Part 4/13 of the Business Sustainability in Nigeria Series by Adiya Atuluku and Jennifer Uchendu
Throughout this series, we’ve discussed what business sustainability is, the key concepts that organizations might use to achieve business sustainability, and why businesses should even bother.
Now let’s get into the action – what does a sustainable business even look like? We’ve seen many people struggle to answer this, mainly because there are so many versions of sustainability. It all really depends on how the business defines it, so in the end, sustainability will look different in each organization. The different concepts we discussed in Part 2 even clues us into just how diverse the roads to business sustainability are.
We do know that a sustainable business considers more than their economic stakeholders; they also consider their social and environmental stakeholders, and try to achieve a balance between these three categories of stakeholders. So with this in mind, it is not so difficult to point out trends in businesses that are sustainable or in the process of becoming sustainable.
But where do we look for these signs? We search within the business’ operations and processes – how and where do they get their raw materials? How do they carry out their value-add activities? How do they design and deliver their products and services? How do they create waste and what do they do with it? How do they manage their carbon emissions? How do they treat their employees, How do they make decisions? And finally, how do they integrate all these, because therein lies both the challenge and the success.
Still, let’s try to outline those underlying signs that you should look out for when determining whether a business is sustainable:
What does their management say and do about sustainability?
The management of any organisation sets the tone and the direction for the business. So if they are not into sustainability, it is as good as non-existent. Sometimes the leadership says they want to focus on sustainability initiatives, but the approved budget doesn’t reflect this focus, and the leader doesn’t seem to put his/her weight and support behind an initiative. So look out for these – what the leadership does (e.g. in releasing funding, in driving campaigns and susty policies and also in being available when needed) align with what they say (e.g. in the annual reports, in interviews, in staff meetings)?
Is there someone who organizes sustainability efforts?
Like all activities in any organisation, if there’s no one person who is ultimately responsible (and who people know is ultimately responsible), then it never gets done. So look out for someone like a CSR Manager, Sustainability Director, Sustainability Manager, who organizes and coordinates sustainability strategies and initiatives across the organisation. Note that we didn’t necessarily include an ‘Officer’. That’s because there must be someone who is in a leadership capacity, and who can influence the organisation. Watch out for that.
Are CSR initiatives aligned with the business?
Sometimes an organization carries out a CSR project, and even though it helps a community and promotes some social good, you really can’t see how it relates to their business. This hints you to the fact that their CSR is quite apart from their business, and is more likely done for them to feel-good, and manage a reputational risk. It doesn’t mean anything long-lasting. But long-lasting is a word that goes hand in hand with sustainability. So watch out for businesses that carry out CSR initiatives that are tied in with their business – these businesses are more likely to be concerned about the impact and sustainability of that initiative.
How are resources sourced and used?
A good clue towards sustainability is seeing how a business sources for their raw materials, what type of raw materials do they use, and how efficiently do they use that resource? For example, do they manage the amount of water they use during manufacturing, or do they use it indiscriminately? Do they pay their tailors fairly or are they almost crossing the line to slave labour? Do they use biodegradable packaging for their products instead of non-degradable materials? Do they use forest resources, like logs, indiscriminately? Do they use energy efficient bulbs and processes to utilize their energy? Look out for stuff like that, depending on their specific operations.
What are their carbon emissions and wastes like?
Likewise, look out for how much waste they produce and what they do with it. How conscious are they of their waste? Do they actively minimize the amount of waste they produce? Do they have arrangements with the local waste management agency to dispose of their waste properly or do they simply dump them in landfills or burn them illegally? Also, very critical are their carbon emissions? Do they use the national grid (from fossil fuels) or their generator sets instead of inverters and solar? If they’re in oil and gas, do they engage in gas flaring? What happens when their activities cause soil, water or/and air pollution – do they take responsibility and infact, actively invest in preventive measures to avoid such pollution? Look out for these kinds of trends which of course depends on industry-specific operations.
What is the perception from the communities they operate in?
The community where a business is situated is largely affected by that business’ operations – because of proximity (amongst other factors), the community would likely be employed by the business and be impacted by their operations and wastes. And so, what the community has to say about the business is a good clue. Are they happy to have the company there? Do they feel the company has their best interests at heart (this applies to employees as well)? Do they feel the company is responsible? This is a simple and useful clue.
How do their products compare?
A business can be seen as sustainable if it provides a product or solution that is seen as more sustainable than a previously product/solution or more sustainable than a competing product/solution. Simple example – if a business produces pencils, but sources for their graphite using sustainable mining practices, cuts trees down using best logging practice and replants five trees for every tree they cut down, and uses renewable energy (whether solar, wind, hydro, biomass or even nuclear) in their factory, they can rightfully claim that they are sustainable. And their claim is even more glaring if their competitor doesn’t do all of those, or if the company itself didn’t do all these previously then it is easy to see the sustainable shift. So look out for such claims of product sustainability.
How do they report their sustainability initiatives?
Last but not least, a business that carries out sustainability initiatives will rightfully want to report it so their stakeholders know what they’ve been doing! This manages stakeholder expectations and perceptions, and also gives them benefits (e.g. tax rebates, green and social investors, certifications, etc.) that are targeted towards sustainable businesses. A company that does this, and even better, conforms their reporting to international standards like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), would be seen as more sustainable.
A word of caution though – as a business, you need to make sure that your claims of business sustainability aren’t just claims, but true reports of what you’ve been up to and what you’ve been able to achieve. It is better to not report at all, if you plan on giving people false claims. A company Volkswagen may never recover from this mistake.
More often than not, a sustainable company would do all of the above, and perhaps more, because like we said earlier, integration is the key to success in sustainability. A sustainable business cannot exhibit one of the above without exhibiting the others in various degrees.
Currently, what we see in both Nigeria and even in the West, is that most companies are on a journey of sustainability. They have defined what issues are relevant to them, what they want to achieve, and how they, as an organization, define ‘business sustainability’. Do they define this ‘business sustainability’ more in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility, or do they define this in terms of an overhaul of their business model. We discuss this in the next part of the series.
About the Authors:
Adiya Atuluku is passionate about helping businesses be more sustainable, and she uses her experiences in both environmental and management consulting to achieve this. She is also a believer in the role of technology and good project management in helping achieve sustainability strategies.
Jennifer Uchendu is the founder of SustyVibes and a sustainability analyst with experience working on and pioneering projects for sustainability in indigenous and multi-national organisations in Nigeria, she has a passion for helping businesses practice sustainability in the ways that best fit their size, operations and budget.