By: Donna Funk, Pinion
We hear a lot about greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction across the food and ag supply chain. And for good reason – it’s important for any business to be conscious of their contribution and to reduce that total impact. But don’t get stuck with GHG tunnel vision.
The danger is being blindsided by risks you didn’t see coming and missing opportunities that could improve your bottom-line because all eyes were on emission reduction. The key to avoiding this pitfall is a holistic sustainability program.
What do I mean by ‘holistic’? A holistic program ensures that you measure and work on the focus areas that matter most to you and your key stakeholders. Going beyond carbon reduction to ensure long-term success for your business.
Expanding Your Sustainability Vision has Intrinsic Benefits
In a holistic program, it’s important to perform an assessment of sustainability impacts – from environmental, business and supply chain management to employee safety and data privacy – as discoveries in these areas often present a risk to your business if neglected, or an opportunity if corrected.
With that said, every business is uniquely structured – a corn grower in Illinois will have different priorities than an ethanol plant in Iowa. Identifying your unique attributes is key to holistic sustainability:
1. Get to know your stakeholders. Your goals will be determined by what your stakeholders care about. This could be your customers, employees, suppliers, industry organizations, local community and even local government.“Learn about what issues matter to your internal and external stakeholders,” advises Lisa Becker, Pinion sustainability expert. “Which sustainability focus areas do they see as most important? What impacts are they concerned about?”
In the ethanol industry, we know that EcoVadis is very widely used, but there could be other sustainability frameworks to consider, like Global Reporting Initiative or Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Understand what data they want from you and get ahead of it.
2. Recognize your biggest impacts. To understand where you want to improve, get a clear picture of where your company is struggling and succeeding.For example, are you compliant with the latest state and national regulations? Are there biodiversity threats across your supply chain? When was the last time you considered your cybersecurity controls? Knowing this can help identify potential opportunities or potential threats to your operation.
3. Reassess your strategy. “Attempting to improve every issue at once is both overwhelming and unproductive,” says Becker, “This is why we recommend businesses perform a materiality assessment to determine how to best prioritize their sustainability strategy.”A materiality assessment takes the guess work out of the equation, identifying the most strategic focus areas and, just as importantly, the order and timing of those focus areas. It gives you a roadmap for where to focus today, tomorrow and years down the road – making them more achievable.
As you consider your own holistic sustainability plan - go beyond the industry tendency of GHG tunnel vision and engage in a wider, more proactive strategy that protects and enhances your business.
