Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the issue of sustainability has received much more attention than in the preceding years. Is it surprising that concerned stakeholders have suddenly realised the importance of environmental, economic and social sustainability because of the coronavirus?

The sustainability movement has taken shape in recent years as governments, academia, and enlightened corporations advocated the pressing need for organisations to become more sustainable. Few, however, can specifically articulate how their organisations can become truly sustainable or examine the role of the leadership in promoting sustainability.

We will be publishing a series of articles that looks at how organisations can transform to a sustainable ESG-focused business model. We will present frameworks supplemented by case studies to highlight dilemmas organisations faced in their sustainability journey and share the best practices in the various fields.

Although we recognise that many organisations have made important steps towards building a resilient and purpose-driven enterprise, we find their contributions still fall short of addressing the urgent decarbonisation challenges that our world faces now. We hope that with RHT Green, you may find the way forward with new insights and thinking on sustainability and decarbonisation.

We will commence the series and our sustainability journey together by exploring the notion of a sustainability mission, which extends beyond the traditional corporate mission in that it forces an organisation to define its purpose for being: How can the corporate purpose be crafted and developed so that it could contribute to not just its own success but to the well-being of the wider community? We will address the need for a long-term vision and debate a crucial business dilemma: How, in a world where corporations are pressured by shareholders to provide short-term results, can business leaders focus on the long term?

We will share ideas on how to develop a business strategy that aims to have a positive impact on all stakeholders who—willingly or unwillingly—have an influence on the company’s fortunes. We will provide tools on how an organisation can engage its multiple and diverse stakeholders to engage and support the company’s sustainability strategy, and the importance of measuring sustainable performance to provide a yardstick for assessing an organisation’s sustainability progress.

We will also offer insights on the relevance of values in the sustainable performance of an organisation. In particular, we will be highlighting the significance of transparency and innovation in shaping its sustainability culture.

The strategic frameworks we aim to present through the series of articles would not be quick, easy fixes; instead, they will take years of strategic leadership, commitment, and resources to implement. In many cases, a transformative and sustainable roadmap of an organisation’s future or desired state will bear little resemblance to its present state. Corporate sustainability is a continuously evolving and iterative process that would be a competitive advantage to enable an organisation to win in any environment.

We look forward to engaging you through this series. Feel free to contact our team at info@rhtgreen.com if you would like to have a chat on the topics or the value-added services and solutions that RHT Green can deliver to your organisation and/or stakeholders.