How can you use benchmarking to identify gaps and opportunities in your corporate sustainability strategy?

consider engaging in peer collaboration and knowledge-sharing initiatives within your industry or sustainability networks. By collaborating with other companies and sharing best practices, challenges, and solutions, you can gain valuable insights and perspectives that can further inform your sustainability strategy and enhance your benchmarking efforts. This collaborative approach fosters a culture of collective learning and innovation, driving continuous improvement across the industry while also strengthening your own sustainability performance.

This is a critical first step and lays the foundation for a credible approach to sustainability. For example, when tackling carbon emissions, you need to decide: 1) What is your boundary? I.e. one office? UK/Global operations? 2) What aspects of scope 1,2 and 3 emissions will you measure? A robust methodology should include as much within the boundary as possible and measure a minimum of scopes 1 and 2 (typically utility bills and vehicle fleet use), plus achievable scope 3 measures (e.g. business travel, waste, water and freight). Later you should get deeper into scope 3, looking at your supply chain emissions, use of product and those related to pensions and investments - but take it one step at a time and seek support if you need it!

Benchmarking your sustainability strategy helps pinpoint strengths and areas for improvement. Define Scope: Identify key sustainability areas (environment, social, governance) most relevant to your company. Choose Peers: Select competitors or industry leaders for comparison. Consider company size and business model. Analyze Performance: Compare your practices (e.g., carbon emissions, employee diversity) against benchmarks. Identify Gaps: Find areas where you lag behind. Analyze best practices of top performers to bridge these gaps. Spot Opportunities: Look for areas where you outperform peers. Can you become an industry leader in these aspects?

If you really want to create a benchmark i.e. a comparability between different divisions/companies then you need to think about the scope of the GAP analysis. We have an ESG Assessment which has 8 categories and 2-4 questions within those, which are oriented towards the project approach methodology which we use. For example we start with the strategy and the ambition of the overall ESG initiative and go over the different parts of this initiative (PM, Stakeholders, Standards, Data management, etc.) - the aim is to be high level and deep level in the same time, as well as to be able to compare between different benchmarking analysis.

Prior to benchmarking, you will need to understand what to benchmark for your business - understand your material issues (such as the specific topics mentioned) and determine the risk, opportunities and impact of these, the likelihood of any them occurring and how they then support your long-term vision and purpose. Once you have this laid out, benchmarking can take place along with supporting activities such as gap analysis and goal setting to help form a roadmap to deliver on this vision.

Personally, I find it difficult and time-consuming to source for data for benchmarking. In the absence of time, an easier method that does not require re-inventing the wheel, would be to search for industry benchmarking reports from renowned advisory firms. They have thought leaders who have already selected methods and metrics - your only challenge would then be to understand how they got their data, and pick and choose the report / metrics that are more relevant and useful for your needs.

As described in the "scope" part - the important goal of a benchmarking is to have a comparability between different companies / devisions and this over time. Especially industry and competitor benchmarkings are important since this gives your company an idea about the trends which are present.

En el camino hacia una empresa más sostenible, elegir los indicadores clave de desempe?o (KPIs) adecuados es esencial. Estos KPIs actúan como faros que iluminan nuestro progreso en metas específicas de sostenibilidad, como reducir nuestra huella de carbono o mejorar la gestión de residuos. Por ejemplo, si buscamos reducir emisiones de carbono, un KPI relevante podría ser la cantidad de emisiones por unidad de producción. Para mejorar la gestión de residuos, podríamos medir el porcentaje de residuos reciclados o reutilizados. La clave está en elegir indicadores confiables que reflejen claramente nuestro desempe?o en sostenibilidad.

Using tools and assessments like the Ceres Roadmap for Sustainability, the Product Sustainability Program Assessment, or industry-specific frameworks like the Retail Sustainability Management Leadership Model will provide structured ways to benchmark performance.

Benchmarking is a great way to enhance sustainability strategy. However, analyzing data may be a challenging and time-consuming task. The best solution is to use benchmarking software. But choose your service provider wisely. Identifying gaps and opportunities in your strategy requires a combination of technology and human expert knowledge. Choose a consultant that has both: 1) robust software aligned with leading sustainability frameworks for benchmarking your ESG data with the requirements of several frameworks, and 2) an expert that will create a bespoke report on gaps including an action plan of the next steps to close the identified gaps, improve ESG performance, and reap the benefits of responsible business behaviour.

Using benchmarking to identify gaps and opportunities in corporate sustainability strategy would require collecting and analyzing the data. To collect and analyze the data on the identified KPIs from one's organization and the benchmarked companies with the help of public reports, sustainability disclosures, and industry databases. Once the data is collected, analyze the collected data to assess the company's current position in comparison to the benchmarks.

Benchmarking for best practice identification in corporate sustainability involves studying industry leaders to adopt and adapt their successful strategies. Begin by researching and analyzing the sustainability practices of top-performing companies in your sector. Identify commonalities in their approaches, such as innovative technologies, stakeholder engagement methods, etc. Assess the feasibility and applicability of these practices to your organization's context, considering factors like scale, resources, and operational dynamics. Implement selected best practices gradually, tailoring them to suit your unique needs and goals or in your sustainability strategy.

How can we ensure our sustainability practices not only meet minimum standards but truly lead the change towards a more sustainable future? By comparing your data with goals and expectations, you can determine gaps and identify opportunities for enhancing your sustainability strategy. This allows you to develop a more robust, effective strategy aligned with industry best practices and your company's specific needs

Utilize benchmarking insights to refine your sustainability strategy. Hereby, its important to revise goals, policies, and practices accordingly. Monitor outcomes and evaluate effectiveness. Communicate results transparently to internal and external stakeholders. Keep in mind to let your stakeholders be part of your journey, inspire with confidence and use the language your audience is using.

We need to articulate the current position and tier of the company in terms of sustainability performance within the industry. This involves comparing the organization's sustainability performance with industry peers or sustainability standards. Using the real estate industry as a benchmark, most companies would participate in GRESB's sustainability standards. - GRESB achieved a two-star rating, with lower scores in supply chain sustainability and community impact. The results of this benchmarking can be communicated to different internal and external stakeholders, allowing for the establishment of 5-year goals and collective discussions on how to improve performance.

Die beste Basis zum Benchmarking wird die EU Verordnung CSRD Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive bringen. Denn die CSRD ist für alle Unternehmen in der Europa verpflichtend, was eine sehr gro?e Vergleichsbasis ist. Die CSRD und der Nachhaltigkeitsbericht muss in einer standardisieren Struktur erstellt werden (ESRS) und in einem einheitlichen Datenformat (ESEF/XHTML-Format) abgegeben werden. Dies wird die direkte Vergleichbarkeit sicherstellen. So werden in Zukunft sicherlich Vergleichsportale entstehen, die die Nachhaltigkeitsleistungen von Unternehmen vergleichbar machen wird.

In addition to above process i have added few more steps as below Benchmarking steps: 1) Set scope & metrics 2) Identify leaders 3) Analyze data 4) Study best practices 5) Map improvements 6) Assess risks of gaps/opportunities 7) Build business cases 8) Prioritize high-impact initiatives 9) Implement & monitor 10) Embed benchmarking cycle. Risk analysis quantifies downsides of inaction, upsides of pursuing opportunities. Business cases justify investments, align to strategy. Data-driven prioritization boosts leadership buy-in, optimizing sustainability ROI while mitigating risks.