“Upskilling business leaders is critical for the transition to a sustainable future. But sustainability cannot be achieved by working in silos”
That was the topic discussed during a panel which took place at the 8th Economist Impact Sustainability Week 2023, which featured our Sustainability Director Rossella Cardone.
Business leaders need to take ownership and integrate sustainable thinking in every function, internally and with their partners— making sure that everyone understands the sustainability issues facing their business and how to contribute to solve them, the decarbonisation priorities and the impact on stakeholders.
Here are five key takeaways on this topic:
1. You have to start at the top. The drivers of change come from within the boardroom.
According to a 2022 survey by consulting firm Russell Reynolds (published on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance), just 5% of boards have sustainability on the agenda at every meeting. If the board are not consistently focused on sustainability, the rest of the business won’t be either.
At Jaguar Land Rover we have formalised recurrent Board oversight to ensure understanding and visibility of sustainability progress. Our leaders become the agents of change, driving action and ownership across their respective internal business units.
2. Education, education, education. Make sure everyone throughout the business understands why their input, through sustainable behaviour and direct action, is critical on the glidepath to goals and commitments.
The Deloitte 2023 Cx0 sustainability report indicates that only 50% of organisations are currently offering climate change training for their employees.
At Jaguar Land Rover, we launched mandatory sustainability training for all our employees last year; this has now been completed by over 13,500 colleagues. We are also in the process of developing in‑depth training programmes for specific sustainability topics and business functions, for example new modules for Circular Economy, and Responsible Sourcing are due to launch later this year.
3. Don’t drop the pace. Businesses must not “launch and forget” commitments; a regular engagement with employees is crucial.
According to a recent study by Positive Planet, 57% of employees say that their organisation is not doing enough to involve them in cutting their carbon emissions. What’s more, employee engagement is a common factor amongst companies that successfully deliver positive climate action. However, many businesses fail to communicate their sustainability strategy, which results in employee apathy and under‑delivery.
Sustainability leads in all core business areas at Jaguar Land Rover are driving the sustainability execution agenda in their individual fields. Fortnight ‘nerve centre’ meetings track progress and enable knowledge sharing.
We facilitate face‑to‑face engagement through Jaguar Land Rover sustainability network events, which take place bi‑annually with over 150 employees from all over the business. Alongside this, this month we are launching new functional ‘Immersion sessions’ designed to educate, inspire and mobilise all areas.
4. Investment! You need investment to upskill and reskill.
A new Gartner, Inc. survey revealed that 87% of business leaders expect to increase their organisation’s investment in sustainability over the next two years. Additionally, 83% said sustainability programme activities directly created both short ‑ and long‑term value for their organisation, and 80% indicated that sustainability helped their organisation optimise and reduce costs.
At Jaguar Land Rover, we continue to invest heavily in technologies which reduce our environmental footprint, and in skills training critical to our modern luxury, all electric future. For example, our Future Skills Programme launched in September last year to re‑train 29,000 global and retail employees in competencies needed to design, build and maintain our next‑generation electric vehicles.
5. Collaborate to learn and lead. It is not an inward facing, ‘us only’ programme. Scope 2 and 3 commitments require collaboration both up and downstream with business partners. Identifying external specialists in the wider business, industrial or trade ecosystem will accelerate change within.
The Deloitte 2023 Cx0 sustainability report reveals that there is still significant work to be done here, as just 44% of businesses are working with their suppliers and business partners to meet specific sustainability criteria.
We’re proud that Jaguar Land Rover has partnered with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and is also a member of the World Economic Forum ‑ Circular Cars Initiative to drive our circular economy ambitions. This engagement with wider ecosystems – including leaders, innovators and experts allows us to learn, share, innovate & co‑create.
For us to successfully transition to a sustainable future, awareness, education, investment and collaboration are all vital; So is consistency. Working together to ensure that decarbonisation remains on the agenda, will ensure organisations are laser‑focused on delivering systemic change and achieving their goals.
