Sustainability has become a pressing global concern in recent years. As our planet faces many environmental, social, and economic challenges, it is crucial to address these sustainability issues to secure a better future for ourselves and future generations. All of us have to seek to achieve sustainability, either as a private person or as a business/organization. The term ‘sustainability’ can be heard or can be read every day, it is somehow inextricably linked to all the fields of our lives, but still there are many who do not really know how to take active part in achieving the goals in sustainability. Many people still consider others’ behaviour weird when they carefully think about what to buy, where to buy, how to travel, how much water they use, what is their carbon footprint etc. Sometimes in business life, companies and organizations take sustainability as a good marketing communication tool to advertise their own activities that are - to a small or large extent - linked to any fields of sustainability. Even if these measures are taken because they seem to do good for the company’s fame, they are the first step to achieve global sustainability in case they are implemented and realized in business strategies and become the norm in everyday operations. In a more advanced stage, businesses and organizations must prove that they really do something to the environment and society that are measurable and have impact on the whole supply chain – that is called ESG framework.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) are used to describe non-financial criteria, factors or standards relevant to businesses. They are increasingly taken into account in investment decisions and reporting by companies, but also relevant to wider stakeholders and consumers. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) is a new ESG reporting framework which has been brought into effect by the European Commission. The aim of CSRD is to enable investors and stakeholders to better evaluate risks and investment impacts pertaining to sustainability. Despite the fact that such a consistent and uniform reporting framework is inevitable, it may pose extra work and costs on the businesses that may make them less motivated. According to the CSRD, in the first phase large companies must collect data and prepare reports on ESG but step-by step all businesses must comply with the directive. After a few years, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must also put it into their practice, though we know that their size, access to resources and knowledge may pose a big burden on them.

Imagine that each of you is necessary to do something important for the environmental consciousness of the society. In this WebQuest, your task is to create an online awareness campaign (including posters, webinars, short manuals etc.) in teams of 3-4 people to call the attention of the managers/CEOs/owners of SMEs to the importance of sustainability as well as of the ESG principles and ESG reporting details that have to be implemented by their businesses in the near future. Since SMEs usually have limited resources (including human resources), they need more focused and targeted activities to assist them to find the best-tailored solutions to become more sustainable. They can understand and interpret ESG framework more efficiently if they have access to the necessary information relevant for SMEs, including good examples and practices. If you look around in your neighborhood, the vast majority of businesses are SMEs. If you want to live in a green environment and enjoy the beauty of the local place, you can do a lot for it. You can have a role in assisting the SMEs around you to understand what they can do to become greener and more efficient.

Do not forget: Even a small step is a great step!

1. It is always better to share ideas with others and work in teams for a good aim! So create teams of 3-4 people who will work together in the preparation of the awareness campaign.
2. Do remember that first you need to familiarize yourselves with the most important issues and challenges of sustainability as well as the key principles of ESG. Explore why these principles are important and how they contribute to sustainable development and long-term value creation. (In your research, you can refer to resources provided in the WebQuest and you may carry out your own research on the internet and find additional resources.)
3. Learn from the experts! Explore case studies or real-life examples of companies known for their ESG practices. Discuss how these companies integrate sustainability into their operations.
4. After learning about possible sustainability actions at businesses, you need to learn how the results of such actions must be incorporated into the ESG report.
5. After getting the concept of sustainability and ESG framework as well as being familiar with real-life examples, list up the top 10 key activities/tips that are inevitable for SMEs while putting sustainable theory in practice, incorporating it into their strategies as well as preparing for the ESG reporting.
6. Now it is the time to learn about awareness campaigns, how they can serve your goal in this WebQuest. Search on the Internet and get to know more details about how such campaign should be designed, how to define and understand the target audience, how to define the most suitable channels (e.g. social media, influencers, umbrella organizations, chambers etc.) to reach them, what marketing tools can be the most efficient etc.
7. Here we are at the stage where you can use your creativity the most! Prepare a strategy for the campaign (what activities must be included in what order for what audience, in what timeframe, what method is the most suitable for what information, how you will get contacts to SMEs etc.) to be the most efficient and effective.
8. Plan and design the campaign materials (brochures, posters, short manuals or whatever you consider necessary). To design your materials you can use design tools such as Canva. Please take enough time on the content to be the most informative.
9. Plan the events or platforms you wish to share the information with the heads/managers of SMEs.
10. Plan also the communication strategy of the campaign, how you will promote the different elements.
11. Make a plan for the follow-up and set key performance indicators (KPIs) on how to measure the success of the campaign.
12. Demonstrate your ideas! As a final step, you will take part in a competition, presenting your campaign idea and materials. All the teams will present their work done in front of the class as well as a jury (built up from lecturers as well as businessmen) when their work will be evaluated by the audience, they can get feedback from the jury and the best campaign will be awarded.

ESG:

• 15 Biggest Environmental Problems of 2024
• What Are The Major Sustainability Issues?
• ESG regulation in 2024: Everything you need to know
• ESG News
• Your need-to-know summary of ESG regulations and frameworks
• Ultimate guide to the EU CSRD ESG regulation for businesses
• ESG reporting and preparation of a Sustainability Report
• Sustainability trends: 5 issues to watch in 2024
• Five ways SMEs can get ahead on ESG
• ESG Reporting for SMEs: What to Expect and Main Challenges
• ESG Guide for SMEs Part 9: Preparation of an ESG report: Standards and frameworks
• Small businesses are key to a more sustainable and inclusive world. Here's why

Design tools:

Canva

How to design awareness campaigns, campaign examples:

• How to create Awareness Campaigns | The Halo Media Group
• 14 Social Media Campaign Examples You Can Steal Right Now
• AWARENESS CAMPAIGN STRATEGY (PDF)

Congratulations! You have completed your exploration of sustainability and ESG principles and their application in real-world contexts. Through this WebQuest, you have gained a deeper understanding of sustainability issues and the role of businesses in creating positive social and environmental impacts. By completing the task, you took an active role in sensitizing the heads/managers of SMEs on becoming greener and on understanding of the fact that being green can go along with being more efficient and profitable.

• The difference between ESG and sustainability, Shenelle Perera, video
• Good practices of SMEs, project document

Eart4All

This example is from the UK. The article highlights some good and simple practical examples what SMEs can do for decarbonization. Sometimes SMEs and businesses in general know the sustainable theory but it is hard for them to put it into practice in their everyday operation. The article calls the attention to proceeding step by step, starting with small things, since small things also matter.

It is a global campaign that aims to make the Earth4All vision a reality, advocating for governments to adopt policies that will enable resilient and healthy societies. They are providing a platform to connect and amplify the voices of people and organisations who want to upgrade our economies. The momentum is growing, with communities and policy makers around the world pushing for economic systems change.

Link: earth4all.life