Sustainability, climate, and equity: many organizations are considering what these concepts for a better future mean for their businesses now. The steps leaders take in the near term can have an impact for years to come, but it’s hard to know where to start. But good things can happen when an organization tackles all three at once: for our planet and people, and for an organization’s future sustainability and prosperity.
To become a truly sustainable organization, it will take changes in perspective, behavior, and systems across the enterprise—and that’s just the beginning. Every unit of an organization has a role to play, from human resources to the factory floor.
So where can Finance help? Everywhere.
These days, many organizations are figuring out what sustainability actually means—because it’s not only about the environment. A truly sustainable organization may consider what is good for people and planet at the core of its business decisions—and by doing so, it can inspire and cultivate a prosperous and sustainable future, for itself, its people, and its community.
Sustainability can be complex, but organizations can tackle it now, and not just because it’s the right thing to do. Some of the largest companies in the world are making pledges and commitments to get to net zero in the near term. Organizations across industries are working to build truly equitable hiring and retention practices into their talent plans. And as companies are bringing workers back to offices, many are looking at ways to leverage sustainability practices in their real estate strategies. What does all that mean for Finance? A lot.
This is an extraordinary opportunity for finance leaders and organizations. With its deep knowledge of how the business truly works, a dynamically empowered finance capability can be both a catalyst and an enabler for an organization’s sustainability efforts—navigating complex decisions around investment and spend, disclosures, strategic and operational planning, customer and supplier interactions, and more. Finance can become the convener of data and insights, regulatory considerations, and operational impacts to inform the enterprise’s strategic direction—and help execute those decisions with an agile finance capability that is prepared to evolve to meet the needs of the business.
There are challenges with any major transformation but also significant opportunities for Finance to lead the way in the most impactful decisions any organization will likely make over the coming years. Leading through this disruption can mean changing an organization—and the world—for good.
Nearly every facet of an organization’s practices has a sustainability angle—a challenge, an opportunity, or both. For Finance, the considerations are as myriad as the tasks they’re charged with undertaking.
Yes, but how?
Finance can help an organization transform its processes and postures to bring sustainability considerations into its daily business life, and for the future. Many systems need changing—so let’s change the systems and bring our people, processes, and technologies along.
Survive - First, Finance can assist the organization in bringing it into alignment with existing compliance and regulatory measures and provide transparency in financial and sustainability data through reliable and efficient processes and controls. A transformation mindset, with a strong, flexible foundation of technology, processes, data, and talent, means Finance can be dynamic no matter how complex the regulatory measures may be.
Drive - Finance can help drive a sustainable operating model shift and operational efficiency with Lights Out FinanceTM and a capacity to sense, weigh, and mitigate risks—and prepare the organization for what’s next. With deep insights on the value drivers to the business, Finance understands the risks and opportunity for its decisions—especially ones based on sustainability, with such deep implications. It can also partner with the business to manage the performance of sustainability initiatives and investments, demonstrating impact and results that can build confidence internally and externally that the organization is investing in the appropriate outcomes, and unlock access to investors and capital to continue to fund the sustainability journey.
Thrive - New markets, new products, new consumers, new value—all of it can be on the table when an organization successfully incorporates sustainability practices. Finance can evolve new avenues of business partnering to drive the sustainability strategy, enabled by an empowered workforce, advanced data governance, and an overall dynamic finance capability. Being able to balance revenue growth and sustainability impacts can be a common trait of leading organizations in a sustainable future.
It's time to get moving.
As a CFO or Finance executive you may be looking to build your vision and strategy to incorporate sustainability practices and to help understand the opportunity they hold for your organization—and the risks to the organization if it doesn’t take advantage of them. There is opportunity in an organization’s data, technology, reporting, operating models, and people. Over the coming months, we’ll examine how Finance can partner across all facets of an organization to help drive improved reporting and sustainability decision-making, considerations for talent and operating models, modeling and decision support for climate risk, and more. Survive, drive, and thrive: a dynamic and future-forward finance function can find the opportunity in each of these stages and help empower its organization to stay relevant, keep stakeholders and customers engaged, and do good for the planet and their community. The destination—a better world and a sustainable organization—is well worth the journey ahead.
"If we can agree that the world as we know it currently is at risk, we should all care—and every day, another global organization makes a commitment to think and act differently. Finance has a role to play in the moves an organization makes toward a sustainable future, including holding it accountable for enterprise performance, data analysis, cost-savings, market guidance, strategic planning, talent considerations, and more."