A new report from Simply Sustainable shares that nine in ten sustainability professionals say their employer will increase investment in sustainability in the coming year following a contraction post-pandemic.Â
About the report and its findings
The report, entitled ‘Sustainability: Whose job is it anyway?’, was created to better comprehend the current experiences of professionals working on sustainability in-house, their challenges, and their expectations for the future.Â
Simply Sustainability spoke to 150 leaders and sustainability decision-makers across the Netherlands and the UK. They looked specifically at the sustainability strategies large businesses are implementing to provide insights into how leaders are tackling challenges.Â
The survey unveiled that most of the presumed concerns of sustainability professionals, such as overloaded work schedules and cut costs, are less crucial to people within sustainability than previously thought.
In particular, cost is going in the opposite direction. A whopping 90 percent of survey respondents indicated that they expected overall business expenditure for sustainability to increase over the next year, typically by 5 to 10 percent.Â
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Key drivers of increasing spend
Numerous drivers were identified by the survey that impact spending. The top five, as ranked by survey respondents, were energy efficiency; risk management; client and customer requests concerning sustainability; compliance with regulatory requirements; and process and resource efficiency.Â
A major portion of this increase, especially in Dutch companies, is a direct consequence of rising regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This is the primary reason for many budgetary increases in the report.Â
Businesses within the EU are generally boosting engagement across their businesses to better comprehend their material impacts, seize opportunities, and mitigate risks. Despite the spending increase, many of whom surveyed emphasised that CSRD reporting was not diverting vital funds and time away from real sustainability work.
Rather, they noted that the new regulation increases industry buy-in, drives investment, and focuses leaders on other areas of sustainability. Moreover, the report found that businesses largely have one of two mindsets concerning investment in sustainability.
One group manages sustainability activities as largely separate from its core processes, while the other views investment in sustainability as a part of core business. Manufacturing and retail were heavily presented in the first group and several IT and financial services firms fell into the second category.
This suggests there is still some work needed in terms of reshaping the narrative that sustainability is a clear road to successful business. Ultimately, the report makes it evident that for firms to have a more meaningful impact, leaders must create a culture of change with top-level buy-in.Â
Final thoughts
​​The Simply Sustainable report underscores a clear trend: businesses are recognising the importance of increased investment in sustainability as a driver for long-term success, resilience, and compliance with evolving regulations like the CSRD.Â
However, the findings also highlight a persistent challenge; bridging the gap between sustainability as an isolated activity and its integration into core business strategies. To create meaningful change, leaders must prioritise education, foster a culture of innovation, and align sustainability efforts with organisational goals.Â
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