A few weeks back I wrote about how sustainable business is a must. Sustainability needs to be a core part of the way we do business if companies want to survive in today’s world, let alone thrive. 

Yet, many people are still not yet convinced. I believe that it is partly due to the fact there is not enough awareness and education around the topic. 

The science and data and the solutions are there. We now need action. 

Sustainability refers to regenerative activities that meet present needs without compromising the ability for future generations. 

You know your business's activities, you know the kind of resources it uses and relies on to remain a profitable business. Ultimately, you know the kind of operational set-up that your business has and how it requires certain activities that are just unsustainable. 

Over the last 10 years of studying and working in the field, I’ve come across many myths that have become more mainstream and widely believed. The thing about myths is that unless we're referring to delightful stories, myths are basically just misinformation. 

Therefore, myths around sustainable development can become very problematic. They could be the one thing holding decision-makers, leaders, and entrepreneurs back from potentially making real impact and change through their business activities. 

So, today I’ll be focusing on mythbusting the top three myths that I often come across.

Myth 1: Implementing sustainability comes at the cost of our profits

There is no doubt that committing to sustainable practices for your business is going to be an investment - it is going to take money and time.

However, your sustainability budget is not to be seen as a cost. When spent well and without the need for instant, fast and surfaced results, sustainability investments come with a long-term solid return.

Our current business models are built around the importance of fast exponential growth, measured through one main metric - profit.

While this worked for a certain number of years since the industrial revolution, it ultimately got us to where we are today - depleting non-renewable resources, broken supply chains, unsafe working conditions and so much more - proving that the fast, profit-driven growth model is no longer relevant for this climate crisis era. The sustainable business approach demands a change in that model.

It calls for diversified growth metrics that go beyond just profit and also measure the environmental and social impacts created by companies.

When embraced, sustainability can actually start to open up new doors and opportunities for cost-cutting and new revenue streams. Its commitment does require patience and agility. However, when done correctly, your return on investment will be reaped over a long and steady period of time.

In today's unstable times, that is ultimately the return we want to be striving for. A good example of this is Ikea, an affordable ready-to-assemble furniture retailer, which instead of following the fashion industry’s path in becoming disposable “fast furniture”, has committed to integrating sustainability into the core of its business model.

Their promise is to become a “fully circular and climate-positive business by 2030”. As part of this promise, they launched their “buy-back and re-sale scheme”, giving customers the option to sell back their unwanted furniture to Ikea from them to resell it at lower prices. That's as good for the planet as it is for their bottom line. In their fiscal year of 2020, 39 million of its 62 million potential waste products were repackaged and resold. In 2019, the company recorded its first-ever reduction in absolute climate footprint, and in the same period its sales grew by 6.5%.

Myth 2: My company can never be 100% sustainable

Many business owners and leaders are sceptical about associating themselves with the terminology ‘sustainable’. In part, it is due to potential greenwashing accusations, and because there is a belief that to be considered sustainable, we need to be doing things perfectly from the get-go.

Firstly, within the world of sustainability, the notion of perfection is cancelled. To be 100% perfectly sustainable is never going to be a thing, even with companies that started out with a sustainable business model.

The truth is that the world is ever-evolving, technologies are constantly being developed, newer and better solutions are always being invented - so even the company that is seemingly doing things perfectly, can always do things better.

When we talk about a business being sustainable, we look at it from two perspectives, the environmental impacts, together with the social impacts that the business’s activities are causing.

Reducing environmental impacts in business is widely referred to as reaching Net Zero, a set of targets aimed at completely negating the amount of greenhouse gases produced.

Countries and companies are approaching these targets by firstly reducing their emissions, secondly (and more popularly) by implementing methods of carbon dioxide absorption from the atmosphere, also known as carbon offsetting.

A calculation of existing carbon footprints would be made and then different ways of off-setting would be found, like planting trees for example.

What we really want to be focusing on is how to design models that are regenerative and phase out carbon emissions in the first place, altogether removing the need for offsetting. The region of Patagonia is the perfect example of this.

It has publicly identified that the bulk of its emissions [95 percent] comes from its supply chain and materials manufacturing. It has committed to take responsibility for all of it. One notable example is how it is supporting its global supply chain, which holds more than 90 percent of its carbon emissions, to reduce its footprint.

It understands the fact that its partners rely on fossil fuels, and it cannot just demand changes, it recognises that it is its responsibility to invest in them.

