Last Tuesday, MVO Nederland (CSR Netherlands) had its New Year’s event in the World Forum in The Hague. More than 500 sustainability fans; a record for this yearly event. It was good to see these enthusiastic business people listen to the latest trends and talking with each other about the importance of social and environmental matters. However, many other business people still don’t have these matters on their agenda.

 

Are we really much further than 5 years ago? Everybody who works in this field believes sustainability is important. Of course we do. But what about the rest, the majority? Sustainability has been an upcoming theme for many years. Every year we say that the big breakthrough will follow soon. But when will the mass of companies really follow? The Transparency Benchmark of the Ministry of Economical Affairs now has a new leader in the list (KPN) but many of the other companies who rank high are the usual suspects (Philips, DSM, TNT, Rabobank). And by the way, transparency is not a proof of good integration of sustainability in the business. It only says something about how well companies communicate.

 

The breakthrough will follow when we stop seeing sustainability as an exclusive item. We, who deal with sustainability on a daily basis, sometimes talk about sustainability as if it is the higher good. As if people outside of the field just don’t get it. As if pursuing sustainability means that companies have to excel on all environmental and social aspects of business.

 

We should stop making things complex. We should stop hyping sustainability. The fact of the matter is that every company can pursue sustainability in a practical way. For one company, energy use might be the main issue. Another might focus on the integrity of the supply chain. We should applaud companies that select the issues which are most material for them. When choices are made, companies can focus. Trying to please everybody tends to be a sign of a pr effort instead of true sustainability progress. Being pragmatic is needed to reach all the companies that do not yet have sustainability on the agenda. Then, the promise of sustainability can become reality.