Companies in machinery and plant engineering make a significant contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions and use of raw materials. Thus, they have decisive potential to make better use of resources, increase efficiency and avoid overproduction. However, sustainability is not necessarily an end in itself for companies and must therefore be motivated by incentives. Simultaneously, subscription models are getting more recognition across the industry, leveraging the potential of product-service-systems. Initial approaches to implement subscription models have been realized successfully as they are promising financial advantages. Additionally, they are also linked to enable a more sustainable business model by establishing long-term connections to customers. The changed responsibilities result in incentives for a longer and more intensive use of the utilized resources or the extension of life cycles through upgrades, which contributes significantly to sustainability. Therefore, this paper identifies activities for a subscription model implementation, which are closely linked to enable sustainability.