A more sustainable 2024, step by step

‘2024! So much still to do to create a more sustainable world! Where do I start?’

If you’re back from your (Southern Hemisphere) holiday and trying to remember where you left off last year, our tips and handy checklist will help you shake off the sand and inspire you to action in the year ahead.

Read on for activities to tackle to get started, make progress and lead the way in six important areas of sustainability – strategy, carbon, reporting, projects, green building and circular economy.

But first, three tips to keep top-of-mind:

Tip one: successful sustainability programmes build on strong foundations

They grow over time in scale (size) and scope (breadth). Wherever you are in your programme, you’ll find inspiration here to encourage you to take the next steps.

Tip two: successful sustainability programmes make the most of connections

The different strands of your sustainability programme are connected. Tackle one (e.g. reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint), and you’ll have data, relationships and know-how to make progress on other activities too (like reducing carbon in your products and reporting your climate impacts).

Tip three: communicating turns your plans into action

Wherever you are in your sustainability programme, plain English communications and engaging infographics will help you enlist the support of your stakeholders to act on your plans.

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Make sustainability central to your business strategy

Getting started

1. Focus on what matters:

Do a ‘materiality assessment’
Confirm how your business can support the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals

Making progress

1. Set your strategy: goals, targets, metrics

2. Report your progress

3. Have your strategy peer-reviewed

Leading the way

1. Review your strategy annually

2. Review your materiality assessment. More than three years old? Something big’s changed? Update it!

3. Do a ’maturity assessment’ (stocktake) to check your progress

Resources to help you:

Our Sustainable business strategy Need to Know guide

Our Materiality assessment Need to Know guide

Our Responsible procurement Need to Know guide

Martin Fryer - Head of Strategy and Disclosures

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Disclose your sustainability goals and progress

Getting started

1. Produce a simple report – your goals and your main targets and metrics

2. Share it with stakeholders

Making progress

1. Choose a reporting framework (GRI, IR, TCFD, a mix, none)*

2. Identify gaps in your data

3. Produce a report using your framework

Leading the way

1. Report publicly

2. Fill gaps in your data

3. Engage an auditor to provide limited assurance

* Global Reporting Index (GRI), Integrated Reporting (IR), Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). You’ll need a materiality assessment for GRI and IR.

Resources to help you:

Our TCFD Need to Know guide

Martin Fryer - Head of Strategy and Disclosures

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Improve the environmental impacts of your products

Getting started

1. Measure the life cycle impacts of your products

2. Identify your ‘hotspots’ (areas of greatest impact)

Making progress

1. Focus on your hotspots

2. Reduce the impacts in areas you can control

Leading the way

1. Focus on your hotspots

2. Work with your suppliers, customers and team to reduce other impacts

3. Communicate with an EPD*

* Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)

Resources to help you:

Our LCA Need to Know guide

Our Responsible procurement Need to Know guide

Emily Townsend - Services Director

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Tackle carbon in the built environment

Getting started

1. Talk with your suppliers

2. Understand the impacts of the building products you use, specify, supply or make. Where are they (and their ingredients) sourced from? What happens at the end of their use/life?