SBA Group: Building a Future-Fit ESG Strategy for 2025–2030

SBA Group is one of Lithuania’s leading business groups, operating across furniture manufacturing, real estate development, apparel production, robotics solutions, and investment activities. The group encompasses a broad portfolio of companies, each with distinct business models and operational footprints, yet united by a shared focus on innovation and long-term value creation.

Although SBA’s subsidiaries had individually implemented various sustainability initiatives, the group lacked a centralized, aligned ESG framework to guide decision-making and set consistent ambition levels.

The challenge centered around three needs:

1. Benchmarking and sustainability-driven business opportunities:
   SBA sought clarity on how peers and ESG leaders across relevant sectors were responding to emerging sustainability expectations, and wanted to identify key gaps in their own performance. They were particularly interested in understanding where opportunities exist to strengthen sustainability-driven business value and build resilient operations that meet the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s stakeholders.
2. Group-wide alignment across diverse businesses:a
   With operations spanning manufacturing, real estate, apparel, and other sectors, SBA needed a strategy that combined uniform expectations for governance and social topics with tailored environmental ambition reflecting each company’s unique operations and carbon footprint.
3. Data-driven targets and measurable progress:
   To establish credible targets and KPIs, SBA required a rigorous baseline of environmental and social performance, including Scope 1–3 GHG emissions, HR data, policies, and operational KPIs across business units.

Civitta partnered with SBA Group in 2024-2025 to design a robust ESG Strategy grounded in data, regulatory alignment, and the realities of SBA’s operations. Our work followed three integrated stages:

1. ESG diagnostics
   Our ESG diagnostics provide a clear view of where a business stands today against external expectations to form a strong strategic foundation.
   
   We combine internal analysis-carbon footprint (Scopes 1, 2 and 3), double materiality assessment (DMA) insights, S&G data, leadership interviews, and existing business and Group strategies-with an external review of sector standards, peer benchmarks, relevant regulations, client expectations, and emerging innovations.
   
   Bringing these inputs together allows us to map material topics, highlight strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas of potential differentiation. The result is a focused long-list of priority ESG areas and an initial performance baseline for potential KPIs-creating a strong foundation for ambition-setting and strategy development.
2. Goal and target setting
   Building on the material topics and baseline insights, we facilitate a series of focused workshops to align on ambition levels and define clear goals for each priority area.
   
   Together with leadership teams, we assess the expected benefits and impacts, resource requirements, timelines, and the key initiatives needed to deliver progress. Drawing on industry benchmarks and the outcomes of the DMA, this process ensures that targets are both evidence-based and competitively positioned.
   
   The result is an agreed set of goals for all material topics and a shortlist of strategic initiatives that form the backbone of the sustainability strategy – ready to be further detailed in the implementation roadmap.
3. Strategy finalization and implementation roadmap development
   In this phase, we translate goals into measurable outcomes and actionable plans, forming the final ESG strategy. For each priority area, we define clear KPIs, calculate baselines, and assign numerical targets.
   
   We also formulate supporting initiatives and projects, designate accountable owners, and prepare high-level implementation plans to guide execution.
   
   The result is a single, cohesive ESG strategy document that combines strategic initiatives, measurable KPIs, and a high-level roadmap, along with recommendations to improve data quality and reporting processes – ensuring effective monitoring, transparency, and progress tracking across the organization.

We provided end-to-end ESG advisory, including double materiality assessments and regulatory gap analyses to pinpoint compliance and disclosure needs, paired with tailored ESG strategy development and capacity building.

The collaboration culminated in the development of a comprehensive ESG strategy for SBA, providing a structured framework to guide the company’s sustainability ambitions and support informed decision-making across the organization on social and environmental priorities.

The work brought together insights from across the business to identify key sustainability priorities, establish a clear direction for future action, and align ESG considerations with SBA’s broader business objectives. 

SBA Group’s ESG Strategy illustrates how a diversified business group can create a unified approach to driving meaningful environmental and social impact.

Civitta helped SBA:

• Understand market expectations and regulatory requirements
• Identify material topics with greatest relevance and impact
• Build a data-backed foundation for target and KPI setting
• Engage subsidiaries in shaping practical, actionable initiatives
• Facilitate Board discussions about ESG-related future challenges and opportunities
• The result is a future-fit ESG Strategy that strengthens SBA’s resilience and positions the group to significantly improve their sustainability performance through 2030.