Sustainability Resource Center

What The Lion King Teaches Us About Sustainability

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Read Time (3 Minutes)

On a hot summer’s day (almost 110°F...) a few weeks back, after a fuse blew in our 1940’s-era apartment making use of the AC impossible....my wife and I went to the movies. Specifically, we went to a matinee of the new “photorealistic” computer animated remake of Disney’s The Lion King. The original was released in 1994 when I was six years old and was one of my favorite movies growing up. To this day, whenever I hear a Lion King theme song (and especially, the Circle of Life ) I am filled with nostalgia and wonderment.

As an adult watching the new remake nearly 25 years later, I was equally captivated.

As most who have seen the original Lion King can attest, it is chock full of invaluable life lessons. It effectively illustrates examples of leadership, courage, forgiveness, justice, faith and purpose, to name just a few. Like the original film from 1994, the remake did an excellent job of capturing and illustrating all of these lessons. This time around, one lesson that really stuck out to me, which I hadn’t caught in years past, was that of sustainability.

As a 31 year old who has dedicated my entire professional career to sustainability, I am constantly on the lookout for little gems of sustainability wisdom. Whether or not I intend to, I view just about everything through that lens…including Disney remakes of old classics. In this new version of The Lion King, I found one of these gems that I am always looking for. As a quick aside, if you have not seen the Lion King (original or remake), some of what lies ahead could spoil some of the movie for you. If you fall into that category, proceed with caution.

While in the movie theater, I didn’t have a pen and paper with me, and the lights weren’t on...so I was unable to take any notes or write down any quotes related to the gems of sustainability wisdom I witnessed. Since I was still thinking about the movie weeks later, I decided to go back and watch the original movie at home, so that I could take notes, pause and rewind as needed, and see if my observations about this classic movie truly held their own.

Mufasa's Circle of Life

The first major parallel I drew between sustainability and the Lion King was at around 10 minutes into the film. Mufasa and Simba take a stroll through the Pridelands, which are teeming with life and Mufasa explains the “Circle of Life” to Simba.

“Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance and respect all the creatures from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope.”

Then Simba asks:

“But don’t we eat the antelope?”

Mufasa then goes on to explain:

“Yes, Simba. But let me explain. When we die, our bodies become the grass and the antelope eat the grass, and so we are all connected in the great circle of life.”

Scar-Era Pridelands

This moment is a stark contrast to the scene where, after years away, Simba returns to the Pridelands. Simba, Nala, Timon and Pumbaa gaze out onto the desolate plains, and are planning their return to Pride Rock, but something is very different. The lush savannah that had once been teeming with life is now completely barren and hunted to near-extinction with Scar at the helm. Scar’s gluttonous hunting practices and lack of respect for his environment ultimately destroyed nearly all the life in his kingdom. The delicate balance was lost.

It made me reflect on the environmental challenges humanity is currently facing. Could exercising a “me first” mentality and focusing on short-sighted priorities ultimately lead to the degradation of the environment as we know it? The answer to that is, sadly, “yes.”

This thought-provoking scene also reminded me of Limits to Growth, a book I discussed in a previous article , which used computer modeling to explore the interaction between exponential growth and finite resources. The simulation factored in variables such as population increase, food production, industrial output, pollution generation, and non-renewable resource depletion. Some of the scenarios Limits to Growth modeled showed devastating results, while others showed humanity thriving on this planet.

As humans, we cannot take time for granted. We may not have an endless amount of time to repair and reverse the results of over-consumption and overuse of finite resources. If we do not tread carefully, is it possible that our planet could look like the Scar-Era Pridelands? I’d like to think not, but it may take a concerted effort to avoid that possibility.

Mufasa's Leadership Philosophy

As I sat reflecting on the movie and the hidden (or not-so-hidden) messages related to using resources responsibly and the interconnectedness of everything on our planet, I knew I had to write about it. Watching Mufasa explain the delicate balance to Simba, and being reminded of how every creature is connected to one another, I felt inspired. After all, this is the essence of sustainability.

One of the most widely accepted definitions of sustainability and one I discussed in a previous blog is:

“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Mufasa understood this principle well and had a remarkable ability to explain this idea in a way that even a lion cub could grasp.

In the movie, Mufasa demonstrated sustainability done right. He hunted the land in a way that provided for his family, but respected the delicate balance of the planet and its inhabitants … Scar on the other hand took the opposite approach. He was plagued by two of human nature’s most toxic characteristics: greed and pride.

Mufasa is a superb example of selfless leadership, while Scar exemplifies ego-driven greed.

Conclusion

Leadership in today’s business world is largely about determining how to succeed and thrive without compromising the ability of you or others to thrive in the future. If Mufasa was a 21st century business leader, you can be sure his “Circle of Life” leadership philosophy would encompass sustainability.

So rather than just focusing on the bottom line, remember to focus on the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit). Utilize sustainability as a way to find greater purpose, inspire stake-holders (employees, customers, communities, suppliers, investors) and gain a competitive advantage, all while contributing to the global sustainability movement.

By taking a page out of Mufasa’s playbook, your business is sure to thrive far into the future while helping to maintain the delicate balance that exists between all things.

Sustainability and The Supply Chain

Wed, 31 Jul 2019 08:20:51 GMT

This month’s blog article takes a look at the supply chain and the role sustainability plays within that system. The conversation is guided by 8 specific questions and is presented in a simple Q & A format. The questions were provided by my colleague, Brody, at Performance Operations .

