ESG Advice for Business: What to Focus on Now
by Sustainable Choice Group 05/05/2026
Guide, Thought Starters
by Sustainable Choice Group 05/05/2026
Guide, Thought Starters
This article was contributed by Sustainable Choice Group.
ESG advice can feel overwhelming because the goalposts keep moving.
Climate reporting rules are tightening. Greenwashing scrutiny is increasing. Supply chains are asking harder questions. Consumers still care about sustainability, but they are becoming more sceptical of vague claims. And for many teams, the pressure is growing while budgets and resources stay tight.
So where should a business actually focus?
The best ESG advice right now is not to try to do everything at once. It is to get clear on what matters most, build evidence behind your actions, communicate with care and treat sustainability as part of how the business operates.
The shift to mandatory climate reporting in Australia has made one thing very clear: ESG is no longer a side project.
As The Growth Activists explain, climate disclosure is now sitting alongside financial reporting, with directors required to sign off and organisations expected to clearly outline risks, emissions and strategy.
That level of scrutiny forces focus.
Businesses that try to tackle everything tend to stall. The ones that move are the ones that identify their most material risks and opportunities early, whether that is emissions, supply chain exposure, packaging or customer-facing claims, and start there.
This is what turns ESG from an overwhelming feat into something actionable.
It is easy to view climate reporting as a compliance exercise, but the businesses getting ahead are using it as a strategic tool.
Daniel Harper (CEO of Cool Planet) pointed out on the Sustainable Transformation podcast that organisations that prepare early are better positioned to win new business, attract investment and strengthen supply chain relationships.
Even businesses that are not yet required to report are already being pulled in.
Large companies managing Scope 3 emissions are asking their suppliers for data. That means smaller businesses without credible emissions information risk being left out of procurement decisions.
The advice here is simple: build your data capability early. Not just to comply, but to compete.
One of the biggest gaps in early ESG efforts is where businesses start looking.
Most start with what they can see. Energy use. Offices. Vehicles. But that is rarely where the full picture sits.
In Sustainability Tracker’s podcast episode with Climate Zero on carbon footprinting, businesses are consistently underestimating emissions because of data blind spots, unclear boundaries and a lack of ownership across the organisation.
That is especially true for Scope 3 and this is where supplier engagement becomes critical.
As Terrascope explains, most emissions sit in the value chain, not within a company’s direct operations. Their advice is to start with clear objectives, focus on a small group of high-impact suppliers and build engagement over time, rather than trying to involve everyone at once.
This is how ESG becomes manageable.
Start where impact is highest. Build capability. Expand from there.
For product-based businesses, ESG is often locked in long before reporting begins. It happens in design.
In their article on packaging, Philo & Co make the point that packaging design is no longer about aesthetics. It is a business, risk and credibility tool that shapes materials, emissions, recovery and how sustainability claims are understood.
Every decision has trade-offs.
A material might reduce carbon but compromise recyclability. Something labelled “recyclable” might fail in real-world recovery systems. Lightweighting might reduce emissions but create other challenges.
This is where ESG moves from intention to reality. It is not just what you say. It is what is designed into the product and whether that holds up in the real world.
Packaging is becoming one of the most scrutinised areas of ESG, and it is not just about materials. It is about systems.
At a national level, conversations around Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) are highlighting how fragmented recycling infrastructure, contamination and inconsistent rules are limiting what is actually achievable.
As outlined by AWEN Packaging Consulting, packaging design can only be truly circular if the systems to recover it exist. That shifts the conversation.
Sustainable packaging is not just a design decision. It is a systems decision that depends on infrastructure, policy and collaboration across the value chain.
For businesses, the advice is to think beyond the pack itself. Look at how it is used, recovered and communicated.
As ESG expectations grow, so does the need for credibility. This is where certification is becoming more important.
According to Losee Consulting, certification is emerging as one of the clearest ways to demonstrate that sustainability commitments are real, measurable and independently verified.
It also provides structure.
Rather than relying on internal claims, businesses can align with recognised frameworks, establish baselines, build governance processes and communicate progress with more confidence.
Certification is not always necessary, but where credibility matters, it can be the difference between saying something and being able to stand behind it.
This is where many ESG strategies fall down. The work is there. The language is not.
Research shared by South Pole Australia shows that while awareness of terms like “net zero” is relatively high, understanding is low. Only a quarter of people are familiar with “science-based targets”, despite the fact that trust increases significantly when people understand them.
South Pole’s consumer trust insights also show that vague or overly technical language can erode trust rather than build it.
