Identify the right outcomes for your business

Sustainability outcomes are business-specific. There is no one-size-fits-all checklist, and defining the right outcomes is the most important factor in making business sustainability a success for your organisation. Adaptation outcomes, in response to the direct opportunities and threats presented by emerging global resource constraints, are determined by a range of factors including the nature and location of your estate, the geographic spread and mobility of your workforce and your supply chain dependencies including, if yours is an energy-intensive operation, your dependency (and your suppliers' dependencies) on bought-in energy. Mitigation outcomes are driven by the five mediated sustainability drivers. The right sustainability outcomes for your business are likely to include a commitment to reducing your use of non-renewable energy, driven both by adaptation to rising energy prices and reduced security of supply and by mediated pressure to mitigate the contribution of your business to climate change. For many organisations reduced use of non-renewable energy is the core sustainable business outcome, supplemented by a mixture of adaptation and mitigation outcomes more specific to the nature of the organisation. Depending on the mix identified, identification of these outcomes may prompt a review of wider business strategy. We see this with the oil companies, whose very business model is under threat, although sometimes this threat produces surprising strategic results, as for example with Shell's recent sale of their stake in the London Array windfarm. We draw on a range of material when helping identify the right sustainability outcomes, including documentation produced for government departments and for schools. We have specialist experience of working with outsourcers to major corporations and we have a good grasp of the opportunities in data centres and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations.