Implementation of sustainable business development standards

The article substantiates the necessity of implementing a sustainable development strategy for Ukrainian enterprises at the current stage. The essence of the company's sustainable development strategy and its main components: environmental, economic and social are detailed, and the positive effects of its implementation are determined. The expediency of implementing the GRI standards into the enterprise's practice, which provides for the enterprise's reporting on three key groups of environmental, economic and social indicators, as well as the ESG standard, which is based on the implementation of a high level of environmental quality standards, social compliance and relevant management standards, is substantiated. The GRI standard is focused on the implementation of the assessment of the mutual impact of the enterprise on ecology, economy and society in two directions "from the outside in" and "from the inside out" and the formation of the enterprise's reporting system on this basis. The implementation of ESG sustainable business standards allows to harmonize the needs and interests of owners, employees, suppliers, customers and investors, and on this basis to form a vision of the overall strategy of the company's development. In addition to environmental and social responsibility, this standard provides for the achievement of a high level of management standards based on the principles of ensuring the transparency of the company's work, compliance with regulatory requirements, a system of top management rewards taking into account sustainability criteria, the introduction of a risk management system, ethical business behavior, and avoidance of conflicts of interest . The research details the stages of implementing ESG standards, which are clarification of the interests and goals of external and internal stakeholders, prioritization of sustainable development tasks, assessment of the current state of the enterprise in relation to ESG standards, definition of goals, assessment of gaps between the goals and the current state of the enterprise in relation to sustainable development development, development of a plan for implementation of standards, implementation of standards, collection, evaluation and analysis of information based on the results of implementation of standards, adjustment of activities in accordance with detected deviations. It was concluded that the implementation of the proposed standards will contribute to the formation of a number of competitive advantages, among which are the achievement of high environmental standards, the growth of energy efficiency and the reduction of waste capacity, the reduction of operating costs, the promotion of the attraction of "green investments", and the overcoming of barriers to entering international markets.