How can businesses harness the power of sustainability? In Sustainable Success, Sphera CEO and author Paul Marushka explains that through the right expertise, technology and data, businesses can deliver meaningful outcomes.
The three key elements feed into the Formula for Good, enabling companies to optimize their use of raw materials and energy and reduce carbon emissions and waste. Here are five tips for beginning the journey to sustainable success:
Generally speaking, sustainability data provides a measurement of a company’s environmental, social and economic impact. Greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and product disposal are typically included in environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics.
Software tools and services can be configured according to sector, size and location. Cloud-based solutions provide agility for changing circumstances and enable you to scale to meet future needs, including Scope 3 disclosure of emissions along the value chain.
For organizations beginning their sustainability reporting journey, it’s helpful to start with globally recognized frameworks and tools that provide structure and credibility. These resources are accessible to companies of all sizes and can be adopted voluntarily to guide reporting practices.
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) offers the most widely used sustainability reporting standards, including sector-specific key performance indicators to help organizations track and communicate their sustainability performance. Other well-regarded frameworks include the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)—both of which support transparent, data-driven ESG reporting and emissions reduction planning.
Product-level sustainability plays a critical role in shaping a company’s overall environmental performance. The European Commission has established a standardized methodology for evaluating and disclosing the environmental footprint of both products and organizations. This framework allows companies to assess environmental impacts across the value chain and identify key areas for improvement.
As regulations continue to evolve, aligning product sustainability with corporate ESG strategy will become increasingly essential. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) significantly expands the scope and depth of sustainability disclosures required by companies operating in or doing business with the EU.
Looking ahead, the Omnibus bill—proposed as part of broader efforts to streamline EU legislation—signals the European Commission’s intent to consolidate and refine sustainability regulations, potentially reshaping how certain reporting frameworks are applied or enforced. While some obligations may become more targeted, the direction is clear: companies must be prepared to integrate product-level data into corporate sustainability performance metrics, as transparency, traceability and accountability remain top priorities.
Robust sustainability data is essential for identifying priorities, informing strategy, and demonstrating accountability. One of the most effective ways to begin is by conducting a materiality assessment, which helps organizations understand which sustainability issues are most relevant to both internal and external stakeholders. This process typically involves stakeholder engagement and results in a comprehensive report that outlines key material issues and their strategic implications.
In addition, conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) allows businesses to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its entire life cycle—from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal. By analyzing how specific materials, processes, and supply chain decisions influence sustainability performance, organizations gain the insights needed to reduce environmental impact, improve product design, and enhance reporting credibility.
Large companies, or those with greater sustainability maturity, may require LCAs or product carbon footprints for thousands of products. LCA automation can provide sustainability information at scale for the company’s entire product portfolio. The results are also broken down into Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Automating LCA processes and centralizing information in an LCA database server reduces effort and costs and mitigates the risk of error. Companies receive an accurate, standardized and auditable picture of their product portfolio’s environmental impacts.
Sustainability is no longer a peripheral initiative—it’s a strategic driver of long-term business value, innovation and competitive advantage. Organizations that embed sustainability into their core operations and decision-making processes are better positioned to adapt, grow and lead in an evolving market landscape.
By prioritizing sustainability, business leaders can:
Companies led by executives who align their corporate and product strategies with sustainability principles consistently outperform those that do not. These organizations are more attractive to investors and top talent, and they enjoy stronger brand reputation and consumer trust.
More importantly, sustainability is often the spark that drives innovation. Many of today’s most compelling new business models, products, and services are rooted in principles of sustainability and circularity. By leveraging sustainability as a strategic foundation, companies can enhance performance, unlock new opportunities and fuel lasting success.
Businesses that embed sustainability within the enterprise and its operations today win public favor in the short term and emerge as clear leaders in the long term.
