Each year, New Hampshire Businesses for Social Responsibility conducts a survey of its membership base reviewing their sustainable business practices, from climate action to employee benefits and more. 2023 was the first year I was involved with the Measure What Matters committee, and I got a first hand look at how much work goes into the creation of the survey and report. (A quick shout-out here to the incredible NHBSR team, especially Zeina and this spring’s intern Skye!)

The Measure What Matters white paper has been released, and it is full of information about how New Hampshire businesses are succeeding in sustainability issues. It also highlighted what else we need to do.

One of the first observations made was that interest in climate action is high, but action is not. Follow through is missing. New Hampshire companies are great at promoting sustainable practices (though there could certainly be more emphasis on reduced travel emissions), but a lot of the progress comes from large, well-resourced companies.

There is also a gap in formal stakeholder engagement. More than just a passing comment from a community member or positive phone call from a customer, formal stakeholder engagement mechanisms can be what ties a company into the most urgent issues today. It is by continuously, intentionally connecting with stakeholders that businesses become aware of what impact they make and what value can be created from changes.

Data is all well and good, but action is what is needed next. And if you are not one of those large, well-resourced companies, allow me to promote myself for a moment. Hiring a sustainable business consultant may be the jumpstart a small business needs to take sustainability seriously and strategically. Actually implementing those good intentions, creating well-researched policies, and engaging stakeholders is far easier when you have someone on your team who can focus on sustainability. An outside consultant can act as project manager and subject matter expert without needing to be paid full-time or receive benefits.