Getting started with sustainability work for your business

Ensure compliance with laws and regulations

Start by ensuring that your company complies with applicable laws, regulations and guidelines, both generally and those specific to your industry and sector. When you have an overview of industry standards and norms, you can follow up on them at your company. For example, you can prepare a sustainability report to show your stakeholders how your company works with sustainability.

Involve your stakeholders

Involve your stakeholders to analyse relevant sustainability challenges for your business (also called a materiality assessment). Stakeholders could be employees, customers, suppliers, owners, investors, competitors and the local community.  

Get an overview and an understanding of industry goals and challenges, current and future regulation, social trends, customer needs and societal and business challenges in addition to climate goals and regulations. 

Map the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Map your business against the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development GoalsOpens new window. Identify the negative impact of your company’s activities on one or more of the 17 goals, and set goals to minimise the negative impact. You should also map the areas where your company has a positive impact.  

Be balanced in your analysis and try to be objective to ensure credibility. It’s important that you don’t promise too much, but rather focus on the goals that are the most relevant to your business.

Identify your company’s ESG risks

Look at the entire value chain and identify your company’s risks. Identify the key risks for your business related to:  

Climate and environment

• Reduce your company’s climate footprint, and get an overview of the activities with the biggest climate impact.  
• This could be travel and transport, energy and water consumption and waste management.  

Social responsibility 

• Go through factors such as terms of employment, equality and diversity, salaries and benefits, health, safety and environment, information security and privacy protection.  
  

Corporate governance 

• Use best practice for financial management and corporate governance and ensure transparency and strong risk management. 

Set up an action plan

When you have an overview of your company’s risks and opportunities related to its sustainability efforts, it’s time to set up an action plan. It might be a good idea to start with the following:   

• Prioritise the areas that are most important to your business. 
• Make a list of activities your company will carry out within the different areas. 
• Ensure follow-up on the areas you want to prioritise, and prepare a sustainability report.   
• Integrate sustainability in your company strategy. 
• Share your sustainability efforts with your stakeholders (for example, on your website or in your annual report or sustainability report).