A Call to Action for Corporate Leaders: How to Embrace Sustainability and ESG

The time for ReThink HK has arrived again! This Thursday and Friday, we're excited to gather at Hong Kong’s Sustainable Business Forum & Solutions Expo, the city’s premier event of its kind. The HKCEC will transform into a vibrant hub of activity and optimism, hosting businesses and passionate individuals who are devoted to sustainability and the broader ESG landscape to exchange their ideas and innovations.

Attendees will range from companies of all sizes and across various industries, all seeking to launch or expedite in-house initiatives to mitigate their environmental impact. Some will be driven by customer expectations, while others will aim to achieve mandated ESG targets. Regardless of the motivation, events like ReThink HK offer an ideal platform to find inspiration, explore solutions, and invigorate corporate efforts to tackle sustainability issues.

Despite recognizing their impact on our planet, many companies grapple with how to quantify and alleviate these effects. After spending over 20 years in a multinational corporation and launching several start-ups, I've witnessed firsthand the challenges and opportunities that organisations face when addressing ESG issues. It has led me to identify some universally applicable pathways to positive change, regardless of a company’s size.

Leadership is Key

The journey towards reducing a company's environmental footprint begins with its leadership. Change necessitates unwavering commitment from the Founder, CEO, or the Board of Directors. Without this, initiatives driven by lower-level leaders may flounder as primary business objectives, such as revenue, profitability and growth, tend to overshadow them.

For substantive change to take root, a company must shift its mindset and culture, with ESG focus and objectives cascading down through the organization. In nearly all cases, successful transformation happens when leadership not only embraces but champions positive change.

A Defined Path Forward

Identifying the aspects of business operations that create negative impacts and providing a roadmap with specific, measurable and time-bound targets are crucial to aligning the workforce with corporate sustainability objectives. As a company advances on its sustainability journey, it's key to review these targets regularly. But the most important thing is to start somewhere... anywhere!

For large organizations with legacy operations, the breadth of areas requiring change can seem daunting. However, just like any 'to do list’, things become manageable once you start ticking tasks off. In smaller companies, resource constraints can make the process feel more challenging, but even the smallest step can initiate a journey towards a sustainable future.

Empower a Change Agent

Every CEO needs an empowered Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) reporting directly to them and accountable to the Board of Directors. How often do existing HR or Strategy Executives get saddled with 'driving sustainability' as an added responsibility? In my experience, these individuals often find themselves in challenging positions where success is elusive.

Instead, identify a dedicated individual who is passionate, knowledgeable and experienced in both corporate life and sustainability, to champion change. Empowering them to shape the company’s strategy in tandem with the CEO and Executive Leadership is vital for successful transformation.

In companies genuinely intent on change, this person often emerges from within, providing a unique understanding of the company’s operations, culture, and challenges. Once a CSO is on board, making positive change their primary focus is the starting point of corporate transformation.

Engage the Workforce

This is where it gets interesting! Most companies struggle with engaging and empowering their workforce to make decisions through an ESG lens.

Change must be initiated by the CEO but must also permeate every level of the organization to be successful. If the workforce doesn't understand their company’s operations' impact and how their decisions contribute, how can they embrace change?

As Simon Sinek emphasizes in his renowned TED Talk “Start with Why”, emotional engagement with a mission comes from understanding why we do what we do rather than what we do. The same principle applies here. Teams that understand the impact of their actions and are empowered to make decisions through a 'sustainability lens' will find the right solutions.

Set SMART Goals

After the CEO has initiated change, a roadmap is in place, and the CSO is engaging the entire workforce, the next step is to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) goals. These can be reviewed in line with a company’s existing KPI review practices. This is a straightforward process that can easily integrate into any company’s existing practices.

A vast array of options for measuring impact exist today that were not available a decade ago. The challenge is that no single global standard exists, which makes the road tricky for many organizations. However, this should not deter change.

Identifying low-hanging fruit to kickstart an ESG journey is not difficult. Companies know that actions like replacing plastic packaging with environmentally friendly options, substituting regular printing paper with recycled paper, and removing single-use plastics from the office pantry signal positive change. Larger issues, often tied to supply chains and other legacy behaviors, can be addressed as the ESG journey progresses.

Showcase Your Vision

Finally, once the wheels are in motion, showcasing your vision and progress is not only necessary for branding and customer perception, but it's also vital for maintaining momentum internally.

Sharing your journey with the world can inspire others to follow suit, creating a ripple effect of positive change and internally, it keeps your workforce engaged and proud to be part of a company that’s making a difference.

Every company’s journey will be different, but the critical first step is making a commitment to change. As we gather at ReThink HK, I urge all CEOs and corporate leaders to seize the opportunity to learn from those around them and harness the energy from this event to kick-start or accelerate their company’s journey towards a sustainable future.

The time for change is now. The opportunity to make a difference is immense. Let's embrace the challenge and push forward to a future where business success and sustainability go hand in hand.

Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Let's take that step together.