Setting sustainability goals is a big part of a successful sustainability strategy. While it’s tempting to make big, bold commitments, they can fall flat without internal alignment on a clear, actionable plan. Without one, a company risks being viewed as inauthentic or even greenwashing.

Read more: Why honest sustainability communications matter

A first step in setting and operationalizing your sustainability goals is to get aligned on what matters to the company. How far do you want to go? How fast do you want to get there? Are you looking to be on the forefront as a leader or more aligned with your peers? Your sustainability goals should align with your overall business goals and strategic priorities. Identify areas of overlap and mutual benefit to support business and sustainability impact. 

Aligning on your strategy and ambitions sets your north star — a guiding point for every decision ahead. Some questions to align on internally are: 

• What impact do you want to make on your business and in the community? 
• What are your priority focus areas? (A materiality assessment can help!)
• How invested is your C-suite in sustainability? 
• What is driving interest in sustainability — regulation, employees, investors, customers? 
• Who are your key stakeholders and what matters to them? 
• What are your peers prioritizing and setting goals around? 
• What resources do you have now, and what are you ready to commit moving forward? 

Once your strategic priorities and ambitions are set, it’s time to figure out your goals. In the list above, we started with impact — this was intentional! Begin by envisioning the impact you want to make, then work backward. What initiatives, programs, people, money, and time will get you there? Investigate your biggest areas of strategic impact from the start. If you’re an apparel company, setting a goal to get rid of plastic straws at your corporate offices won’t tackle your biggest sustainability concerns. Start with what matters most and tackle the big things first. 

Goals need to be clear, balanced, and impactful. They can be qualitative (e.g., building community trust or creating a culture of belonging for employees) or quantitative (e.g., reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 20% by 2025). The trick here is to be ambitious enough to drive measurable, sustainable change but realistic enough to deliver. Setting goals that are seen as too safe or too cautious can disappoint stakeholders for not being ambitious enough. On the other hand, overly ambitious targets can result in backpedaling and reputational risk if they are unachievable. Aligning internally, knowing your starting point, and planning for the needed resources will help you find that sweet spot. 

Read more: Beyond the report — embedding sustainability into your company’s core

Once you’ve established your broad goals, it’s time to map out your route to reach them. Start your roadmap to positive impact with the long-term goals that define the results you want to achieve, then follow those with specific midterm milestones that break down your path into actionable steps. Define short-, medium- and long-term resources, activities, people, and programs that are needed at each stage to keep momentum moving forward. Define measurable activities and set up checkpoints to review progress along the way. 

For example, setting up a working group or task force to identify essential resources and metrics. Then, outline who will do what —  HR, operations, R&D, and marketing might work together on different action steps. Involving your team early will help assess feasibility, spark excitement, and gain buy-in, which will be needed to make progress. By clarifying each phrase and making sure to engage and loop in the right people, you’ll get a clear path to your ultimate goal. Document initiatives, programs, and data to build credibility, but don’t forget to celebrate the milestones along the way to keep everyone motivated and invested in the sustainability journey.  

If your company has set a goal to reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, for example, this goal will need short-term milestones, like reducing Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 40% by 2030. Early action steps to support this goal could involve assessing key emissions sources, upgrading to more energy-efficient equipment, and hiring for roles focused on emissions tracking and reduction. You’ll want to engage employees at all levels: those in operations could help brainstorm ways to cut energy use, manufacturing employees can provide insight into the functioning of existing or new equipment, marketing can support external messaging, and HR can organize sustainable activities for team members to build excitement around your net-zero commitment. Clear metrics — like yearly water consumption, employee engagement survey results, the scale of renewable energy projects, or the amount of community donations — help to measure progress. These metrics can also show whether you’ve hit the sweet spot with your goals. If you are consistently meeting your targets early and well beyond what you anticipated, maybe it’s time to set some more ambitious goals. 

Your path will have challenges alongside successes. Communicate progress by documenting and sharing wins and losses internally and externally via internal platforms, town halls, sustainability reporting, social media, website, and other communications. Transparency and consistency are key. Regular updates not only demonstrate accountability but also keep internal stakeholders engaged and motivated and external stakeholders informed. Year-round communication demonstrates your commitment to sustainability and enables you to leverage all of the great work your team has accomplished throughout the year. 

Read more: Rethinking sustainability reporting — tailoring communications for maximum impact

Sustainability progress is a journey, and real impact takes time (and effort!). By aligning your strategy and ambitions, you can build data-driven programs that drive meaningful change and positive impact. 

‍Need help figuring out your sustainability ambitions and goals? We’d love to hear from you. Contact Sheila Ongie, our Head of Sustainability Strategy, to learn more!