This week’s report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was an urgent call to action. We know climate change is here, we know our future will be warmer, and we know we must act now to prevent the most dire outcomes and consequences. 

The good news is that many of the needed solutions are in front of us. But to make them count, organizations must shift their thinking. Rather than thinking of sustainability as a side project, organizations should make it an integral part of their core mission.

We help our clients across the country make this difficult shift every day. To get started, try to answer these three critical questions to strengthen your organization and accelerate climate action.

How does sustainability and climate action integrate into your organization’s core mission?

Many teams question what they will get out of being more sustainable, but their progress is quickly upended with that limited perspective. Climate action is sometimes tied to monetary benefits, such as reducing water and energy costs, but not always. To shift away from this lens, we challenge you to think about how sustainability can become a strategy and solution to make your core mission more successful.

What are the risks of inaction?

Most Americans have lived through some combination of historic heat waves, flash flooding, wildfires, hazardous air quality, and drought just within the past few years. Here in Omaha, last weekend’s heavy rain turned our streets into rivers, damaging infrastructure, small businesses, and homes in the process. Ask yourself: What are the risks of doing nothing?

What needs to change in how your organization makes decisions so that sustainability becomes integral?

One of our clients has an executive sustainability committee that we meet with on a monthly basis as we work to help them shift their perspective from short-term to long-term, and from static to dynamic. The goal is to make sustainability and climate action a fundamental factor in future decisions, rather than an afterthought. 

For more, check out our latest Facebook Live discussion here and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.