How is the role of sustainability in the workplace changing?
During the roundtable discussion, sustainability and ESG reporting emerged as important focus areas. Most REFM organizations see impactful sustainability and ESG as the big challenges facing the industry in the coming years, receiving increased leadership attention. Companies need to adopt Science-Based Targets (SBT) to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to prevent the worst impacts of climate change while also ensuring trustworthiness.
To successfully deliver on their sustainability goals, organizations should strive for transparency and track goal coherence and progression. This can be accomplished by adopting new technology solutions that allow for automated sustainability reporting and real-time sustainability performance — giving organizations that strive to stay ahead of the curve, a great opportunity to do so.
Across the Nordics, there is a strong ambition to innovate within REFM across sustainability and energy. There is also an increased focus on reducing travel (to work, between offices, to suppliers or clients, etc.), reducing space (the new EY office in Stockholm reduced the number of square meters by 50% while increasing the number of work stations by 7%), and energy consumption (for heating, cooling, devices, lights, etc.). Cross-collaboration has been identified as a contributor to achieving these results, hence it is important for organizations to actively leverage collaborations, as integrated functional areas enable greater potential and unlock greater impact. Sustainability has already become part of corporate strategy and business models, with Sweden ranking first.
How can the Vested partnership model help REFM organizations?
Traditional outsourcing deals have been successful in the past, but as the market matures, expectations are increasing, and new challenges and opportunities are emerging. Traditional contracts carry a buyer and supplier mindset, where the supplier is incentivized to deliver for hours, services, etc., but not proactivity, innovation, technology and collaboration. REFM leaders recognize the need to move toward innovative models, with the Vested partnership model being seen in the market as a sought-after alternative.