WINNING SUPPORT FOR SUSTAINABILITY: LESSONS FROM OUR MADISON ROUNDTABLE

Jun 24
3 min read

Updated: Jun 30

By: Jessy Servi Ortiz, Executive Director, Sustainable Business Council

At our recent Sustainable Business Roundtable at the Madison Club, hosted by SunPeak, we explored a challenge many organizations face: how to build internal support for sustainability initiatives.

The conversation cut through a common misconception. As I sum it up, “selling is not a dirty word”. In fact, gaining buy-in for sustainability is less about persuasion and more about understanding what matters to others and framing solutions in ways that resonate.

START WITH THE BUSINESS CASE AND UNDERSTANDING YOUR AUDIENCE

Hartman Hoel, Director of Project Development at SunPeak opened the discussion by emphasizing two foundational concepts:

Understand the business case
Understand your audience

From there, the group unpacked what this looks like in practice. Successful sustainability leaders don’t just champion ideas; they translate them into clear, relevant value for different stakeholders.

Three core principles emerged:

Engage stakeholders early and often Identify who is impacted, understand their priorities, and bring them into the process from the start.
Know your project inside and out Be ready to explain the benefits, trade-offs, assumptions, and risks with confidence and clarity.
Frame sustainability as a solution to a real business problem Position your initiative in terms that align with organizational goals, not as an add-on, but as a strategic advantage.

SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF STAKEHOLDERS

One of the most valuable parts of SunPeak’s presentation was breaking down how different stakeholder groups evaluate sustainability efforts and how to communicate effectively with each.

Finance focuses on the numbers. They want to know: Does this create financial value? Are the assumptions credible? What is the expected payback? A key takeaway: engage finance teams early and understand their expectations.
Facilities focus on time, risk, and your building’s health Considerations include maintenance planning, operational disruptions, staffing demands, and coordination responsibilities.
Operations focuses on performance Sustainability initiatives need to protect or improve KPIs, not complicate them.
External stakeholders (customers, investors, community) focus on value and credibility They care about transparency, responsible resource use, alignment with stated values, and improvements to product or service quality.
Executives need the full picture, and quickly Clear recommendations, expected value, risks, and a plan for managing them must be presented at a high level and with confidence.

PRACTICAL STRATEGIES THAT WORK

Participants shared a range of practical tips for building alignment across an organization:

Align sustainability efforts with your organization’s mission, vision, and values
Clearly connect benefits to customers and business outcomes
Use design standards and established frameworks to build credibility
Accept that iterative processes take time and that’s okay
Stay curious about others’ priorities and perspectives
Break large initiatives into manageable, phased bite-size projects
Invest time in understanding how different departments function
Position yourself as a partner, not a challenger
Align sustainability metrics with core organizational goals
Leverage employee enthusiasm and expertise
Connect sustainability to risk management and business resilience

COMMON CHALLENGES (AND WHY THEY MATTER)

While the opportunities are significant, participants were candid about the barriers they face:

Decision-makers are often not the people doing the day-to-day work
Regulations continue to evolve, creating uncertainty
Disconnects can exist between “green teams” and leadership
Progress can feel slow, and leadership may be reactive rather than proactive
Communicating complex ideas in a succinct, executive-ready way is difficult and requires practice
Creating urgency without being perceived as pushy is a delicate balance
Not everyone fully understands the value, or the full scope, of climate impacts

These challenges highlight an important truth: advancing sustainability inside organizations is as much about relationships and communication as it is about technical expertise.

THE TAKEAWAY

Winning support for sustainability isn’t about having the best idea, it’s about making that idea matter to others.

By understanding your audience, aligning with business priorities, and positioning sustainability as a strategic solution, organizations can move from intention to action, and from siloed efforts to shared momentum.