The digital and fashion industries are at a critical crossroads, with sustainability becoming an increasingly vital focus. Louise Wennberg, a Sustainability Consultant, offers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities these sectors face in integrating sustainability into their operations. Drawing from her extensive experience, Louise sheds light on the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability and the strategies sustainability managers need to adopt to drive meaningful change. Her expertise is essential for anyone navigating the complexities of sustainability within these dynamic industries.

Bridging the Gap Between Sustainability Strategy and Execution

In her extensive experience, Louise has seen the critical gap between sustainability strategies and their actual execution. “I’ve worked in companies with no sustainability strategy, no KPIs, and no follow-up,” she recalls. In some instances, employees were unaware of the sustainability department's role or responsibilities. This gap highlights a broader challenge that sustainability managers face: even when tools and frameworks are in place, action is not guaranteed. As Louise emphasizes, “You still need people to drive change,” and this change requires more than just setting ambitious goals.

A major component of addressing this challenge is understanding how people actually work. Louise notes, “It’s not just about setting goals—it’s about understanding how people actually work and adapting sustainability efforts to fit into those existing workflows.” This insight speaks to the importance of making sustainability an integral part of daily operations, rather than an external or additional task. Behavioral shifts, cross-team collaboration, and integrating sustainability into everyday business operations are essential.

Louise’s perspective aligns with recent findings from Deutsche Bank (2024). Investors report significant gaps in their knowledge and application of sustainability strategies. For instance, only 3% of investors classify themselves as advanced ESG investors, with 47% admitting they lack a clear ESG portfolio objective. This lack of clarity and knowledge reflects the broader challenge of effectively implementing sustainability strategies. Sustainability managers can help bridge this gap by ensuring the right processes are in place to drive execution and by integrating solutions like intelligent sustainability software to streamline decision-making and reporting.

When companies fail to adapt sustainability strategies into their existing workflows, it can hinder progress. Ensuring that operational teams understand how sustainability fits into their roles is key. Louise’s emphasis on behavioral shifts within the team echoes the need for solutions that make sustainability manageable and actionable within every department. Sustainable business solutions need to be seen not as additional tasks, but as opportunities to align with existing workflows for maximum impact.

Overcoming Supply Chain Challenges with Practical Solutions

Louise also emphasizes the difficulty of engaging suppliers effectively, highlighting the need for better communication and follow-through. “I’ve been in meetings where teams say, ‘We tried to source this fabric, but the supplier said no.’” When she asked about the timing of these attempts, it often turned out that suppliers had not been pursued rigorously enough. “There’s also the challenge of gathering reliable data from suppliers. If they don’t speak English, it’s no surprise they’re not responding to your fifth email,” she adds.

This insight underscores a key challenge in sustainability management: the need for reliable data across the supply chain. Sustainability managers must not only push for changes but ensure that accurate data—especially around Scope 3 emissions—is readily available and acted upon. Without this data, it becomes impossible to assess the full impact of a company’s operations, let alone make the necessary improvements. For Louise, practical solutions lie in decarbonization software and carbon footprint software, which can facilitate data collection, provide insights, and help measure emissions at every stage of the supply chain.

Scope 3 emissions account for 75% of a company's total greenhouse gas emissions, with certain sectors, such as financial services, seeing Scope 3 emissions make up nearly 100% of their total emissions (CDP, 2022). Furthermore, CDP reports that Scope 3 emissions from energy-intensive industries are growing faster than Scope 1 and 2 emissions. This highlights the urgent need for businesses to prioritize the reduction of Scope 3 emissions, especially within their supply chains, to make significant strides in sustainability. Tools like Scope 3 software and automated sustainability reporting play a crucial role in streamlining the collection and reporting of emissions data, helping companies ensure their efforts meet regulatory requirements and enabling more informed decisions regarding supplier relationships.

When businesses fail to address the data challenges in their supply chains, they risk falling behind, both in terms of regulatory compliance and long-term sustainability goals. By incorporating CO2 reduction platforms into their operations, sustainability managers can take a proactive approach to addressing emissions and ensuring that they are meeting their environmental goals.

Facilitating Change with Effective Communication and Internal Collaboration

Louise is also a strong advocate for tailoring sustainability messaging to different stakeholders within an organization. “Sustainability communication isn’t just about using the right terminology—it’s about understanding company culture,” she notes. The language used to discuss sustainability must resonate with each department’s specific priorities and needs. For example, a CEO will want to understand how sustainability aligns with the company’s long-term strategy, while a CFO will need to see hard numbers justifying investments in sustainability initiatives. Similarly, teams in procurement, operations, and design all require a more specific understanding of how sustainability affects their day-to-day decisions.

By using corporate sustainability software, sustainability managers can more effectively communicate the data and benefits of sustainability initiatives in a way that resonates with each department. Louise stresses, “You can’t just issue a directive and expect immediate results unless there’s a strong mandate.” She emphasizes that real change happens when operational teams—engineers, designers, and logistics managers—are given the tools and support to make sustainability a natural part of their work. Sustainability software can facilitate this change by providing data-driven insights and recommendations that align with the specific needs of each department.

Recent research by PwC found that 49% of investors are considering disinvestment if companies don’t take sufficient sustainability measures (PwC Sustainability Communication). This underscores the growing pressure for businesses to integrate sustainable business solutions into their operations or risk losing investor confidence. As Louise points out, “Sustainability managers don’t drive impact alone—it’s the operational teams that make real changes happen.” The role of the sustainability manager is to facilitate change, not dictate it, and tools like SBTi software solutions can support this facilitation by empowering teams with data that drives informed decision-making.

Conclusion

Through Louise’s insights, it becomes clear that sustainability managers must go beyond merely setting goals and frameworks—they must ensure these strategies are executed effectively, adapted to existing workflows, and backed by reliable data. The role of intelligent sustainability software, automated sustainability reporting, and decarbonization software is critical in facilitating these efforts, but these tools only work when the right internal collaboration and communication are in place.

Louise’s perspective on sustainability emphasizes the importance of internal collaboration and empowerment, showing that change is most effective when it’s integrated into the fabric of day-to-day business operations. By leveraging technology to streamline data collection and reporting, and by fostering communication across departments, sustainability managers can ensure their organizations are not just meeting regulatory demands but are also making meaningful progress towards their sustainability goals.

As Louise aptly concludes, “Legislation will be the key driver of sustainability transformation,” and companies must act now to stay ahead of the curve, avoid the risks of falling behind, and embrace the opportunities that sustainability offers.

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any company.