1) In the context of the supply chain, what is sustainability?

Sustainability in the context of supply chain is about managing resources responsibly, minimizing environmental impacts and maintaining socially responsible labor practices.

The concept of Resource Management refers to managing how we consume and interact with water, forests (timber), non-renewable fuels (oil & gas), food systems (ocean fisheries, farms, etc.) and various other raw materials (metals, minerals, etc.).

The notion of Minimizing Environmental Impacts relates to how the supply chain affects the surrounding environment (air, land, water). Examples include pollution (air and water quality) and greenhouse gas emissions (climate change).

Finally, Socially Responsible Labor Practices refer to worker health and safety, providing fair and livable wages, and preventing unethical labor practices (such as child labor) within the supply chain.

2) What, historically, has been the relationship between sustainability and supply chain? What about in the United States?

The historical relationship between sustainability and the supply chain has been a long and complicated one. Sustainability began to play a bigger part in the supply chain during the last few decades of the 1900s.

Certifications such as Fair Trade emerged, which recognizes companies using fair and ethical labor practices, primarily overseas. Fair trade and other similar certifications were created as a result of unethical labor practices, with headline stories often focused on U.S. based companies with production overseas.

In addition to unethical labor practices, other sustainability stories related to the supply chain highlighted environmental issues. For example, companies (U.S. and abroad) at times dumped toxic effluent directly into streams and rivers.

Events like these brought sustainable supply chain issues into the public eye, and began to spur change.

Recent initiatives such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2015) have solidified sustainability on the global agenda. Additionally, many of the Sustainable Development Goals overlap closely with the supply chain, such as goal #12: responsible consumption and production, which focuses on the way we produce and consume goods and resources.

There is still a long way to go when it comes to sustainability within the supply chain. However, many industry leaders, both in the U.S. and abroad, have started to make sustainability a top priority. They are setting a good example for the rest to follow.

3) Acknowledging predicted changes in population, consumption, and climate change, will these factors impact the supply chain industry in the next 5 to 10 years? If so, how?

Changes in population, consumption and climate change will absolutely affect the supply chain industry in the coming years. A growing population paired with a depleting supply of natural resources and an increasingly volatile climate will lead to increased pressure on global supply chains to embrace sustainability.

Many industries have supply chains that essentially begin in a field, (e.g. coffee, tea, wine, almonds, tomatoes, rice, etc.) which makes them especially vulnerable to issues like climate change. Supply chain improvement in these industries will be key to feeding a growing population and maintaining the integrity of our food systems.

In the coming years, companies will be held more and more accountable for impacts related to their supply chain and business leaders are increasingly being called upon to take action. They are being asked to not only stop contributing to the problem, but to actually begin solving the problem. Innovative business leaders are uniquely positioned to help solve some of our world’s greatest challenges while still generating wealth for their companies and their stakeholders (employees, customers, investors, communities).

4) Are companies expected to lose growth potential or profits from climate change and other sustainability issues?

Yes, possibly, although it largely depends on whether the companies in question take a proactive or reactive approach to these issues.

Making changes often costs money. However, companies who take a proactive approach and implement sustainable practices in their supply chain early on are poised to grow both market share and profits. Proactive companies who incorporate sustainability into their long-term growth strategy often see these obstacles as opportunities.

Companies who take a reactive approach will be more likely to struggle. These companies will constantly be fighting to keep up with regulations, and doing what they can to skirt these issues for as long as possible. Such companies might survive for a while, but their business model is inconsistent with the health and wellbeing of our planet and its inhabitants. Eventually, reactive companies will fall behind, and their growth and profitability will begin to stagnate.

5) Besides loss aversion, what gains could companies hope to realize by pushing sustainable practices in their supply chain?

Companies who prioritize sustainability within their supply chain can strengthen relationships with all of their stakeholders (investors, customers, employees and communities). Companies who implement sustainability initiatives may also, in the process, create a healthier organizational culture, develop greater customer loyalty, gain access to new markets, and increase profitability, while simultaneously reducing risk and protecting the health and well being of the communities they serve.

6) In the next 5 to 10 years, how will consumer and government expectations for a business’s sustainability practices develop? What metrics for sustainability in supply chain will become crucial to exceed these expectations?

Over the next 5 to 10 years, consumers and governments will have greater and greater expectations for companies to implement sustainable practices. Companies will be expected to provide completely transparent supply chain metrics, including, but not limited to, metrics related to: greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, electricity usage, worker health and safety, livable wages, and communities served or impacted. Many leading companies are already tracking for these metrics, and such companies will likely continue to exceed expectations in the years to come.

7) How can supply chain professionals start the conversation of sustainability initiatives within the C-suite?

Supply chain professionals can start the conversation of sustainability initiatives within the C-suite by focusing on the strategic benefits associated with adopting sustainable practices. As mentioned before, benefits include risk management, accessing new markets, increasing customer loyalty, creating a healthier organizational culture, generating greater return for investors and increasing profitability. In short, being one of the proactive companies can help you gain a competitive advantage.

8) How can supply chain professionals constructively start the conversation between producer and supplier, and make sustainability a joint initiative across the supply chain?

Supply chain professionals can constructively start the conversation between producer and supplier by highlighting mutual benefits associated with adopting sustainable practices. Sustainability provides unique circumstances for producers and suppliers to create innovative partnerships that lead to new growth opportunities. Partnerships like these are the ones that enable wealth creation through innovation.

