The Ultimate Guide to Sustainability Goals

Goals

May 3

You saw this headline and thought “ugh, sustainability goals,” or “ooooo sustainability GOALS!” If you’re in the second camp, read on. Camp one, no hard feelings.

Sustainability goals are one of the most exciting parts of a sustainability strategy! Depending on many factors, you may be further along in goal setting and just want some support, or you’re starting from scratch. Welcome! This is your Ultimate Guide to Sustainability Goals.

In this blog, you’ll learn how to set goals that are effective and right for your business as well as tips for hitting and sharing your goals with your stakeholders.

What Are Sustainability Goals?

Sustainability goals are the motivating factors and the hopeful end result of your strategy. If you see companies talk about “Carbon Neutral by 2025!” or “100% Renewable Energy by 2040!” those are sustainability goals.

Why Do I Need Sustainability Goals?

Goals are part of a robust strategy for completing a task or effort. Usually, in daily consulting work with a client, I help them set sustainability goals so they can work toward something and help keep employees on the right track. Studies show that writing down goals is beneficial to meeting them and setting goals has also been shown to improve organizational commitment as well as employee motivation.

Having a goal keeps everyone on track and committed. Think of teams or projects you’ve been on with or without goals. Which was more effective?

In this blog, we’ll go through step by step to create an effective goal. If you’ve already created a goal, you can skip around but I definitely suggest the final section about sharing goals to learn how to effectively share your goals with stakeholders.

Sections for Sustainability Goals

Click on one heading to read about a certain topic area.

Baselines and Focus Areas

In this section, you’ll learn how to figure out what you should be reducing, your focus area. And learn about setting your goal against a baseline. In order to improve, you have to have a starting point. The baseline is your starting point.

Reduction Number

That “by 10%” you see tacked onto a goal like “Reduce Waste by 10%” doesn’t come from air. Figure out to best way to pick a reduction number.

Target Completion Date

When do you want this goal to be done by? What’s ambitious and what’s too close to be valuable?

Accountability, Systems and Goal Tracking

The goal is set! Let’s make sure you hit it.

Sharing Your Goals

Best tips for sharing goals with stakeholders and keeping them updated on progress.

Baselines and Focus Areas

Setting sustainability goals is arguably for the more advanced small businesses, once they’ve gotten a sustainability plan in motion. This blog is going to be the first in a series about goal setting. Each blog is going to be specific and take it step-by-step in setting up a good goal program for your small business. Goal setting is widely used in sustainability consulting, but you can also follow these steps without the help of a consultant.

Focus Areas and Baselines Green Buoy Consulting

This section will explain how to use focus areas and baseline numbers in your goals.

Using the focus area/baseline methodology will help set you up for success. A focus area will specify your action plan and a baseline helps you in collecting data and figuring out your progress. The baseline is your starting point.

The number of goals you set is up to you. Usually, for companies, I recommend no more than three for the first year. Depending on the size of your program, the number of people involved and how your program is focused, one might be just fine. Use your program to guide how many, but no more than three.

Two main things to keep in mind when setting goals:

Pick a focus area
Pick a baseline

Pick a Focus Area

You’ve got your sustainability program, the what of what you are working on. Use those to guide your goals. If you’ve set up your plan correctly, you’re likely focusing on a specific environmental area, like energy reduction or carbon offsets.

Pick energy, waste, water, employees involved, any area you want to focus on for sustainability.

Are you focusing on reducing energy? Do you want to offset tons of carbon? Whatever you have chosen to do, put a goal against it. If you need help picking an area, ask employees or staff.

Good Examples: Reducing Energy, Reducing Water, Number of Employees Involved in Sustainability, Number of Sustainable Products Sold, Number of clicks on sustainability webpage, Pounds of produce purchased from a Local Farm, Waste Diversion.

Bad Examples: “The Environment.” It’s pretty hard to pick a “wrong” area because the nature of choosing an area helps you focus on what you’re doing. Make the area as clear as possible. Even “energy” can be broad sometimes. Electricity? HVAC?

