strategic planning sustainability system

Once only the responsibility of sustainability managers, ESG performance and sustainability are today considered key areas of strategic focus for organizations, often reflected in Sustainability Action Plans developed by organizations.

Looming investor pressure, consumer awareness and the understanding that sustainability is an important tenet in risk management and corporate governance has seen responsibilities shift and awareness ripple across both departments and management levels. The tidal shift has been embraced by organizations as they champion decarbonization. It presents ever-growing opportunities for innovation and increased investments towards green technologies, which ultimately accelerate sustainability.

Much like operational plans are developed to future-proof an organization’s success, so too are Sustainability Action Plans in helping to achieve a low-carbon business fit for the future. In this article, we lay out practical guidance on how to create a Sustainability Action Plan along with recommended inclusions and structure. We also provide a free Sustainability Action Plan template for download to support your sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.

Download template

What is a Sustainability Action Plan?

A Sustainability Action Plan is created by an organization to detail how it will achieve sustainability goals over time, particularly if ambitious targets have been set, such as achieving net zero by a specific time frame. It is usually a static document that details a two to five-year timeline of objectives, although this period is at the organization’s discretion.

Its purpose is to embed ESG and sustainability across an organization, within all business operations. The path to a Sustainability Action Plan typically starts with a vision at an executive level, with the Sustainability Action Plan serving as the detailed strategy of how the vision will be achieved.

To complement the Sustainability Action Plan, organizations often release annual Sustainability Reports that detail the organization’s progress against the objectives. Together, Sustainability Action Plans and Sustainability Reports function as an important communications tool for organizations to illustrate their sustainability journey to a wide audience of stakeholders.

Sustainability Action Plans are not mandatory, rather, they are an initiative of an organization who wishes to make a positive impact on their sustainability performance.

In addition to planning and internal reporting, many organizations disclose their sustainability performance via various ESG reporting frameworks . In some instances, the data collected for the production of a Sustainability Action Plan can be used to support the reporting requirements of frameworks such as GRI , GRESB and SASB.

And vice-versa, organizations reporting detailed information to ESG reporting frameworks may export some of those responses to their Sustainability Action Plans to illustrate how they are performing against their goals.

This task is made easy with Envizi’s ESG Reporting Frameworks module which allows organizations to collate responses for both external and internal reporting frameworks in one place. In addition to collating responses, the module includes functionality to extract responses for use in documentation such as a Sustainability Action Plan.

Who needs a Sustainability Action Plan?

Organizations of all sizes can make steps towards making their business operations more sustainable and positively contributing to their community and environment. Smaller organizations should consider the resource requirements of developing a comprehensive Sustainability Action Plan and achieving those objectives over time.

For larger organizations, a comprehensive Sustainability Action Plan is ideal for outlining the long-term vision and plans to satisfy investor requirements, to change consumer attitudes and to take advantage of opportunities. This is especially the case once pledges have been made, as the next stage in the process is to work out exactly how the organization will achieve those pledges.

How to create a Sustainability Action Plan

A Sustainability Action Plan requires dedicated commitment across all levels of an organization, and it can be transformational as it requires a top-down approach with cultural change, realignment of values and leadership endorsement. As a result, there are several considerations to take into account when developing a plan.

The consultation process and stakeholder engagement

Much like corporate annual reports require the input of an executive team, the Board, finance department and other internal departments, so too does the process of creating a Sustainability Action Plan.

It requires extensive consultation across the executive and leadership levels, committees and even the community (depending on the sector and type of organization) to establish targets and accountabilities. At the center of the consultation process is an organization’s Sustainability Manager. In many organizations, the person in this role is responsible for developing both the business cases and doing the work to support the implementation and management of programs within organizations to deliver on their objectives.

Whether the organization has a Sustainability Manager or not, they may also choose to use the services of a sustainability consulting firm to guide them on the process and support their objectives.

Other examples of stakeholders involved in the consultation and implementation process may include:

Establishing benchmarks

The Sustainability Action Plan will involve setting outcomes, actions and targets. Therefore it’s important that an organization understands its current ESG performance with accurate data to inform future benchmarks. Using an ESG and sustainability reporting software platform such as Envizi can simplify emissions calculations and automate the collection of energy consumption data, which will be required when reporting on the progress of the plan.

What is included in a Sustainability Action Plan?

Inclusions in a Sustainability Action Plan can vary depending on the type of organization, its size, and the sector it operates in. For example, a start-up or an independent education center such as a school may choose to focus on smaller initiatives to start implementing changes at the business.

Examples of achievable initiatives at this level could include:

• Using water tanks
• Gardening, such as a vegetable garden
• Recycling system
• Turning off lights when not in use
• Using energy-saving bulbs
• Implementing a printing policy

Larger organizations with ambitious goals and extensive resources could include initiatives such as:

Councils and municipalities

• Reducing Scope 3 emissions from suppliers
• Implementing a mass tree planting scheme
• Providing a community shuttle bus
• Introducing cycle routes
• Installing LED lighting

Property developers and organizations

• Optimizing HVAC equipment performance
• Using local labor and materials
• Incorporating water and waste reuse strategies
• Ensuring sustainability is part of client consultation and scoping
• Incentivizing staff remote-work opportunities

Manufacturing

• Reducing GHG emissions in the upstream supply chain
• Reducing power usage in data centers
• Investing in renewable energy sources
• Electrifying the transport fleet
• Upgrading energy-intensive equipment

Commercial real estate

• Developing a demand-side energy management strategy
• Minimizing waste
• Implementing renewable energy
• Improving GRESB score
• Implementing end-of-trip facilities

Structure of a Sustainability Action Plan

Whilst the structure, inclusions and scale of a Sustainability Action Plan are at the organization’s discretion and stem from the initial consultation process, there are a few inclusions we recommend to ensure a Sustainability Action Plan which reflects an organization’s commitment to sustainability:

Sustainability values

Background on the organization’s view of sustainability and its core values which motivate the development of the Sustainability Action Plan.

Executive message

Endorsement at the C-Level usually from the CEO, outlining the organization’s commitment to sustainability.

Mandatory frameworks

If the organization operates within a sector which legislates reporting to a framework, this section would outline the requirements of that legislation or policy to provide stakeholders with context around the motivations for the Sustainability Action Plan.

Consultation process

Outlines how stakeholders participated in the development of the Sustainability Action Plan (such as workshops and forums), and which stakeholders were involved.

Methodology and review process

Outlines how the targets will be measured and progress monitored, which could include how regularly a Steering Committee or other key stakeholders will be updated. A Sustainability Report could be one of the vehicles for communicating this progress.

These are broad outcomes that steer the detailed actions and targets in the Sustainability Action Plan. Examples of outcomes could be “Decrease energy usage by 2025” or “Educate stakeholders.”

• Secondary outcomes These could be complementary outcomes which help to group actions within the broader outcome. Examples of secondary outcomes could be “Transport” or “Energy and emissions.”
• Action The tangible actions that will be undertaken to achieve a specific target within that secondary outcome, and broader outcome. Examples of actions could be “Replace inefficient HVAC systems” or “Develop recycling policy.”
• Target Specific KPIs placed against the actions to ensure progress is made. Examples of targets could be “100% of older HVAC systems replaced” or “75% increase in electronics diverted to e-waste programs.”
• Responsibility Assigning champions to action the targets could include listing departments or position titles.
• Timeframe Assigning specific months or quarterly timeframes ensures that targets can be realistically achieved.

The structure of a Sustainability Action Plan varies widely, and care should be taken to ensure that the inclusions of the plan, including the targets, are achievable for the organization. Build your sustainability data foundation, streamline reporting and accelerate decarbonization with the IBM Envizi ESG Suite

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Yes, Sustainability Can Be a Strategy

• Ioannis Ioannou
• George Serafeim

New research confirms that ESG can create competitive advantage.

The accelerating rate of adoption of these practices has also provoked a debate about the nature of sustainability and its long-term implications for organizations. Is the adoption of sustainability practices a form of strategic differentiation that can lead to superior financial performance? Or, is it a strategic necessity that can ensure corporate survival but not necessarily outperformance? Recent research suggests that sustainability can be both a necessity and a differentiator. Some sustainability activities are simply becoming “best practice” and so are a necessity. But the data suggests that some companies are creating real strategic advantage by adopting sustainability measures their competitors can’t easily match.

In recent years, a growing number of companies around the world have voluntarily adopted and implemented a broad range of sustainability practices. The accelerating rate of adoption of these practices has also provoked a debate about the nature of sustainability and its long-term implications for organizations. Is the adoption of sustainability practices a form of strategic differentiation that can lead to superior financial performance? Or, is it a strategic necessity that can ensure corporate survival but not necessarily outperformance?

• II Ioannis Ioannou is an associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at London Business School. His research focuses on corporate sustainability and the strategic integration of ESG issues by companies and capital markets.
• GS George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he leads the Climate and Sustainability Impact AI Lab. Follow him on Twitter @georgeserafeim

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Charting the Course to Sustainability

Roadmap for integrated sustainability.

The Roadmap provides guidance for companies on how to integrate sustainability-related goals and strategies across the organization. Best practices are illustrated and the value that can be created across five stages of sustainability integration is highlighted.

An introduction to the Roadmap and the process of functional integration of sustainability into the organization's strategies and operations. Download ,

5 Stages of Sustainability Integration

The typical journey of integrating sustainability into an organization follows 5 stages. Our model explains how companies move from a mostly reactive approach aimed at protecting the brand and reducing risks to a more proactive approach, where sustainability becomes a source of resource optimization and value creation. The 5 stage model helps identify corporate functions within the company that are most important to engage at each step, and what contributions each function can make to facilitate the process. Download .

3 Lenses to Integrating Sustainability

Incorporating sustainability into the core strategy of an organization (enterprise, business unit or function). In this context, “strategy” is used to describe the deliberate or emergent choices (purpose, priorities, goals) that are made to distinctively position the enterprise, brand or product for sustainable competitive advantage and value creation. It’s about “Doing the right things”. Download .

