In the wake of Climate Week 2022, the event’s theme — Getting it Done — still resonates with organizations looking to stay on top of their climate ambitions. But, as Climate Week highlighted, there are key actions that organizations need to take to keep the momentum going toward their short-term goals. These key actions span from planning to implementation and require a shared priority of sustainability success across the organization.
In a post-Climate Week conversation with Meta, ENGIE Impact covers these key takeaways and explores how Meta is navigating its sustainability strategy. View Discussion →
How To Keep Your Sustainability Momentum Going
1. View Sustainability as a Business Imperative
Decarbonizing business and working towards a sustainable future is not only something to do when markets and the world are stable and thriving. It must remain a business imperative throughout changing external conditions. With a looming recession, economic concerns, COVID, protests in China, and the war in Ukraine, this is a timely action item. The variety of current events pulling companies away from their goals presents a major barrier to sustainability implementation. Despite these events, there needs to be a sustained urgency to act now.
Meta builds climate resilience into the organization by acknowledging that its sustainability goals are also good for business. Incorporating principles of circularity and efficiency into its decarbonization strategy enables Meta to optimize operations and become more climate resilient. Building a sustainability strategy that meets decarbonization and business goals helps ensure that sustainability stays a priority in changing conditions.
2. Don’t Let Incomplete Data Hold You Back
Multiple external factors contribute to the growing need for a comprehensive, data lead, view of an organization’s carbon footprint. But sourcing this data for an entire supply chain takes time. The good news is, you don’t need to wait until you have all the data to take effective climate action.
Learn how to overcome data challenges to unlock decarbonization potential. Read brief →
While it’s true that there is always a need for better data and, despite the growing presence of sustainability reporting tools and frameworks, the need for better industry standards remains. It is also true that perfect doesn’t need to be the enemy of good when it comes to taking climate action. Even without full data clarity, organizations can continue to develop corporate commitments and report on their plans.
To improve the uniformity and availability of its data, Meta is committed to increasing the accuracy and granularity of its reporting each year. Taking action toward enhanced reporting practices helps drive collective progress and increase clarity for the business and the industry as a whole.
3. Balance Your Tactical and Strategic Approach
Sustainability has evolved from a theoretical thing to convince people of, to a technical issue that team members need to drive forward. Having a solid strategy in place is a key first step, but without a solid implementation plan, it won’t deliver results. The tactics that companies are taking on include gathering sustainability data, estimating emissions using existing methodologies, setting interim targets to hold themselves accountable for short-term actions, and engaging with external organizations to collaborate.
Meta is striking this balance by working to understand its complex network of employees, suppliers, products, and infrastructure that all contribute to its emissions. As the business grows, good governance and efficient systems to collect this data annually are critical tactical components of its strategy. This approach will help Meta understand their emissions in real-time and focus on decarbonizing where it can have the most impact.
When it comes to sustainability progress, good things come to those who take action. As Meta demonstrates, taking action doesn’t need to wait for perfection. Their ambitious Net Zero by 2030 goal is moving forward, even as they work to fill gaps within their data and lay clear plans for achieving short-term goals.
Overcoming barriers to climate action can be daunting, but don’t miss out on the progress that can be made while improvements are still in process.
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Our most recent Net Zero Report explores whether companies are making the necessary fundamental changes to their business in order to achieve long-term decarbonization success.