Pick a Baseline

The baseline is about the numbers. What number are you trying to beat? It’s your starting point.

The first part of picking a baseline is the metric. Are you trying to beat the money you spent? The tons of carbon? The kwH on your bill? Picking an area should help illuminate this for you, but be specific in your baseline what metric or calculation you are trying to improve.

“Energy” can be dollars spent, kWh, therms, carbon tons. It’s not as important what you choose as long as you pick the one you know you can measure. So you’ve got your baseline metrics, say, dollars saved. But how many dollars are you trying to save?

To pick a baseline it can be helpful to look at previous months or years. If you don’t have any previous data to base on, look at your reduction habits. If you’ve changed all your bulbs to LEDs and turned off power for full weekend evenings, you’re probably going to see a significant drop. Pick the previous month or even a specific day in time and use that.

Here’s a guide to help you pick your focus area and baseline:

Included in the baseline is the number that is the starting off point for the change. If you’re looking at September 2019 numbers, that’s your baseline number for change. That’s the number you want to do better than over the long term.

Get your focus area and your baseline down cold. Next, we’re going to use these to figure out how much to reduce. You know when you see “Save 10% of energy compared to 2018?” Let’s find your 10% in the next section, What’s Your Reduction Number?

What’s Your Reduction Number?

Next up, we’ll figure out how to find the best number to use for reduction. You’ve got your focus area-what you’re reducing-and your baseline-the number you’re trying to beat. Once you have those settled, you can look at setting the target. This level of detail gives your goal credibility.

Now, onto targets for sustainability goals. If you're a sustainable business, a focus on goals shows you're serious and engaged with stakeholders. The target has two parts, the exact goal and the date you will complete it by. This blog focuses on setting the exact goal, and next week will be the target date.

The Exact Goal

So, by the exact goal, we mean what is the result of your reduction. Where will you end up? It can help to focus on a headline you’d like to see, or a list you’re trying to get on. What does the headline of the future say, what’s the number written in your company magazine or digest?

What’s your vision, what’s your dream? Taking goal-setting into this woo-woo, uncomfortable place lets you focus on what you’re trying to accomplish. Picture yourself having accomplished that goal. Write down the first number that comes to mind. Keep this in your mind as you go through the next steps.

Picking the Number

Picking the exact goal is more art than science. In selecting a number, you want to put out lots of choices and then pick one, consider the focus area, initiatives focused on the goal and who is responsible for it.

Do some company research to back up your estimates. What initiatives are already in place? How likely will it be that you put more initiatives together? Consider what reduction methods you’re completing, who is responsible for reducing and how you are measuring it. Is your focus area easily and consistently measured, like sales, or does it include carbon accounting? The more easily measured, the more specific your goal should be.

Your previous data should help guide your future numbers as well. How did numbers change in the past? What changes led to that? Start throwing numbers out there and see how they feel. What seems too low and what seems too high? Pick something in the middle. Let initiatives and employee engagement levels guide you to a number. What was the first number you thought of?

Use Research and Other Indicators

Another option is to try to match a number to a different indicator. This can be a number that allows you to save a certain amount of money or is set by a LEED certification or environmental regulation. Is there a number that would give you a competitive advantage? Or is there a number that certain stakeholders are asking for? Don’t be afraid to google and see what competitors, similar-sized companies, or companies in your area are doing.

Setting the exact goal or the number you want to hit depends on the baseline and the target. You can choose an absolute or percentage improvement, depending on your preferences. When choosing an absolute or percentage, think about how you will communicate this number. Will an absolute or percentage improve sound better when shared with your audience? Which tells the story better? Which one is easier to understand?

If you’re stuck, go back to your focus. Why do you want to reduce this metric? What would a real “reduction” look like to you? What’s the number you’d be excited to share with investors or at the dinner table? What number do you want on the front of your sustainability report?

Set either a percentage or a total reduction goal. Goal setting is not an exact science, so don’t get too upset if your number isn’t exactly on target. The important part is to pick a target that’s a bit of a stretch but is still achievable.

