It’s increasingly common for business organizations to declare their commitment to sustainability. After all, environmental issues affect all of us, and businesses can play an especially big part in reducing waste and curbing pollution.
Simply saying your business stands for ecological causes only goes so far, however. To take these commitments a step further, businesses need to set clearly defined sustainability targets. But what does that mean, exactly? And how can you determine the kinds of targets that are feasible for your organization?
Targets are important benchmarks or milestones that your organization can pursue, driving a broader push toward sustainability and environmental responsibility.
Crucially,targets and goals are not the same thing. Here’s an important distinction:
● Goals reflect broader, more aspirational commitments that your business is making. These tend to be pretty ambitious in nature.
● A target is a more specific, actionable, time-bound, and attainable objective that you seek on your way toward hitting those broader goals. If your sustainability goals represent your final destination, targets are the check-in points along the way.
As you consider sustainability targets that might be appropriate for your business,there are a few guidelines to keep in mind.
Assess Your Starting Point
First and foremost, take stock of where you are. Do you have any sustainability initiatives already in place? And are there areas where you know your organization has a significant impact, either positively or negatively, on the environment? These parameters can provide you with some direction for where to focus your sustainability targets.
Make Your Targets Specific
The best sustainability targets can be measured. Brainstorm some targets that are easy to measure and quantify, such as reducing emissions by a set percentage, switching to recycled packaging for a certain percentage of your products, or something similar.
Be Ambitions, but Also Realistic
Your sustainability targets should stretch you; they should require some real effort for you to achieve them. At the same time, they shouldn’t be so ambitious that they are impossible or unfeasible. Striking this balance is a critical aspect of setting sustainability targets.
Set Short-Term and Long-Term Targets
Remember,your sustainability targets should provide a path forward for achieving your broader sustainability goals. As such, it’s usually beneficial to have both short-term and long-term goals in place, allowing you to make incremental progress along the way.
Measure and Track
It’s not enough to set targets. You also need to keep tabs on your forward progress. Be sure you have some sort of structure of rhythm in place to assess your sustainability targets, celebrate your achievements, or refine your approach.
As your business considers different options for embracing sustainability, setting clear targets is essential. We’d love to talk more about how the right waste and recycling management service can help you achieve those targets. Reach out to WasteXperts whenever you’re ready to chat about your organization’s sustainability initiatives.
