Many small businesses hear about these efforts and think it does not apply to them. This couldn’t be further from the truth. As we see more and more companies creating codes of conduct requirements for suppliers, we see an increasing need to understand sustainability reporting.
Sustainability reporting in most cases is voluntary; no one guideline outlines what should be reported. Because of this, the process of reporting can be overwhelming. To me the most compelling place to begin is with your clients.
Some questions you’ll want to evaluate when working on Sustainability Reporting are:
- With whom are you doing business and what do they expect?
- Have you had to fill out a sustainability questionnaire for them?
- Where you able to do this with confidence?
- If your customer would audit your reporting, would you pass the test?
- Do you have accurate documentation to compare with what you are actually doing?
This type of sustainability reporting takes time and thoughtful evaluation.
