Sustainability reporting for SMEs

Once your sustainability strategy is underway you should report and publicise the goals you have set, the actions you are taking, and the progress you are making.

By reporting we don’t necessarily mean reporting against frameworks and standards. For smaller businesses that are just starting, we would recommend having a page on your website dedicated to sustainability.

Whether in a report or as a page on your website, some top things to include are:

Your priority areas: Highlight the environmental issues that you have chosen to prioritise. For example, reducing energy inefficiencies in your building/office might be one area.

The actions you are taking: Describe the actions you are taking to address the issues you prioritised. For example, you may have chosen to replace some of your halogen lights with LED ones, introduced motion sensors, or initiated a simple ‘switch off’ policy. No matter how big or small, tell your stakeholders what you’re doing.

Your goals: Identify your targets for each prioritised issue. For example, you might be aiming to reduce your GHG emissions by 50% by 2030.

Your progress: Describe your progress towards your goals. For example, by replacing some of your halogen lights with LED ones and introducing a CycleToWork scheme, you may have reduced your GHG emissions by ‘x’ tonnes of CO2 within a one-year period.

The proof: The best way to ensure credibility is to include verifiable data and case studies with your statements. This means you need to measure and keep track of your progress.

The money element: Highlight how your initiatives have saved the company time and/or money. This element is particularly appealing to employees and investors as it helps them see the value of sustainability to the business. For example, over the last 12 months your energy bill may have fallen because of your new energy efficiency measures.

The good and the bad: Make sure you avoid greenwashing by being transparent about your progress and open about the challenges you have faced. Be sure to set realistic targets, especially when starting out. You’ll need to work out what environmental initiatives you can afford to implement and how much those initiatives will reduce your carbon emissions by. No one is expecting you to be NetZero by 2025. So, celebrate your success but also discuss where your performance against targets may have been poor and the actions you’re taking to rectify that.

Other things to think about:

Link your actions to a larger narrative by describing how your E&S initiatives relate to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, if one of your goals is to increase the number of women in senior management roles then you are contributing towards SDG 5 on Gender Equality.

Consider translating your progress into headlines that are easier to understand. To customers, saying you reduced your CO2 emissions by 30 tonnes means very little. Instead, consider framing it in terms of how many flights to New York that equates to. For example, your energy savings may be equivalent to 18 New York to London flights, or you may have water savings equivalent to 204 households’ monthly water consumption.

Think about your audience. Investors will be most interested in data, tables and charts, while case studies and stories will be more appealing to customers and employees.

Show real commitment, not just compliance. Consider starting with a CEO statement and statements from other employees about why sustainability is important to the company and to them as individuals.

Sustainability reporting for SMEs

Once your sustainability strategy is underway you should report and publicise the goals you have set, the actions you are taking, and the progress you are making.

Whether in a report or as a page on your website, some top things to include are:

Your priority areas: Highlight the environmental issues that you have chosen to prioritise. For example, reducing energy inefficiencies in your building/office might be one area.

The actions you are taking: Describe the actions you are taking to address the issues you prioritised. For example, you may have chosen to replace some of your halogen lights with LED ones, introduced motion sensors, or initiated a simple ‘switch off’ policy. No matter how big or small, tell your stakeholders what you’re doing.

Your goals: Identify your targets for each prioritised issue. For example, you might be aiming to reduce your GHG emissions by 50% by 2030.

Your progress: Describe your progress towards your goals. For example, by replacing some of your halogen lights with LED ones and introducing a CycleToWork scheme, you may have reduced your GHG emissions by ‘x’ tonnes of CO2 within a one-year period.

The proof: The best way to ensure credibility is to include verifiable data and case studies with your statements. This means you need to measure and keep track of your progress.

The money element: Highlight how your initiatives have saved the company time and/or money. This element is particularly appealing to employees and investors as it helps them see the value of sustainability to the business. For example, over the last 12 months your energy bill may have fallen because of your new energy efficiency measures.

The good and the bad: Make sure you avoid greenwashing by being transparent about your progress and open about the challenges you have faced. Be sure to set realistic targets, especially when starting out. You’ll need to work out what environmental initiatives you can afford to implement and how much those initiatives will reduce your carbon emissions by. No one is expecting you to be NetZero by 2025. So, celebrate your success but also discuss where your performance against targets may have been poor and the actions you’re taking to rectify that.

Other things to think about:

Link your actions to a larger narrative by describing how your E&S initiatives relate to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, if one of your goals is to increase the number of women in senior management roles then you are contributing towards SDG 5 on Gender Equality.

Consider translating your progress into headlines that are easier to understand. To customers, saying you reduced your CO2 emissions by 30 tonnes means very little. Instead, consider framing it in terms of how many flights to New York that equates to. For example, your energy savings may be equivalent to 18 New York to London flights, or you may have water savings equivalent to 204 households’ monthly water consumption.

Think about your audience. Investors will be most interested in data, tables and charts, while case studies and stories will be more appealing to customers and employees.

Show real commitment, not just compliance. Consider starting with a CEO statement and statements from other employees about why sustainability is important to the company and to them as individuals.