Translating global corporate sustainability ambitions into local market strategies is necessary for accelerating progress — although it’s no simple task.

Companies of different sizes and cultures face similar challenges and questions around how to meet the needs of local markets while moving globally in a unified direction — and managing a broader strategy rollout across markets at different stages of maturity. Just as sustainability teams see the brand and business opportunities of localizing sustainability, so do local market activist employees and communicators.

And yet, most companies aren’t communicating how their global strategies will play out locally — in their reporting or other channels. Beyond the occasional case study showing how an aspect of their sustainability pillars has been implemented at the local level, companies aren’t telling complete, data-driven stories.

As companies look to localize global sustainability strategies, there are three challenges they must address.

  1. Global sustainability strategies show the ‘big picture’ at the expense of the ‘true picture’
  2. Local regulations are becoming global requirements
  3. Top-down sustainability strategies fail to translate at the local level

Read the full article about global sustainability strategies by Danielle Allen at GreenBiz.