How to master-plan your sustainability strategy

Elon Musk will reveal the Tesla Master Plan 3 - the "path to a fully sustainable energy future for Earth" - on 1 March (Tesla Investor Day), and I won’t lie, I’m excited.

I'm still in awe of the simplicity and clarity of Master Plan 1, which was:

Elon Musk’s ‘Secret Master Plan’ for Tesla:

Vision:

To accelerate the world’s switch to sustainable energy.

Strategy:

1. Build sports car.

2. Use that money to build an affordable car.

3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car.

4. While doing above, also provide zero-emission electric power generation options.

Part 2 added self-driving cars that could pay for themselves and plans for a Gigafactory that could become the world's largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries. And his teaser Tweet, with the words "Giga Texas", make me think Master Plan 3 has something to do with the latter.

Elon's master plan is remarkable because it includes two key elements: Vision and strategy. Although the strategy has changed over the years, the vision has never faltered. And that's been crucial to Tesla-slash-Elon's success.

So, why aren’t all businesses’ strategies this clear-cut?

Because sometimes, they get so caught up with an idea for a product or service that they forget to take a longer-term view of their potential to create an impact.

And, because doing good is not only the right thing to do but also the profitable thing to do (you think Elon's rich now? Just you wait!), your sustainability strategy could also be your competitive advantage.

In this newsletter, I give advice on how to create a sustainability master plan for your business. There's also the usual round-up of this week's news and a heart-wrenching video to cheer you up.

— Tarryn ✌️

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What is a sustainability strategy?

A sustainability strategy is a roadmap that helps businesses achieve their sustainability goals across three key pillars: environmental, social, and economic – or the “triple bottom line”.

It’s a path of stepping stones that takes you closer to your vision of a better world.

Or, to put it another way, a sustainability strategy is choosing what not to do.

If you’re trying to cut down on plastic packaging, you’re not going to stock the fridge with bottled water and might choose to install a water filtration system instead.

Your vision is the ‘why’, and strategy is the how. Your vision influences every part of your strategy. If you're not sure what that is, start here.

Why do I need a sustainability strategy? 

Because it keeps you focused.

Without one, you’ll procrastinate, get distracted by squirrels things that don’t serve you in the long run, and see no real impact or progress.

With one, you can ask better tactical questions, like:

• How will you achieve your vision?

• What should you prioritise?

• What should you deprioritise?

• What comes first and why?

How do I create my sustainability strategy?

I’m no Elon Musk, but I do know that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to make an impact on the world. Impact is impact, no matter how small.

Keep it simple, straightforward, and achievable with these six steps.

Step 1: Have a North Star

What is your mission; why do you want to be more sustainable?

With a clear intent and achievable goals, you can craft a path your whole team can follow.

I’ve written about finding your purpose and why it’s important to take a stand on something here.

Step 2: Work backwards

Elon started with his vision – to accelerate the world’s switch to sustainable energy – and used it as a jumping-off point for his strategy. He worked backwards, outlining the steps that would take him closer to his vision.

You need to know what you’re working towards to identify the first and next steps. Without this clarity, you’ll walk in circles, getting nowhere. And if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

Step 3: Get on the right side of the law

States, countries, and environmental organisations use various environmental standards that you’ll need to comply with, depending on where you operate, what you do, and the industry you’re in.

Find out what these are, and if you’re not compliant, get cracking.

Step 4: Gather your data

“What gets measured gets done.”

But do you know where your data is?

In spreadsheets on your computer? Filed in the cupboard? Stuffed in a shoebox? Bring it all together into one nice big data dump 💩

Then find all the information that’s relevant to your strategy and put it in one place (ideally, a software solution that can analyse the data for you, but a single spreadsheet will do for now if you’re tech-terrified).

Suppose you want to benchmark your water usage. In that case, you can capture information from your utility bills – like litres consumed, cost, and average consumption per day – and calculate the average per month.

Now, you have a baseline—a starting point.

