This article on sustainability action plan length, complexity and impact is the last in a four-part series analysing how Irish Enterprise is responding to the challenge of delivering a climate resilient future. This series is based on a study of 106 sustainability action plans created mainly by large and medium sized organisations who participated in Skillnet Climate Ready Academy’s Sustainability Leaders Programme (SLP) between 2022 and 2023. SLP uses the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to help businesses develop a sustainability action plan.

Part four of the series covers:  

• Short to Long Term Focus: From Leading the Team to a Team of Sustainability Leaders 
• Potential Impact: Incremental or Transformative Action 
• Analysis of Potential Impact on the SDGs: Strategic Skills and Competence 
• Key Takeaways 

For further context to this article, read part 1, part 2 and part 3 of this series. 

Short to Long Term Focus: From Leading the Team to a Team of Sustainability Leaders 

As part of Sustainability Leaders Programme (SLP) (for more on SLP see part two), Irish enterprises are asked to identify whether an individual or a team are needed to implement the sustainability action plan. Actions range from tasks which can be carried out solely by an individual, to major actions requiring all team members to contribute to their implementation. In this current study, an analysis of 106 sustainability action plans created between 2022-2023 identified that of the 756 sustainability actions identified: 

• Wider workforce involvement is identified as a key requirement by the majority of sustainability action plans, with 65% of actions requiring a team to successfully implement and deliver impact. 35% of actions have been identified as quick wins which can be completed by an individual. 
• 34% of enterprises have identified a requirement for ongoing sustainability training and capability development initiatives for the workforce in key areas of planned enterprise action to support implementation activities. As detailed in part 3, actions in this study are primarily aligned with SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13 – Climate Action, SDG 7 – Affordable & Clean Energy). 

Figure 1: Analysis of Team Requirement, Ongoing Training and Plan Length 

• The gap in matching demands of the workforce with workforce development is reflective of the short-term focus which predominates over 2/3 of actions planned, whereby 67% of actions are to be completed within 12 months.  
• 27% of actions are due for completion within 13 months to 5 years, with a remaining 6% of actions stretching beyond 5 years. 

This trend towards short-term delivery is a potential reflection of the early stage that businesses are at in their transition to sustainability when taking part in SLP. However, existing research indicates companies prioritising long-term planning and decision consistently demonstrate a stronger financial performance and greater resilience than those driven by short-term thinking¹. This will require building the capacity for strategic skills, which were identified by Skillnet Ireland (2022) as the most needed green skillset in the medium term for Irish enterprise². 

Potential Impact: Incremental vs Transformative Action 

Short-term action does not necessarily mean that actions cannot be impactful to a business, and thus it is important to consider the scope of the actions that enterprises are planning.  

Figure 2: definitions of incremental and transformative action 

There are varying stances as to whether businesses should be focusing their efforts primarily towards incremental or transformative action, given the current extent of the climate crisis. Whilst the extent to which a business may require engagement with transformative action will vary, literature indicates that 55% of global businesses are either neutral or misaligned with the SDGs⁶. This has led to an emerging perspective that the need for transformative action is too urgent for time and resources to be spent on incremental actions which encourage a ‘business-as-usual’ approach⁷.  

However, from another perspective, there need not be a dichotomy of choice when it comes to whether a business takes an incremental action or a transformational action, a short-term action or a long-term action⁸. Particularly if incremental action is aligned with a longer-term strategy of transforming a company⁹, this gives potential for incremental actions to become transformational to a business over time¹⁰. This perspective pivots on the requirement of strategic skills to align incremental quick win actions in the short term with long term transformational plans.  

Financial benefits have been documented from approaches where companies use long-term strategies to guide short- and mid-term actions, shaping priorities, policies, and investments which lead to more stable growth and value creation¹¹. Regardless of positioning on how businesses will create the greatest impact through sustainable action by 2030 and 2050, they will require the necessary skills and competencies to decide on the appropriate scope of their actions. 

Analysis of Potential Impact on the SDGs: Strategic Skills and Competence 

To gain a deeper understanding of the potential impact of short-term actions from this study, an analysis of potential action impact was carried on a total of 756 actions across 106 SLP 2022-2023 action plans. Potential action impact was determined through an analysis of action descriptions and the targets set against each action. From this analysis, it is evident that: 

• Incremental actions are most prevalent (86%), as seen in Figure 3, signifying enterprise gravitation towards step-by-step and immediately tangible actions aligned with the SDGs. 
• This is an approach which in the short-term has been shown to positively influence stakeholder perception and build support and momentum amongst customers, investors, and employees towards longer-term transformation¹². 
• However, half of enterprises (54%) have identified a need for at least one transformative action in their plans for climate resilience (Figure 4). 
• Whilst transformative actions illustrate evidence of transversal skills such as disruptive thinking to alter primary systems and structures, it cannot be concluded from the action plans that these actions represent an overarching transformative strategy. 

A key next step for the businesses that participated in SLP will be to ensure that their short- to medium- term incremental actions are at the very least linked to longer-term transformative plans. This will require enterprises to build their capacity for sustainability strategy skills in addition to deepening workforce knowledge in key areas of focus (outlined in part 2 and part 3).

Figure 3: Frequency of actions by potential impact category

Figure 4: Frequency of potential impact category per action plan 

Key Takeaways 

• 65% of actions require a team to be completed, indicating that enterprises will need to build capacity for sustainability skills and competencies throughout the workforce to support collaborative action. 
• 34% of enterprises have identified the need for ongoing sustainability training to upskill their workforce. However, the level of complexity and collaboration identified in the action plans showcases a need for greater understanding of the power of upskilling throughout the workforce to enable organisations to deliver on their action plans. 
• Companies are focused on the short-term, reflected through the action plans where 67% of actions to be completed within a year. 
• Whilst half of enterprises (54%) have identified a need for at least one transformative action in their plans, 86% of the actions are incremental, signifying enterprise gravitation towards step-by-step and immediately tangible actions aligned with the SDGs.  
• Businesses will need to ensure that their short- to medium- term incremental actions are at the very least linked to longer-term transformative strategies. 
• To do so, enterprises will need to utilise sustainability strategic skills. Hence, enterprises would benefit from a pathway which enhances sustainability strategy skills enabling them to leap from incremental to transformative planning. 

 Engage with the authors of this series Aisling O’Connor, Maria Kelly and Colm Gaskin and the wider Academy team on Climate Action and Upskilling at climatereadyacademy@20fiftypartners.com