By Paul Eastwood, Managing Partner of Argon & Co

As pressure builds around climate action and ESG performance, organisations are feeling the heat.

Regulators, investors, customers, and employees are demanding more transparency, faster progress, and deeper commitments.

And in a world increasingly flooded with ESG frameworks, standards, and compliance checklists, the instinctive response can be to launch a flurry of initiatives across carbon, diversity, packaging, and human rights. To launch long lists of actions to meet multiple compliance requirements, satisfy different stakeholder groups, follow perceived best practices…

But trying to do everything at once rarely delivers the desired impact. This is especially the case for mid-sized organisations, which often lack the dedicated ESG teams or specialised systems to manage the growing volume of expectations.

Instead of improved ESG outcomes, doing too much can often lead to fragmented efforts, limited return on investment, and internal fatigue. Teams become overburdened. Leadership loses visibility. The pace of progress slows. Accountability is diluted.

And so, even if it may feel counterintuitive, there’s actually a growing case for doing less when it comes to ESG, in order to gain more.

Because by narrowing focus to the ESG areas that matter most, organisations can align sustainability with business priorities and deliver outcomes that are clear, credible, and lasting. This is often both more manageable, and also more effective.

So how exactly can organisations identify a smaller set of high-impact areas in which to direct ESG efforts that align with business relevance, operational capability, and stakeholder value?

 What moves the needle, matters

The trick is to remember that not all ESG initiatives are created equal.

The Pareto Principle – the idea that 20 percent of efforts drive 80 percent of results – dictates that a handful of well-chosen actions can deliver the lion’s share of impact.

This mindset can apply to ESG strategy too, shifting it from an exercise in box-ticking to a true form of value creation.

Instead of spreading resources thin or reacting to external pressure or trend cycles, organisations can zero in on what truly matters, whether that’s cutting emissions, seeking gender equality, building shareholder trust, or boosting efficiency.

This will be particularly helpful for organisations with limited resources or complex stakeholder demands. And operationalising this shift can be done using a simple and cohesive five-phase process.

Firstly, set yourself up for success by clarifying the ESG ambition, aligning leadership, and defining the scope of change.

Secondly, map current activities and assess how they align with material ESG issues and stakeholder expectations.

Thirdly, collaborate across functions to generate high-impact ideas, stress-tested for feasibility and relevance.

Fourthly, foster success by designing focused workstreams and governance models that prioritise what matters most, avoiding overload.

And, finally, execute. Deliver initiatives with a clear focus on measurable value, stakeholder relevance, and transparent reporting.

Case in point

Consider the case of a national retailer facing an unwieldy ESG agenda.

Over time, the organisation had committed to over 100 sustainability-related actions, ranging from energy targets and packaging goals to supply chain standards and social impact pledges.

Each initiative may have held merit on its own, yet the cumulative effort was overwhelming. Teams were overstretched, progress lacked visibility, and leadership struggled to connect actions to outcomes.

By stepping back and applying a prioritisation lens, the organisation restructured its ESG approach around three core areas: energy efficiency, supplier compliance, and packaging sustainability.

These were selected not only for their alignment with external stakeholder expectations, but also for their capacity to drive commercial value and operational improvement. Because ESG and sustainability should help, not hurt.

The result? Immediate impact.

The ESG workload was reduced by approximately 50 percent, without compromising credibility. Focused efforts translated into clearer reporting, stronger partner relationships, and a noticeable increase in internal engagement, particularly among teams who could now see how their work contributed to meaningful change.

The lesson for this team was clear. An effective ESG strategy doesn’t require 100 initiatives. In this case, it required the right five.

Because progress does not come from breadth, but from clarity. When treated like any core business transformation – guided by strategy, informed by data, and shaped by results – ESG becomes not just achievable, but transformative.

And that’s where the real magic will happen.