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Embarking on a journey
The process
Sustainability is about ensuring business
success in the short and long term
while contributing to society’s present
social, environmental and economic
needs without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet
their needs. This approach requires
ethical, environmental, social and
economic considerations to be
integrated into all aspects of the
business, reflecting the principles of
sustainable development.
For ABIL, sustainability is a journey it
began some time ago as reflected in the
projects and activities discussed later.
As with all first-stage practices, these
were undertaken in a way that
guaranteed immediate response to
an issue in one area of its business.
Many of these responses have grown
into highly successful endeavours with
Secure commitment
• Vision for change
• High level workshop
• CEO/board support
Report and review
• Apply recognised sustainability
criteria and indicators
• Data analysis
• Assurance
• Monitor and review progress
against benchmarks
• Communicate
significant impact on the group and
its stakeholders. The group has now
entered the second phase which is to
formalise and integrate these activities
to obtain maximum benefits for all
involved.
To sustain growth in the 21st century,
ABIL recognises that relying on
economic strengths like competitive
advantage and product innovation is
not enough. Social and environmental
impacts, measured by the inter-relation
between business and communities as
well as business and the environment,
have become important criteria in
determining a company’s success.
ABIL has recently begun a
comprehensive review of its sustainability
strategy. Sustainability will be further
integrated into the group’s business plan
Analyse the business
• Corporate citizenship
management rating
• Sustainability SWOT analysis
• Assessing core sustainability
business competencies
Build into internal management
systems
• Links to existing management
structures
• Develop sustainability
management system
• Data capture
• Key performance
indicators/targets
over the next year. The integration will
include the development of appropriate
control and monitoring systems that will
feed into the annual sustainability
reporting process.
ABIL has adopted the following process
to develop an integrated sustainability
management framework that will
strengthen stakeholder engagement,
assess and manage risk – including social
and environmental risk – and enhance
synergies and partnerships to create
opportunities. Although some steps are
already in place, ABIL will build on these
in the coming year to produce an
organisation-wide strategy.
Although ABIL believes this is simply
sound business practice applied to
sustainability, it is important that this is
developed in an inclusive way.
Develop a strategy
• Developing a strategic
framework document
• Focus on both risk and
opportunities
• Financial services link to
sustainability
Implement the strategy
• Develop action plan
• Clear objectives
• Change management process
• Visible early gains
• Communication plan
• Training
• Knowledge management
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