An overview of the 3 lenses to integrating sustainability is available, download .

Executing and reviewing the performance of sustainability related strategies in the regular routine of an organization. This lens describes the processes, policies and practices put in place to improve the execution of strategy or sometimes called operational effectiveness. It’s about “Doing things right”. Download .

Leveraging the unique identity, culture, purpose and strengths of an organization to advance sustainability and corporate success. To achieve a business’ potential, strategic and operational integration must consider the unique culture, identity and strengths of the organization and its components. Culture can be a significant barrier or powerful amplifier of executing strategy. Download .

Which Organizational Functions Should be Your Priority?

To better understand which functions within your organization should be prioritized for sustainability integration it is recommended that you explore two questions. 1) What functions are necessary to drive progress toward current sustainability goals? 2) What functions are perceived to be particularly influential in the company’s value creation? Learn more .

Integrating Sustainability into Specific Organizational Functions

Board of directors.

The Board of Directors is the elected or appointed members of the organizational body whose duty is to oversee, but not manage, the activities of the company. In many countries this body is called the Board of Directors, but can in other countries be referred to as the Board of Governors or the Supervisory Board. Board duties vary across countries and jurisdictions, but typically include oversight of business strategy, risk management and legal compliance, as well as the recruitment and compensation of executives. Boards are uniquely positioned to drive change by overseeing the integration of sustainability into the company’s mission, strategy, goals and practices. Learn more .

Finance & Accounting

The Finance and Accounting function oversees a company’s long range strategic financial planning and budgeting by preparing, analyzing and reporting financial transactions and positions. Finance has typically focused on regulatory compliance and financial reporting but increasingly plays a key role in setting corporate strategy and providing analysis that supports long-term investment and capital allocation decisions. Integration of sustainability into this function is key to support the company’s sustainability objectives. Learn more .

General Counsel & Legal

The General Counsel and Legal function identifies and manages legal issues for the company, providing legal advice on compliance and dispute resolution at all levels of the organization, and supporting management in balancing business opportunities and risks. The emergence of material sustainability issues opens new opportunities for in-house legal professionals to leverage their position as a trusted advisor. Learn more .

Government Relations & Public Affairs

The Government Relations & Public Affairs function deals with how the company interacts with governments, legislators and regulators and how the company tries to influence and inform public policy issues through business associations, other interest groups and the media. Avoiding to directly and indirectly support policy positions that are seen to impede progress on social or environmental questions is essential for a company’s ability to credibly engage stakeholders on sustainability. Learn more .

Investor Relations

The Investor Relations function is responsible for the strategic, timely, accurate and compliant communication of the company’s financial performance to the investment community in an effort to secure fair market valuation of the company’s securities. In turn, this function offers management insights into capital markets to inform strategy setting and corporate decision making. Integration into Investor Relations enables the company to better understand the interest that both mainstream and socially responsible investors increasingly have in ESG information. Learn more . Spotlight on Investor Relations (September 2016) .

Marketing, Branding & Public Relations

While considered distinct disciplines, Marketing, Branding and Public Relations functions interrelate to influence preferences and behaviours of target audiences by delivering clear, compelling messages and experiences. At its simplest level, branding creates an overall identity and story, marketing tells the story to activate the desired response and public relations manages relationships and reputation. Beyond promoting a company’s new, more sustainable innovations these functions are uniquely positioned to use a number of its traditional strengths to maximize the business value of a company’s sustainability efforts. Learn more .

Performance Management & Compensation

Traditionally structured as two separate sub-functions within the broader Human Resources discipline, Performance Management and Compensation reflects the process of planning, monitoring and evaluating an employee’s work objectives and overall contribution to the organization, as well as managing the monetary reward system in forms of pay, bonuses, stock options and other benefits. The inclusion of sustainability-related performance management and compensation criteria is often thought to signal a true integration of sustainability. Learn more .

Research & Development

The core purpose of the Research and Development function is to drive innovation, create new knowledge and discover solutions, leading to the development of new products, services or procedures or to the improvement of existing ones. It covers the application of science and engineering to develop new substances or technologies as well as the more concrete design, testing and adapting of processes, services, products and delivery systems. By challenging existing assumptions and paradigms sustainability-driven innovation can help to deliver totally new solutions and disrupt entire industries. Learn more .

Sales & Customer Service

The Sales and Customer Service function focuses nearly exclusively on customers to drive near term business revenue and margins through product positioning, pricing strategies, short-term promotions, and direct customer interactions before, during and after the sale. In most companies this function includes forecasting sales, monitoring competitive activity, prospecting for and retaining customers, and implementing partner programmes. This function can provide valuable insights to the company by directly representing the customer’s values, preferences and expectations. Learn more .

Strategic Planning & Business Development

The Strategic Planning and Business Development function is responsible for surveying external threats and opportunities, identifying industry and market trends and supporting the CEO and senior management in regularly updating the strategic vision and positioning the company. It plays an important role in defining the company’s future portfolio of products and markets, its key financial and business goals and the guidelines for different business units. This function will naturally have to play a key role in any effort to transform sustainability from a peripheral business activity to an integrate part of the company’s core business strategy. Learn more .

Supply Chain & Procurement

The Supply Chain and Procurement function encompasses all activities involved in the acquisition of direct and indirect goods and services from outside external sources. Supply chain and procurement management focusses on efficiently interactive with providers so that products are produced in the right quantities, at the right quality, at the right prices and delivered to the right locations in order to minimize system-wide costs while satisfying service-level requirements. Strategically by integrating sustainability this function can help to build stronger relationships with suppliers and tap their innovative capacity. Learn more . Spotlight on Supply Chain and Procurement (August 2016) .

Talent Acquisition & Development

Traditionally structured as two separate sub-functions within the broader Human Resources discipline, Talken Acquisition & Development (HRTD) reflects the successful sourcing, selection, and on-boarding of new employees, as well as the continuous assessment of organizational training needs and the effective delivery of development solutions for employees across the company. Learn More .

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Sustainability Plan: How it can be designed and implemented in your company

by APLANET , APLANET

May 12, 2023

In this article, we’ll investigate what a sustainability plan is, how it relates to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how its implementation can help your company in a number of ways. We’ll also take a look at the benefits of adopting a sustainable approach to your business and we’ll give you a step-by-step guide to creating and implementing an effective sustainability plan in your organisation. So, accompany us on this sustainability journey and discover how a sustainability plan can boost your company’s long-term success and resilience.

What is a sustainability plan and why is it so important?

63% of Spanish workers believe that sustainability policies, such as the one we’re exploring here, are a determining factor. These are the results from a study recently published by Compromiso RSE (in Spanish), a specialist CSR website. As we can see, ESG criteria (i.e. environmental, social and corporate governance) are growing in importance.

Defining a sustainability plan

A sustainability plan is a guide that sets clear, measurable and realistic objectives to improve an organisation’s sustainability. In addition, it needs to work in harmony with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are aimed to be achieved by 2030. Generally speaking, it should follow the European Union’s lead in reducing the company’s carbon footprint.

It is worth highlighting the fact that the EU stands out from other organisations of its kind in that it implements realistic and specific policies. What’s more, the plan needs to include all workers, directors, clients and investors linked to the business. By ensuring these key components are incorporated, companies all over the world will be able to effect real change.

Benefits of implementing a sustainability plan

The European Environment Agency has been urging us to adopt plans to combat this pressing issue since 2015. In fact, it declared that Europe is far from reaching its target of “living well, within the limits of our planet”. For this reason, it is now more important than ever that we fully understand the advantages of these kinds of guidelines:

• Improved corporate image . Four out of every five large companies in Spain increased their sustainability investment in 2022, according to Deloitte (in Spanish). One of the main reasons for this was the need to show a commitment to the planet. The same study revealed that 74% of people are worried by the role that companies are playing.
• Reduced operating costs . Sustainable policies have an overwhelmingly positive effect on the value chain in the medium and long term. This is mainly a result of optimising the use of resources and reducing waste. Increasing your company’s energy efficiency is a great way to ensure a promising future.

A step-by-step guide to creating a sustainability plan

Nowadays, every company can choose exactly how to adopt its own sustainability plan . However, it is worth noting that there are a number of regulations that must be observed, which contain some important aspects. Of these, the most important to consider are state regulations which are then transposed into law in EU member states, such as:

• Spanish Law on Cooperation for Sustainable Development and Global Solidarity (2023). This forces companies and institutions to also focus efforts on combating hunger and creating healthy environmental conditions.
• Spanish Sustainable Economy Law (2011). This called for businesses to join together in the fight against climate change. It marked an important milestone in this regard.

Step 1: Perform a materiality analysis

First of all, it’s vital that you know how to create a materiality analysis . This will help you infinitely when deciding on which actions should take priority and other relevant aspects. You will be able to optimise the investments your company makes in terms of time, as well as human and financial capital.

In order to prepare a materiality analysis, you’ll need to provide in-depth details of your corporation’s impact from an environmental, social and economic viewpoint each year. In other words, you’ll describe what your company is doing to bring about real change. Next, you’ll have to find out which resources are available to you and try to make them more sustainable.

Step 2: Identify sustainability goals and objectives

Your chosen goals must meet certain requirements so that they can be effective:

• Specific and detailed . Do away with vague proposals and make firm commitments that are in line with societal demands. In particular, this refers to issues such as minimising your carbon footprint and cutting down on natural resource wastage.
• Measurable . It’s crucial that you assess your progress by using relevant metrics. To do this, establish a series of indicators, as you’ll see in step four. Some of the more fitting ones include the percentage of GHG emissions reduction and carbon footprint offsetting.
• Assessment and monitoring . Objectives must be subject to a critical evaluation during the planning stage. Once they have been implemented and you’ve started to work towards them, ask an independent body to come and check that they are actually being met.

Step 3: Drawing up strategies and actions for your sustainability plan

It goes without saying that any action you decide on must be focused on meeting the goals that you set in the previous step. This is the only way to bring about your desired changes and minimise obstacles and difficulties . As such, they need to form part of a detailed guide which all members of your team, and even society as a whole should be involved in creating.

