IFS, Unilever & IKEA: Sustainability in Corporate Strategy
Corporate strategy in sustainability means embedding environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into core business decision-making and long-term planning.
Addressing sustainability in corporate strategies is bigger than following a standalone initiative or fulfilling one goal, often making it a part of wider business strategy.
“Organisations need to establish an ESG governance structure that involves cross-functional collaboration, where each department, including procurement, marketing, finance and others, plays a key part in operationalising the ESG strategy,” says Sophie Graham, Chief Sustainability Officer at IFS.
“It also involves businesses assessing and addressing any gaps that may exist within their organisational structure, so everyone understands the targets and fully coordinates their activities to achieve them, using standardised metrics to measure progress.
“Sustainability needs to be embedded within the organisation and not treated as a standalone initiative.”
What does sustainable corporate strategy involve?
ISEP’s 2025 State of the Sustainability Profession survey found more than half of respondents said their CEO is a leading visible champion or proactively supportive of sustainability, which correlated with many companies having larger emissions reductions.
Just under half of respondents are now reporting sustainability functions to the board of CEO.
Around 15% of organisations having sustainability explicitly integrated into management decision-making.
Despite economic pressures, more than half of respondents reported an increase in their sustainability budgets, with just 2.9% reporting a reduction.
Claire Atkins Morris, FISEP Sustainability Director at Sodexo, says in the report: “The sustainability profession has evolved significantly, requiring a broader skillset than its initial focus on compliance and waste management.
“Leaders must now navigate complex political landscapes, balance organisational values with market demands and possess strong business acumen.”
The challenges of sustainability in corporate strategies
Securing buy-in from leadership can be difficult, though ISEP’s report shows that it is not impossible.
When companies have large and complex supply chains, embedding sustainability throughout these can also pose challenges.
A 2024 report from Aggreko found that more than 95% of European CEOs have adjusted their energy transition timelines in response to recent market pressures, with half of them extending their net zero target dates.
Despite these regulatory pressures, only 12% of CEOs cited speed of decarbonisation as their primary concern, with cost reduction and commercial advantage taking precedence.
Robert Wells, Europe President of Aggreko, says: “It is not surprising that our research has uncovered leaders across Europe are looking for change when it comes to their energy supply chain.
“In a tough economic landscape, grid instability and connection delays, price uncertainty and looming ESG targets are impacting many businesses’ energy transitions."
Businesses seeing success
Unilever says that its “Sustainable Living Brands”, including Dove, Knorr, Persil and Lipton, grew twice as fast as any of its other brands and represent a significant portion of the company’s overall growth.
It has a range of ongoing sustainability initiatives including supporting smallholder farmers in its supply chain and improving efficiency at its facilities.
From 2016 baseline to 2025, IKEA grew revenue by more than 30% while reducing climate footprint by 24-30%.
Karen Pflug, Chief Sustainability Officer at Ingka Group, says: “By radically collaborating across industries and communities, I am confident we will reach our goals.
“We firmly believe sustainability and affordability must go hand-in-hand, so during this year we launched our Sustainable Living Shops online and continued to scale up our circular services by piloting IKEA Preowned, our new peer-to-peer second-hand marketplace, to enable customers to buy and sell used IKEA furniture at even lower prices.”
