Corporate sustainability in summer: an opportunity not to be missed. During the hottest months of the year, daily operations slow down, schedules empty out, phones ring less. It is in this interlude, between holidays and apparent calm, that a often-overlooked opportunity hides: that of observing the company from the outside, with a clearer, less reactive and more strategic perspective.

Summer offers the ideal context to pause and reflect. To carefully review established habits, analyze what works and what doesn’t, and act on those details that are always postponed during the year. It’s the right time to identify hidden energy waste, reassess poorly aligned suppliers, involve people in small organizational experiments, and turn ordinary administration into an opportunity for improvement.

In this article you’ll find five simple suggestions to apply, yet capable of generating lasting impacts. These are not large projects or expensive investments, but practical, measurable choices to be implemented precisely when the company slows down. It’s a chance to strengthen operational sustainability, optimize processes, and get ready to restart with more efficiency, less waste, and a clearer view of the path to follow.

1. Reduce Consumption: Start with What You Can See (and Waste)

Map hidden consumption

During the year, between tight meetings and constant operations, many inefficiencies stay under the radar. But when the office empties out or production cycles slow down, they emerge clearly. It’s in summer that it becomes easier to notice lights left on in empty rooms, air conditioners running for no reason, or equipment left in standby for days.

These details, if neglected, can add up to significantly impact the energy balance. That’s why it’s worth taking advantage of the summer months to perform even a manual mapping of hidden consumption. A simple walkthrough of workspaces can reveal behaviors and automatisms that, once corrected, can lead to stable and lasting savings.

You don’t need sophisticated technologies to start: an internal checklist and a bit of attention are enough to turn an apparently idle period into an opportunity to optimize. One example? Noting how many devices remain unnecessarily plugged in after working hours and programming automatic shutdowns can already significantly reduce electricity consumption. Every small discovery can become the starting point for more efficient year-round management.

Start an energy check-up

Summer is the right time to look at the data more closely. If you haven’t yet carried out an energy audit, this is the ideal period to start. Unlike simple visual observation, the energy check-up offers a precise snapshot of how, when, and where energy is consumed inside the company.

Digital tools such as interactive dashboards, connected sensors, and alert systems allow real-time monitoring of consumption, identifying abnormal peaks, hidden waste or persistent inefficiencies. These tools don’t just collect numbers—they help turn data into actions. This is how you move from monitoring to active energy management.

Many software solutions also offer intelligent reports and forecasts based on mathematical models, useful for better planning of interventions and making more informed choices. The result is better control of operating costs, reduced waste, and improved performance over time.

Acting now, when activities are reduced, means arriving in September with more solid energy management, already set up and ready to support the recovery.

2. Review Suppliers and Contracts to Strengthen Corporate Sustainability in Summer

Evaluate suppliers using new criteria

Not all suppliers are aligned with your ESG goals. Some invest in virtuous practices, track their impact, and value people. Others maintain more traditional approaches, poorly aligned with current needs. Summer can become the occasion to systematically review the supply chain, update selection criteria, and build stronger, more transparent, and responsible relationships.

Assessing the origin of raw materials, the quality of production processes, and long-term reliability allows for more consistent choices, avoiding reputational risks and hidden inefficiencies.

Renegotiate contracts from a circular perspective

Many contracts can be improved to reduce environmental impact and cut costs. Provide for shared supplies, introduction of regenerated materials, redefining delivery frequencies or eliminating unnecessary packaging are all possibilities.

There’s no need to rewrite everything: often, a careful review and an open dialogue with partners are enough. A more precise clause, a new logistics method, or a simple agreement on standards can trigger real change.

Acting now allows for experimentation with more efficient solutions without the pressure of seasonal peaks.

