Why All Companies Should Track Sustainability Metrics
Companies need to provide evidence of how their key sustainability impacts are addressed in operations. Without hard data being provided on a consistent basis, it's no wonder that there's an emerging business in validating green marketing claims. Read More
At the recent Global Conference on Sustainability and Transparency sponsored by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), participants bemoaned the inconsistency of information provided in corporate sustainability reports.
“There was a commonly held view that the practice of sustainability reporting remains in its early stages and does not yet possess a common language or metrics, tools that are very much needed for progress to accelerate,” GreenBiz.com reported.
Readers of sustainability reports seem to agree that more hard data is needed for reports to be truly transparent. In a KPMG survey of readers of sustainability reports, respondents said reporting companies are most likely to omit failures, leading to questions about the credibility of their sustainability reports.
Readers also generally have a low opinion of internal company and national reporting guidelines and want to see companies provide direct and useful information about what their sustainability impacts are and what they are doing about these impacts in concrete terms. Their suggestion? Companies issuing sustainability reports need to provide evidence of how their key sustainability impacts are addressed in operations. Without hard data being provided on a consistent basis, it’s no wonder that there’s an emerging business in validating green marketing claims.
But what about the growing field of carbon accounting? Although the data provided on carbon accounting ledgers may cover onsite fuel, corporate fleets, business travel, energy purchased from utilities covers, and employee commutes, they often don’t include metrics on water, waste, procurement, toxics, supply chain impacts, or social impacts, among others, because those categories are not required under many reporting schemes.
Sustainability reports need to be reframed as a metrics-driven transparency tool that can help businesses both internally and externally. Externally, reporting metrics will help to increase transparency for stakeholders and dispel any suspicions of green-washing. Internally, tracking and reporting sustainability metrics ensures results.
Whether or not a company chooses to publish a sustainability report, everyone needs to track all of these metrics to achieve cost savings and reduced environmental impact. Without comprehensive internal reporting on metrics, companies do not have a clear picture of how they are performing over time. They lack the information they need to evaluate and improve their practices. And metrics-driven sustainability is smart business.
By tracking and reporting data on internal resource usage and costs, companies can focus in on the green initiatives that will deliver the biggest bang for the buck. Recent surveys on green building and corporate spending both confirm that for most CEOs and facility managers alike, saving money on energy and other operating expenses is the number one reason why they pursue any green initiative.
Comprehensive metrics that make the business case for sustainability initiatives help to build internal buy-in as well. Given the uncertain evolution of climate change legislation as well as the questions on the rigor of climate science that have recently arisen, metrics that go beyond the carbon footprint are essential to inspire companies to accelerate along the path of sustainability.
This was made clear to me recently during a meeting with a property management client. During a meeting with the lead engineer, we were reviewing a report with charts showing energy and water usage and costs, waste diversion rates, and greenhouse gases produced and avoided. Here he stopped me.
“Greenhouse gases aren’t as important these days,” he said. “Given what happened at Copenhagen and the questions around the science, a lot of people I know think that tracking greenhouse gases is no longer the main point. Maybe you can push those charts to the bottom.”
We need to solidify and strengthen the case for sustainable business.
Metrics can help us save money, revealing information on poorly functioning products and systems so we can take steps to calibrate or redesign. They can standardize reporting, leaving fewer loopholes for poor performers. And they can accelerate sustainability, helping to ensure that we are making meaningful progress towards our destination, past green marketing campaigns, held-up legislation, carbon footprints, and faulty scientific protocol to a future in which our children will thank us for preserving the world’s resources.
Janine Kubert is director of operations at iReuse, a sustainability consulting and software company founded in 2005 that serves organizations interested in reducing their operational costs and environmental impact.
Bench Mark — Image CC licensed by Flickr user NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
