Everyone Can (And Should!) Be a Sustainability Leader
Combating global climate change can feel like an overwhelming task. A task that is best left to the experts such as environmental scientists, people with PhDs, or corporate sustainability experts who have years of experience in the field. Well, the reality is, that is simply not the case. It turns out that regardless of your educational background or your role within a company, you can (and should) become a sustainability leader that advocates for systemic change within your company and industry. In fact, businesses are wanting you to do just that. If you’re like most business professionals, you probably don’t have an educational or background in sustainability. As a result, you might be asking how can I possibly become a sustainability leader at my company and in my greater community?
The good thing is, it is a lot easier than you may think.
The first step is understanding why you should become a sustainability leader. RyeStrategy has done research on this topic and we have distilled the answer down to five essential reasons.
Top 3 Reasons to Become A Sustainability Leader
Sustainability is an interdisciplinary problem. The reality is there is no silver bullet to solve global climate change. Business decisions made in every function can have a positive effect. Changing the entire system to be more sustainable is going to require effort from every department. That means regardless of your position or function, you can still be a sustainability leader.
Global climate change is a systemic problem, but systemic change can and does begin with the collective efforts of individuals. Research has shown that it only takes 3.5% of a population to drive significant change. When 99.7% of businesses in America have fewer than 500 employees, the actions of a few individuals have immense power to drive change.
Businesses are looking for all employees to think about sustainability when making business decisions. There is a reason that business schools across the country are investing heavily in integrating sustainability into their programs. PwC, a “Big Four” business consulting firm, is planning to add 100,000 employees over five years to focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG). This reflects the desire for businesses to become more sustainable, and opens the door for more opportunity to help!
In addition to these three primary reasons, studies have shown that making a business more sustainable will help them become more profitable in the long-term, contrary to popular belief. In his book Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming, editor Paul Hawken points to a study that found businesses around the world would need to spend $23.4-26.2 trillion dollars to implement the necessary changes to combat climate change. This sounds like a massive amount of money, but if businesses continue operating the way they do today, climate change will cause anywhere between $96.4 and $143.5 trillion in losses (through increased healthcare costs, agricultural losses, damage from extreme weather events, etc.). While the initial cost seems high, the changes we make today will end up saving us tens of trillions of dollars that would inevitably impact the bottom line.
When considering everything above, the case and need for sustainability leaders is strong. The good news is that you can become a sustainability leader today and there are a myriad of ways to start. We obviously don’t have the time to go through all of them here, but compiled below are actions that anyone can do, regardless of your industry or role.
Top 5 Ways to Be A Sustainability Leader
Educate yourself. We all know climate change is an incredibly complex problem and becoming more sustainable can look different depending on where you live, what industry you are in, and even what department you work in. There is more information out there than ever before that can help you drive change without having to get a PhD. We’ve even included some great places to start at the end of this pos - check them out below.
Advocate by being an example. It’s no longer enough to simply be open to change – you have to push for it, and the best way to do that is to lead by example. Implement sustainability practices in areas you have control and influence to become a champion for sustainability to your supervisors and company leaders. Take it one step further and bring opportunities to your leadership team to entice them into this mindset and practice.
Involve stakeholders early and often. It is much easier to drive change when stakeholders are considered, included, and involved frequently. By involving stakeholders early and often in the process, they can learn how change will benefit them and will be more likely to remain engaged and supportive.
Be inspirational rather than confrontational in your efforts. It is easy to become frustrated when people resist change that so clearly needs to happen, but it’s important to remember you are more likely to make change happen when people feel inspired and excited rather than forced or guilted into it.
Show the business value of sustainability. We learned earlier that investing in sustainability now will save trillions later. It turns out that businesses often see value in the short term as well. A study by Westminster College shows that implementing a sustainability reporting structure enhances a firm’s profit margin by over 10%.
Finally, it is important to remember that the transition towards sustainability will be a long term journey. Do not allow yourself to become discouraged. This is a complex problem that will take time and effort to fix, but that is exactly why you can and should become a sustainability leader today. With each additional sustainability leader, the problem becomes a little easier to fix. We can win the fight against global climate and it will be because of sustainability leaders like you.
We are all in this together, so make sure to leave feedback or comments with your favorite sustainability leadership resources and tips!
Resources for Sustainability Leaders
8 Sustainability Skills for Working Professionals, Harvard Business School
How to Become a Leader in Sustainability, Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability
Project Drawdown: The World’s Leading Resource for Climate Solutions
Six Principles of Sustainability Leaders by Andre Taylor
Why You Need Sustainability In Your Business Strategy, Harvard Business School
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About RyeStrategy
Based in Seattle, RyeStrategy is a CDP-accredited, mission-oriented company specialized in carbon accounting, mitigation coaching, and climate disclosure solutions for organizations at any point in their sustainability journey. Learn how RyeStrategy helped Salesforce, Ideascale, and Wazoku achieve their sustainability goals.
From exhaustive carbon footprinting and mitigation coaching, to setting science-based targets and reporting climate data to CDP, SBTi or custom reporting platforms, RyeStrategy acts as a hands-on extension of the team, custom-tailoring services to fulfill climate disclosure requirements easily and accurately.
Meet with a sustainability specialist to learn more about RyeStrategy solutions.
