Sustainability Strategy & Program Design

What it is

Sustainability, like everything else, requires an effective strategy and a well-formed program to engage stakeholders, advance initiatives, and maximize impact.

How it works

An approach that uses broad input, discussion, and analysis to prioritize key areas that will inform a 1- to 5-year strategy; a sustainability program is also needed to clearly define the role of sustainability and enable project execution.

Why you use it

You are just starting to focus on sustainability, want to create a strategy and build a program to execute your strategy, or want to update an existing strategy and/or retool your program to be more effective.

What to expect

These are two related, yet somewhat separate parts. Building or updating a strategy involves stakeholder engagement, surveys, research, and other data collection to create a strategy that is relevant, has organizational buy-in, and can make a meaningful impact. The process and approach is similar to that described in Strategy Development. The Sustainability Program is the structure that will execute the strategy and lead sustainability efforts in the organization. Design may include defining roles and responsibilities, setting targets, building out processes, and creating an adaptable framework for implementing change.