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One thing has become increasingly clear in our conversations with large companies over the past year: If you want sustainability to get funded, it has to speak the language of business.
Economic uncertainty caused by the global trade war has only reinforced this as brands reduce spending across non-core business. Climate targets, net zero roadmaps, or supplier engagement rates are no longer enough to move the budgetary approval needle.
Sustainability stakeholders have now expanded outside of traditional corporate sustainability teams. Procurement, sourcing and finance are new crucial supply chain stakeholders that speak the language of CAPEX, margin and risk. Given that procurement and sourcing teams own these supplier relationships, scope 3 climate progress can only be accomplished with buy-in and support from these internal teams.
Traditionally, sustainability has lived in the “feel good” space of corporate America—whose primary objective is optics. It’s a nice-to-have that’s separate from the core business and consequently, gets limited budget allocation. The closer we can get to embedding sustainability in not just compliance, but risk reduction and core product, the closer sustainability becomes baked in as a line of influence.
Sustainable solutions need to answer questions like:
- How do lower-emissions strategies reduce costs?
- Which sites or suppliers pose the biggest operational risks?
- What’s the financial risk if emissions become a key vendor selection criterion?
- Are we financially-obligated to suppliers who invest in sustainability at our request (e.g., contract extensions, increased POs)? How does that affect long-term supply chain risk?
At Ren Energy, we’re seeing the shift firsthand. It’s not enough to track emissions at a high level. Brands need site-level data. They want to understand how energy is used by suppliers and they want to act on that insight; not just report it.
That’s why we’ve focused so much of our suite of platform + services on going directly to the source. We engage suppliers one by one, gathering verified energy data from their facilities and helping them procure net-new renewables—through rooftop solar, PPAs, or group buys. Our boots-on-the-ground approach also helps uncover existing renewable suppliers brands may have not known about—collecting real-time data that can be reported back to the brand.
It’s not just sustainability. It’s strategic decarbonization tied to financial outcomes.
When companies can show a clear line between supplier emissions, procurement risk, and margin impact, the conversation changes. Sustainability becomes part of capital planning, not just compliance. It earns trust from the CFO, the board, and even investors.
We’re still early in this journey. But the direction is clear: The future of sustainability reporting isn’t a PDF; it’s a business case.
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