The electrification of vehicle fleets, warehousing automation, or the adoption of carbon neutral technologies are all examples of innovative change that could offer benefits to producers and suppliers.

Conclusion

I realize the scope of this article is very broad, and I’ve only just scratched the surface of sustainability within the supply chain. My objective was to highlight major trends, risks, and opportunities for companies operating within this space, but if you have comments or would like to contribute to the conversation, please send me an email or leave a comment below.

For additional reading and detailed statistics, McKinsey & Company wrote a great piece on supply chains. Find it here: Starting at the source: Sustainability in supply chains

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Wilderness Medicine Lessons to Help Your Business Thrive

Sun, 30 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Earlier this month I completed an 80-hour wilderness medicine training course. It was filled with dozens of lectures, quarts of fake blood and no shortage of hands-on practice - both as a rescuer and a victim. There were approximately 22 students and two seasoned instructors. My classmates came from many different backgrounds, and included backcountry trip leaders and guides, search and rescue volunteers, nursing students, park rangers, and even one sustainability manager & consultant (guess who that was?). The 80 hour course was split evenly between in-class lecture and hands-on practice.

What is Wilderness Medicine?

According to the 18th Edition Wilderness Medicine Handbook , Wilderness Medicine is practiced in the context of delayed access to care, in challenging environments, often with the need to improvise gear, with limited communication and independent decision-making on the need for and urgency of evacuation.

Why I Chose to Get Certified

Recently a family member very dear to me was injured, and I was the person responsible for her initial treatment and transport to a hospital. Overall, I handled the situation well, improvised quickly, and got her to the emergency room in a safe and timely manner. However, my decision making was not as quick as I would have liked. This situation is what inspired and motivated me to become certified as a Wilderness First Responder .

As intense or even "scary" as this situation was, I was also in the “front country,” or an urban setting, which meant that “definitive care,” or modern medical facilities (hospitals), were only minutes away. However, in the “wilderness,” or “backcountry,” (or any place that is hours or days away from definitive care), the rules can change. Time spent with the patient is greater, and time from the onset of illness/injury to definitive care may be much longer. For these and potentially other reasons, a person's injury may merit a different treatment approach than it would in an urban context to ensure the best possible outcome.

While I am most often in the front country, I enjoy spending as much time as I can in the backcountry. Given this fact, the concept of wilderness medicine was not new to me. In fact, I had taken a two-day Wilderness First Aid course four years ago. The Wilderness First Aid course was 18 hours long and administered by the National Outdoor Leadership School, or NOLS. It was an informative class and I learned a great deal.

However, despite my 18 hours of training, I couldn’t kick the feeling that I was only mildly prepared for the situations I might encounter. I knew I had only scratched the surface of the broad field of wilderness medicine. These feelings re-surfaced when my family member was injured and I was called upon to manage her initial treatment and get her to definitive care.

It was after this incident that I made a decision to commit to the 80-hour Wilderness First Responder Course. The Wilderness First Aid course had breadth, but the Wilderness First Responder course had breadth with depth. I knew that if I ever wanted to take my knowledge to the next level, this 80-hour First Responder course was my answer.

Lessons Learned

During the course, I learned about bee stings and snake bites, lacerations, hypothermia, shock, CPR, lung injury, altitude sickness, heat exhaustion, and much more. I learned how to conduct a thorough physical exam, obtain a patient history, assess vital signs, provide emergency care in the wilderness, and make crucial evacuation decisions. This information could save a life someday, and I am glad to have learned it.

While the instructors sent us out with confidence and a feeling of empowerment upon our graduation from the course (and although there’s so much more to learn), they emphasized one point over and over. They said, “The best tool in wilderness medicine is not something you keep in your emergency kit, but the organ between your ears.” Using your brain can help you avoid needing wilderness medicine at all. The best medicine is in fact preventing injury and illness in the first place.

When you’re in the wilderness you’ll never have all the supplies, tools, or personnel needed to truly treat a severe injury. One must always be transported to “definitive care” (aka a hospital). If the injury is bad enough and/or the location is remote enough, this must often be done via a rapid evacuation, typically in a helicopter. The bottom line is that getting injured in a remote backcountry setting can have serious consequences. Whenever possible, you should prevent injuries in the first place.

A passage from the Wilderness Medicine Handbook illustrates this idea nicely. “Experienced wilderness leaders know it’s much easier to stay warm than to warm a hypothermic person in the backcountry. Whether it’s hypothermia or hygiene, prevention is an important theme in wilderness medicine.”

Ben Franklin once said: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” His advice carries a simple but powerful message, and, if taken to heart, could someday save your life. Prevention is king.

However, Franklin’s timeless wisdom isn’t exclusive to the world of wilderness medicine.

Lessons in Sustainability

In business as in wilderness medicine, preventative action goes a long way. In an age where businesses are beginning to be regulated and their stakeholders (employees, customers, community, investors) are starting to wield greater influence, the adoption of an organizational sustainability program is becoming a strategic necessity. Benefits include increasing profitability, avoiding costly compliance issues, strengthening stakeholder relations and accessing new markets. However, businesses often wait too long before taking this leap, and deciding to create a sustainability program.

Smart businesses don’t wait for their sustainability program to serve as a “rescue device.” They use it as a tool for prevention. Begin capturing the benefits of sustainability right now, on your own terms, and reap the rewards that come with it. Do not wait until you’ve been slapped with a hefty fine, forced to comply, or even worse, forced to shut-down your business entirely. These unwanted outcomes are easily avoidable with a bit of preventative planning.

