Know what you don't know

“Oh yes, we are big believers in ESG. We encourage people to do double-sided printing.”

The “we must be ESG compliant because we print less” may have passed the sniff test a few years ago, but as HK gets more and more ESG aware, the good old standbys are not going to work any more.

And while Sustainability can be an intimidating topic, it is increasingly changing from being a “nice to have” to being integrated into business:

·       Customers are becoming increasingly active in looking for vendors that align with their values – ticking a box is not good enough

·       Investors are increasingly looking at ESG metrics – to mitigate risk, align with their own values or even just manage reputational risk.

·       Regulations might not be onerous today, but the general trend in direction is pointing towards more ESG – not only reporting requirements, but demonstrations that ESG is baked into the business as a whole.

With so many aspects of Sustainability to worry about – from CO2 emissions to water consumption, and yes, even paper use, it can sometimes be paralyzing to even think about Sustainability.

Your HR department would know how to do payroll; and your finance team knows how to handle the accounts. But you wouldn’t ask the finance team to handle employee onboarding, or your HR team to submit audited financials.

Sustainability used to be a matter of printing less; but now it's a decision-making process that is embedded in all parts of a business, from the board through to your product design. Making it up as you go along isn't going to work for much longer.