6 Steps to Sustainable Financing

News article
Article tags:
  • Sustainability

With sustainability increasingly on the boardroom agenda how aware are you of your responsibility towards your supply chain? Creating long-term added value for your stakeholders and the sustainable success of your business is crucial.

Are you ready for the transition?

Step 1: Define a Sustainability Strategy

Plan a strategy that includes long-term corporate sustainability planning. Focus on your key stakeholders (eg investors, customers, employees, suppliers, etc.) and, when it comes to these stakeholders, don’t forget to think about your strategic positioning towards them.

Step 2: Analysis & KPIs

Have you assessed the sustainability landscape? What’s the current status quo? You’ll also need to define suitable KPIs (e.g. external certification, product labels, extension of Codes of Conduct, adjustments to corporate governance, etc.). These will help determine how effective your strategy will be. They’ll also serve to ensure your company's own sustainable footprint is measurable. Remember to consider your key stakeholders and their needs when defining your KPIs.

Take a look at the Global Reporting Initiative, you’ll find best practice around non-financial performance indicators.

Step 3: Define Sustainable Objectives

Understand your sustainability objectives and define your business model. These should centre around your company purpose. You can find out more from the Technical expert group on sustainable finance (TEG).

Step 4: Cost-Benefit Analysis

Undertake a careful cost-benefit analysis of sustainability investment decisions or your intended business model. This will help to ensure you take stock of associated economic efficiencies.

Step 5: Reporting & Monitoring

Once your sustainability strategy KPIs have been defined (step 2) it’s good practice to establish consistent reporting and monitoring. This ensures targeted controls and ultimately improvements in sustainability KPIs.

Step 6: Choose the right financial partner

At ABN AMRO, sustainability is more than just a buzzword. We actively seek to support companies with a sustainable business approach. That’s why we provide a broad range of flexible funding solutions that support your shift to sustainability. We can support your transformation towards sustainability.

Contact us to learn more