The Complete Guide to Sustainability Audits: Future-Proof Your Business in 2025

Have you ever wondered to what extent your company claims to be environmentally friendly? With 78% of consumers opting for sustainable brands, it is no longer an optional or recommended practice, but a matter of business continuity to perform sustainability audits.

In this piece, we will teach you everything you need to know about sustainability audits, all the way from the very basic information to the proper use of the audit.

What is a Sustainability Audit?

A common question is, what does this term even mean?

You are checking the health of your firm, but instead of checking its vital signs, you are looking at the firm’s social and envi­ron­men­tal health. This is in essence the meaning of sustainability auditing.

It’s a systematic evaluation of all three interrelated pillars of contemporary business which are the environmental, economic, and social pillars. Together, combined with a high quality ESG Strategy, these assessments represent the very essence of any business the way it should be done.

“A sustainability audit is like a mirror that shows you the true reflection of your business’s impact on the planet and society” explains Sarah Chen, Chief Sustainability Officer at Green Future Consulting.

Why Should Businesses Perform Sustainability Audits?

You might be wondering, “Do I really need this?” Well, here are some pretty good reasons:

• 73% of investors now consider ESG factors in their investment decisions.
• 85% of companies see sustainability as a way to create value within their long-term corporate strategies.
• 66% of consumers are open to paying a higher price for sustainable products.

But it is not only about statistics. Remember the time when VW had that big emissions’ debacle? A good sustainability audit could have saved the company from that $30 billion blunder. Ouch!

From the business perspective, these are challenges that can be tackled and solved through sustainable development initiatives.

How to Perform a Sustainability Audit Step by Step

Make a Plan for Your Sustainability Assessment

First things first, one needs to prepare. It is akin to planning a road trip – you need to know your starting point and your destination. It’s important to note that our Sustainability Consulting services specialize in this aspect.

Some elements to consider are the following:

• Setting proper targets
• Searching for main sponsors
• Establishing proper deadlines
• Providing adequate funding

And remember… don’t get too disheartened if the task seems daunting, it’s best to take baby steps. Building a solid business structure is not something that can come together in a single day, and similarly you shouldn’t expect Rome to be built in a day.

Executing a Materiality Assessment

In this section is where you separate the useless from the useful. A materiality assessment lets you sift through the needless number of sustainability challenges that you might want to address, and focus on only the ones that matter to you and your stakeholders. This is simplified in today modern world by using a sustainable technology solution.

Ask yourself:

1. What environmental issues directly impact your operations?
2. Which social issues are your stakeholders most concerned about?
3. What governance factors could affect your business continuity?

Executing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

About to roll your sleeves? This is LCA, where you literally investigate the life cycle of a product, from start to its end and everything in between. Yes, it’s as crazy as the way that it sounds! This aspect is especially important in sustainable manufacturing, as they make up the core of the business.

In this paper, fillers such as tors will be discussed, here, in order:

• Obtaining raw material
• Phased manufacture
• Manufacture’s distribution
• End use of product
• Final disposal’s technique
• Sustainability Impact Measurement

Measuring exactly ‘adds’ more value to the subject, so let’s discuss a few key metrics on which you will have to measure: carbon footprint, comprising scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, energy used, water consumption, waste produced, resources spent.

Social Sustainability Impact Evaluation

So, it should be noted that sustainability is not focused ONLY on the planet; it is focused on PEOPLE as well. So, try to observe: conditions for working in factories controlled by the firm, interactions with the outside community, inclusion policies, human rights, health and safety of the employees.

Types of Sustainability Audits

These company sustainability audits in modern reality are a quite new practice helping companies aiming at environmental responsibility and long-term success. Now, if we start from the purpose of the various types of audit, we will be able to understand the better option for the organization courses.

Internal and External Audits: Choose the Right One

Organizations have the choice of internal audits or external audits, both has its own benefits. Internal audits are self-controlled and conducted by its company’s staff, and this offers better understanding of the firm’s sustainability concepts and faster pinpointing of which relevant sustainability frameworks need improvement.

On the contrary, External audits add independent knowledge and reliability in the evaluation. These assessments are performed by an organization that is not a party to the transaction and are helpful in providing insights that outsiders might not find useful.

The very fact that the external audits are objective appeals to stakeholders and can in that way enhance the sustainability credentials of the organization in the market.

Compliance Audits: Meeting the Required Standards

Compliance audits are more concerned with ascertaining that all relevant environmental regulations and sustainability standards and requirements are observed by the organizations. These in-depth reviews cover everything including local environmental regulations all the way to global sustainability goals.

They assess sustainable practices including documentation, how environmental permits and licenses are obtained and because all requested documentation is current and valid.

Management System Audits: The Evaluation of the Framework

Management system audits are more concerned with the inclusion of sustainability into day to day operations within an organization. These evaluations examine the sustainability management framework in place such as, the strategy for integration, decision-making framework and allocation of resources.

They investigate as well, training for workers and policies about communication, integration of sustainability issues in the organization has been streamlined.

Performance Based Audits: Measuring Sustainability Model Implementation

Audits based on performance measure the real impact of what was intended regarding sustainability issues. Performance measures include a review of all targets for measurement such as water, energy, carbon emissions, and waste management practices.

They also consider the sustainability of the supply chain as well as the engagement of the community, which in turn helps understand the environmental dimension of the organization in greater detail.

Supply chain audits are another key component of the world sustainability assessment. These audits are indeed very specialized and such audits mean examining suppliers, logistics partners and the other stakeholders in your value chain for environmental and social practices.

An in depth supply chain audit can reveal some risks that are not visible, suggest areas for enhancement, and help ensure that the sustainability promises made by the company goes beyond the organization’s boundaries.

