Emphasize the long-term financial benefits and cost savings of sustainability initiatives. Present a strong business case with data-backed ROI projections, highlighting reduced operational costs, risk mitigation, and potential revenue growth. Showcase success stories from similar projects to build confidence in outcomes. Align sustainability goals with the organization’s strategic priorities, demonstrating how they enhance competitiveness and resilience. Engage stakeholders by addressing their concerns and tailoring your pitch to their priorities. Offer phased implementation plans to minimize upfront costs and illustrate manageable progress toward broader sustainability goals.

To secure funding for sustainable projects in a cost-conscious organization, emphasize the financial and strategic benefits. Showcase ROI through data that highlights cost savings, risk reduction, and efficiency gains over time. Align your proposals with organizational goals, such as improving competitiveness or meeting regulatory requirements. Explore external funding sources, such as grants, tax credits, or partnerships, to reduce upfront costs. Present a phased approach to demonstrate immediate wins alongside long-term value. How have you successfully justified sustainability investments in budget-conscious settings?

As per the other answers, this comes down to whether there is a decent business case or not. While it would be wonderful for "improved sustainability" being a legitimate reason to do a project, sadly most of the world doesn't consider it without as a good enough reason, so you need to make the value of the project fit the traditional KPIs required to get sign off. At the same time it would be ideal to work towards introducing more Sustainability-related KPIs to the decision-making process so in future this might be easier.