Some strategies have a far-reaching influence that goes way beyond the sector itself. Give priority to these kinds:

• Optimising energy efficiency (in line with the guidelines of the Institute for the Diversification and Saving of Energy [IDAE]).
• Effectively and intelligently managing waste, whilst preventing the misuse and contamination of natural spaces.
• Integrating an eco-friendly policy in the production chain, such as tourism sustainability plans .

Another cornerstone that offers many possibilities is collaboration between companies. In any case, it is worth broadening your scope and also working alongside bodies and NGOs that are dedicated to improving companies’ sustainability.

Step 4: Setting and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs)

Some of the most common KPIs that you can include in your company’s sustainability plan are:

• Renewable energy penetration . Make full use of the grants offered by public bodies such as IDAE. They tend to be focused on solar energy, whether photovoltaic, thermal or hybrid installations. The latter in particular is starting to show great promise and potential.
• Energy efficiency in production . Industrial activity is one of the main causes of GHG emissions. Adopting measures that reduce electricity consumption is of utmost importance. To help achieve this, the most effective KPIs you can use are those that concentrate on company energy consumption.

One of the key ways in which APLANET can be of service is by helping you set indicators that are sure to contribute to reaching the goals you’ve set. This is a fully personalised service that is adapted to the needs of your company, and our real-time data management system will make sure you stay on the right track. This ensures that your investment is being used effectively.

Step 5: Communicating and participating with stakeholders

When adopting an environmental sustainability plan , it’s a good idea to identify your different stakeholders. This usually divides your company, the people that comprise it and the different organisations that interact with it into groups. The most effective plans are those that involve all parties affected:

• Investors , who are responsible for providing the financial capital required to carry out the company’s sustainability plan .
• Clients , who, as we mentioned earlier, are mostly willing to pay more. What matters to them more than anything else is that they are supporting an eco-friendly solution.
• Shareholders , who may belong to other companies or entities focused on CSR. These provide invaluable help when searching for shared goals.

Step 6: Reviewing and continuously improving your sustainability plan

This final step never really comes to an end, as it just keeps going as a cycle. We recommend establishing a methodology for constantly reviewing, monitoring and developing your plan. Therefore, you’ll need two professionals to take care of this. One of them needs to be part of the company’s senior management, while the other should be an independent specialist.

Together, and with representatives for all stakeholders , they will embark on the review process. Following this, they will report back on the progress to those who have invested in the plan. The aim of this is to show exactly how their time and money have been used, as well as the milestones that have already been achieved and those that are still in progress.

This is when you’ll have to sit down and review each of your KPIs one by one in order to compare the degree to which each of them have been achieved and determine whether or not the company is heading in the right direction. If, on the other hand, it is deemed to be going in the opposite direction, there’s no need to worry: this step will allow you to detect the causes and further develop your sustainability plan .

Conclusions and recommendations for creating an effective sustainability plan

We are firm believers that this needs to be a three-pronged approach that tackles the economic, environmental and social scope of the company in order to provide a true reflection of its current situation. This also includes ensuring that the needs of its clients, investors and society as a whole are being met.

• Get in touch with experts in this field to create a network of collaborators, both internal and external. This will give you a valuable and constant flow of ideas.
• Report on your progress and challenges . Your company should provide frequent updates on its achievements and shortcomings. Don’t be afraid to ask for advice.
• Use supporting software . One example is the program developed by APLANET, which allows you to manage all your information efficiently and give you complete control over traceability.

Create a sustainability plan that meets your company’s goals with the help of APLANET. With our software, you can collect data and manage your indicators and information all in one place, while also generating your own reports. Request a demo .

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Why operating sustainably leads to more business success.

by Geoff Poulton collages by Klawe Rzeczy photos by Getty Images illustration by Stefan Mosebach

Read more about the topic "sustainability"

For significant periods of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic all but shut down major cogs in the world economy. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the year were expected to be approximately 8% lower than 2019 – the largest drop ever recorded. Yet to keep global temperature increases below 1.5°C – the point at which climate change could go from destructive to catastrophic – the UN says we'll need to hit this sort of reduction every year from now until 2030. It's a sobering thought. This could be a watershed year for global sustainability.

The climate emergency bears some resemblance to the coronavirus emergency: Both involve market failures, international cooperation, complex science and system resilience. Yet even though Covid-19 has much of the business world's immediate attention, the virus should not distract from more serious long-term issues. In early 2020, the World Economic Forum's Global Risk Repor t identified a number of threats to global prosperity over the next decade. The top five were environmental. Awareness has never been higher. Neither has the pressure on companies from governments, customers, investors and employees. It may trigger fears around competitiveness and profit margins, but operating sustainably is fast becoming sensible business. "When a company does it well, sustainability can drive operational efficiency, innovation, resilience, engagement and brand loyalty," says Tensie Whelan, director of NYU Stern School of Business's Center for Sustainable Business.

Sustainability & Climate Action

Roland Berger is a thought leader in environmental issues and the response demanded from organizations. Our publications cover all relevant areas.

BlackRock says 88% of sustainable indexes outperformed non-sustainable counterparts in the first four months of 2020. Do we need to fundamentally reconsider the way we do business? Peter Bakker, president and CEO of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, says it is time. "Ten years ago, sustainability was all about corporate social responsibility. For the last five years, it's been about how to integrate sustainability into core business strategies. The next five years are all about how we integrate it into capitalism."

100% of the top five threats to global prosperity identified by the World Economic Forum's 2020 Global Risk Report were environmental.

That won't be easy . Environmental sustainability covers an array of topics, from carbon emissions to biodiversity loss – it's difficult to prioritize and to maintain development while operating more responsibly. While the path forward may require sacrifice, it will also create opportunities. A collaboration between the UN, WWF and other NGOs, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) helps companies reduce emissions. It says bold climate action could yield global economic gains of $26 trillion and create 65 million new jobs over the next 12 years: Change doesn't have to be a choice between our economy and environment. Establishing the right balance could be the hardest challenge humanity has ever faced. To solve the sustainability puzzle, businesses must get to grips with four key pieces: They have to understand their footprint, use that knowledge to adapt their operations, plan for long-term changes and communicate clearly and honestly to employees, customers and investors.

Measure your footprint

To understand what changes are needed, companies must grasp their environmental impact. Traditionally, that focused on a business' own operations. "But that only tells part of the story," explains Myles McCarthy, director at Carbon Trust, which works with businesses, governments and organizations around the world to lower their carbon emissions. "To properly address the issue, we need to look at emissions across the entire value chain to gain a more complete picture and to tackle areas responsible for the greatest emissions." Machine learning, the internet of things and smart meters now make it easier than ever for a company to accurately measure things like energy demand, carbon emissions and water or material use. Armed with this knowledge, they can set science-based targets for improvements. For climate change, that means targets that are in line with what the latest science says is necessary to meet the goals of the 2018 Paris Agreement: to limit global warming to 1.5°C – or 2.0°C at the absolute most – above pre-industrial levels.

But why 1.5°C? According to SBTi, that will mean businesses have more secure supply chains; healthier and safer workforces that are less exposed to extreme heat, water scarcity and food shortages; as well as more stable operations that are significantly less at risk of dramatic changes to their water supplies. To hit the 1.5°C target means drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions which trap the heat warming our climate. Current scientific consensus states that society must be climate neutral, or at "net-zero emissions," by the middle of this century. Any GHGs still emitted at that point – a near certainty on the current trajectory – must be offset by measures to actively remove excess carbon from the atmosphere.

"There will never be one single metric that shows a company is or isn’t sustainable."

Ioannis Ioannou

2020 saw companies outline their goals to go carbon neutral, from Amazon to Unilever. Some want to go further. Microsoft and Ikea say that by 2030 they aim to be carbon negative by removing more GHGs from the atmosphere than they emit. While climate change is perhaps the most pressing and well-understood aspect of environmental sustainability , it isn't the only one. There is a growing need to consider the damage to our planet's biodiversity: A recent WWF study emphasizes global populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles plummeted 68% between 1970 and 2016. There are calls for science-based targets to mitigate these issues. Ioannis Ioannou, a sustainable business professor at London Business School, says companies must stay informed and flexible. "There will never be one single metric that shows a company is or isn't sustainable. Science evolves and targets may change."

Adapt your operations

Armed with greater knowledge and realistic targets, a business can begin to adapt its operations. Specifics will vary, but almost any company can quickly improve its sustainability credentials by using energy, water and raw materials more efficiently. Switch energy sourcing to renewables, consider phasing out petrol-powered vehicle fleets for electric, recycle as much as possible – most of the steps really are as obvious as they seem. One apparent hurdle may be cost. At a time when plenty of businesses are counting the cost of coronavirus , investing in the latest sustainable technology may not seem a priority. Tensie Whelan encourages companies to look beyond the upfront expense and consider the full life cycle cost. " Renewable energy is dropping in price all the time. As sustainability becomes a larger priority and demand for more environmentally friendly operations rises, equipment costs will fall. We may have carbon taxes. I think, and hope, that in the not-too-distant future, there will be stronger penalties on unsustainable performance."

In some ways, changing the infrastructure at your own shops, factories and offices is the easy part. But businesses must also consider the impact environmental change will have on their supply chains. Coronavirus has highlighted the fragility of the connected global economy. With climate change set to increase "the frequency, magnitude and scope of acute supply chain disruptions," according to a recent report by The Sustainability Consortium and HSBC, companies are well-advised to scrutinize their supply chains.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says climate change will increase the impact and frequency of extreme weather events like storms, floods, heat waves and droughts as well as hastening sea level rise, water scarcity, loss of agricultural productivity and land degradation. If you think that sounds a long way off, 50°C temperatures in India can already shut down outdoor work for days at a time in northern India. Fertile soil is being lost at a rate of 24 billion tons a year.

