The Impact Clear communication of their ESG statement, which is the first critical step to a net positive business.
Client
B2B and B2C Manufacturing Company
Location
US-based
Scope
Sustainability / Governance / Materiality Assessment
Timeline
Two months
The Problem
The client wanted to expand its customer base to include companies committed to sustainability and gain new sustainability-minded investors.
While founded on the principles of environmental and social responsibility, this company needed to effectively communicate its commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance to customers, employees, and prospective investors.
The Challenges
Absence of a formal vision
To better portray its culture and principles to customers and prospective investors, the client needed to develop a formal vision that aligned with its core values and business model and a sustainability statement that would resonate with stakeholders.
Deficient sustainability-focused messaging
Although sustainability was integrated into corporate culture and employee values aligned, the client did not incorporate this commitment into its branding or external messaging, no one outside the organization was aware of it.
Lack of peers
As a small company with a unique product and value proposition, the client did not have a clear group of competitors, benchmarking their existing sustainability efforts was a challenge.
The Solution
Through a structured process of discovery and materiality assessment, we developed an ESG statement that reflected the current ESG performance of the company and mapped a vision forward.
We used a three-phase process to harness the client's core values and vision.
The Discovery
The team gathered information and sought input on core business objectives, company mission and vision, competition, and strategic plan. This provided the context to formulate a short-term plan of execution while keeping the longer-term goals of the company in mind.
The Materiality Assessment
This began with an intentional stakeholder mapping process that identified and ranked stakeholder groups. Once stakeholders were identified, a set of survey tools were created to capture input and feedback on various components of the company’s ESG performance.
The ESG Statement was drafted to reflect:
The company’s ethos and clear commitment to ESG.
A shared language that was understood and valued across stakeholders.
Commitments the company made to continuous ESG improvement.
The Outcomes
Expanded customer base
Targeting new customers with commitments to sustainability, sustainable procurement policies, and/or commit a percentage of their annual spending to vendors with strong ESG.
Raise capital
Approaching sustainability- and ESG-minded investors.
Create a scalable company culture
Fully reflecting the company's values and commitment to sustainability.
Leverage a new tagline
Strong messaging emerged as a result of refining its ESG vision and language.
The Impact Clear communication of their ESG statement, which is the first critical step to a net positive business.
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