From ambition to action

A recent Strategy Insight paper from industry analyst firm Navigant Research sheds some light on how environmental sustainability can be a meaningful priority and increasingly, a commercial advantage. Organizations that look at sustainability too broadly, say the analysts, struggle to set meaningful targets.
 

Nicola Kimm, Signify’s global head of sustainability, agrees that it pays to be specific. “With Signify, we can make our strategy very specific to lighting. When Signify became a separate company, we launched our new company purpose: to unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world. And we linked the purpose to our sustainability program: the environmental part connects to better world, the social part with brighter lives.”
 

“In the first year as a separate company, we took a leading place on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. That’s because sustainability was already very much integrated in our business and way of working. These two things came together: a new company with a lofty purpose and our history as part of Royal Philips with a strong sustainability program.”

Signify has been the Industry Leader in the electronics category of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for three straight years. One of the keys to success is tying sustainability goals to specific metrics.
 

The authors of the Strategy Insight paper from Navigant give the example of setting science-based targets; that is, targets that are “in line with what the latest climate science says is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well-below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C.”

Engaging leadership is essential, but to fully embed sustainability in your company, the paper recommends engaging and motivating the wider employee base.

“It’s about getting people involved in different ways through their roles. So, people working at a factory will be involved in waste recycling and energy reduction. For people developing products it’s about embedding sustainability into the innovation process and for people selling products, it’s about explaining the sustainability benefits for our customers. At Signify, sustainability isn’t the sole preserve of the sustainability department. It touches us all.”

Read more about Signify’s sustainability commitments here .