Whether our business is doing enough right now is not a question I’m asking about our company’s productivity. It’s a question I have about our impact.
Over the last couple of decades, we have seen a gradual shift in attitudes towards social values that prioritise people and planet, where consumers are driving a change in the way businesses operate.
Businesses are having to become more mindful of the impact they are having on their employees, their communities, and the environment, rather than focusing on profit alone, to meet the changing needs and values of their customers.
UK Government is slowly steering us to net zero
It’s not just the growing pressure from consumers, action groups, and supply chains calling for businesses to be more socially and environmentally responsible. We are now seeing government efforts to accelerate this change for a better future too.
In line with the government’s 2050 net-zero target, most big UK firms and financial institutions will be forced to present detailed public plans by 2023 showing how they will decarbonise to hit climate change targets.
These targets are not going away, which is clear from the UK’s stance on the international stage over the last couple of years.
First, we heard from then-Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, speaking at COP26 climate summit in Glasgow stating that the UK is leading the world in becoming the “first-ever net zero aligned global financial centre”. Then his optimism went further in his speech as new UK Prime Minister in November 2022 when he made his international debut speaking to world leaders at COP27, where he said:
“By honouring the promises we made in Glasgow and by directing public and private finance towards the protection of our planet, we can turn our struggle against climate change into a global mission for new jobs and clean growth.”
Businesses can’t ignore this
This is not just about businesses reducing carbon emissions. It’s about us being responsible for our social, economic, and environmental impacts on wellbeing too. And not just because there are greater consumer expectations to show how we’re making a positive contribution to society, but also because other businesses are looking for complementary values in their supply chains too.
Take the 2021 updated UK Social Value Act for example. It now compels the assessment of suppliers for social impact in public sector procurement, with at least 10% of the supplier score awarded to this aspect.
This means that businesses of all sizes can no longer sidestep or ignore the calls for reform, because any organisation that is part of a supply chain is immediately affected.
Even small businesses like us need to be mindful
Remember the GDPR regulations? We didn’t think this would affect small businesses in the same way as larger ones, but as it turned out we were all hit. We can see similar parallels and requirements for due diligence Social Impact reporting coming for all organisations next.
It’s inevitable that supply chains are going to accelerate this shift in compelling businesses to be transparent about their impact, the question is not if we need to move our businesses to more sustainable operations, but for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) like us, it’s more a question of when.
What we’re doing at Debouge Tech
The fact is that we all have an obligation to deliver and prove positive impact by integrating socially responsible values into our business operations. We’ve always taken this seriously at Debouge Tech but never really shouted about the work we do in our local community and the sustainable actions we’re taking (that you can read more about by clicking here).
We’re ready to take the next step to make this aspect of our work a more prominent part of our business plans and have signed up for Cranfield University’s Ready for Net Zero Growth programme to help us put this to the test.
We’ll be documenting our journey over the 18-week course as we ask ourselves challenging questions to interrogate what is and isn’t working in our business, and to get a better understanding of our carbon footprint. The aim is that this will help us make a plan for reducing our emissions and ultimately to commit to net zero ambitions as part of our evidence-based, socially responsible, growth strategy for 2023 onward.
Watch this space for more to follow…