Supply chain disruption can be a costly business. In 2011, severe floods in Thailand affected thousands of companies worldwide and caused insured losses of between $15 billion and $20 billion. The UN says productivity losses in the US connected to climate change-related workplace disruption could top $2 trillion by 2030. Sectors likely to suffer most include agriculture, construction and mining. The impacts to these areas will ripple through nearly the entire economy. Mitigating these risks will require businesses to strike a balance. Deep, long-term collaborations with suppliers can promote a willingness to share information and make adjustments, such as building up stock capacities or strengthening infrastructure. But be wary of putting too many eggs in one basket. Diversity, particularly geographically, is important to protect against disruptions caused by extreme weather or environmental change.

Plan for the long term

The path to sustainability may be a long and challenging one for some businesses. Companies will find it considerably easier to reduce scope one and two emissions, but large scope three emissions suggest business models that depend heavily on either suppliers or customers emitting large amounts of GHGs. "That may require a more radical rethink," says Ioannis Ioannou. "Large organizations in particular often find it hard to adapt to new conditions. In the past, we just let them die out. But with sustainability, we don't have an infinite time horizon. So unprecedented challenges require an unprecedented level of planning, cooperation and adaptation."

The coming decade could be decisive for the long-term survival of companies and entire industries. BP's annual report on the future of energy in September 2020 suggested oil demand may have peaked in 2019. In the same week, the company announced a $1.1 billion investment in offshore wind as it seeks to change the way it does business.

Technological development is fundamental to creating a more sustainable way of life. But innovation is no silver bullet. Rare earth elements are crucial for wind turbines, solar cells and batteries, but the extraction process pollutes soil and water, and demand is likely to outstrip supply. Data centers that power cloud computing now account for around 2% of all electricity use in the US. And global electronic and electrical waste currently amounts to approximately 50 million tons each year, more than all commercial airliners ever manufactured, with only 20% formally recycled.

Solving these problems requires businesses and governments to collaborate more closely, says Ioannou. "We still lack the right knowledge, experience and expertise to deal with a lot of these challenges. Companies can step up, but they cannot solve all the problems." With the clock ticking, the next two decades are likely to bring some of the most radical transformations ever witnessed to our economic mechanisms: decarbonizing energy systems, finding ways to feed a growing population without destroying nature and shifting to a more circular economy to reduce waste.

Communicate transparently

Awareness of sustainability issues among customers, employees, investors and regulators is increasing all the time. Greenwashing – when companies exaggerate sustainability claims – is still a problem, but it's becoming much easier to spot, says Tom Lawless, head of sustainability at communications agency Headland, which works with organizations like PepsiCo, the UN and B Lab. When it comes to environmental matters, businesses need to communicate honestly and transparently. More are doing so. The Economist recently analyzed emissions disclosures from more than 5,000 globally listed companies. In America, 67% of the S&P 500 now disclose what they release into the Earth's atmosphere, up from 53% in 2015; on the Euro Stopt 600, the number has almost doubled from 40% to 79%; and in Japan, it has risen from 13% to 46% of the Nikkei 225.

This is just one piece of the jigsaw, though. Fear and uncertainty can prevent businesses from communicating effectively, but it's important that all stakeholders, both internal and external, know what's going on. Increasingly, that should include educating consumers, says Tensie Whelan. "Too many businesses don't engage consumers with good messaging around sustainability. It's still 'buy, buy, buy,' but there's very little attention given to the true cost of what's being made." Consumer goods giant Unilever is one company that recognizes this. In June, it announced plans to label every single one of its 70,000 different products with details of the GHG emissions created from manufacturing and shipping. "An important step that others should follow," Whelan says.

"You can’t talk your way into a good reputation on sustainability."

Tom Lawless

How a company communicates on sustainability is tightly linked to its wider strategy around environmental governance. "You can't talk your way into a good reputation on sustainability, you have to act your way into it," Tom Lawless says. Business leaders should involve communications teams earlier than they probably think to see if a sustainability strategy meets the expectations of all stakeholders. "Where the strategy exceeds expectations – that's where you can enhance your reputation and where you should focus communications efforts." There can be numerous benefits to this.

Sustainable businesses are becoming increasingly attractive places to work, particularly among younger people. According to one 2019 US survey, nearly 40% of millennials said they had chosen a job because the company performed better on sustainability than the alternative. Investors, too, are paying more attention to the matter. A 2019 study of more than 40 global investment firms found it to be "almost universally top of mind" for asset managers. Show investors that you focus on sustainable, long-term value creation and you will ultimately lower the cost of doing business, Lawless says. "That's very different to just thinking about a short-term marketing bump."

Much of our economy today follows a linear "make, use, dispose" pattern. A circular economy looks to use as few resources as possible, keep them in circulation for as long as possible and then recover them at the end of a product's life. This means more recycling and repairing, as well as business models that encourage trade-ins. Those models could generate four times more jobs than waste treatment, disposal and recycling.

Currently, we use more than 100 billion tons of resources each year. Electronic waste is up nearly a quarter in the last five years and 35% of the world's landfill is made of construction waste. The bad news is that things are getting worse: a 2020 report says the world economy is now 8.6% circular, down from 9.1% in 2018.

Businesses are stepping up. Ikea, for example, recently announced it will buy back furniture from customers to sell secondhand. Fairphone is gaining a wider audience for its easy-to-repair modular phones and also runs a take-back scheme. Schneider Electric is using recycled content and recyclable materials in its products and is also introducing take-back schemes into its supply chain.

Some dismiss it as a distraction. But many say it's a step in the right direction. A circular economy doesn't force people to change how much they buy. Resources and energy are lost in each step of the recycling process; that means extracting more resources from our planet. We need to slow the consumption of materials, resources and energy, and – ideally – create zero waste solutions.

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• Section 1. Strategies for the Long-Term Sustainability of an Initiative: An Overview

Chapter 46 Sections

• Section 2. Strategies for Sustaining the Initiative
• Section 3. Promoting Adoption of the Initiative's Mission and Objectives
• Section 4. Attracting Support for Specific Programs
• Section 5. Marketing the Initiative to Secure Financial Support
• Section 6. Sharing Positions and Other Resources
• Section 7. Becoming a Line Item in an Existing Budget
• Section 8. Incorporating Activities/Services in Organizations with a Similar Mission
• Section 9. Obtaining Corporate Resources
• Section 10. Tapping into Existing Personnel Resources
• Section 11. Soliciting Contributions and In-kind Support
• Section 12. Designing and Implementing a Fundraiser
• Section 13. Pursuing Third Party Funding
• Section 14. Developing a Fee-for-Services Structure
• Section 15. Acquiring Public Funding
• Section 16. Securing Endowments and Planned Giving Arrangements
• Section 17. Establishing and Maintaining a Membership Program
• Section 18. Developing and Marketing Products
• Main Section

So your initiative has really taken off. Congratulations! Now you want to make sure that all of your hard work will not be washed away by time and inactivity. If you believe in the work you are doing, you want to find a way to keep it going when the grant lapses, the political winds change, or when someone important (even you!) must leave the organization. In short, you want to make your initiative a permanent part of the community. To do this you must sustain your initiative.

What does this mean?

Sustainability is the active process of establishing your initiative - not merely continuing your program, but developing relationships, practices, and procedures that become a lasting part of the community.

You may have several different reasons for wanting to do this, depending on what kind of an initiative or organization it is.

But one thing is clear: developing a plan for the sustainability of your initiative will increase its impact. And it will certainly make your life easier, because the group members will have a better idea of what they will be doing next month and next year. In this section, we will help you lay the groundwork you need to create such a plan.

What is a plan for sustainability?

Planning is a way to organize actions that will lead to the fulfillment of a goal. We've talked in other sections of the Tool Box about the importance of planning and how to do it.

Before you do that, however, it's important to look at what is unique to planning for sustainability. Your goal in this case is to maximize long-term benefit to your community. If you have created something of value, you don't want it to disappear. Because of this larger goal, planning for sustainability is more long-term than much of the other planning you will do, and it is also more all-encompassing. It asks you to step away from the daily details of running your organization and look at the picture as a whole.

How do you do that? By looking at the important questions, answering them frankly, and then using those answers to develop your strategic plan. Below is a list of eight questions that are basic to just about any sustainability effort. We suggest several key members of your coalition work together to answer them, and also decide together if there are other important questions unique to your initiative that should be discussed.

• What is the nature of our initiative (or organization)?
• What are the goals of our initiative?
• What has our initiative done?
• What publicity has our initiative received?
• How is our initiative structured and governed?
• Does our initiative have sufficient staffing?
• Is our budget sufficient to cover expected costs now and in the future?
• What are some obstacles we may encounter? And how do we get around them?

Example: We've worked really hard for over a year now. We believe our efforts to decrease the rate of homeless mentally ill in our city have been helpful; however, we cannot keep having bake sales every time we need money. Because our initiative is new and lacks structure and legitimacy, we miss out on opportunities for funding. People don't even really know who we are. And besides, our fearless leader, Karin, is getting tired. He's been working over twenty hours a week in addition to his regular job on this initiative, and at this rate he'll surely burn out. If we don't do something soon to provide our initiative with the staying power it needs to continue on into the years to come, it may be in trouble. But how do we go about doing this? How can we make sure our initiative will last?

• Here's the key point: Planning to sustain our initiative will help us if we want it to be around in the future. Answering the questions above will save us time in the long run, and increase the chances of accomplishing our goals.

Why should you plan for sustainability?

• To give yourself the time you need to solve the problem. The larger the problem, the longer it often takes to solve. In some cases, a full solution may not come about for years.

For example , we're not going to end child abuse overnight, sadly enough. If the issue you are working on requires a similarly long-term solution, you'll want to be around for a while.

• To help you map out how to get from point A (an initiative with little structure and an uncertain future outlook) to point B (a sustained initiative with the structure and legitimacy it needs for future years of service).
• To make your sustainability efforts more efficient and effective. A plan is important because it focuses on the set of steps you will need to go through to achieve your ultimate goal, in this case an initiative with lasting impact. A planned effort will almost always be superior to an unplanned, disorganized attempt.
• Also, developing a plan to keep your initiative alive will almost certainly be more cost-effective than starting a new program, or starting your initiative all over again!

