Completing a sustainability project is an excellent milestone for businesses, however, there is plenty more to think about aside from just receiving the report. A carbon assessment, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), training course, nature project or wider sustainability project can provide valuable evidence and direction, but the real value comes from how that work is used afterwards.
The next stage is to act on the results, improve the quality of data, involve suppliers, respond to procurement requests, ensure progress is communicated or find where more help is needed. This is the thinking behind Tunley Environmental’s Progress Pathway, which has been developed to help clients understand what should come next after a project has been completed.
| Quick navigation points throughout | |
| 1. Review what your project has identified | 2. Engage your supply chain |
| 4. Communicate progress with confidence | |
| 6. Follow your progress pathway | |
One of the first things to consider after completing a sustainability project is what the work has identified and where action is now needed. A project may have highlighted emissions hotspots, supplier data gaps, product impacts, areas of compliance risk or opportunities to improve internal processes. Rather than allowing those findings to sit in a final report, organisations should review which actions are most relevant to their wider business priorities.
This review can also help determine who else needs to be involved. Some findings may be dealt with by sustainability teams, while others may require input from procurement, operations, marketing, finance or senior leadership. When the task ownership responsibility is defined, it is far more likely that the project will lead to tangible progress rather than simply becoming a completed piece of work to add to the pile.
For lots of organisations, some of the most important next steps come from outside their direct operations. Scope 3 emissions, product footprints and wider environmental impacts are often heavily influenced by suppliers, materials, logistics and other parts of the value chain, which means progress can be limited by the quality of information available from third parties.
A structured approach to supplier engagement can help address this. This may involve identifying which suppliers are most material, understanding where evidence is missing, improving the way sustainability information is requested or providing suppliers with clearer guidance on what is needed to move forward. A Supply Chain Gap Analysis can be particularly useful where an organisation knows its Scope 3 data needs to improve but is not yet clear where to focus first.
Sustainability information is increasingly being requested outside sustainability teams. Procurement departments, customers, tender processes and ESG questionnaires may all require evidence relating to emissions, environmental targets, product impacts, supplier engagement or wider sustainability performance. In many cases, a completed project may already provide part of the evidence needed.
This means organisations should consider how their sustainability work can support wider commercial activity. A carbon report may help answer tender questions, an EPD may support customer conversations, or a wider sustainability review may provide evidence for procurement processes. Using existing work more effectively can reduce duplication and help organisations respond with greater confidence when sustainability information is requested.
A completed sustainability project can also provide a stronger evidence base for communications. Organisations may want to use the findings in website copy, ESG reports, sales materials, case studies, social media or internal updates, but environmental claims should always reflect the evidence available.
In the UK, businesses should consider the principles of the Green Claims Code when communicating environmental progress. Claims should be clear, accurate and capable of being substantiated, which makes the quality of the underlying evidence especially important. Sustainability work can therefore support marketing and communications, but the next step is to make sure findings are translated into language that is proportionate, specific and based on evidence.
Another common challenge appears once the project has been completed and the information needs to be maintained. Sustainability data can quickly become spread across reports, spreadsheets, supplier emails and different internal teams, making future reporting more difficult and increasing the amount of repeated work required each year.
A more integrated approach can help organisations maintain visibility of their sustainability data and actions throughout the year. Tunley’s VerdaMetric sustainability software is designed to support this by helping organisations manage information, track progress and reduce reliance on disconnected reporting processes. For businesses managing multiple sites, suppliers or reporting requirements, this can help sustainability become a more continuous process rather than an annual task.
A completed project can also raise questions about where the organisation wants to go next. For some businesses, this may involve setting science-based targets, developing a reduction plan or deciding whether public commitments are appropriate. For others, it may mean broadening the scope of sustainability activity to include areas such as nature, water, product impacts or more structured supplier engagement.
The right next step will depend on the organisation’s current position, customer expectations and wider business objectives. The important point is that future commitments should be based on evidence and supported by practical implementation, rather than becoming standalone statements.
There is no single next step that applies to every organisation, which is why Tunley has created the Progress Pathway. The pathway helps clients identify which areas are most relevant after completing work with us and provides a clear route into the support that may be needed next.
Progress Pathway options include Supply Chain Gap Analysis, Competitor Gap Analysis, Procurement Support, Supplier Engagement, Software Support, Green Marketing Support and a Follow-Up Strategy Call. These options are designed to help organisations build on work already completed rather than starting again from scratch.
You can explore the pathway and select the areas most relevant to your organisation through our Grow Your Impact page.
It’s not often that sustainability challenges stop at the boundary of one organisation. Suppliers, procurement contacts, customers, partners and group companies may be facing many of the same challenges, particularly around carbon data, Scope 3, product evidence, reporting and compliance.
This is where the Grow Your Impact Referral Rewards Scheme fits into the wider Progress Pathway. Clients who introduce another organisation to Tunley can help extend sustainability progress across their network or supply chain, while also receiving recognition if that referral becomes a client.
Successful referrals receive a fruit tree planted through Tunley’s sponsored Agroforestry Restoration Project, along with a plaque, certificate and project updates. The referring organisation can also choose one additional benefit from a Sustainability Gap Analysis, Competitor Sustainability Analysis, 10% off VerdaMetric, or 30 minutes with a Tunley scientist.
A sustainability project should create more than a final report or training session. The strongest value comes when organisations use that work to inform strategy, engage suppliers, support commercial activity, improve communications and identify what should happen next.
Tunley’s Progress Pathway and Grow Your Impact scheme are designed to make that next stage easier to achieve, helping organisations build on completed work and extend progress across the wider value chain.