Starting your net-zero journey doesn’t have to be as expensive as you might think – in fact, if you’re a professional services business then it doesn’t have to be expensive at all. Cost shouldn’t be a reason you’re not taking action to make your business more sustainable. Here’s how to get started on your sustainability journey when you have no budget.

Step 1 [tick] – you’ve agreed you want to make your business more sustainable.

Step 2 [tick] – you’re aligned on what ‘sustainability’ means to your business, your level of ambition and the impact you want to have.

Now it’s time to move from talk to action … this is when you need a plan. So what does a good sustainability plan look like?

Here are ten tips…

To be competitive you need great people working for you. And all the evidence suggests that your sustainability actions will be an increasingly important way of attracting them and engaging them. The boldest businesses that have ambitious targets and clear plans for achieving them will attract the best people.

The climate crisis is one of the biggest problems we’ve faced as humans. We can use the tools in our innovation toolkit to challenge the status quo, understand the problems and opportunities, and design and deliver new products, services and business models.

If you want to be here in 10 years then you need to be sustainable. And that means sustainable across all three dimensions – people, planet and profit. It’s not about stopping the focus on profitability – it’s about taking the blinkers off and not focusing on financial viability at the expense of everything else. It’s about considering all different types of value. You need all three dimensions of sustainability for a business to survive and thrive. Neglect one or two of the sustainability dimensions and your business won’t last.

It’s two years since I left the world of employment to set up my own business. Here are ten things I’ve learnt, focusing in on lessons that also apply to innovation within business.

Today I wrote to my MP about his response to the climate crisis and the IPCC report. This is what I wrote…

Today’s IPCC report is hard-hitting and it’s clear we need to change in a big way. Everyone has a role to play, from governments and massive multi-nationals to sole-traders and consumers.

Thinking about it can be terrifying and overwhelming – and we need to resist the urge to bury our head in the sand. This is the biggest elephant that we will ever need to eat and we all need to get started (sorry – probably not the best analogy to use in the circumstances).

So what can you as a business leader do?

Now is a key moment. There are strong market forces (from consumers, employees and investors) driving companies to become more ‘responsible’ and ‘sustainable’. Governments are increasing regulatory pressure, especially in terms of environmental impact. And there is increasing evidence that the companies which think more holistically and long-term about stakeholders and value creation are the ones which will survive and thrive. Operating in an authentically sustainable way results in better long-term financial performance.

Whatever is driving you to pursue an inclusive growth strategy, now is the time to change.

What does ‘responsible business’ or ‘purposeful business’ mean to you? I like to think of a ‘spectrum of good’. What’s important is understanding where you are on that spectrum at the moment – and being honest about where you want to get to. Then you can come up with a plan for how to achieve that change.

Actions speak louder than words. And actions during a crisis speak extra loud –putting a company under stress can reveal its true values. Established companies and leaders are usually well-oiled when it making operational decisions. They may even have measures to ensure decisions aren’t all about the financials. But how effective are those measures in a crisis? Or do the previous intentions of taking a broader view in decision-making get trumped by financials?