How should a business set sustainability targets and communicate them credibly?

Do not start with the biggest commitment you can make.

Start with the impact, decide what matters, establish what improvement looks like, assign action and then communicate what you can support.

Fourthmore places target-setting between prioritisation and action:

Measure → Prioritise → Set Targets → Take Action → Communicate.

The order matters.

A target set before the business understands its impacts can create unnecessary work. Communication that happens before action can create a gap between what the business says and what it can demonstrate.

What makes a sustainability target useful?

A useful target should be:

• connected to a relevant business impact
• clear about what will change
• measurable where practical
• realistic enough to act upon
• assigned to someone
• connected to a timeframe
• capable of being reviewed

A target is not useful simply because it sounds ambitious.

A smaller commitment supported by evidence and action may be more credible than a larger commitment with no clear delivery plan.

Start with the issue, not the target

Before setting a target, ask:

• What impact are we trying to reduce or improve?
• Why does it matter to the business?
• What information do we currently have?
• What can we realistically influence?
• Who would need to act?
• What would progress look like?

If those questions cannot yet be answered, the business may need more information before committing to a target.

Do sustainability targets always need numbers?

Not every early-stage objective needs to begin with a sophisticated metric.

Where reliable data exists, numerical targets can make progress easier to measure.

Where information is incomplete, an initial target may instead focus on building the system needed for better measurement.

For example:

• obtaining missing supplier information
• establishing a baseline
• recording packaging use
• assigning responsibility
• introducing a purchasing standard
• measuring a previously untracked activity

The important distinction is between a real operational objective and a vague ambition.

Turn the target into action

A target without an action plan is only an intention.

For each target establish:

• what needs to happen
• who owns it
• when it should happen
• what resources are required
• what evidence will show progress
• when the target will be reviewed

This is where sustainability moves into normal business operations.

Communicate after action

Fourthmore places communication last in the Sustainability Playbook deliberately.

First understand the impact.

Then prioritise it.

Then set the target.

Then take action.

Then communicate.

This reduces the risk of communication moving ahead of operational reality.

What should a business communicate?

Communicate what is relevant and supportable.

Be clear about the difference between:

• something already achieved
• something currently being implemented
• a formal target
• a future intention

Evidence should support material claims wherever possible.

If progress is incomplete, say so.

Credibility does not require pretending the work is finished.

Avoid the gap between ambition and evidence

Problems often begin when:

• targets are announced without ownership
• marketing uses language operations cannot support
• commitments are made without measurement
• different teams describe progress differently
• future intentions are presented as current achievements

The answer is not less communication.

It is better alignment between decisions, evidence, action and language.

What if the target changes?

Targets should not be changed simply because they become inconvenient.

But a business may legitimately revise a target when:

• better information becomes available
• the scope of the business changes
• the original assumptions prove wrong
• a more meaningful measure becomes available
• circumstances materially alter what is achievable

Record why the decision changed.

Good sustainability management includes learning.

A simple check before publishing a sustainability claim

Ask:

1. What exactly are we claiming?
2. What evidence supports it?
3. Is it true now, or is it an intention?
4. Is the scope clear?
5. Would operations describe the situation in the same way?
6. Can we explain how the conclusion was reached?

If the answer is unclear, fix the underlying information before strengthening the claim.

Start with Fourthmore

Fourthmore Start uses the five-step Sustainability Playbook:

Measure → Prioritise → Set Targets → Take Action → Communicate.

It gives small and growing businesses a structured way to make sustainability decisions without unnecessary complexity.

If targets, actions, customer requirements and internal ownership are becoming difficult to coordinate, Start Plus helps move sustainability from scattered activity to a working system.

Related guidance: how a small business should start sustainability and how sustainability can create business value.