Sustainability evolving into a competitive factor

Sustainability is gaining growing importance for companies across all industries. Topics such as ESG and CSR or net zero have become indispensable in the corporate world, making it unavoidable for companies to address them. Sustainability is also increasingly being used for strategic purposes. More than that, not to include sustainability into business strategy is no longer an option. Whether it is in the chemical industry, the automotive sector, in energy, logistics or even in the pharmaceutical industry, sustainability has long since become a competitive factor.

Are you at the cutting edge?

In order not to get lost in the complexity of this topic and instead take a pioneer role, KnowledgeAgent provides valuable insights, covering diverse sustainability-related research and analysis topics. Benchmarking can help companies stay ahead of the curve and identify areas where action is needed. Case studies on innovative sustainable products can provide insights on competitors’ actions and serve as a basis for own innovations. The following only represent a few examples of research topics our teams cover:

  • Sustainability target benchmarking
  • Case studies / deep dives on companies’ sustainability actions
  • Case studies on innovation areas such as new sustainable materials / energy
  • Sustainable investment market analysis
  • Regulatory sustainability requirements for specific industries and geographies
  • Carbon monitoring and offsetting market analysis

How is sustainability performance of a company measured?

Sustainability can be implemented and measured across a company’s entire value chain and is therefore very company specific. Focus areas can include circular economy-related fields such as the share of recycled content in a company’s products, as well as the number of sustainable innovations a company has made. In terms of social responsibility, companies’ performances can be measured by indicators including investments in social projects or the rate of work-related injuries of employees. Nevertheless, the most typical KPIs to compare companies’ sustainability performances are carbon reduction KPIs, which are most commonly used for sustainability benchmarking.

Project insight: Carbon offset verification players

In a recent project, we helped a client understand the process of carbon verification. Carbon verification providers help companies offset the CO2 emissions they cannot avoid. Those providers monitor and verify carbon offsets of reforestation projects, using digital monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) solutions, and sell carbon credits to companies. In this project we identified several carbon verification providers and analyzed their business models and processes to provide a better understanding of the growing carbon market.

Project insight: Sustainability in niche markets

In another project, we analyzed customer awareness of sustainability in niche markets such as the elastomer market. During the project, we analyzed customer awareness of and demand for sustainability in each respective market and compared sustainability-related actions of key players. Our results assisted the client in understanding the maturity level of sustainability in the respective market and helped to identify own areas of action.

Through our increasing number of projects in this area, we are continuously expanding our expertise in sustainability-related fields, while also leveraging our know-how in the respective target industries.

Get in touch with us to find out more!

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