Organizational Culture versus Organizational Climate

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

The 17 SDGs are integrated - they recognize that action in one area will affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability.

How do companies embed sustainability into their culture ?

Change is coming. Sustainability is now widely regarded as the next big revolution since the shift to digital and is disrupting the way that business gets done. For the environment and society, that's a very good thing. But it adds extra pressure on the teams tasked with owning sustainability. While enterprises grapple to hit their compliance and risk management goals, they are also under pressure to develop sustainable consumer products, services and responsible social engagement.

Sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Businesses can achieve sustainability by reducing their environmental impact, integrating social responsibility into their operations, and, most importantly, developing a corporate culture of sustainability.

Recent data shows that 99% of organizations consider Sustainability and ESG (Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) are a key consideration for business.

Data from Annual APIs and Integration Report 2022: The State of APIs, Integration and Microservices (1)

E – Environment

This refers to a company's ability to manage resources and prevent pollution. This criteria includes the energy a company takes in and the waste it discharges, the resources it needs and the consequences for living beings as a result. This could include the weather's impact on selling seasons, emission regulation impacting supply chain logistics, plastic use and packaging. Environmental sustainability mainly impacts three different areas - climate, oceans and biodiversity.

S – Social

This refers to a company's ability to identify and manage its business impact on people - or the steps a company takes to improve its social impact both within its company and greater community where they do business. This ensures that progress is made toward sustaining business operations that protects the supply chain and contributes to all stakeholder interests.

G – Governance

This refers to a company's ability to establish the policies and leadership structure to ensure sustainability practices are put into place and supported. G is the internal system of practices, controls and procedures a company adopts in order to govern itself, make effective decisions, comply with the law and meet the needs of external stakeholders. Every company, which is itself a legal creation, requires governance.

Building a sustainability culture is hard work that begins with adopting a common language and understanding of sustainability goals. One of the challenges with building a sustainability culture is establishing a common terminology and having a shared sense of what sustainability is. Research by "The Conference Board" shows that most companies don't have internal clarity on the meaning of sustainability. In a 2021 poll, the Board found that only a third (32 percent) of companies have a strong agreed-upon definition of sustainability across the business and there's no universally accepted definition of sustainability. This lack of a common language makes it harder to build a sustainability culture, which by its very nature needs to be company specific.

Changing cultures is hard because it requires changing norms and values, often ones that are deeply held. Companies on a sustainability journey need to be sensitive to the culture that already exists and intentional about engaging people in implementing change. At one firm, for example, internal sustainability ambassadors run culture workshops where they discuss how sustainability objectives are integrated with the business and what behaviors are associated with achieving them, and videos of those workshops are shared on an internal website.

4 Steps to a Corporate Culture of Sustainability

1. Align strategy and sustainability

Management needs to make sure that the strategy of the company and the sustainability efforts are aligned.  The Center for Sustainable and Inclusive Business, often sees divergence, which of course makes the sustainability efforts fragile, lacking real commitment and prioritization. But there are many good examples. One such example is Unilever's Planet Positive initiative, designed to give more than the company takes from the planet through plans to protect and regenerate 1.5 million hectares of land, forests, and oceans by 2030. Unilever says that is more land than it already uses to grow the renewable ingredients included in its beauty and personal care product range. And by 2025, the company says any plastic used in its packaging will be recyclable, reusable, or compostable.

2. Be proactive

Many of today's leading companies in sustainability, like Nike, Coca-Cola, Telenor, IKEA, Siemens, and Nestlé, have stepped up largely as a consequence of a crisis. Oil giant Shell, already the focus of activist protests over drilling in the Arctic, faced boycott calls due its purchase of cheap Russian crude oil after Russia invaded Ukraine. Shell rapidly backed down and said it will exit all its Russian operations and write down up to $5 billion as a result.

3. Quantify results

All companies struggle with quantifying the return on their sustainability investments. How does the company justify expenses on sustainability initiatives ? With regards to compliance this is a straightforward issue. With regards to areas of competitive advantage, however, companies need to link sustainability to a business case. But the ones that do form a relatively small group.

4. Engage the Board, engage the ecosystem, involve the entire organization

In a McKinsey Global survey, respondents were asked whether their companies track the impact of ESG ( Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance) programs on various stakeholder groups. The biggest percentage among those stakeholder groups, 51%, was for considering the impact on board directors "entirely or to a great extent". This reinforces how important boards are in collaborations with key stakeholders such as NGOs, governments, and international organizations.

Collaboration is also critical for efficient sustainability practices, particularly in solving crises and in shaping broader solutions. MIT/BCG data showed that 67% of executives see sustainability as an area where collaboration is necessary to succeed. Finally, and most importantly, engage the organization broadly: One good example of engagement is Salesforce, a company so committed to making every employee and department accountable to sustainability that it recently enshrined it into its core values.

Now that sustainability is part of its DNA, the company can leverage its full might to advance climate action and further operationalize sustainability across its entire business.

The sustainable Seneca is one of the three pillars of Au Large, along with the equitable Seneca and the more virtual Seneca.

With the release of its first sustainability plan, Seneca is focusing on four priority themes: leadership, community, education and research, and operations.

Sustainability is a complex objective that goes well beyond the environment. It also includes social equity, cultural vitality and economic responsibility. Everyone at Seneca has a role to play. And, together, the institution is accepting the challenge to build the sustainable Seneca.