Not only does sustainability make your startup attractive to investors and customers alike, but by embracing sustainable practices, you can help reduce running costs and improve the efficiency of your business.

In this article, we will take a look into the top five steps that startups can take to integrate sustainability into their business from day one.

Set Clear Sustainability Goals

Firstly, it is important to define what sustainability means for your startup. This means that you should determine specific environmental, social, and economic goals you want to achieve within your business before you even get started. These could include reducing carbon emissions, minimising waste, supporting fair labour practices, ensuring your supply chain is fully transparent and eco-friendly or using eco-friendly and recyclable materials in your final product. Ideally, you should be setting these goals and targets before you even get started on your startup journey, as this makes sure you start on the right footing and guarantees the business begins, and continues, to be sustainable.

Incorporate Sustainability into Your Business Strategy

Another point to consider is making sure to integrate sustainability into your business model and overall business strategy. This sets the tone for your entire strategy and communicates your intentions to stakeholders and potential investors. Embed sustainability considerations into key business functions like procurement, product design, manufacturing, and marketing. This involves making conscious decisions that reduce negative environmental and social impacts.

Consider how sustainability aligns with your value proposition and target market. It could be a unique selling point that differentiates you from competitors, which can then make your business more attractive to investors in a funding round, or could be the mark that means a customer picks you over a competitor.

Energy Efficiency

One of the easiest ways to tackle the issue of a lack of sustainability in business operations is by implementing energy-saving measures. There are many ways of doing this, such as using energy-efficient appliances and lighting in the office, and by using renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. A great way of keeping energy usage low is by embracing remote working for yourself and your team, and committing to virtual meetings when possible to reduce commuting and office energy consumption. No one’s saying you have to have a completely remote workforce, but by allowing and encouraging remote work, the energy used by the company can remain low. Remote or hybrid working is already being utilised by the majority of businesses that haver the infrastructure for it, and has been linked to lower staff turnover, a larger talent pool to hire from, and increased employee motivation.

Data and Analytics

Another way to harness sustainability as a startup is to use data to monitor and measure your sustainability progress. This will help you identify areas for improvement and demonstrate your commitment to improving the sustainability of your company, and make sure you are on the right path. You should gather data related to your startup's operations, processes, and products, which may involve tracking energy consumption, waste production, supply chain activities, product lifecycle analysis, and more. Consider both quantitative data (numbers, measurements) and qualitative data (descriptions, observations) in the data that is being gathered. Utilising data analytics methods is crucial for discerning patterns, trends, and valuable insights from gathered data. This might involve statistical analysis, machine learning, and predictive modelling. The goal of this is to uncover opportunities for sustainable improvements.

It is recommended to oversee your startup's carbon footprint by employing accessible tools and methodologies. Establish emission reduction goals and continuously monitor advancements toward achieving them.

Cloud and Data Centre Efficiency

Linking to the point above on the importance of data, cloud and data centre efficiency is also a vital step to take in order to embrace sustainability in your startup. One way this can be done is by optimising your software and services for energy efficiency. If your startup relies on data centres, opt for providers that use renewable energy sources and energy-efficient infrastructure, also using data centres with efficient cooling systems to reduce energy consumption. You can also host your applications on cloud platforms that emphasise renewable energy usage.

After all, the choices you make in providers for these sorts of applications can have a big difference on your company’s carbon footprint. Doing research on what platforms are putting sustainability and energy efficiency first, can improve your footprint quite drastically.

The take away

This is far from an exhaustive list, and there are many other options in employing sustainable practices in your startup. Sometimes, just employing one method is better than nothing, so don’t exhaust yourself trying to make every facet of the business as sustainable as possible, as that can take a lot of time and can be done as you progress through the journey.