"Corporate sustainability demands a broad view of issues and impacts, as well as a working understanding of what the company does and how it does it. Embedding sustainability means joining the two together through a series of concrete steps. 1. Understand sustainability and recognize what it means to the company As a first step, it is important to define what sustainability means for every area in the company and to identify its benefits. From investment decisions, developing new products or services to changing procurement practices, sustainability has an increasingly central role in these decisions. 2. Engage with stakeholders Depending on its line of business, a company’s impact can vary among stakeholders. Generally, companies engage with the most influential groups, keeping close ties and a constant dialogue. However, engagement can happen on different levels and should respond to expectations from both sides. 3. Set goals and commitments Once key environmental, social and governance issues have been identified and engagement methods for each stakeholder group have been defined, efforts must focus on reducing risks and seizing opportunities around these issues centered on sustainable practices. 4. Establish systems and processes Once the goals are established, specific systems and detailed processes need to guide the implementation of each initiative. Throughout the design, processes and policies in place must be taken into consideration and collaboration among areas encouraged. At this point, gaining executive commitment is crucial. The appointment of an internal sustainability champion as the main driver of sustainability and the development of a successful employee engagement model are also good practices. 5. Track progress, communicate actions and meet expectations Lastly, it is important to set a system that measures the performance towards each goal. Defining key performance indicators to meet the identified goals will allow us to detect areas for improvement and will gather relevant data to track progress."

Abhijith S

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