When we’re referring to the social impacts that a company creates, we are looking at culture, supply chain transparency, employee wellbeing, fair ethical working standards, stakeholder engagement and more.

People are ultimately the most vital resource for a company, whether it's your direct employees or your third-party suppliers.

It's in the company’s best interest to ensure equal wellbeing for all stakeholders that add value to the product and/or service. This is not only true for productivity and engagement, it's also true for retainment, which is proven to be one of the biggest challenges of our fast-paced, disposable and global world.

Again, there will always be room for improvement. However, if you’re committed to nurturing a space that allows all stakeholders involved in delivering value to your end product or service, then you are sure to have created a sustainable environment for your company.   

For example, Nestle, a leading food company with a global presence, employing hundreds of thousands of people around the world, has committed to collectively work towards a clear, common goal: to be a ‘force for good’.

They believe that finding the right people who embrace this goal is fundamental to their ability to make progress in their Net Zero Roadmap and advance regenerative food systems at scale.

They strive to make their business a great place to work - now, and in the future. They state: “Every aspect of how we treat our employees is rooted in respect. Their health and well-being is our priority and we bring our purpose and values to life through a diverse and inclusive workforce that leaves no one behind.”

As well as their direct employees, Nestle are equally committed to the health and well-being and economic progression of the communities in their supply chain that provides them with raw materials.

One example is their income accelerator program which aims to improve the livelihoods of the cocoa-farming families in their supply chains, who face immense challenges, from rural poverty and increasing climate risks to a lack of access to financial services and basic infrastructure, such as water, health care and education.

The program rewards these families not just for the quantity and quality of their cocoa beans, but also for practices that benefit the environment and local community.

Their holistic approach incentivises the enrollment of children in school while advancing regenerative agriculture practices and gender equality. The program rewards practices that increase crop productivity and help secure additional sources of income, which aim to close the gap to living income and help protect children.

Myth 3: My company engages in CSR & ESG so we are quite sustainable

CSR (corporate, social responsibility) and ESG reporting (environmental and social governance) are both very relevant towards creating more sustainable businesses. However, it is important to identify that they are essentially two tools that fall under the umbrella of sustainable business. They’re connected, but they’re not the same thing.

CSR is a good starting point towards recognising company goals beyond profit as it focuses on three main dimensions: economic, social and environmental. In general, however, it is widely adopted as a way of “giving back”.

In fact, CSR has been defined by the European Commission’s Green Paper as “a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment”.

As a result, CSR programmes have been built to be considered as an added bonus to the business and its activities, staying on the periphery of businesses, as opposed to it being an integral part - which is what sustainability suggests.

This has caused set-ups that have little in common with the specific company at large, often resulting in fragmented tendencies. The consequences have also left CSR departments tending to hold significantly more knowledge than those working at more operational levels, leaving gaps and missed opportunities.

Having said that, CSR successes have indeed been reaped. One common way of engaging in CSR is via ‘employee-supported volunteering’ (ESV), which gives employees the opportunity to volunteer during working hours.

Microsoft is a pioneering example of this. In 2022, the company and its employees donated $255 million to over 32,000 non-profits, and over 29,000 Microsoft employees volunteered more than 720,000 hours.

Therefore I am in no way suggesting that companies should not engage with CSR. However, it is important to understand the difference between the two, while at the same time work at aligning their CSR strategies with their wider sustainability goals to optimise on the impact.

ESG (environmental, social, governance) is a non-financial reporting tool for companies to disclose their performance in line with a series of standards related to social responsibility, environmental impacts and corporate governance.

Its intent is for companies to be more transparent about their impacts. In turn, investors will then prefer to invest in those that have a high ESG performance, which will help move the stock market away from polluting, damaging industries onwards to virtuous companies that are doing good for the planet.

Recently, it has been widely adopted by many, in part due to policy and regulation and in part due to the widespread external stakeholder pressure.

Overall, it is a great idea and is a tool that has really gained headway in moving companies at large away focusing on just financial reporting.

It is giving companies the chance to measure their growth beyond just profit and opening opportunities for sustainability strategies to be developed from ESG findings.

However, again, it is important to differentiate it from sustainable business as a whole. Sustainable business takes a more integrated approach which then uses things like CSR and ESG as tools to allow it to reach its sustainability goals.