Check Your Ego

In my wilderness medicine class, one of our instructors advised us to never allow ego to join in our backcountry adventures. She cautioned us that ego is one of the greatest contributing factors to experiencing preventable injuries.

Ryan Holiday said in his book Ego is the Enemy , “Pride blunts the very instruments we need to succeed: our mind, our ability to learn, to adapt, to be flexible, to build relationships, all of this is dulled by pride.”

A big part of prevention is having the self-awareness to leave your ego out of the equation. To allow your ego a spot at the decision-making table is to leave your thinking brain behind.

Conclusion

Whether you're getting ready for a wilderness expedition, launching a new business, or growing an existing business, always keep your ego in check, and recognize that prevention is a major key to experiencing both growth and longevity.

We hope you enjoyed this article and decide to take action in your own sphere of influence, whether that be sustainability, wilderness medicine, or any other endeavor that is worth pursuing.

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The Certified B Corporation: A Definition and Brief History of How It All Started?

Mon, 27 May 2019 17:03:07 GMT

This article will give you a basic understanding of what a Certified B Corporation is and how it developed into what it is today.

Definition

Per the B Corp Handbook , Certified B Corporations “are companies that have been certified to have met rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Corp Certification is similar to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for green buildings, Fairtrade certification for coffee, or USDA Organic for milk. A key difference, however, is that B Corp certification is based on the assessment of an entire company and its practices (such as worker engagement, community involvement, environmental footprint, governance structure, and customer relationships) rather than assessing a single aspect or element of a company (such as the building or a product [it produces or sells]). This big picture evaluation is important because it helps distinguish between good companies and just good marketing.”

The Certified B Corporation is the gold-standard certification for businesses who want to show their leadership as responsible corporate citizens acting with a purpose. Let’s look back at how it all started.

History

The Certified B Corporation Movement was started by three individuals, Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Cassoy. Jay and Bart were co-founders of AND1, a basketball footwear and clothing company. During the 1990s, AND1 was a poster child for what a socially responsible business could look like. They had great parental leave benefits, widely shared ownership of the company, gave 5% of profits to charity each year, and worked with overseas suppliers to ensure worker health, safety, fair wages, and professional development. They even had on-site basketball courts and offered on-site yoga classes before it became mainstream to offer that type of perk.

With all of this, AND1 was also a profitable company, and was pulling in annual revenues of $250 million by 2001. However, growth eventually stagnated and the founders decided to sell the company in 2005. Almost immediately after the sale, all of the company’s pre-existing commitments to its employees, overseas workers and the local community were stripped away.

Jay and Bart were devastated and realized the incredible need for businesses to have a more permanent structure surrounding their social and environmental practices. They also became inspired by hearing stories about iconic brands such as Patagonia, Newman’s Own and Ben & Jerry’s prioritizing socially and environmentally responsible practices. They decided to take action and linked up with their former Wharton classmate, Andrew Kassoy, who worked at a private equity firm focused on social change. More information about the history of B Lab and its founders can be found in this article , written by the B Corp Handbook’s co-author, Ryan Honeyman.

In 2006, the three of them launched B Lab , a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. B Lab is responsible for managing B Corp Certification, administering the B Impact Management Programs and Software, and advocacy for governance structures like the benefit corporation.

A New Evaluation Framework is Born

Over the next year, the new team at B Lab would work with leading businesses, investors and attorneys to create a comprehensive set of performance and legal requirements. They certified the first B Corporation in 2007.

The three main criteria businesses must meet to become certified B Corporations are 1) Verified social and environmental performance, 2) Legal accountability and 3) Public transparency.

The social and environmental performance component is evaluated using the B Impact Assessment. The B Impact Assessment is a free, confidential, easy-to-use online management tool that generates a score based on a 200 point scale. The assessment evaluates companies across five main categories, including Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. In order to become certified, companies must achieve a minimum score of 80 points. Upon completion, companies also receive a B Impact Report, which is a summary of their B Impact Assessment by category.

In addition to meeting performance standards, B Lab decided that businesses must also fulfill the legal requirement, and have legal accountability . The need for this became apparent to Jay and Bart after witnessing AND1’s social and environmental practices evaporate right before their eyes following the sale of their company. The legal requirement ensures that Certified B Corporation’s best practices are baked into the DNA of the company and can survive changes in leadership and personnel. Many states within the US offer companies the option to incorporate as a public benefit corporation, which is a legal structure that meets B Corp’s Criteria. States and Countries who don’t have this option must modify the bylaws in their articles of incorporation to meet this requirement.

The third and final pillar of the B Corporation evaluation criteria is public transparency . Transparency builds trust, so all Certified B Corporations are required to share their B Impact Report publicly on bcorporation.net.

Why It Matters

The Certified B Corporation takes the concept of sustainable business to a whole new level. Broadly speaking, sustainability efforts of a business are designed to produce positive impacts for their triple bottom line, or People, Planet, and Profit (3Ps). Traditional businesses typically measure Profit alone. Sustainable businesses measure and prioritize all three and consistently work to improve them over time.