When should you plan for sustainability?

Planning for sustainability can't come any too soon. Begin as soon as your organization creates its vision, mission, and objectives. Even as you consider which strategies to pursue , you should consider the sustainability of the planned efforts. Planning for sustainability is a process, not a one-time event.

How do you plan for sustainability?

As we mentioned above, the first step in planning for sustainability is to answer the important questions. Let's look at the eight key questions (or steps) given above in greater detail.

Step 1. Ask yourself: What is the nature of our initiative or organization?

Not all initiatives or organizations are the same. The decision to sustain your initiative or organization depends a lot on your purpose and future plans. Before you make any decisions about your initiative or organization's future, ask yourself, "What is my initiative all about?" and, "Where do we see ourselves in two years time?"

Initiatives and organizations tend to be purposeful. There's little doubt you will have answers for these questions. Otherwise, you would probably not have banded together in the first place. Now, you need to articulate or reaffirm your purpose.

Example 1 : You may be part of an initiative to decrease the rate of teen-age pregnancy in your city. This is not an easy issue with a quick fix. It seems obvious that your organization is planning on staying around for a while. You must take steps to make sure your organization has the durability to survive in the non-profit world. But what do you do from here?

Example 2 : Conversely, you may be part of a city-wide initiative to clean up the area around the river that runs through your city. People involved in this initiative may have varying reasons for getting involved, but the purpose of the initiative is clear: to clean up the area around the river. What is unclear is whether or not your one-time cleanup will do the job. Will or should this group of people ever meet again after the cleanup is complete? Will or should an organization form to clean up all of the city's eyesores? Here, you have choices. The answers to these questions aren't necessarily apparent.

An initiative that plans to meet in the future with a definite mission may feel that it has a need to develop an ongoing structure, whereas a group of volunteers that band together occasionally to clean may or may not. Thinking about the nature of your initiative or organization will help you decide.

Step 2. Ask yourself: What are the goals of our initiative?

Goals are important to any organization, no matter how large or small. Community building is not easy work, but it is rewarding and it can be fun. A key to getting satisfaction from any kind of community change effort is to be able to see your hard work turn into positive results. One way to mark these results is the achievement of your goals.

In order to have the satisfaction of seeing your goals fulfilled, you must have clear goals from the start. The goals of your initiative may seem to range from "a piece of cake" to "overwhelming," but don't worry - the whole reason you are planning to sustain your initiative is because you are planning to be around for a while.

So relax. Some initiatives may even produce unexpected positive results.

Example: Your organization may have formed to see that a set of traffic lights be put up at a dangerous intersection within your neighborhood. Since your "traffic light initiative" became widely known, neighbors have been coming out in droves to show their support. During your weekly meeting to discuss the traffic situation, some people have voiced other neighborhood concerns. Now your initiative must ask itself what it wants to be when it grows up. What are its goals? Will your initiative be satisfied with the appearance of the one traffic light it set out to get? Or has its goals changed? Do people now wish to become a neighborhood organization with an open forum for neighbors to discuss concerns? Once your initiative can decide what its goals are, you will be one step closer to its sustainability.

Step 3. Ask yourself: What has our initiative done?

When you start planning to sustain your initiative, it's an especially good time to step back and survey what you have accomplished so far. By seeing your successes and possibly re-examining some mistakes you may have made along the way, you will better understand where you are and where you're going. Take those accomplishments and use them to plan! Build on what you have done. You've learned a lot since you started. If you've done well, do more of the same, or possibly branch out in new directions. If you've struggled, take a look at why. Your accomplishments should help you to grow!

Example: Our initiative to form a coalition of agencies to lower the incidence of teen violence after school has met with mixed success. After only one year in existence, our initiative, TEVAS (Teens Erase Violence After School), has four member organizations, including the originators. The Big Brother Program is encouraging its big brothers to take their little brothers to the after-school basketball league; the YMCA is donating the basketball court time; and the local university has arranged for students to run the basketball league and teach the teens social competence skills. These things are great! But stepping back and looking at our initiative more critically, we can see that only a fraction of our target population is involved in the league. For example, not everyone has a big brother, although some teens are joining on their own. In addition, we may be excluding teens who can't play basketball well and may be afraid to play for fear of embarrassing themselves. Also, we don't know how well the university students are teaching the social competence skills, nor if the teens are learning. We've heard reports that the basketball is great but the classes are "boring." And finally, we haven't built any evaluative component into our initiative. As we've seen just by stepping back, things are going well, but we're not perfect. The more complicated things get, the more we'll need to be able to objectively evaluate how things are going. We need to analyze and evaluate our accomplishments if we want to continue and improve our work in the community.

Wow! This isn't that hard. What's next?

Step 4. Ask yourself: What publicity has our initiative received?

Are you public yet? Who knows about your initiative? Let's hope it isn't the best -kept secret in the world. Your organization has probably worked very hard, and the more people who know about its existence the better.

Remember: You want people to know about you. You want your name in people's minds. If your initiative is kept quiet, people may wonder why - or worse yet, they'll never hear about you at all. An effective community organization is too good to keep secret. Besides, if you want new members, keeping quiet is not the way to go about it. Announcing your existence will make your organization feel confident. Opponents will begin to worry about you. Supporters will be happy you're around, and your initiative will have more staying power. It's a win/win situation.

How public do you want to go? Well, that depends on you. You may want to put flyers on every car in the city, advertise in the newspaper, participate in a demonstration, or even arrange a press conference to proclaim the existence of your initiative. It's up to you.

However you decide to publicize your work , just remember that what's important is that the public becomes aware of who you are, what you are doing, and the fact that the door is always open for people interested in helping out.

Example 1: Jon's initiative is not going so well. He is trying to get the city to remove all of the lead paint from the run-down buildings in the downtown area. Jon began his initiative by slipping flyers under the doors of a few people he thought would be interested in doing something about the lead paint problem. But whenever the group met, there were always fewer than ten people. Few people are even aware of Jon and the efforts of his group. The initiative seems to be a secret organization. Not only are they small in number, but when their leader, Jon, contacted City Hall to discuss the removal of lead paint, they said that they had never heard of his initiative. Also, members of Jon's group encountered resistance from Jon when they suggested that the group either try enlisting the help of the city council or demonstrating near City Hall. Jon was worried that the City Council would definitely say "no," and demonstrating would only anger the city. Jon's method of continually meeting and brainstorming with his core and only members seems to work less and less as the weeks drag on and nothing gets accomplished. Members have been quitting and the initiative is all but dead. Some problems Jon's initiative faces: Few people know about it. Few people are involved with it. The public is still unaware of the issue and Jon's initiative to fight it. Marcelo's initiative is having better luck.

Example 2: Marcelo's initiative to keep some major corporations from dumping sludge in his town is going well. Marcelo has been quite a vocal spokesperson for the cause, being quoted in the local newspaper virtually every day. The initiative, Neighbors Against Sludge Around Here (NASAH), received wide press coverage when it picketed one of the proposed dumping sites. They have also had a few press conferences near the sites. The publicity his organization has received has prompted many residents to write to their town council, senators, and congress to protest the proposed sludge. At the latest "standing room only" town meeting, residents voted not to allow their town to be a dumping ground for sludge. In Marcelo's case, publicity is doing a lot of the hard work for him. The more awareness exists around a problem, the easier it should be to get support. The difference between the two examples is clear. Although both the issues of lead paint removal and sludge are important, neighbors have been vocal and supportive of Marcelo's initiative because they are more familiar with it. But in Jon's case, there has been little support for the initiative because it has been kept quiet. Marcelo's initiative was publicized, and Jon's kept hidden. Which do you think is more likely to last?

Step 5. Ask yourself: How is our initiative structured?

The term "structure" may carry positive or negative connotations. To some it may mean something well organized and efficient. To others, it may mean endless paperwork or rules and regulations. But however one looks at it, some structure is necessary, because without it things fall apart.

Initiatives and organizations operate within different degrees of structure. The structure of an initiative is closely related to the ease or difficulty of its sustainability. Generally speaking, the better defined the structure, the easier sustainability becomes.

To help determine how structured your initiative is, try to answer these questions : Does your organization have clearly defined policies regarding membership, elections, establishing committees, changing laws, and spending money? Do you meet regularly, at the same time and place? Are there clear policies about how meetings should run?

The answers to these questions will help you decide how structured your initiative is. Knowing how well your organization is structured will help when it comes time to sustain. If you decide it needs more structure, you can start taking steps to build this in.

Another reason you want to sustain your initiative is so that it can continue to run smoothly when the present leaders have moved on, and when new leadership emerges. Grooming new leaders is one of the most important things an organization should do if it wishes to survive. Knowing how the organization works, and passing that information down to the next generation, will save these new leaders from some of the pitfalls you have experienced.

Example: Our initiative to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy has been around for a while, but it still needs structure. So far, we have done things mainly by the seat of our pants. Our dedicated leader, Betsy, has had the burden of making most of the decisions herself with the help of a core group of leaders. The reason for this is our initiative doesn't have any policies regarding decision-making. Because Betsy is the leader, the other members feel it is Betsy's place to make all the decisions. But Betsy won't be able to be the leader forever, and we're not sure what will happen to the initiative when she leaves.

Creating a sufficient amount of organizational structure, and transferring it to new leadership, will help ensure your initiative's survival. And if you know how your organization works, but you haven't already written it down, now would be a good time!

Step 6. Ask yourself: Does our initiative have sufficient staffing?

Basically, this question is easy; it doesn't involve brain surgery. Does your initiative have sufficient staffing? Do some members of your organization feel like they're doing more than their fair share? If so, you may want to recruit more members, take on more volunteers, or hire more paid staff, depending on your situation.

You may also want to consider spreading out the work. Naturally, some organizations have so much work that no matter how it's delegated, there's always too much. Other organizations may find that they have enough people power; they just need to split up the workload more fairly.

Think about which situation your organization most closely resembles; that will provide you with an answer. Remember, your organization has a much better chance or surviving if the workload is well distributed, so that everyone has at least a small piece of the action.

