You’re on your ESG journey. You’ve completed your assessment. You know what you’re doing. You’ve identified your gaps. Now comes the question that stops most businesses in their tracks: “Okay, so what do we actually do now?”

This is where many companies get stuck. They think ESG goals need to be massive, transformational, and perfectly aligned with some global framework. They overthink it. They procrastinate. They end up doing nothing.

Here’s the truth: Your ESG goals don’t need to be perfect. They need to be material. Material means they actually matter: to your business, to your stakeholders, and to the world. Not everything deserves equal attention. Your job in the Plan phase is to figure out what does.

The Compliance vs. Competitive Advantage Question

 Before you set a single goal, answer this: Why are you doing ESG?

Are you doing it because you have to (compliance), or because you want to (competitive advantage)? Or both?

If it’s compliance: 

• You’re focused on meeting legal requirements, responding to customer demands, passing audits, and avoiding fines. 
• Your timeline is dictated by external deadlines.

If it’s a competitive advantage: 

• You’re focused on winning contracts, attracting investment, retaining talent, reducing costs, and building brand value. 
• Your timeline is driven by your business strategy.

Our advice: Even if you’re starting from compliance, think about competitive advantage from day one. You’re going to invest time and resources anyway. Might as well extract maximum business value from it.

Top Tip: Let’s say you’re required to report your gender pay gap (compliance). But here’s the competitive angle: if you can demonstrate strong gender diversity and pay equity, that becomes a recruitment tool. You can highlight it in job postings, pitch it to clients who care about diversity, and build your employer brand.

Same data, same effort, exponentially more value.

What Makes an ESG Goal “Material”?

Material impacts are the environmental, social, and governance issues where your business has the biggest effect and where those issues have the biggest effect on your business. It’s a two-way relationship.

For a logistics company: Fuel consumption and emissions are material. They’re a massive environmental impact and a massive cost to your business.

For a professional services firm: Employee wellbeing, development, and retention are material. Your people are your business. If you can’t attract and keep talent, you fail.

For a retailer: Labour practices in your supply chain are material. If there are human rights abuses and they go public, your brand is damaged.

To identify your material issues, ask yourself four questions:

1. Where do we have the most impact? If you’re a manufacturer with high energy consumption, the environment is your priority. If you’re a service business with hundreds of employees, social might be your priority. If you’re in a regulated sector, governance might be your priority.
2. Where do we have the most data? If your assessment showed you have years of health & safety data but very little environmental data, start with social metrics. You can show progress quickly.
3. Where do we have the most risk? If you have a complex global supply chain, supply chain transparency is your biggest risk. If you’re in a sector with high accident rates, health & safety is your priority.
4. Where do we have the most opportunity? If your customers are asking for ESG information, start with whatever they’re asking for. If you’re trying to attract top talent, start with employee wellbeing. If you’re trying to win government contracts, start with whatever the procurement requirements are.

Your ESG strategy should be tailored to your business. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Want to learn how to identify your material ESG issues?

Our free “ESG Unfiltered” microlearning course walks you through a practical framework for prioritisation in just 15 minutes.

Jump to the ‘Plan’ Module

The Impact-Effort Matrix: Your Prioritisation Tool

Once you’ve identified your material issues, you need to prioritise. Not everything can happen at once. 

Use this simple framework:

• Imagine a 2×2 grid. 
• On one axis: “Impact on Business/Stakeholders” (high to low). 
• On the other axis: “Effort Required” (high to low).

Top-left quadrant (High Impact, Low Effort) = Quick Wins

These are your momentum builders. 

Examples: formalising policies that already exist informally, consolidating data you’re already collecting, switching to LED lighting, implementing a basic recycling program. Do these first. They build confidence and demonstrate progress.

Top-right quadrant (High Impact, High Effort) = Strategic Projects

These are important but resource-intensive. 

Examples: calculating your full carbon footprint across all three scopes, conducting a comprehensive supply chain audit, implementing a full diversity and inclusion program, installing an energy management system. Do these, but phase them over time.

Bottom-left quadrant (Low Impact, Low Effort) = Fill-Ins

Easy but not impactful. 

Examples: creating a sustainability page on your website, signing up for an environmental certification that doesn’t require real change. Do these if you have spare capacity, but don’t prioritise them.

Bottom-right quadrant (Low Impact, High Effort) = Time Wasters

Avoid these entirely. 

Examples: conducting a detailed biodiversity assessment when you operate from an urban office, implementing complex ESG software before you’ve collected basic data. They consume resources without delivering results.

The Psychology of Starting: Quick Wins First

Here’s something crucial: if you start with a strategic project that takes 18 months to complete, you’ll lose momentum. Your team will get discouraged. The project will feel endless.

But if you start with quick wins that you can achieve in weeks or months, you’ll build confidence. You’ll demonstrate value. You’ll create momentum that carries you through the longer-term projects.

Our advice: Identify three quick wins you can achieve in the next three months. Get those done. Celebrate them. Use them to prove to yourself and your team that ESG is achievable. Then move on to your medium-term goals, and eventually your strategic projects.

Setting SMART Goals (But Make Them Real)

Once you’ve prioritised, it’s time to set actual goals. Use the SMART framework, but keep it grounded:

• Specific: “Reduce energy consumption by 15%” not “improve energy efficiency.”
• Measurable: You need actual numbers. “Increase female representation in senior management from 25% to 40%” not “improve diversity.”
• Achievable: Be realistic. If you’ve never measured something before, don’t commit to a 50% reduction in year one. Start with 10-15%.
• Relevant: Does this goal matter to your business and your stakeholders? If not, why are you doing it?
• Time-bound: “By 2027” not “eventually.” Deadlines create accountability.

Your Timeline: Short, Medium, Long

Short-term (0-6 months): Quick wins. Things you can achieve quickly to build momentum.

Medium-term (6-12 months): Slightly more complex initiatives requiring more planning and resources.

Long-term (12+ months): Strategic projects requiring sustained effort.

This rhythm matters. It’s better to make steady, consistent progress than to try to do everything at once, get overwhelmed, and give up.

Resource Reality Check

Before you finalise your goals, ask yourself: Do we actually have the resources to do this?

Think about four types of resources:

• Time: How many hours per week can you realistically dedicate to ESG? If you’re a small business, it might be just a few hours. That’s fine, but it means you need to be selective.
• Budget: How much money can you invest? Some ESG initiatives are free or even save you money. Others require upfront investment.
• People: Who’s going to own this? Do you have someone who can take ownership, or is it spread across multiple people? Do you need external expertise?
• Expertise: What skills do you have in-house? Where do you need help?

Be honest about your constraints. It’s better to set ambitious but achievable goals than to set impossible ones and fail.

What Comes Next

Once you’ve set your goals, you’re ready for the Improve phase: building your practical roadmap to actually achieve them. You’ll learn how to break down your goals into specific actions, assign ownership, set milestones, and create accountability.

But first, complete your planning. Identify your material issues. Prioritise using the impact-effort matrix. Set SMART goals. Align your timeline with your resources.

You’re not looking for perfection. You’re looking for clarity, focus, and momentum.

Ready to master ESG goal-setting? Our “ESG Unfiltered” course walks you through the entire planning process with real examples and templates.

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