The Certified B Corporation gives sustainable companies an opportunity to not only measure their triple bottom line, but to be recognized for it in a credible and transparent manner. When it comes to identifying a sustainable business, B Corp’s truly separate the wheat from the chaff. No amount of talent, good marketing, or unrealized but noble intentions can earn a company the mark of a Certified B Corp unless they actually put in the work. To take an analogy from the film industry, a company’s audio must match their video. The audio is who they claim to be, and the video is the action and implementation required to live up to that claim. As best-selling business author and marketing guru Seth Godin says in his book, Permission Marketing, “You need more than a gun to be a gunslinger.”

The Certified B Corporation is the first certification to evaluate an entire company based on its social and environmental performance, in addition to standard measures of success. In order for businesses to be a force for good in this world, they must understand their impacts, and must work to improve them. Certified B Corporations do both.

Benefits to Becoming Certified

The B Corp movement has been building slowly since its inception in 2007. As of this writing, there are 2,788 certified businesses across 150 industries and 64 countries. This number is rising quickly, and in 2018, Danone North America became the largest Certified B Corporation in the world, with annual revenues over $6 billion. Danone North America proved that becoming certified is not a privilege exclusive to small- and medium-sized businesses - it is accessible to anyone.

Becoming a Certified B Corporation is often done for internal reasons, such as it aligning with an organization’s core values and company culture. It is the ultimate demonstration of becoming a “business with a purpose,” and using business to serve the greater good.

In addition to the internal benefits, becoming a Certified B Corporation also has many external benefits. These include: improving stakeholder relations, strengthening employee loyalty, increasing customer loyalty, attracting impact investors, and joining a growing community of purpose-driven business leaders. Becoming a Certified B Corp also provides businesses with a very objective and quantifiable method for tracking improvements over time. Tracking improvements over time aligns very closely with our personal philosophy at VTS: “Sustainability is a journey, not a destination.”

Call to Action

If you're curious about becoming a Certified B Corporation and would like to get a baseline understanding of how your organization's sustainability program stacks up against the best in the world, consider taking the B Impact Assessment. It will give you a solid idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are, along with how much work it will take to reach the minimum score of 80 points. Although the full B Impact Assessment may take several hours to complete, a condensed version called the Quick Impact Assessment will require less time. They can both be accessed here: B Impact Assessment .

Conclusion

While becoming a Certified B Corporation is certainly not mandatory to become a “Sustainable Business,” it presents a lofty yet attainable target for businesses looking to take their sustainability program to the next level.

We hope you enjoyed learning about the Certified B Corporation. To learn more, we recommend reading the B Corp Handbook , which was a main source for some facts presented in this article. We also suggest larger companies interested in certifying read Danone North America’s Story .

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Sustainability Champion: What It Is and Why You Need One

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

In the previous blog articles, we discussed what sustainability is , why it is important for your business , and how to get started . What we have not yet covered is who should be responsible for spearheading the sustainability program at your organization. The purpose of this article is to provide clarity on who that person is, why they are important and what skills they should possess.

What Is a Sustainability Champion?

In order to successfully launch and grow your sustainability program, you must have a sustainability “champion” or “torch bearer” who is responsible for driving progress and maintaining a high level of engagement in the organization. The sustainability champion takes full responsibility for spearheading the sustainability efforts, and the sustainability program’s success will be directly correlated with the overall effectiveness, drive, and dedication of your sustainability champion.

The responsibility for keeping the sustainability efforts on track needs to fall squarely on one individuals shoulders, or else it can get lost in the shuffle. However, this does not mean one person will single handedly build your program and that everyone else in the organization gets a free pass, in fact, it is far from that. Even the best sustainability champion will only produce marginal results if company leadership and management are not supportive and committed. But to really succeed, one person must be the “owner,” or “guiding hand,” or “program manager” and keep the efforts moving forward.

Choosing Your Sustainability Champion

It is important to think carefully about who the sustainability champion for your organization should be. Creating a successful sustainability program requires creativity, and dedication, along with a healthy investment of time and energy. Without these key ingredients, a sustainability program can not grow and thrive.

So now you must ask yourself, will you be the sustainability champion? Is there another person within the organization that could fit this role and take ownership? Or should you consider hiring someone new from outside the organization, such as a full-time sustainability manager or a part-time sustainability consultant?

Who your sustainability champion will be can often depend on the size of your organization. In many small- and mid-sized businesses, achieving significant value may only require a part-time sustainability champion. If there is someone internal to your organization with a passion for sustainability who can spare the time to take on this role, then that may work. However, a seasoned sustainability consultant may be able to draw on past experiences to implement a new sustainability program more efficiently. It doesn’t matter who you choose or where they come from, but whoever you select needs to have skin in the game, time to invest, and a passion for the end goals.

A famous 17th century Spanish philosopher once said, "The truth is generally seen, rarely heard." (Baltasar Gracián). When your organization starts to experience the positive benefits that accompany a successful sustainability program, you'll know you've chosen the right champion.

A Common Misstep

All too often, responsibility for launching and growing a sustainability program will get pawned off on an operations manager, facilities manager, or even the CEO. They typically end up piling it onto their existing and already full workload, hoping to find time for it down the line. This is a mistake because it severely limits the sustainability program’s potential upside, and more often than not, can result in the sustainability effort taking an early retirement.

The reason these individuals typically struggle to succeed is not a matter of ability or intent, but a matter of time and energy. The schedules of CEOs, facilities managers and operations managers are already booked full. There is no “wiggle room” or “buffer time” in their schedules to play with. They often aren’t able to give sustainability the attention it needs to grow and thrive. As soon as a CEO or operations manager’s job gets too busy, sustainability efforts are one of the first things to go.

