External resource

Responsible business: the importance of incorporating sustainability into business strategy

3rd February 2025

It is now accepted that integrating sustainability into business is not optional but is key to driving competitive advantage and addressing stakeholder preferences. Businesses driven by purpose and not merely profit have been seen to attract socially conscious consumers, deliver savings in materials and resources, reducing environmental impact. Sustainability in business has become a key strategy for long term business success. A 2019 study by Nielsen found that 73% of consumers were willing to change their habits to lessen impact on the environment and 81% said that companies should implement programmes to improve environmental impact.

The Sustainable Business Project is an evidence-based research study at the Centre for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Surrey. The aims of the study are to measure and analyse approaches to business sustainability including environmental management, social impact and Corporate Social Responsibility in a range of UK and international companies.

The benefits for participating organisations include: receiving a benchmark of sustainability performance with granular insights from the economic, environmental and social areas of business operations, highlighting areas where improvements or cost savings could be made – including energy, emissions and waste management. Several businesses have already signed up to take part by completing an online survey.

The responses from the anonymised survey will be analysed to give each participating business an overall sustainability score and a detailed performance score for seven areas of operations using a new ‘7E’ model developed for the study. This will allow organisations to compare their business performance within the group and gain further insights on environmental and social performance.