Target Completion Dates

Now we’re adding target dates to our sustainability goals. You’ve gotten the number for your goal, now for the date to accomplish it by. In sustainability goal setting, target dates serve many purposes.

Your target date lets your stakeholders know when you will complete this metric by. It can also be useful in sustainability reports or webpages. It also holds your company and employees accountable and lets you plan and communicate initiatives.

Target Dates Are Crucial For Your Sustainability Goal

A date can be a specific day in time, by the end of a year, or a measure taken consistently each year. Some companies choose to hit sustainability goals on a special company day or just choose the end of the year. If you want to target something consistently each year, be specific about what time of year you will hit that goal.

Keep in mind timeline, data availability and other company initiatives when determining your target dates.

Check the Data Availability of the Sustainability Goal You’re Tracking

Depending on how often you can measure this goal, you might want to adjust your target accordingly. This is “data availability.” If you can measure it weekly or monthly easily, like revenue or purchasing numbers, you might feel more comfortable with a stretch goal that you can follow along closely.

Calculating carbon emissions is a bit more intensive. For a carbon sustainability goal, I recommend either an annual or bi-annual target, or a greater carbon goal many years down the line. For example, working toward becoming carbon neutral by 2030. You will have multiple years to determine the best way to measure this, can bring in outside help to measure and can take multiple steps to achieve it.

Consider Company Initiatives & Factors

Company initiatives and factors will also change your sustainability goal targets. Consider company growth, the number of employees, other goals and baselines when making your target number. If you’re opening two offices this year, it will be difficult to reduce total electricity consumption. You can still reduce electricity but measure it per square foot or take a total percentage of electricity from renewable sources.

A company change doesn’t mean you can’t use that goal, just use it to adjust how you quantify it. If you hit a roadblock at this point, go back a step and review your baseline again. Like the electricity example above, adjust your baseline if you need to for company initiatives.

In a dream world, all these steps to goal setting would be completed in a row, wrapped nicely in a bow and presented to management without question. The point of laying out each step explicitly is so you understand each. Sometimes you will get to the exact goal and have to go back to the baseline. Sometimes reading about the target makes you rethink the focus area. That’s fine! Use the information to make it work for you.

At the end of the day, your target date is just your best guestimate. Use the strategies provided and what feels right to you. Goals can be daunting and complicated. Don't let this get you down! Sustainability goal setting is a significant competitive advantage. It helps frame your sustainability strategy and helps you focus on what the strategy is all about, reducing your environmental impact.

Accountability, Systems and Goal Tracking

Having an accountability system for your sustainability goals is a way to keep them on track and make sure they get completed. Once you’ve got the targets, focuses and baselines, you need to create accountability to ensure they get completed.

Use accountability for sustainability goals

Set up accountability by creating systems, communicating regularly, encouraging feedback, and treating sustainability goals like other company goals.

Create Systems

Once you announce the sustainability goal, start putting a system in place for accountability. This system should include feedback (see below), tracking and a list of people accountable. Some items to keep in mind and have answers for

If you have multiple goals, do this for each one. I suggest creating a guide or a cheat sheet that has spaces for answers to these pertinent questions. Then you can just fill and go. Once you start brainstorming what you think you will need to set up a system, additional ideas will come.

Communicate Progress

Be able to communicate when goals are happening, what the end dates are and how to improve it. Communicating back and forth to the team completing the initiatives keeps them on track. Communicate expectations, what will happen when the goal is met and what will happen if it is not met.

Know End Dates and Important Dates

Make sure everyone is aware of when tracking starts for the goal. Is it the day you set it? The first of the month? Important dates can also include when external reporting will happen, when meetings are and what the end date for the goal is.

Set Regular Meetings or Check-ins

No matter the goals you set, having regularly scheduled meetings to review progress will help keep you on track, identify any changes that need to be made, and follow up on progress previously made.