This classic scenario of the eyes being bigger than the stomach is all too common. While intentions are usually good, recovering from a loss of momentum for sustainability is hard on both the organization and the people involved in the original effort. Not only may your sustainability program end prematurely before it had time to produce any fruit, but it sends a message to the organization that sustainability is not important, and should only be prioritized when business is easy. Unfortunately, business is never easy, and if you wait around for that day to come you will never reap the benefits associated with launching and growing your sustainability program.

An 18th century English statesman once said, “Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well.” (The Earl of Chesterfield 1746). If you’re going to put in the time and energy to launch and grow a sustainability program, then do it right.

While company leadership and operations managers can and should be involved in sustainability efforts, they typically shouldn’t be solely responsible for building and growing the program. Their involvement and contribution to sustainability efforts is essential to maximizing value for all stakeholders (including the company) over both the short- and long-term. However, in order to kick off your sustainability program on the right foot and keep it growing year after year, it is imperative to identify someone with the capacity to develop momentum and attack sustainability head on.

Below is a list of key attributes that an ideal sustainability champion should have. While some items could be learned on the job, many of these skills and characteristics are necessary to be successful.

Characteristics of a Sustainability Champion

Excellent writer and communicator
Excellent team player
Possess a breadth and depth of knowledge across a wide range of sustainability topics, including; energy conservation, renewable energy, organizational culture, climate change, waste management, water conservation, grant writing, tax incentives, industry knowledge, etc.
Possess a comprehensive understanding of the financial incentive landscape
Excellent project management skills
Ability to train, motivate, and engage employees
Ability to design a sustainability program unique to the needs of the business
Ability to deconstruct, analyze and interpret energy and utility data
Ability to create and manage budgets
Ability to help pursue relevant certifications
Ability to educate and enlighten stakeholders
Ability to think creatively and keep the program relevant year after year
Ability to collaborate with sales and marketing to leverage and share best practices
Ability to keep sustainability program aligned with overall business values and priorities
Strong internal drive to succeed and make a positive impact through sustainability program implementation

In addition to all the above, perhaps the most important skill a sustainability champion should have is that of being a creative and flexible problem solver. Growing a sustainability program is a very iterative process. It involves constantly monitoring project activities, evaluating progress and course-correcting as necessary to keep efforts on track. It is their job to guide your business forward on its sustainability journey and set you up for success.

In Summary

Every organization’s situation is going to be a little bit different and there is no one-size fits all solution. The most important thing is simply to get started. Just make sure you’ve got a competent and capable sustainability champion to carry the torch and lead the way. Choose them wisely.

How to Get Started: Step 1

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This is the 3rd article in our three-part “Intro to Sustainability Series” and will explain how to get started on your sustainability journey.

If you have not read Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we suggest you go back and read them. They will give you a solid understanding of what sustainability is and why it is important for organizations like yours.

The Most Important Step

The first and most important step you can take when setting out on your sustainability journey is to create a “Sustainability Program Roadmap.” A sustainability program roadmap is a single document that contains all the essential elements needed to design, launch and grow your sustainability program. A well designed roadmap will help you navigate your journey and guide you safely to your final destination.

However, before you begin building a roadmap, it is important to have a basic understanding of a few essential characteristics of your organization and its operations.

Before Getting Started

In order to create a meaningful roadmap should first have a clear understanding of the following:

How your business uses resources (water, electricity, natural gas, etc.)
Your organization’s overall mission and values
Your organization’s financial structure and tax appetite
The capabilities of the personnel within your organization

If you do not have a basic understanding of these elements, we suggest you do some data gathering. Knowing this information will be essential to creating a roadmap that is both practical and effective.

Creating Your Roadmap

In order to help you on your journey, we've developed a sustainability roadmap guidebook. The guidebook will help your business develop clarity and structure around its sustainability efforts. The guide will define exactly what a roadmap is, who it is for, why it is important, and how to create it. It will also detail exactly what content must go into a sustainability roadmap.

To learn more about the sustainability roadmap guidebook, please contact us.

Call to Action

Achieving any major goal, whether in life or business, requires thoughtful planning and disciplined execution. Your roadmap will help you with the planning and inform the execution. Planning is essential to ensuring your actions have a massive impact. You must exercise patience and discipline, just like a chess player plotting his or her next move.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future is literally in our hands to mold as we like. Tomorrow is now.” Use your roadmap as the starting point in your efforts to mold the future of your organization. It is the starting point for leveraging your resources, increasing profitability and gaining a competitive advantage.

We hope you enjoyed the article. Please let us know if you have any questions or would like help getting started.

Why Smart Businesses Embrace Sustainability

Thu, 28 Feb 2019 22:14:51 GMT

This article, the 2nd in our “Intro to Sustainability Series,” will give you an overview of how sustainable business went mainstream, and why it is one of the greatest opportunities most businesses have before them today.

If you did not read the article from Part 1 of our “Introduction to Sustainability” Series, we encourage you to go back and read it. Doing so will provide you with more clarity and understanding as to why businesses were called upon to shift their practices in the first place.

A New Methodology Is Born: How Sustainable Businesses Evaluate Success

In 1994, a man named John Elkington presented the world with a new framework for doing business. He called it the Triple Bottom Line .

Typically, a business will look at its “bottom line” or “net profits” to measure success. Elkington believed that measuring monetary profit in isolation was an incomplete way of gauging a business’ success. He felt businesses should be analyzing their performance against three bottom lines, which he called the 3Ps: People, Planet and Profit . Under this new evaluation framework, businesses would assess the social, environmental and economic performance of their organization, as opposed to focusing exclusively on profits.

