"In today’s marketplace, companies need to take responsibility for resource sustainability. In practice, that means developing a Corporate Sustainability Program. Here are five steps for building an effective CSR program: Step 1: Establish Cross-Functional Buy-In If there could be a step number zero, this would be it. Before any work is done on a sustainability program, it’s important to gauge engagement from shareholders and management, to the lowest-level employees and every worker, vendor, and consultant in between Step 2: Build a Team Sustainability leadership should include people from all levels, all departments, and all geographic locations. If your company does not have a suitable team leader within its ranks, consider hiring a consultant with experience in the field. Step 3: Understand the Baseline If wisdom may be gleaned from old adages, then it’s worth bearing in mind that “you won’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” In sustainability programs (and many other business goals), it’s critical to understand the baseline in order to make improvements. The team must measure current operations how much water/power/other resources are currently being consumed? How much is being wasted? How much comes from renewable sources? Step 4: Set a Vision, Mission and Goals Once you have a firm grasp on the baseline and current reality, you can start designing your path forward. Outline a corporate sustainability vision, define your sustainability mission and set quarterly milestone goals pursuant to that vision and mission. Step 5: Decide on Sustainability Initiatives Once your vision, mission, and goals are agreed upon, your team must consider initiatives to achieve your goals. In contemplating possible projects, think about their potential impact and cost, the degree of difficulty, required resources, etcetera. Step 6: Time and Measure Make all your initiatives SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) and tie them together into a complete plan for the year. For each initiative planned, assign a person to be responsible and accountable, define metrics for success (as compared to the baseline), and set a period for progress reporting. Step 7: Involve and Engage As our first step (or step number zero, if you please) began with the buy-in, so does the last step end with involving and engaging all of the stakeholders. Internal staff members, external associations, shareholders, government bodies, and everyone who has a stake in the company’s success can (and should) be involved in the corporate sustainability program."

Abhijith S

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