It's an incredibly difficult process and companies quickly learned in 2016 that setting a deforestation or sustainability commitment is far different than achieving it.
For 21 year-old Rachel it is just another day in her role as a volunteer champion for Plan A – M&S's long-term sustainability commitment - in the Eastbourne store where she works.
But that approval was given before the fires, the government's new decrees, and April's tougher sustainability commitment.
If we can't trust claims like these – consumers and investors will reason – how can we trust any corporate sustainability commitment?
ECG later hopes to use the balance sheet as a branding mechanism: companies that submit to an external accounting would be able to publish their ratings on their products, informing consumers of their sustainability commitment.
M&S's Plan A, for instance, works sustainability commitments into employees' individual performance objectives.
Whether a company's sustainability commitments are judged too high or too low, they generally have two factors in common: they are voluntary and they exceed the minimum required by law.
Now is the time to take advantage of an explosion of sustainability commitments from business leaders and expanding pressure for sustainable practices from shareholders, financial institutions, and consumers (Kareiva, McNally, & McCormick Steve et al., 2015).
Mark Buckley, vice president of environmental affairs at Staples, agrees: "The decision to re-engage with APP was made after a careful review of APP's sustainability commitments and detailed conversations over many months with a variety of stakeholders.
