Managing sustainability

Rainer Hiss of Sirius Technologies explains why it is important to establish sustainability policies, goals and activities and to manage, track and communicate their progress.

In the current difficult economic climate, companies may not see investing in sustainability as a priority. Do you believe that such an attitude would be misguided?
Rainer Hiss. A common misconception is that being sustainable means additional costs. Some of the most common sustainability topics, like energy, waste efficiency, water consumption and employee satisfaction should actually save costs and add value to an organisation. During financially challenging times, cutting back on glossy brochures and large-scale PR campaigns can often be a wise step, but organisations' commitments to employees, communities and the environment should not be about cost and usually aren't. In addition, a high percentage of the public are very concerned over social and environmental issues. Companies seen as not caring can suffer from adverse reputation issues and possibly sales lost to competitors perceived as being more sustainable.

Sustainability can be an extremely complex subject. How can technology be employed to make organisations more sustainable?
Once an organisation has established sustainability policies, goals and activities, it is important that they track and communicate their performance. In large or well developed organisations there can be hundreds of key performance indicators in areas like environment, employee diversity and development, health and safety, human rights, biodiversity and community investment to name but a few. Trying to collect and manage all this information in a multitude of spreadsheets is simply not possible – that's where technology like SERAM comes in. The old saying of 'what you can't measure, you can't manage' applies to sustainability in the same way it does to financial reporting – it's difficult to drive improvements without knowing where you're starting from. Sustainability is no different to other areas of business in that technology is used to make processes more accurate, efficient and often cheaper.

What are the key capabilities an organisation should look for if it is selecting a partner to help it improve its sustainability credentials?
Organisations should look for partners that have specific experience in implementing sustainability processes or projects. Companies who are in the starting phase of sustainability management should look for consulting companies who have experience with assessing organisations, writing policies, developing strategies and other primary elements needed when developing a sustainability management system. Companies with the basic documentation in place already may then look to procure project management services, e.g. reducing carbon footprints, better managing waste or employee satisfaction surveys. Another commonly required service is assistance with sustainability reporting and communication, helping organisations to deliver their key messages, goals and performance to large audiences such as shareholders or the public, often in the form of an annual report or website. Most sustainability consultants are happy to discuss ideas with people and point them in the right direction if they themselves cannot help.

What are the risks if companies fail to take a proactive approach to sustainability issues?
Firstly, the perspective of the company from stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, investors, potential employees to name but a few, is of great importance. Companies with poor or negative reputations regarding society and/or the environment rarely prosper, particularly in times of financial and environmental uncertainty.

Secondly, the risk of losing ground to competitors who have proactive and transparent approaches towards sustainability issues and management can be serious indeed. Research shows that investors and customers are more inclined to go with companies and products that are more sustainably produced or manufactured than those that are not.

The third risk is around the operating efficiency and ethical conduct of the company. Not only do sustainable companies typically have a better grip on costs, e.g. energy consumption and waste production, but also better manage their risks, leading to more transparency than those who act less sustainably. The stories of Enron, Worldcom and the recent banking scandals have put corporate sustainability and governance at a much higher level than ever before.

Rainer Hiss is head of the sustainability division at Swiss-based Sirius Technologies AG. He oversees all operations within the sustainability group including the various software applications such as SERAM and the consulting and services team. Rainer has a PhD in Physics from University of Freiburg.