3. Listening and New Habits: Involve People in Corporate Sustainability in Summer

Open an internal listening channel

Summer also brings a more relaxed, less hectic atmosphere. It’s the right time to create spaces for dialogue, listen to people, and value the experience of those who live the processes from within. A quick survey, a few informal interviews, or a well-conducted focus group can reveal concrete insights, often more impactful than decisions made at the top.

Listening is not just a good engagement practice—it’s an operational tool. It allows for the gathering of ideas, identification of recurring issues, and detection of waste and inefficiencies that only those working on the ground can notice. Involving teams means turning sustainability into a lived experience, not something imposed from above. And it’s precisely from here that the most solid changes come.

Experiment with new habits

Summer is the best season to try different solutions without overturning the organization. More flexible schedules, car sharing among colleagues, shared management of common spaces, zero-waste practices or corporate wellness initiatives can be tested on a small scale.

These experiments, if well communicated and monitored, can become replicable models. It’s not just about innovating, but observing how people react to change and evaluating what solutions truly work. Some habits born in summer, precisely because they are lighter and free from constraints, can become intelligent and sustainable routines to carry on throughout the year.

4. Monitor and Improve ESG Data

Take advantage of the slowdown to update data

The summer weeks offer an ideal context to tidy up data, review goals, and update monitoring tools. It’s the right time to organize ESG dashboards, verify the quality of performance indicators, and assess whether the sustainability plan is still aligned with business priorities and ongoing regulatory changes.

Often, during the year, spreadsheets, notes, and partial data accumulate without time for proper analysis. Summer allows for filling in these gaps, better structuring information flows, and preparing for potential revisions. Those who work continuously with data can detect issues early, anticipate risks, and build a solid foundation for informed decisions. This quiet work is what separates an improvised approach from a truly effective strategy.

Verify the compliance of environmental communication

If you are preparing new sustainability claims or campaigns, summer is also the time to carefully assess their correctness. Directive 2024/825/EU, together with the Green Claims proposal, introduces stricter criteria for environmental communication. A message that is too generic, vague, or unsupported by verifiable data can not only damage your reputation but also expose the company to penalties.

Verifying now the compliance of content with current regulations, rewording overly ambitious messages or gathering supporting documentation is a prudent and forward-looking choice. Communicating sustainability does not mean simplifying—it means being precise. A transparent, traceable, and understandable claim strengthens the company’s credibility, inspires trust among stakeholders, and helps build an authentic dialogue with the market.

5. Prepare for the Restart with an Operational Action Plan

From observation to action: what to do starting in September

The insights gathered during the summer months should not be set aside. Every suggestion that emerges—whether from an internal discussion, a detected consumption issue, or an idea to improve logistics—can become the starting point for building a solid work plan.

September should not simply mark the resumption of activities, but the beginning of a phase guided by conscious decisions. Setting out a clear plan, with specific goals, defined timelines, and assigned responsibilities, allows for the follow-through of observations made in previous months.

Whether it’s the revision of a supplier contract, the redefinition of sustainability goals, or the introduction of new organizational practices, each action gains value when integrated into a structured path.

Only in this way do the adjustments conceived during summer not remain isolated attempts but turn into useful and lasting habits, capable of producing real benefits over time. Planning in advance means restarting with momentum, greater awareness, and a clearer vision of the road ahead.

Summer and Corporate Sustainability: Where to Start the Change

The summer months, often seen as a break, can become a strategic moment to observe, rethink, and act. It’s precisely when everything slows down that useful spaces open up for initiating smart transformations.
Optimizing consumption, involving people, updating tools, redefining priorities: no upheaval is needed, just targeted actions capable of generating a lasting effect.

Every action starts with listening, with a clearer view of daily processes, and with greater awareness of the context. Even the simplest improvement, if well designed, can trigger a chain of positive results. This is how a company becomes more efficient, more responsive to change, and stronger over time.

Want to understand where to start to strengthen your company’s operational sustainability?

Contact us: our experts are by your side to build a customized path, tailored to your sector’s needs and capable of generating real value—starting today.