This creates a clear need to use accurate language and explain it.
Connect targets to tangible actions. Show what is actually changing. Make it easy for people to understand what your commitments mean in practice.
Clarity is what builds credibility.
Sustainability does not sit outside of marketing principles. It follows them.
In their article on sustainability marketing, Fair And Forward outline three key shifts: move from generic to targeted messaging, from product-led to benefit-led communication and from facts to storytelling.
This matters because there is no single “sustainability consumer”.
Different audiences care about different things. Some are deeply engaged. Others are sceptical. Most sit somewhere in between.
The role of marketing is to understand those audiences and connect sustainability to what matters to them.
Not just what the product does, but what it means for the person using it.
With greenwashing regulation increasing, many organisations are becoming more cautious in how they communicate. Some are saying less altogether.
Fair And Forward describe this as greenhushing, where businesses under-report sustainability commitments to avoid scrutiny. But this creates a gap.
When competitors go quiet, there is space for businesses that can communicate clearly, honestly and with evidence.
The key is not to overclaim. It is to say what is real, show the proof and be open about what is still in progress. Because trust is not built through perfection. It is built through transparency.
One of the biggest barriers to progress is not external. It is internal. When ESG is seen as separate from the core business, it struggles to gain traction.
As Edge Impact points out, the organisations gaining momentum are not the ones with the most ambitious targets. They are the ones that make ESG relevant, tie it to business value and tell the truth about progress, even when it is uncomfortable.
That means connecting ESG to:
When ESG is framed this way, it stops being an “extra”. It becomes part of how the business runs.
Climate transition planning is another area where businesses can get stuck trying to follow every framework.
But as Linden Sustainability explains, a transition plan is ultimately just a plan that outlines how your business will respond to climate-related risks and opportunities.
The key is clarity. Are you focusing on emissions reduction, managing climate impacts, or both?
From there, the process becomes more practical: identify risks and opportunities, build internal plans, align with reporting requirements and decide what to share publicly.
Not every business needs to produce a perfect, standalone transition report immediately, but every business does need a clear direction.
The best ESG advice is not the most complex. It is the most usable.
It helps a business understand what to prioritise, what to measure, where to act and how to communicate progress.
Right now, that means:
Because ESG is becoming more visible, more regulated and more commercially relevant, and the businesses that move forward will not be the ones doing the most. They will be the ones doing what matters, clearly and consistently.
ESG is becoming a core part of how businesses operate, report and compete.
The most effective approach is to focus on what matters most, build credible data and embed sustainability into real business decisions. This includes preparing for climate reporting, understanding supply chain emissions, designing better products and packaging and communicating progress clearly.
Businesses that move early are better positioned to meet regulatory expectations, stay in supply chains and build trust with customers and stakeholders.
The key is not to do everything at once, but to take clear, evidence-backed steps that your business can maintain over time.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. It refers to how a business manages its environmental impact, social responsibility and governance practices.
It matters because ESG is increasingly linked to risk, regulation, investment, procurement and customer trust. Businesses are now expected to show how they manage these areas, not just talk about them.
Start by identifying the ESG issues that are most relevant to your business. The Sustainability Plan tool here can help you identify the best steps in under one minute.
This usually involves:
From there, focus on a small number of priority areas rather than trying to tackle everything at once.
Mandatory climate reporting requires certain businesses to disclose climate-related risks, emissions and strategies as part of their annual reporting.
It is being phased in from 2025 and aligns with global standards. Even businesses not directly captured may still need to provide emissions data to customers as part of supply chain requirements.
For most businesses, Scope 3 makes up the largest portion of emissions.
Most environmental impact sits in the supply chain.
Engaging suppliers helps businesses:
The most effective approach is to start with high-impact suppliers and expand over time.
Not always, but certification can help.
It provides independent verification of sustainability claims, strengthens credibility and creates a structured approach to measuring and reporting impact.
Certification is most valuable when trust, procurement or compliance are key considerations.
To avoid greenwashing:
Clarity and honesty are more effective than broad or technical claims.
Use simple, everyday language and connect sustainability to real actions.
Instead of relying on technical terms, explain:
Clear communication builds trust and helps customers make informed decisions.
A climate transition plan outlines how a business will move toward a lower-emissions future and respond to climate-related risks.
It typically includes:
Not all businesses are required to publish one, but many stakeholders expect to see a clear plan in place.
ESG can create value by:
When done well, ESG becomes part of how a business grows, not just how it reports.