Research and communication with stakeholders can make a sustainability plan sustainable and provide room for improvement.
Deal with Prioritised Issues
A business should identify its major issue and handle them first with a team and a well-prepared plan. For example, if it's producing a large amount of plastic waste, prioritise it and formulate a plan to deal with it. When the major issues are dealt with then only all the pillars of sustainability should come into play.
A pilot program can be tried to gather data and responses from the stakeholder before jumping into the change in the workplace. If the programs with positive feedback, the actual program can be executed, which will be appreciated by the stakeholders.
Long term Competitiveness and public relation
A sustainability plan should help in long-term product competitiveness and brand reputation. Research must be carried out on the effectiveness of sustainable products and possible opportunities and threats.
Sustainability is not just a public relations stunt but an opportunity to increase the employee's productivity in the workplace. It is a commitment to save the planet for the next generation and provide a working environment to the current generation. Sustainability should exist and be practised by everyone throughout the business.
Align sustainability plan across the business
Sustainability should be applied throughout the business, from production to the public. The individual key performance indicators for each pillar should be aligned. This way, everyone can understand their responsibilities and know their contribution. Managers should assign responsibilities and direct them along the path, which can be performed through regular training.
Proactive communication with stakeholders
Regular communication with stakeholders to evaluate the sustainability plan can be crucial in improving the sustainability plan. A proper communication channel or plan should be developed to exchange information between the different stakeholders. This way, a lot of data can be collected, and data is everything while making adjustments to any plans and decision making.
Keeping up-to-date with the government laws and regulation
Government laws and regulations can change at any time. Therefore, a sustainability plan should be adaptable or open to changes. The government has provided every information on formulating a sustainability plan at a workplace. A sustainability plan should always follow the rules and regulations of the government.
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The videos below provide you some more insight to help you with project planning and helping to make amendments and assist you getting the most out of your plan.
