What’s good for the world can also be good for business. 

Yet, six in 10 executives say they have to make trade-offs between financial and sustainability outcomes.  

Based on our survey of 5,000 C-suite executives across 22 industries and 22 countries, the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) has determined that if organizations flip the way they operationalize sustainability, they can significantly increase business value. The key is to embed sustainability throughout the business—truly bake it into operations—rather than treat it as an add-on.

A few ways organizations that embed sustainability increase business value 
 

What embedding sustainability looks like

When you embed sustainability, it becomes a business transformation accelerant versus what it is in so many organizations—a reporting or accounting exercise.
  

According to our research, spending on sustainability reporting exceeds spending on sustainability innovation by 43%.

Becoming more sustainable—rather than merely “doing sustainability”—entails a shift toward embedding sustainability across the enterprise and making it a core part of all the activities that add up to long-term value creation. Embedders are actually more exacting than other organizations on tying sustainability to business value; 53% of these organizations say that business benefits are essential for justifying sustainability investments.

Embedded sustainability means breaking sustainability out of its functional silo and integrating it across every business unit, in particular the core functions and workflows. That will help make sustainability part of the corporate DNA and ways of working.

The 3 main challenges to embedding sustainability

1. Data usability:  Ensuring sustainability data is sourced, used, and converted into actionable insights.     2. Business integration:  Integrating sustainability data and insights into processes, decisions, and ways of working. Extending integration of sustainability efforts beyond the organization and working with ecosystem partners.    3. People, skills, and decision-making:  Creating appropriate governance and an organizational structure so that decisions are made at the right levels to drive sustainability across all teams and functions.

Learn more

To learn how to address each of the three main challenges, as well as how leaders are doing so around the world, download the report. We share how organizations in a variety of industries are creating business value through sustainable solutions, as well as what a redefined role looks like for Chief Sustainability Officers.