Be sure to publicize and communicate the minutes or takeaways from these meetings to everyone involved in the goals. Not everyone needs to attend the meetings but everyone should be aware of the outcome, any changes needed, or progress updates.

Treat Sustainability As You Would Other Goals

How do you treat other goals in your business? Throw a party when you accomplish them? Send out quarterly or monthly updates? Follow those same practices here. The goal is to mold the goal to fit your existing company culture. What is accountability like for these goals? Use the knowledge you already have about the goal to make sure they work for you.

Goal Leader

When I hear “goal leader,” I think of “red leader” from Star Wars. Just me? Just like the squadron, you need a leader for each goal. Put someone in charge of each goal, this can be a manager or a regular employee. This person is responsible for making sure everyone is on track to reach the goal. It is also helpful if they are the person communicating encouragement and soliciting feedback.

Encourage feedback

This is an important one. Ask that employees report back on how the progress is going. Do they like doing this? Is it a lot of work or too little? Are they having trouble remembering what to do?

All of this feedback should be recorded in an internal system or folder and reviewed at regular meetings. When you announce the goal, end dates and targets, let employees know you’re listening to their feedback. Your goal result is so dependent on the strength of engagement and employee interest, don’t let it fall by the wayside.

Sharing Sustainability Goals

You’ve worked so hard to get these sustainability goals in motion. You’ve done the baseline, the target dates, the numbers and the accountability. Now for how to share them with your stakeholders.

Like we’ve discussed during each step of the goal-setting process, make sure your company culture, actions and information stay consistent during this process. By consistent, I mean do not make any decisions or share information without doing a gut check. Make sure communication decisions feel native, and authentic to your company culture.

Best practices for sustainability goals include sticking to your culture, figuring out who to share with, picking a medium to share on, how often to share, and at what stages to share. It’s a lot! Select which of these you need help with or are interested in to determine your goals.

Involve your marketing and communications team in decision making and work with them to make a framework for sharing. Usually, they will have the best idea on how to promote, where to promote and how to.

Stick to Company Culture in Communications

Don’t add promotion mediums you don’t already use when sharing goals. Use existing channels and methods to stay consistent with your brand and existing messaging. Timing, the extent of details and who delivers the message should also be tailored to your company.

Like other parts of goal setting, think about how you’ve shared other company initiatives or goals. Use prior examples to guide decision making.

Who Should Know That You Already Talk To?

Who needs to be aware of these goals? In short, every one of your stakeholders. For most people, focus on existing customers, employees and other stakeholders. These “others” can include suppliers, investors and mailing lists. Include each of these in promotion and discussions.

Who Can You Connect With Over This?

Now, the fun begins. Who are the people you’ve been wanting to connect with over sustainability initiatives? This could be a new customer base, magazine interview or conference you’d like to attend. Pitch publications and non-profits you think would be interested in your goals.

Share the goal, how you set it, any lessons learned or how the goal had adjusted your sustainability plans.

How Often Do you Share?

This depends on the goal time frame. I recommend sharing when you set a goal, and some sort of quarterly or annual update as dictated by the time frame. A ten-year carbon goal probably doesn’t need quarterly updates, an annual one should suffice. But an annual or two-year goal could benefit from quarterly updates.

Share sustainability goals at the end of the timeframe, when you hit the milestone if you didn’t or any adjustments made along the way.

What Sustainability Details Do You Share?

Again, this is specific to your company. Are you sharing daily Instagram stories showing what you’re working on or up to? Do you send out weekly emails recapping your work? Or are you the type with annual reporting?

The number of details you share for the goal should resonate with your company and values. If customers are used to hearing from you constantly about what you’re working on, then include this.

When choosing details to share, this can be included as part of how often you share. Some companies prefer to share the numbers and any progress. Other companies find highlighting the story, the initiatives and highlighting involved employees helps illuminate the story in a way numbers cannot.

Conclusion

We’ve gone over sustainability goals in detail, including how to share, communicate, create and hit your goals. What questions do you have? Share in the comments below! I’d love to know.

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