Setting measurable and sustainable goals

Once you know what aspects of sustainability are most essential to work on, it is time to set goals. In order to set effective goals, you can use tools such as the SMART model:
Smart goals and setting goals for your operation at ledarna.se

In order to make your goals specific, it may be a good idea not to set a single goal for the entire business but rather multiple goals relating to products, employees, energy savings or other areas that are relevant to sustainability for your business.

Clear goals and follow-up yield good results

Many companies have set goals to reduce their climate-impacting emissions, to be more resource-efficient and to minimise waste. Objectives within social aspects could include having a safe and positive work environment, working to prevent discrimination, and ensuring that the business takes social responsibility into account in its purchasing activities.

By setting clear goals for sustainability work, measuring the outcome and reporting this regularly, you strengthen your basis for achieving a good result. At the same time you create a scope for learning and change, increase insight and credibility, and strengthen the brand in the eyes of customers and employees.

It can be difficult to know how to measure and monitor goals for sustainability work. Aim for simplicity and use data you can access yourself in the first instance. It can make things easier if the metrics are closely aligned with the business and can be broken down further so that employees and management feel that the work is meaningful and yields results. 

Sustainability reporting

The EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), regulates how certain companies must report information on sustainability in their annual report. The purpose of the directive is to help direct capital towards sustainable investments. The reporting can facilitate financing and also create awareness in the company about the risks and opportunities linked to sustainability. By including information on sustainability work in the annual report and by having the information reviewed, conditions are created for it to be reliable, relevant and comparable.

The directive covers listed companies with over 500 employees, all companies with over 250 employees with a certain turnover, global companies with subsidiaries in the EU and listed small and medium-sized companies. The requirements in the regulations start to apply to different business categories at different times. From the financial year 2024, it will apply to the large companies.

The requirements for sustainability reporting can mean that even small and medium-sized companies (which are not listed on the stock exchange) are affected, in their role as suppliers to the larger companies.