#18 How to Excel at ESG in 2025

Now is the perfect time to be sharpening up your ESG strategy for 2025.

For so many companies, and especially their staff, ESG initiatives feel more like obligations than opportunities.

A purpose-led approach can transform your ESG from a tick-box exercise to a powerful engine of impact and performance that:

• Aligns and inspires your team,

• Attracts high-value customers and

• Delivers measurable financial results.

Most companies fail to achieve this due to the three key challenges explored in this week’s Edition.

There are three simple steps to overcoming them, which is the focus of the 2025 ESG Strategy Accelerator that I've just launched - you can also read more about it below.

4 min read

ESG Strategy: The 3 Key Challenges

1. The WHY: Lack of Clear Purpose Behind ESG Initiatives

When ESG initiatives aren't built upon a clear sense of a purpose, they feel like arbitrary add-ons.

Everyone is busy, so if you don't have a compelling “why”, ESG can be seen as a distraction.

If employees take this view - rather than ESG being a valuable part of the company’s mission - you'll likely see them deprioritise the initiatives and implement them half-heartedly.

Solution:

A purpose-led ESG approach changes everything.

Invest some time to get really clear on your company's purpose and ensure it's communicated effectively and engaging your team.

When a clear sense of purpose is guiding your ESG strategy, it helps you focus on the most impactful initiatives (more on that below), making them feel more meaningful and more likely to get buy-in from your team and gain traction.

A purpose-led approach not only inspires your employees by making them feel part of something bigger, but it also resonates powerfully with customers.

Purpose-led initiatives are memorable and impactful, creating deeper connections with customers—as explored in Edition #14.

2. The WHAT: Unfocused, Overwhelming ESG Initiatives

Many companies fall into the trap of adding ESG initiatives reactively over time, resulting in a patchwork of projects with no clear prioritisation.

This scattergun approach leaves employees unclear about what matters most and often leads to the wrong things being done—or nothing being done at all.

Overwhelmed teams may feel they lack the time or resources to carry out meaningful ESG work, leading to delays and failed implementation.

Solution:

Using a structured decision-making framework allows you to focus on the initiatives with the greatest potential for social impact and financial returns.

By identifying actions aligned with your purpose (per the section above) and external urgency (such as regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations), you can prioritise strategically.

This approach enables you to focus resources and your team's attention on high-impact initiatives while doing what is necessary to comply in other areas.

See Edition #12 for more on the “focus, mitigate, schedule, eliminate” framework.

Example: Walgreens Boots Alliance

I was recently speaking with a senior member of their ESG team and he explained how they pivoted to a purpose-led approach.

They rebranded their ESG report to instead be the 'Enabling Healthy Communities' report, and have four key focus areas that align with WBA's purpose, whilst ensuring they meet required regulations:

This has made their ESG efforts much more relatable and meaningful for employees, customers and wider stakeholder groups, while ensuring there is focus on what matters most - helping achieve much greater outcomes, both in terms of impact but also performance.

3. The HOW: Lack of Clarity, Targets, and Accountability

For many companies, ESG is seen as a cost centre rather than a performance driver. Initiatives are signed off, implemented with minimal accountability, and then largely forgotten about until it's time to write the ESG report.

Without clear plans, targets, and accountability, it’s no surprise that many ESG initiatives run late, exceed budgets, and fail to achieve their desired impact—let alone any positive contribution to the bottom line.

Solution:

To implement ESG effectively, start by understanding how each initiative can enhance performance. By linking each ESG action to specific benefits like customer acquisition and value, or employee engagement and operational efficiency, you can set targets and build action plans to achieve them.

Assigning clear responsibilities ensures everyone is aligned on what is being done, and a clear set of targets and KPIs allows you to monitor progress and performance, adjusting where needed.

This approach moves ESG from being a “cost centre” to becoming a measurable performance driver, where each initiative has the potential to deliver a meaningful financial return.

The 2025 ESG Strategy Accelerator: Your Blueprint for ESG Success

If these challenges sound familiar, the 2025 ESG Strategy Accelerator is designed to provide you and your team with the clarity, focus, and motivation needed to turn your ESG initiatives into drivers of measurable financial outcomes.

This exclusive, 3-week program will guide you through each of these critical three steps with a hands-on, purpose-driven approach.

Phase 1: WHY – Purpose-Led ESG Alignment

Reconnect with your company’s core purpose and use it as the foundation for your ESG strategy. This phase includes a 1:1 strategy session to help you clarify and define a purpose-led approach that aligns your team and inspires your customers.

Phase 2: WHAT – Prioritising ESG Initiatives

Focus your efforts by identifying high-impact ESG initiatives that align with both purpose and external urgency. You’ll receive access to decision-making frameworks and resources to help you cut through the noise and streamline your strategy.

Phase 3: HOW – Linking ESG to Financial Performance

Gain a clear roadmap for achieving measurable ROI on your ESG initiatives by connecting them to measurable financial outcomes. During an in-depth workshop we'll identify the links to performance and how this translates to financials, as well as best practice for creating action plans that will lead to successful implementation.

Bonus: A 1:1 Optimisation Session in January to review your plans, refine your strategy, and start 2025 with maximum impact.

This is more than just a strategy—it’s a focused blueprint for excelling at ESG and achieving measurable improvements to your bottom line.

Find out more about the Accelerator here.

Ready to Unlock the Financial Upside of Purpose-Led ESG?

If you’re interested, reply “ESG” to this email to book in a short call where we can discuss the details and see if the Accelerator is a good fit for your business.

As a Towards Better Insider, you’ll receive a 20% exclusive discount if you enrol by Thursday 7th November.

The journey towards a better way of doing business

We are on the cusp of a new paradigm of responsible business, and helping impactful companies pair purpose with profit will accelerate the shift.

I believe this holds the key to solving many of our greatest challenges and inspiring positive change throughout society.

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