Implementing Sustainability KPIs

It is appropriate to refer to sustainability KPIs as the pulse of a business tempered by the state of its initiative – KPIs are indicators on the performance of your sustainability initiatives. However, the indicators of the available metrics can be too many; which of them should one emphasize? Let’s identify the basic KPIs that are likely to help you have the most rounded understanding of your business operations in terms of sustainability.

Keep in mind: there’s no need to rush and get overwhelmed by trying to follow every single metric starting from the first day itself. It is advisable to initially narrow down even maximum three metrics that are most relevant to your industry specifically, and then grow to the remaining ones. Here’s your comprehensive checklist of sustainability KPIs:

Performance of supplier sustainability

1. Supplier Sustainability Performance
   • Percentage of suppliers meeting sustainability criteria (aim for 80%+ compliance)
   • Carbon footprint of purchased goods and services
   • Supplier diversity statistics and spending with minority-owned businesses
   • Supplier code of conduct compliance rate
2. Environmental Impact Metrics
   • GHG emissions reduction (track Scope 1, 2, and 3)
   • Waste diversion rates from landfill
   • Renewable energy adoption percentage
   • Hazardous waste generation and disposal
   • Biodiversity impact assessment scores
3. Energy Management
   • Energy intensity per unit of production
   • Renewable energy percentage in total consumption
   • Peak load management efficiency
   • Building energy performance ratings
   • Equipment efficiency ratings
4. Water Stewardship
   • Water consumption per unit of production
   • Wastewater treatment efficiency rates
   • Water recycling and reuse percentages
   • Water quality compliance metrics
   • Storm water management effectiveness

Pro Tip: Bring these metrics on one page, and you will require less time to monitor all of them. A number of the organizations start with quarterly monitoring and progress into monthly as their enterprise systems.

According to Michael Rodriguez, Sustainability Director at Global Metrics Institute, the important thing in the measurement of sustainability is not the tracking of everything that is possible to be tracked, but only that which is useful to the company’s operations and to the operations of stakeholders who may have an interest in the company.

For instance: When Unilever first undertook their Capacity Building Program, which focused on holistic education in environmental management. They then started putting a sustainability model in place, which in turn allowed them to save 37% reduction in water use across all their manufacturing plants by 2015.

What Standards are Used for Sustainability Auditing?

The GRI(SGS-CTC)-GSSRS-SFI-Ul Representative Standard is specific to child protection research and summarizes the basic principles of child protection in the UC sector and establishes basic guidelines for programs targeting children. The standards offer clear and unbiased content that supports stakeholder reconciliation.

Let us consider the frameworks that have been developed:

• GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) – The one with the widest reach and adoption in the world.
• SASB (Sustainability Accounting Standards Board) – SASB resources can assist in the integration of sustainability into business practices.
• ISO 14001( Environmental Management) – International standard for environmental management systems.
• B Corp Certification – The most thorough examination of social and environmental performance.
• CDP (Carbon Disclosure Project) – Initiative providing global transparency of the environmental risks.

Different standards serve different needs and therefore may be more applicable to and relevant to your – industry, size of organization, location. Most of the nasty wiggles contain of a cocktail of standards to cover all their sustainability work.

Tools and Technologies for Sustainability Auditing

Various technological solutions are used to modernize and simplify various aspects of sustainability auditing. One such Environmental management software assists in the measurement and evaluation of sustainability parameters on a real time basis. Data analytics allows for the processing of massive environmental data sets, whereas carbon accounting software tools estimate emissions during various operational activities.

The use of mobile technology enables field teams auditing to take less time and hence more data, and cloud-based technologies assist in data exchange and reporting. While consuming resources and resulting in emissions smart sensors and IoT devices facilitate the measurement of these parameters.

Benefits of Regular Sustainability Audits

• Risk Management and Compliance: Regular audits allow the organizations to manage potential environmental compliance risks and avoid violations in a timely manner. In doing so, firms are protecting their image, although it may force them to incur additional costs in order to evade making the violations.
• Operational Excellence: The systematic assessment of processes and practices, including routine audits of the supply chain as a part of business operations, allows the sustainability assessments to find areas which can help with attaining greater efficiency. This would imply that the organization would be able to make better use of its resources, less waste is produced, and more environmentally friendly practices are adopted in the entire value chain. Which means significantly lower costs and a strong operational capacity of the business.
• Enhanced Stakeholder Trust: Commitment towards a cause such as audit ensures the business has not only a sound operation but protected the environment, thus winning the trust from investors, customers as well as regulatory authorities. This open approach improves the bonds with stakeholders and boosts the company image.
• Competitive Edge: Organizations which have proper sustainability audit checks and programs are most likely to gain outcomes in the market. They are able to be in a better position than their competitors, penetrate green conscious markets, as well as win the attention of eco-friendly investors and customers.
• Financial Benefits: Apart from cost-effective measures implemented, proper steps taken towards sustainability help to get better insurance deals, access to environmentally friendly financing, and even avoid environmental penalties. The anticipated benefits of these activities in the long run tend to be far greater than this type of expenditure in case of the comprehensive programs for profitability audits.

Conclusion: Future Proofing Your Business

Do you recall the period when Blockbuster was overtaken by Netflix? Well, sustainability is the new digital era. People, businesses that are ready to evolve will blossom; while the rest will not.

Excited to begin this part of your journey? Here’s a pathway you can follow:

• Carry out a simple sustainability scan.
• Establish clear and realistic objectives.
• Establish 
monitoring mechanisms as part of implementation.
• Involve all the parties.
• Ensure improvement and evolution on the go.

Ready to Boost Your Business’s Sustainability Performance?

Schedule a call with our sustainability experts and receive your customized audit road map.