For more information, see Chapter 9: Developing an Organizational Structure for the Initiative.

Step 7. Ask yourself: What are some obstacles we may encounter? And how will we get around them?

Anticipate obstacles that may occur. Things don't usually run perfectly, and anything can and sometimes does happen. By knowing the history of your organization and that of the groups you work with, you'll have an idea of where many problems might occur, as well as how to prepare for them. Be prepared to overcome likely obstacles, and keep an eye open for those that spring up out of the blue. A hurdler doesn't worry about tripping over hurdles; he or she hurdles them. You must be prepared to do the same.

Step 8. Ask yourself: Is our budget sufficient to cover our expected costs now and in the future?

This question needs to be considered very carefully; it may determine the life span of your initiative. If you feel you have enough funding to cover your costs, you may want to start thinking about expanding. If you feel you don't have sufficient funds to cover your costs now and in the future - it's time to start thinking seriously about raising money .

Answering the eight questions brought up in this section isn't enough, on its own, to ensure that your program will remain in existence through changes in leadership or funding, or when other important events affect your initiative. Nonetheless, answering them is an important "first step" to be taken before you write your action plan for sustainability. This thorough understanding of what you stand for, what you want to achieve and how to get it will almost certainly lead to an effective, well-respected organization - in short, one that's almost guaranteed to be around for a long, long time.

Online Resources

A Sustainability Planning Guide for Healthy Communities describes science‐ and practice‐based evidence designed to help coalitions, public‐health professionals, and other community stakeholders develop, implement, and evaluate a successful sustainability plan.

Coalition Sustainability Characteristics describes the main characteristics a group needs to be sustainable.

Factors that Promote Sustainability is formatted in a checklist to help groups decide where to focus in order to achieve sustainability.

Key Sustainability Tasks for Coalitions outlines the tasks that need to be accomplished in each stage of development to achieve sustainability.

Letting Go: Why I t's So Hard to Say Goodbye (to our interventions)  an article from Community Psychology about de-implementation which is the process by which health promotion and prevention-oriented interventions end.

The Program Sustainability Assessment Tool: A New Instrument for Public Health Programs is from the CDC. This "PSAT" is a new and reliable instrument for assessing the capacity for program sustainability of various public health and other programs.

Promoting Sustainability of Community Health Initiatives: An Empirical Case Study  describes an empirical study of strategies used to promote sustainability of community health initiatives. A total of three initiatives for prevention of adolescent pregancy and three initiatives for prevention of adolescent substance use in Kansas were studied.

Sustainability information page from Implementation Matters.

The CDC's article entitled  Using the Program Sustainability Assessment Tool to Assess and Plan for Sustainability is a helpful resource that includes a case example of a chronic disease program that completed the Program Sustainability Tool and engaged in program sustainability planning.

Print Resources

Homan, M. (1994). Promoting community change: Making it happen in the real world . Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.

Lefebvre, R. (1990). Strategies to maintain and institutionalize successful programs: A marketing framework . In N. Bracht (Ed.). Health promotion at the community level. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Steckler, A., & Goodman, R. (1989). How to institutionalize health promotion programs . American Journal of Health Promotion, 3(4), 34-44.

Strategic Planning for a Sustainable Development Centre Using the Balanced Scorecard

• First Online: 04 May 2021

Cite this chapter

• Mauricio de Andrade Lima 7 ,
• Gisele Mazon 8 ,
• Brenda Caroline Geraldo Castro 9 ,
• Stephane Louise BocaSanta 8 &
• José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra 8  

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

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The aim of this study was to present the results of the strategic planning process and the use of the Balanced Scorecard as a strategy management system for the Center for Sustainable Development/Research Group on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (Greens), University of Southern Santa Catarina (Unisul). Data collection technique, interviews, unsystematic observation, documentary and bibliographic research were used. As for the data analysis technique, content analysis and triangulation were used. As a result of the Strategic Planning and through the process of adapting the Balanced ScoreCard tool (BSC), it was possible to unfold the strategy in more objective terms at the individual level of each member, since everyone, now, could “see each other” where each one contributed to the process and what were its objectives and goals. In conclusion, it is understood that it is possible to incorporate the use of new administrative tools to develop excellence in research, contributing to the academic debate and allowing this action to be replicated in countless other universities and research groups in the world.

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de Andrade Lima, M., Mazon, G., Castro, B.C.G., BocaSanta, S.L., de Andrade Guerra, J.B.S.O. (2021). Strategic Planning for a Sustainable Development Centre Using the Balanced Scorecard. In: Leal Filho, W., Salvia, A.L., Brandli, L., Azeiteiro, U.M., Pretorius, R. (eds) Universities, Sustainability and Society: Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_14

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Industrial Management & Data Systems

ISSN : 0263-5577

Article publication date: 16 March 2010

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework that intends to help organisations achieve the sustainability goal by means of a methodology that integrates sustainability in both the planning and management tasks of the organisation and that serves as a base for the implementation of an information system aligned with the business strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

After an exhaustive review of literature about corporate social responsibility, strategic planning of organisations and balanced scorecards (BSCs), a methodology has been developed that describes the process of designing and implementing a sustainability BSC for sustainability strategic planning and management.

The methodology can be easily implemented at companies with a minimum of computer resources, but managers play a key role in its success, since they are the responsible for providing the necessary environment for overcoming such an important change.

Research limitations/implications

The methodology has only been applied once and their results will only be able to be analysed after a long time. Meanwhile, more implementations have to be performed to test and improve the different steps und tools until the methodology can be considered definitive.

Practical implications

The methodology could be used by many organisations, improving their social and environmental performance and contributing to their sustainability and the sustainability of all of their stakeholders, specially for society as a whole. Readers of this paper could see a practical application of methodology and its viability by means of the case.

Originality/value

An innovative structure for BSCs which has been developed having in mind the sustainability since the beginning, but not justly adding environmental and social variables to a model designed with economical purposes.

• Strategic planning
• Corporate social responsibility
• Balanced scorecard
• Information systems
• Sustainable development

León‐Soriano, R. , Jesús Muñoz‐Torres, M. and Chalmeta‐Rosaleñ, R. (2010), "Methodology for sustainability strategic planning and management", Industrial Management & Data Systems , Vol. 110 No. 2, pp. 249-268. https://doi.org/10.1108/02635571011020331

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Strategy for Sustainability Management in the United Nations System 2020-2030

In December 2018, the Secretary-General of the United Nations asked the system to raise the level of its internal ambitions and intensify its efforts to combat climate change from within. At the climate summit he had called for, which was held in September 2019, the Secretary-General highlighted that the United Nations was “walking the talk” on environmental sustainability and climate change.

This request raised the profile of mandate from senior officials of the Environment Management Group to develop an internal sustainability vision and strategy  for the United Nations beyond 2020 in order to confirm the Organization’s leadership aspirations in the area of internal environmental and social sustainability and to show that the United Nations aligns its own performance with the principles that it has pioneered internationally.

PHASE I: ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AREA OF MANAGEMENT

In 2019 the CEB endorsed the Strategy for sustainability management in the United Nations system, 2020–2030 Phase I: Environmental sustainability in the area of management (“Sustainability Strategy I”) (CEB/2019/1/Add.1).

PHASE II: TOWARDS LEADERSHIP IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

In 2021 the CEB endorsed the Strategy for sustainability management in the United Nations system, 2020-2030 - Phase II: Towards leadership in environmental and social sustainability - (“Sustainability Strategy II”) (CEB/2021/2/Add.1)

Sustainability Strategy II responds to the Board’s tasking of developing a “comprehensive sustainability strategy” encompassing a “fuller picture of environmental and social sustainability in UN system policies, programming and support functions”.

Sustainability Strategy II builds on 30+ existing UN system wide strategies and action plans that are already in place and aims at fostering greater coherence.

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How to improve strategic planning

In conference rooms everywhere, corporate planners are in the midst of the annual strategic-planning process. For the better part of a year, they collect financial and operational data, make forecasts, and prepare lengthy presentations with the CEO and other senior managers about the future direction of the business. But at the end of this expensive and time-consuming process, many participants say they are frustrated by its lack of impact on either their own actions or the strategic direction of the company.

This sense of disappointment was captured in a recent McKinsey Quarterly survey of nearly 800 executives: just 45 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the strategic-planning process. 1 1. “ Improving strategic planning: A McKinsey Survey ,” The McKinsey Quarterly , Web exclusive, September 2006. The survey, conducted in late July and early August 2006, received 796 responses from a panel of executives from around the world. All panelists have mostly financial or strategic responsibilities and work in a wide range of industries for organizations with revenues of at least $500 million. Moreover, only 23 percent indicated that major strategic decisions were made within its confines. Given these results, managers might well be tempted to jettison the planning process altogether.

But for those working in the overwhelming majority of corporations, the annual planning process plays an essential role. In addition to formulating at least some elements of a company’s strategy, the process results in a budget, which establishes the resource allocation map for the coming 12 to 18 months; sets financial and operating targets, often used to determine compensation metrics and to provide guidance for financial markets; and aligns the management team on its strategic priorities. The operative question for chief executives is how to make the planning process more effective—not whether it is the sole mechanism used to design strategy. CEOs know that strategy is often formulated through ad hoc meetings or brand reviews, or as a result of decisions about mergers and acquisitions.

Our research shows that formal strategic-planning processes play an important role in improving overall satisfaction with strategy development. That role can be seen in the responses of the 79 percent of managers who claimed that the formal planning process played a significant role in developing strategies and were satisfied with the approach of their companies, compared with only 21 percent of the respondents who felt that the process did not play a significant role. Looked at another way, 51 percent of the respondents whose companies had no formal process were dissatisfied with their approach to the development of strategy, against only 20 percent of those at companies with a formal process.