Elkington was convinced that only a company who used a triple bottom line was taking account of the full cost of doing business. His framework gave businesses a simple formula that aligned with the global sustainability agenda and gave them a clear starting point from which to launch their sustainability efforts. Over the next several decades, and with a gentle nudge from stakeholders (investors, employees & customers), the business community has gradually started to embrace the triple bottom line philosophy.

Stakeholder Pressure Grows

Today, approximately 25 years after Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line framework was developed, businesses are under the spotlight like never before. The global community expects businesses to spearhead climate change efforts while delivering on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . The investment community is demanding greater transparency from the companies they invest in, and at times even requires disclosure of environmental, social and governance performance.

Employees have also started to take a stronger interest in the sustainability practices of the organizations they work for. Jim Collins, Author of Good to Great , said, “great vision without great people is irrelevant.” If businesses want to retain top talent and maintain high levels of team engagement, they must embrace sustainability – and their actions must reflect that commitment.

The birth of the digital age also brought with it a new era of consumer empowerment. Consumers are more informed about global, social, and environmental issues than ever before. Each and every day, people vote with their dollars when deciding what products and services to buy. Price is no longer the only factor being taken into consideration. Consumers are increasingly demanding that businesses take ownership of the impacts their operations have on both society and the environment.

Stakeholder preferences serve as economic indicators of what the market is starting to demand. Smart businesses use this information to transform their organizations and the products and services they provide. By heeding stakeholder preferences, businesses are able to make it past the breakers unharmed, while those who ignore these preferences will continue to struggle.

Beyond Compliance

Naturally, some businesses perceive this push towards sustainability as an unwanted burden. They don’t care what their stakeholders think, opting instead for a “business as usual” approach. These businesses may view sustainability in a negative light, and perceive it as something that has to be complied with begrudgingly. Businesses who adopt this reactive approach and constantly resist change will never be able to maximize their return on sustainability.

A growing number of business leaders, however, have chosen to view these new challenges as an opportunity to use their intelligence, drive, and passion to solve some of the world’s greatest challenges. Nothing on this planet lives a static existence, and businesses are no exception to this universal law. Marcus Aurelius once said,

“Everything is born from change. The knowledge that there is nothing nature loves more than to alter what exists and make new things like it. All that exists is the seed of what will emerge from it.”

Businesses who embrace sustainability are choosing to be proactive instead of reactive. They acknowledge that change is constant, and understand it is the only way forward.

Over the last several decades, Sustainability Managers and Directors have become regular fixtures in the organizational hierarchy. Hundreds of companies have pledged to use 100 percent renewable energy through the RE100 initiative. Many others voluntarily report their greenhouse gas and other environmental data to registries like the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Climate Registry. We’ve even witnessed the emergence of targeted educational programs like The Clean Energy Leadership Institute , which aims to develop new leaders who can help solve the complex global challenges we currently face.

Interestingly, the businesses taking the greatest action on sustainability also happen to be some of the most profitable. These top performers are using sustainability to leverage their resources, increase profitability, and solidify their standing as an industry leader. Jigar Shah , Author of Creating Climate Wealth and CEO of Generate Capital , said, “climate change is the largest wealth creation opportunity of our time.”

McKinsey’s Business of Sustainability survey results revealed that businesses believe sustainability has operational and growth-oriented benefits, and enhances short- and long-term value. The study also shows 57 percent of businesses have integrated sustainability into their strategic planning.

Each year a growing number of companies are even integrating sustainability into the very fabric of their organization, no longer making a distinction between sustainability and their core business. Companies like The Ocean Cleanup were created with the sole purpose of removing plastics from the world’s oceans. Others, like Patagonia, continue to demonstrate their leadership by taking bold action on climate change and environmental issues. After the recent federal tax cut, they elected to donate 10 million dollars to nonprofits that fight climate change.

Motivational Speaker Simon Sinek’s famous TED Talk discusses the importance of “Finding Your Why.” He believes that in order to inspire people to action, businesses must provide a compelling reason why what they are doing actually matters. They must explain in a clear and convincing way why their organization deserves 100 percent of the effort its people have to give. Without a meaningful purpose that is compatible with sustainability, many organizations will continue struggling to retain and motivate their most valuable asset – people.

Sustainability is no longer simply a matter of compliance, and smart businesses are starting to leverage it as an opportunity to create something much more powerful.

Businesses Are In the Driver’s Seat

The case for sustainability has never been stronger. Top-performing companies across the world are leveraging sustainability to find greater purpose, inspire stakeholders and gain a competitive advantage, all while contributing to global climate and sustainable development goals.

In spite of all the progress that’s been made in moving the sustainability needle, the reality is that there is still a long way to go. The world is undergoing a fundamental shift, and the stakes are higher than ever. Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

Your behavior and actions today will influence what the world looks like tomorrow. Actions at the business level directly influence sustainability and climate change outcomes at the global level. As Gro Harlem Brundtland, Chair of the Brundtland C ommission , said in 1987, “Whether your business consists of one person or many thousands, you have an important role to play in this global effort and your leadership is needed.”

Despite the obstacles they face, businesses are continuing to recognize that Purpose + Profit are not mutually exclusive, but mutually dependent.

