Is your sustainability strategy integrated or does it just respond to reports?

June 26, 2025 / Maria Luiza Gonçalves

The eleventh episode of the WayCarbon Talks videocast discussed whether companies’ current sustainability strategy is in fact a strategy or is it just being designed to respond to reports. To discuss the topic, the episode, moderated by Lauro Marins, Head of Consulting and Digital Solutions, featured two experts from WayCarbon: Laís Ponte, Sustainability Consultant, and Raissa Urzedo, ESG Strategy Manager.

Laís Ponte begins the chat by emphasizing that there is a difference between a sustainability strategy conducted in isolation and a sustainable business strategy. “The former focuses on specific agenda topics and aims to make the company move forward in isolated topics. In the second case, the organization looks at the business as a whole and includes sustainability aspects in its planning in an integrated manner,” she says.

Raissa Urzedo points out that although this is the ambition of most leaders who seek WayCarbon, for this to happen in practice it needs to start with an analysis of risks and opportunities. “Generally, companies have a corporate risk area that acts independently and does not consider sustainability issues,” she says.

The report should not be the guide

Another point reinforced by the experts is that market frameworks and questionnaires are sometimes the starting point for companies to address ESG issues, but they should not be the main purpose nor guide the strategy. “The report is a communication tool for stakeholders, so it should be at the end of the management process and not at the beginning,” explains Laís.

Sustainability objectives should also not be restricted to getting good grades in the questionnaires. “It is necessary to go beyond improving the CDP score or being listed on the ISE. An action plan must be established to improve ESG aspects, efforts must be directed to implement it and even what did not work out must be reported to the C-Level. It is essential to have evidence, to have the process well defined and documented”, adds Raíssa.

How to get out of this cycle?

Because it is a process that demands time and effort, sustainability areas often work based on reports and there is little room left to implement actions. Experts believe that to get out of this cycle it is necessary to design the ambition and objective of each initiative, look more at the whole and focus on the material issues that are truly relevant to the company.

“I start from the principle that ‘less is more’. There was a period of increased agenda that was accompanied by companies promising unattainable goals. So we need to take a step back, understand the financial materiality and to whom the information is being communicated. We need to understand how sustainability leverages the business strategy, protects risk and generates opportunities”, concludes Lauro Marins.

Watch the full episode on YouTube (Audio in Portuguese, activate automatic subtitles).