So what can managers do to improve the process? There are many ways to conduct strategic planning, but determining the ideal method goes beyond the scope of this article. Instead we offer, from our research, five emergent ideas that executives can employ immediately to make existing processes run better. The changes we discuss here (such as a focus on important strategic issues or a connection to core-management processes) are the elements most linked with the satisfaction of employees and their perceptions of the significance of the process. These steps cannot guarantee that the right strategic decisions will be made or that strategy will be better executed, but by enhancing the planning process—and thus increasing satisfaction with the development of strategy—they will improve the odds for success.

Start with the issues

Ask CEOs what they think strategic planning should involve and they will talk about anticipating big challenges and spotting important trends. At many companies, however, this noble purpose has taken a backseat to rigid, data-driven processes dominated by the production of budgets and financial forecasts. If the calendar-based process is to play a more valuable role in a company’s overall strategy efforts, it must complement budgeting with a focus on strategic issues. In our experience, the first liberating change managers can make to improve the quality of the planning process is to begin it by deliberately and thoughtfully identifying and discussing the strategic issues that will have the greatest impact on future business performance.

Granted, an approach based on issues will not necessarily yield better strategic results. The music business, for instance, has discussed the threat posed by digital-file sharing for years without finding an effective way of dealing with the problem. But as a first step, identifying the key issues will ensure that management does not waste time and energy on less important topics.

We found a variety of practical ways in which companies can impose a fresh strategic perspective. For instance, the CEO of one large health care company asks the leaders of each business unit to imagine how a set of specific economic, social, and business trends will affect their businesses, as well as ways to capture the opportunities—or counter the threats—that these trends pose. Only after such an analysis and discussion do the leaders settle into the more typical planning exercises of financial forecasting and identifying strategic initiatives.

One consumer goods organization takes a more directed approach. The CEO, supported by the corporate-strategy function, compiles a list of three to six priorities for the coming year. Distributed to the managers responsible for functions, geographies, and brands, the list then becomes the basis for an offsite strategy-alignment meeting, where managers debate the implications of the priorities for their particular organizations. The corporate-strategy function summarizes the results, adds appropriate corporate targets, and shares them with the organization in the form of a strategy memo, which serves as the basis for more detailed strategic planning at the division and business-unit levels.

A packaged-goods company offers an even more tailored example. Every December the corporate senior-management team produces a list of ten strategic questions tailored to each of the three business units. The leaders of these businesses have six months to explore and debate the questions internally and to come up with answers. In June each unit convenes with the senior-management team in a one-day meeting to discuss proposed actions and reach decisions.

Some companies prefer to use a bottom-up rather than top-down process. We recently worked with a sales company to design a strategic-planning process that begins with in-depth interviews (involving all of the senior managers and selected corporate and business executives) to generate a list of the most important strategic issues facing the company. The senior-management team prioritizes the list and assigns managers to explore each issue and report back in four to six weeks. Such an approach can be especially valuable in companies where internal consensus building is an imperative.

Bring together the right people

An issues-based approach won’t do much good unless the most relevant people are involved in the debate. We found that survey respondents who were satisfied with the strategic-planning process rated it highly on dimensions such as including the most knowledgeable and influential participants, stimulating and challenging the participants’ thinking, and having honest, open discussions about difficult issues. In contrast, 27 percent of the dissatisfied respondents reported that their company’s strategic planning had not a single one of these virtues. Such results suggest that too many companies focus on the data-gathering and packaging elements of strategic planning and neglect the crucial interactive components.

Strategic conversations will have little impact if they involve only strategic planners from both the business unit and the corporate levels. One of our core beliefs is that those who carry out strategy should also develop it. The key strategy conversation should take place among corporate decision makers, business unit leaders, and people with expertise essential to the discussion. In addition to leading the corporate review, the CEO, aided by members of the executive team, should as a rule lead the strategy review for business units as well. The head of a business unit, supported by four to six people, should direct the discussion from its side of the table (see sidebar, "Things to ask in any business unit review").

Things to ask in any business unit review

Are major trends and changes in your business unit’s environment affecting your strategic plan? Specifically, what potential developments in customer demand, technology, or the regulatory environment could have enough impact on the industry to change the entire plan?

How and why is this plan different from last year’s?

What were your forecasts for market growth, sales, and profitability last year, two years ago, and three years ago? How right or wrong were they? What did the business unit learn from those experiences?

What would it take to double your business unit’s growth rate and profits? Where will growth come from: expansion or gains in market share?

If your business unit plans to take market share from competitors, how will it do so, and how will they respond? Are you counting on a strategic advantage or superior execution?

What are your business unit’s distinctive competitive strengths, and how does the plan build on them?

How different is the strategy from those of competitors, and why? Is that a good or a bad thing?

Beyond the immediate planning cycle, what are the key issues, risks, and opportunities that we should discuss today?

What would a private-equity owner do with this business?

How will the business unit monitor the execution of this strategy?

One pharmaceutical company invites business unit leaders to take part in the strategy reviews of their peers in other units. This approach can help build a better understanding of the entire company and, especially, of the issues that span business units. The risk is that such interactions might constrain the honesty and vigor of the dialogue and put executives at the focus of the discussion on the defensive.

Corporate senior-management teams can dedicate only a few hours or at most a few days to a business unit under review. So team members should spend this time in challenging yet collaborative discussions with business unit leaders rather than trying to absorb many facts during the review itself. To provide some context for the discussion, best-practice companies disseminate important operational and financial information to the corporate review team well in advance of such sessions. This reading material should also tee up the most important issues facing the business and outline the proposed strategy, ensuring that the review team is prepared with well-thought-out questions. In our experience, the right 10 pages provide ample fuel to fire a vigorous discussion, but more than 25 pages will likely douse the level of energy or engagement in the room.

Adapt planning cycles to the needs of each business

Managers are justifiably concerned about the resources and time required to implement an issues-based strategic-planning approach. One easy—yet rarely adopted—solution is to free business units from the need to conduct this rigorous process every single year. In all but the most volatile, high-velocity industries, it is hard to imagine that a major strategic redirection will be necessary every planning cycle. In fact, forcing businesses to undertake this exercise annually is distracting and may even be detrimental. Managers need to focus on executing the last plan’s major initiatives, many of which can take 18 to 36 months to implement fully.

Some companies alternate the business units that undergo the complete strategic-planning process (as opposed to abbreviated annual updates of the existing plan). One media company, for example, requires individual business units to undertake strategic planning only every two or three years. This cadence enables the corporate senior-management team and its strategy group to devote more energy to the business units that are “at bat.” More important, it frees the corporate-strategy group to work directly with the senior team on critical issues that affect the entire company—issues such as developing an integrated digitization strategy and addressing unforeseen changes in the fast-moving digital-media landscape.

Other companies use trigger mechanisms to decide which business units will undergo a full strategic-planning exercise in a given year. One industrial company assigns each business unit a color-coded grade—green, yellow, or red—based on the unit’s success in executing the existing strategic plan. “Code red,” for example, would slate a business unit for a strategy review. Although many of the metrics that determine the grade are financial, some may be operational to provide a more complete assessment of the unit’s performance.

Freeing business units from participating in the strategic-planning process every year raises a caveat, however. When important changes in the external environment occur, senior managers must be able to engage with business units that are not under review and make major strategic decisions on an ad hoc basis. For instance, a major merger in any industry would prompt competitors in it to revisit their strategies. Indeed, one advantage of a tailored planning cycle is that it builds slack into the strategic-review system, enabling management to address unforeseen but pressing strategic issues as they arise.

Implement a strategic-performance-management system

In the end, many companies fail to execute the chosen strategy. More than a quarter of our survey respondents said that their companies had plans but no execution path. Forty-five percent reported that planning processes failed to track the execution of strategic initiatives. All this suggests that putting in place a system to measure and monitor their progress can greatly enhance the impact of the planning process.

Most companies believe that their existing control systems and performance-management processes (including budgets and operating reviews) are the sole way to monitor progress on strategy. As a result, managers attempt to translate the decisions made during the planning process into budget targets or other financial goals. Although this practice is sensible and necessary, it is not enough. We estimate that a significant portion of the strategic decisions we recommend to companies can’t be tracked solely through financial targets. A company undertaking a major strategic initiative to enhance its innovation and product-development capabilities, for example, should measure a variety of input metrics, such as the quality of available talent and the number of ideas and projects at each stage in development, in addition to pure output metrics such as revenues from new-product sales. One information technology company, for instance, carefully tracks the number and skill levels of people posted to important strategic projects.

Strategic-performance-management systems, which should assign accountability for initiatives and make their progress more transparent, can take many forms. One industrial corporation tracks major strategic initiatives that will have the greatest impact, across a portfolio of a dozen businesses, on its financial and strategic goals. Transparency is achieved through regular reviews and the use of financial as well as nonfinancial metrics. The corporate-strategy team assumes responsibility for reviews (chaired by the CEO and involving the relevant business-unit leaders) that use an array of milestones and metrics to assess the top ten initiatives. One to expand operations in China and India, for example, would entail regular reviews of interim metrics such as the quality and number of local employees recruited and the pace at which alliances are formed with channel partners or suppliers. Each business unit, in turn, is accountable for adopting the same performance-management approach for its own, lower-tier top-ten list of initiatives.

When designed well, strategic-performance-management systems can give an early warning of problems with strategic initiatives, whereas financial targets alone at best provide lagging indicators. An effective system enables management to step in and correct, redirect, or even abandon an initiative that is failing to perform as expected. The strategy of a pharmaceutical company that embarked on a major expansion of its sales force to drive revenue growth, for example, presupposed that rapid growth in the number of sales representatives would lead to a corresponding increase in revenues. The company also recognized, however, that expansion was in turn contingent on several factors, including the ability to recruit and train the right people. It therefore put in place a regular review of the key strategic metrics against its actual performance to alert managers to any emerging problems.

Integrate human-resources systems into the strategic plan

Simply monitoring the execution of strategic initiatives is not sufficient: their successful implementation also depends on how managers are evaluated and compensated. Yet only 36 percent of the executives we surveyed said that their companies’ strategic-planning processes were integrated with HR processes. One way to create a more valuable strategic-planning process would be to tie the evaluation and compensation of managers to the progress of new initiatives.

