If you want an impactful sustainability strategy, you need to do sustainability communication. How reporting on your sustainability initiatives can help make your strategy stronger, you ask? You'll find out in this article.

Whether you call it a sustainability report, sustainability report, ESG report or Integrated Report, the trend is clear. Communicating about your sustainability goals and results is totally 'in' and necessary if you want to remain relevant today.

More than a mandatory number   

In Europe, for now, only large companies are required to publish a sustainability or non-financial report. However, the European Commission is expanding the scope considerably with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). This stipulates that from 2024 such a sustainability report will be mandatory for all listed companies, as well as companies meeting 2 of the following 3 criteria:

• more than 250 employees;
• more than 40 million in sales;
• more than 20 million on the balance sheet.

But even if your company does not fall under that obligation, there are good reasons to make one. After all, sustainability and the social challenges associated with it ecologically, humanly and organizationally concern everyone. 

You'll discover 4 key benefits of sustainability reporting below.

1. Tool for anticipating risks.

Every company today faces the task of becoming more sustainable in various areas, from operations to the workplace. It is no longer a casual option, but truly a must. And for various reasons: to attract and retain employees, to remain compliant with legislation, to convince investors and to secure the future of your business.

For a thorough sustainability report, you look at all aspects of your business operations and map out what could be improved, what you are already working on and which issues need your attention. That way, you give your management the necessary data to adjust the business strategy and anticipate in a timely manner.

2. Makes decision-making easier

Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter said it back in 1996: the essence of creating a strategy is choosing what you're not going to do. Or more simply, you have to make choices. By reporting on your sustainability initiatives, you make it easier for yourself to put the puzzle together.

Beware, a sustainability report is not a crystal ball. However, it does make it easier to choose the right priorities once you have a good overview of all your ongoing initiatives, your progress and "jobs to be done.

3. Competitive advantage in the war for talent

In this post-COVID-19 era, (especially) millennials and Generation Z find it important that their employer pays attention to sustainability. When they apply anywhere, they also prefer credible employers. So in the war for talent, as a company you have a big edge with a sustainability report. It shows that you accept your social responsibility and that you are not just making empty promises.

4. Increase involvement of employees, customers and other stakeholders

We mentioned it earlier: employees, potential candidates and consumers are placing increasing importance on sustainability. So if, as a company, you want to recruit the cream of the crop or grow your sales, you have every interest in communicating your sustainability story in an attractive way.

A CSR or sustainability policy can only have an impact if employees themselves feel it is important and therefore think and work in a socially responsible way. Transparency and communication are key words to create the necessary commitment among them.

For customers and other stakeholders, transparency and communication are the elements that give confidence in you as a company. Especially in times of fake news and disinformation, a sustainability report is therefore a must-have for your marketing communication.

The right approach for successful sustainability communication is - because it is fairly new - not so obvious yet. Anyway, it is good to provide regular updates via a news item on your website, social media and in your newsletter. You can use all these documents as a basis for your comprehensive sustainability report.

Tip: involve your employees in your sustainability project from the beginning. That way you create internal support and your colleagues will be positively triggered to help spread your sustainable story.

One last tip: just do it

If you are a company working on sustainability, falling into the trap of greenwashing is the last thing you want. By greenwashing we mean pretending to be more sustainable or 'greener' than you actually are. If your lie is punctured, your good image will melt like snow in the sun.

The fear of being accused of greenwashing causes many companies to communicate too little about their sustainable initiatives. And that is a shame, because communicating about it is necessary and instructive.

This way you set an example to the rest of your sector and push other companies to take action as well. Moreover, it is also good to see it as a time to ask for feedback. There is indeed a good chance that you are not yet doing everything 100% correctly, but many stakeholders understand that you need to take one step at a time and can provide relevant tips to improve your approach.