Sustainability is no longer absent from corporate strategy, but it’s still widely misunderstood.
For many businesses sustainability is approached as a compliance checklist. A set of metrics designed to satisfy regulators, investors, or ESG ratings agencies. While reporting is essential, reducing sustainability to a box-ticking exercise limits its potential.
“We need to stop positioning sustainability as a reporting obligation, it creates confusion and undermines the purpose and benefits.”
As global regulations such as the EU’s CSRD continue to evolve (and sometimes stall) companies are scrambling to adjust. In the process many lose sight of what sustainability is really about, driving innovation, building resilience, and creating long-term value in a fast-changing world.
The leading companies are making sustainability central to how they operate and grow. They’re not asking, “How do we meet Sustainability requirements?” but rather, “How can Sustainability help us outperform, attract talent, and unlock new markets?”
Reporting vs Managing: A Crucial Distinction
One of the most common and costly mistakes is confusing reporting with management.
Reporting looks backward. It measures performance after the fact.
Management looks forward. It drives decisions, aligns incentives, and embeds accountability.
“Imagine if everyone started managing sustainability risks and acting on opportunities rather than just reporting them.”
Most are measuring and reporting but very few are truly acting sustainably. Sustainability needs to be a way of operating not adjacent to it. That means shifting from output and disclosure to outcome and impact.
Too often we see everyone recycling the same Sustainability narratives as their competitors rather than creating their own authentic programmes. The result? Lots of reporting, very little progress. What is promising is that stakeholders now are increasingly adept at spotting greenwashing or vague commitments so this copycat approach will be exposed.
Nowhere is this shift from compliance to collaboration more necessary than in the travel sector – an industry where sustainability challenges are complex, global, and deeply interconnected.
Sustainability in the Travel Industry Value Chain
True progress requires collaboration, and this is critically important in the travel industry value chain. The travel industry faces an urgent decarbonisation challenge. But where there are challenges, there is also opportunity.
From aviation emissions to corporate travel footprints, the sector must fundamentally transform. Airlines, travel management companies, corporate clients, regulators, and technology providers need to work together with aligned incentives, transparent data sharing, and joint investment in scalable solutions such as:
- Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)
- Carbon removal technologies
- Smarter, digitally optimised travel policies
This transformation won’t be achieved in isolation and it goes far beyond reporting. It will take shared responsibility, collaboration across the value chain, and a collective commitment to purpose-driven innovation.
The Way Forward
More reporting doesn’t equal more progress.
It is far better to report fewer, more meaningful metrics that reflect genuine action and are aligned with stakeholder priorities.
Ask yourself:
- Are our sustainability goals integrated with our business model?
- Are we focusing on what really matters to stakeholders?
- Is our sustainability strategy understood across all levels?
There’s often a disconnect between executive ambition and on the ground execution. That gap must be closed through consistent communication, personal relevance, and authentic engagement at every level.
To shift from compliance to competitive advantage, companies must go beyond chasing regulatory requirements and start executing long-term, business-integrated strategies.
Sustainability Is Strategy
Sustainability is not just about disclosures and ratings. The companies that will lead the future won’t be those with the longest Sustainability reports. They’ll be those that:
- Act with purpose
- Build sustainable cultures
- Manage risk intentionally
- And collaborate across their value chain to embed sustainability meaningfully
Don’t follow the crowd. Look beyond your own industry for inspiration. Work with partners who bring fresh ideas and shared ambition. Because the businesses that treat sustainability as strategy not obligation are the ones that will succeed.
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