Sustainable strategy 3: toolkits and resources

This past month I have been blogging about topics to consider when developing sustainability strategy. This includes making the process inclusive, diverse and equitable (Part 1) as well as open, participatory and transparent (Part 2). This post provides some links to Toolkits and Resources to help plan developing your sustainability strategy.

This Sustainability Toolkit was developed alongside the New York Mayor's Office back in 2009 and provides simple lists and examples of plans and timescales for local government. Even if you have nothing to do with politics, it provides an interesting and easy-to-read oversight of the process, things to take in consideration and lessons learned from implementing sustainability strategy in New York City.

The main thing that dates the Toolkit is that it conceptualizes sustainability as mainly being about reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This singular focus is no longer true of most sustainability strategy consultations, strategy or reports. Nowadays they cover a much broader range of issues around climate impact, and also usually consider social and ethical impact and responsibility (both for internal and external stakeholders) as well.

This YouTube video explains (in under 10 minutes) how to create a business sustainability strategy map. This is an extremely useful aid to produce as part of a sustainability strategy "roll-out" (especially useful internally for employees and managers to align to it as well as for ensuring its accessibility). Maps usually explain and "fit together" sustainability strategy with overall priorities and MVV (Mission, Vision, Values) on one page in a visual manner. This usually takes the form of a flow chart. Creating one often helps people digest, visualize and understand the overall plan more quickly.

This final link is an example of a four year Sustainability Report - 2016-2020 from the Italian energy company Enel. The Italian government set it up in order to find alternatives to nuclear energy in the early 1990s. While their journey has been long and complicated, what they have done well is to produce a short, concise report which combines clear facts, details and goals as well as providing context and clearly cross-referencing them with the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDG) that many larger organizations and cities try to align their sustainability strategies with.