Use this to create specific targets, like “reduce water consumption by 50 kilolitres annually”, and assess your existing practices to find opportunities to save water.

Remember, change doesn’t have to be massive. Look for low-hanging fruit and celebrate the quick wins.

Start with fixing leaking taps, investing in a water tank, or putting bricks in cisterns to reduce the amount of water you flush away.

Side note: Investigate emerging solutions that can enhance your sustainability efforts. Solutions like Weeva guide tourism and hospitality businesses through the process of measuring and reporting on things like carbon emissions, water and electricity usage, and where and how they can cut down.

Step 5: Get your people on board

This should be easy if you have a vision that others can get excited about.

When your stakeholders are engaged and have bought into your vision, the potential for you to drive positive change at scale grows significantly.

Your employees, customers, suppliers, and local communities play a core role in building support for your mission through collaborative and collective impact.

Often, they come up with new and exciting ideas for change in their departments or society that contribute to your overall goal.

Step 6: Allocate resources

Right. You’ve got a vision, a plan to get there, and support from your people.

Now decide what resources you need to support you.

What skills, data, and tech do you have? What do you need?

How will you measure and track progress? Spreadsheets? Or software?

Step 7: Aim for 1% improvement

You can’t change the world overnight. But through a series of small steps in the right direction, you can create ripple effects that lead to something remarkable.

Aim for continuous improvement, no matter how small it may seem at first. Just find a lever and pull it.

You’ll understand what works through trial and error, and your impact will compound.

When it comes to sustainability, the common advice is: Just start.

Start small, start somewhere, just get going.

And always remember the cardinal rule: Good practices in one area do not offset harm in another.

This week's climate and sustainability news worth noting

🗓️ Mark your calendars! Elon Musk will reveal his Master Plan 3, the path to a fully sustainable energy future for Earth, on 1 March – Tesla Investor Day. In Master Plan 2, released in 2016, Musk added self-driving cars to the initial strategy and envisioned people renting them out, making money, and even getting the car to pay for itself. He also revealed the Gigafactory, which brings everything needed to build batteries under one enormous roof.

🌖 Scientists want to mine millions of tons of dust from the moon and "ballistically eject" it into space, where the floating grains will partially block incoming sunlight and scatter it away from Earth. Talk about shooting for the moon.

🌊 A new study using global modelling predicts that future extreme coastal flooding will have devastating socioeconomic impacts for developing nations, with Asia, West Africa, and Egypt facing severe costs in the coming decades. The damage could cost over 5% of the nations' GDP if no coastal defence adaptation measures are taken to mitigate flooding impact.

🤦🏻‍♀️ The US has announced a bunch of new environmental policies that protect rainforests and block controversial mining projects to preserve the world's most productive salmon fishery. But then it went and advanced another controversial oil drilling project in Alaska that would produce as much carbon emissions as 76 coal-fired power plants a year.

🇬🇧 UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has created a new Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero. The government says the move recognises the "need to secure more energy from domestic nuclear and renewable sources as we seize the opportunities of net zero".

🎽 India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, wore a jacket made from recycled plastic bottles to Parliament this week. Modi wants to phase out single-use plastic in the country.

And in business news:

❌ Fewer than one in 200 companies that submit climate change-related data to CDP, a leading environmental disclosure platform, have credible climate transition plans, highlighting the gap between pledges to transition to net-zero emissions and real-world action.

⚠️ Deloitte's 2023 CxO Sustainability Report revealed that many chief experience officers (CxOs) rate climate change as a top three issue and expect it to have a high or very high impact on their organisations' strategy and operations over the next three years. Climate change was ranked higher than innovation, competition for talent, and supply chain challenges.

🧑🏽‍⚖️ ClientEarth has filed a lawsuit against energy giant Shell for failing to manage the "material and foreseeable" risks posed to the company by climate change. Shell, which reported a record $42 billion profit for 2022, says its climate ambitions are on track and it will appeal the case.

I'll leave you on this happy heart-wrenching note...

Big love and strength to Turkey and Syria 💔

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