Although the development of strategy is ostensibly a long-term endeavor, companies traditionally emphasize short-term, purely financial targets—such as annual revenue growth or improved margins—as the sole metrics to gauge the performance of managers and employees. This approach is gradually changing. Deferred-compensation models for boards, CEOs, and some senior managers are now widely used. What’s more, several companies have added longer-term performance targets to complement the short-term ones. A major pharmaceutical company, for example, recently revamped its managerial-compensation structure to include a basket of short-term financial and operating targets as well as longer-term, innovation-based growth targets.

Although these changes help persuade managers to adopt both short- and long-term approaches to the development of strategy, they don’t address the need to link evaluation and compensation to specific strategic initiatives. One way of doing so is to craft a mix of performance targets that more appropriately reflect a company’s strategy. For example, one North American services business that launched strategic initiatives to improve its customer retention and increase sales also adjusted the evaluation and compensation targets for its managers. Rather than measuring senior managers only by revenue and margin targets, as it had done before, it tied 20 percent of their compensation to achieving its retention and cross-selling goals. By introducing metrics for these specific initiatives and linking their success closely to bonus packages, the company motivated managers to make the strategy succeed.

An advantage of this approach is that it motivates managers to flag any problems early in the implementation of a strategic initiative (which determines the size of bonuses) so that the company can solve them. Otherwise, managers all too often sweep the debris of a failing strategy under the operating rug until the spring-cleaning ritual of next year’s annual planning process.

Some business leaders have found ways to give strategic planning a more valuable role in the formulation as well as the execution of strategy. Companies that emulate their methods might find satisfaction instead of frustration at the end of the annual process.

Renée Dye is a consultant in McKinsey’s Atlanta office, and Olivier Sibony is a director in the Paris office.

This article was first published in the Autumn 2007 issue of McKinsey on Finance . Visit McKinsey’s corporate finance site to view the full issue.

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In May 2022, President Biden issued the Executive Order on Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety, calling for a whole-of-government approach to strengthening safety and building trust, fairness, and accountability throughout the criminal justice system. The Executive Order established the Federal Interagency Alternatives and Reentry Committee and called on the Attorney General to develop a DOJ-wide strategic plan for advancing the Committee’s three chief goals: safely reducing unnecessary criminal justice interactions, supporting rehabilitation during incarceration, and facilitating reentry into society of people with criminal records.

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Safely Reducing Criminal Justice System Interactions

The Executive Order calls for a strategy to safely reduce interactions with the criminal justice system. DOJ is committed to seeding, supporting, and strengthening approaches that reduce burden on law enforcement and strengthen public safety, including by:

• Promoting community-based solutions for addressing less serious offenses. In the past year, DOJ has invested $6 million to support three communities as they develop and test community-driven models for addressing less serious and low-level offenses, as alternatives to traditional law enforcement mechanisms, easing burden on officers and strengthening public safety.  
• Supporting diversion and comprehensive continuums of first response. DOJ has made significant investments in the implementation and evaluation of co-responder models and diversion strategies that connect individuals with behavioral health disorders to community-based resources and alternatives to arrest or incarceration, in appropriate cases. In the past year, DOJ has invested more than $17 million in police-behavioral health cross-system collaboration models designed to improve outcomes for individuals with mental health disorders or co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders who come into contact with law enforcement. DOJ has delivered an additional $116 million to states and localities to implement comprehensive approaches to reducing overdose deaths, promoting public safety, and expanding access to prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services in both the community and the justice system.  
• Investing in problem-solving courts . DOJ’s grants are supporting problem-solving courts that divert people with substance use disorders into judicially supervised treatment programs in appropriate cases, with a focus on promoting equity and mitigating disparate outcomes for participants. DOJ has invested approximately $115 million to support problem-solving court programs in the last year alone.  
• Supporting Community-Based Services for Young People – DOJ is investing in promising and evidence-based services designed to prevent delinquency and juvenile justice system involvement, ultimately helping to strengthen safety and improve long term outcomes for young people. In the past year, DOJ launched a new program that has invested over $17 million to help states and localities develop community-based continuums of care for youth involved in or at risk of entering the juvenile justice system, with a focus on positive youth development, prevention, diversion, and treatment services. DOJ has also announced a partnership with AmeriCorps to provide grants to community-based programs that will enhance and expand services for justice-involved youth, which includes engaging those youth as AmeriCorps members.

Supporting Rehabilitation During Incarceration

The Executive Order emphasizes the need to ensure meaningful opportunities for rehabilitation during incarceration. DOJ is committed to bridging the gaps in opportunity for those incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) facilities, and to supporting our state and local correctional partners as they undertake the critical work of promoting rehabilitation in prisons and jails nationwide, including by:

• Supporting correctional education and employment programs . In September 2023, DOJ announced over $23 million in funding for state- and local-level correctional services that expand access to high school equivalent degrees, vocational training, and other certifications. DOJ has delivered support to correctional and educational institutions to help scale up post-secondary educational opportunities in prisons and take advantage of the reinstatement of Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated students, which took effect in July 2023 after a nearly 30-year ban. Forty-four state corrections departments are now “Pell-ready” and have established processes to select and approve post-secondary education providers. BOP is also expanding access to Pell Grants within federal correctional facilities to help incarcerated students earn college credits and/or a college degree.  
• Delivering jail-specific solutions. In November 2023, DOJ launched the Jails and Justice Support Center, a national training and technical assistance hub that is now partnering with jail administrators to help establish safe and humane environments that effectively serve residents, visitors, and staff. DOJ issued guidance to support the effective management of substance withdrawal in local jails in June 2023, and is now developing resources to help facilitate implementation of these practices in the field. And in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, DOJ launched the second cohort of the Building Bridges initiative in September 2023, delivering assistance for 10 additional jurisdictions as they develop comprehensive continua of care for individuals with opioid use disorder in jails and upon release.  
• Reducing barriers for eligible voters. To help protect the fundamental right to vote in jails, where most individuals are eligible to vote since jails are largely comprised of people awaiting trial or those serving misdemeanor sentences that do not preclude voting and developed resources that combat misinformation on voter eligibility, explain state-specific voter rights for incarcerated persons, and promote strategies for expanding voter registration and access. BOP has increased voting education for all incarcerated adults and expanded voter registration and engagement for those eligible to vote while serving their federal sentence.  
• Expanding access to civil legal services . To aid in the prompt resolution of pending civil legal issues – such as debt collection, access to benefits or child custody matters – that can help support successful reentry and promote public safety, DOJ is launching an innovative pilot program to provide civil legal services to incarcerated individuals in select BOP women’s facilities.

Facilitating Reentry for People with Criminal Records

The Executive Order calls for a strategy for facilitating successful reentry and lowering barriers to opportunity for people with criminal records, underscoring that such efforts are essential to reducing recidivism and reducing crime. DOJ is committed to facilitating successful reentry and lowering barriers to opportunity for people with criminal records, including by:

• Reducing barriers to government-issued identification . Because people often leave incarceration without a state-issued identification, a common pre-requisite to housing, employment, and other basic societal functions, BOP developed a Release Identification Card that formerly incarcerated individuals may use to obtain a state- issued ID upon return to the community. The ID is currently available to all releasing citizens at all institutions who lack valid state identification, and 21 states currently accept the ID to obtain a state-issued ID. To date, over 3,000 ID cards have been issued.  
• Investing in correctional and reentry programs nationwide . DOJ awarded almost $95 million in the past year to support a wide range of correctional and reentry services and related training and technical assistance designed to meet the needs of youth and adults during incarceration or detention and upon return to their communities. As part of these investments, DOJ launched a new initiative to strengthen the reentry ecosystem by funding intermediary organizations that are now delivering microgrants and capacity building assistance to community-based reentry service providers. OJP has expanded its cohort of Second Chance Fellows, whose professional expertise and lived experience in the justice system are helping inform DOJ’s efforts to promote reentry success.  
• Improving health coverage and continuity of care. DOJ has worked with federal partners and stakeholders in the field over the past year to build awareness of Medicaid 1115 demonstration authorities, an opportunity announced in April 2023 for states to improve care transitions for certain individuals nearing release from incarceration, as well as other related tools for improving continuity of care pre- and post-release. Building on these efforts, DOJ is developing new informational resources to increase understanding of the opportunity among corrections’ stakeholders and will launch a new policy academy for state corrections and Medicaid leaders to build capacity for collaborations that strengthen connections to health care coverage for individuals returning from incarceration.  
• Improving community supervision outcomes. The DOJ-funded Community Supervision Resource Center launched in October 2023 to provide pretrial, probation, and parole supervision agencies with the resources and assistance they need to align operations with best and evidence-based practices for improving outcomes for individuals on supervision. DOJ also awarded nearly $6.5 million to states and localities in 2023 to implement research-driven strategies for promoting supervision success.  
• Piloting a medical-legal partnership. DOJ announced a partnership that will connect medical and legal expertise to identify adults in BOP custody who require long-term access to post-release critical needs like housing, food security, and more. Specifically, this medical-legal partnership will include a team of law and medical professionals who will collaborate to better determine eligibility for, and ensure access to, Social Security disability relief for those who qualify, with the goal of improving long-term access to post-release critical needs and promoting successful reentry. BOP and ATJ are also working to develop and distribute self-help materials to address civil legal needs of adults in custody and a series of workshops focused on civil legal issues.  
• Addressing unjust and unlawful fines and fees. DOJ issued a Dear Colleague Letter for state and local courts and juvenile justice agencies that addresses common court-imposed fines and fees practices and cautions against those practices that may be unlawful and unfairly penalize individuals who are unable to pay or otherwise have a discriminatory effect. Building on this letter, DOJ released a report that highlights the most common and innovative approaches taking place across the country to reduce reliance on criminal and civil fines and fees. DOJ also launched a new initiative to provide training and assistance to help states and localities to address common barriers to creating a more equitable justice system by rethinking the use of fines and fees.

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Departamento de Cooperación Multilateral (MULTILATERALS)

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