We hope you found this article helpful, and gained a more thorough understanding of how sustainability became mainstream. Embracing sustainability is one of the greatest opportunities your business will ever have, and we hope we have helped to clarify that.

In the next article of our three-part “Introduction to Sustainability” Series, we’ll delve into how your business can get started. If you missed our first article , we recommend you go read it before moving on.

For supplemental reading, we suggest Simon Sinek’s Books Start With Why and Find Your Why. For a new and updated take on Triple Bottom Line methodology, see Elkington’s recent article in the Harvard Business Review.

If you liked what you read and want to learn more, please sign up for our monthly newsletter and follow us on instagram . By doing so, you’ll receive our newest articles and insights straight to your inbox once each month.

What is Sustainability? A Definition and Brief History of How it Came to Be

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 21:12:43 GMT

This article is the first in a three-part “Introduction to Sustainability” Series covering:

What sustainability is and how it evolved into what it is today
How sustainable business became mainstream and why it's your greatest opportunity
How to get started on your sustainability journey

By the end of this first article, you should have a basic understanding of what sustainability is and how it developed into what it is today. The end of this article will also introduce how businesses fit into the story and have become such an integral part of the global sustainability discussion.

The origin of “sustainability” comes from the word “sustainable,” which, according to dictionary.com, means “the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed.” It is derived from the words “sustain” + “able,” and usage dates as far back as the early 17th century. Sustainability is essentially another way of saying “built to last.”

1960s - 1970s: Birth of Sustainability As We Know It

Although the origins of the word date back over 400 years, usage of the word “sustainable” in connection with the environment didn’t occur until much later. According to the Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Ethics research paper The Evolution of Sustainability, the word “sustainability” was first used in the context of discussing man’s future on this planet in 1972. The word appeared in the book Blueprint for Survival (originally published by the Ecologist).

This same year, the Club of Rome, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), released a now-famous report. The report was called “Limits to Growth,” and it used computer modeling to explore the interaction between exponential growth and finite resources. The simulation factored in variables such as population increase, food production, industrial output, pollution generation, and non-renewable resource depletion. The results were staggering and the message was clear: human activity is having a major impact on the planet.

The findings discussed in Limits to Growth bring to mind a passage from Candice Millard’s book River of Doubt , describing fast-growing trees observed during Theodore Roosevelt's scientific expedition into uncharted Brazilian Rainforest in 1914.

“Soaring more than 150 feet above Roosevelt’s head and out of sight in the green canopy were giant emergent tree species that had secured their survival by putting all their resources into the effort to outrace their competitors to the sunshine. For fast-growing trees, the trade-off for speed is inadequate defenses against insects and vulnerability to storms…”

Mankind is, in some ways similar to these fast-growing trees. We may reach the metaphorical sunshine fastest, but what will be lost? The publication of Limits to Growth was just one of many pivotal events related to sustainability that occurred during this decade. Some other events that shaped sustainability's rise to prominence in years to follow included:

The release of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring (Pertaining to DDT and damage to wildlife, humans and the environment ~1962)
The release of the “Earthrise” photo from Apollo 8’s mission (~1968)
The Santa Barbara Oil Spill (~1969)
The first “Earth Day” (~1970)
The creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency ( ~1970)
The passage of the Clean Air (~1970) and Clean Water (~1972) Acts
The UN's Global Conference on the Human Environment (~1972)
The release of “Limits to Growth” by The Club of Rome and MIT (~1972)
The passage of the US Endangered Species Act (~1973)

1980s: “Sustainable Development” is Invented

Approximately 15 years after Limits to Growth was published, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) released the Brundtland Report, also known as Our Common Future. It was 383 pages long, took three years to write and was the first time the environment and development had been discussed as one single issue. Prior to 1987, there was no single word or term to describe the interconnectedness of these two concepts. The Brundtland Commission decided to fix that, and a new phrase was born. “Sustainable development” was defined in their report as:

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

Their definition of sustainable development is widely quoted today, and has become nearly synonymous with the word “sustainability.”

The Brundtland Report was one of the first coordinated international efforts to develop a global agenda for environmental change. It awoke the public to the notion that humankind must think about the generations to come and the world they would live in. The report pinpointed the swath of environmental problems facing our planet and offered up a detailed framework for addressing them.

Two notable outcomes of the report were:

It inspired the implementation of regular international conferences to review environmental progress and highlighted the need for coordinated political action.
It identified new actors in the environmental effort, including Universities, Private Enterprises, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Individuals.

In essence, The Brundtland Report was responsible both for highlighting the interconnectedness of economic growth and environmental degradation, and began to identify a clear path forward. If you’d like to explore it further, Down to Earth provided a thoughtful interpretation of the Brundtland Paper and why it had such a lasting impact. Find it here .

While the report brought up numerous critical issues like food security, biodiversity, global economic development, and deforestation, climate change took center stage. It has firmly planted itself there for over two decades and continues to remain the defining challenge of our generation.

1990s: Climate Change Gains a Foothold

The recommendations laid out in the Brundtland Report did not fall on deaf ears, and in 1992, more than one hundred individual heads of state convened at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

A major outcome of this Summit was the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), whose primary objective is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere. Parties to the convention have met every year since 1995 in Conferences of the Parties (COP) to assess progress.

The third conference (COP3) was of particular significance, resulting in the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol established legally binding obligations for developed countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to five percent below 1990 levels between 2008 and 2012. Although adopted in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol did not technically go into effect until at least 55 countries (accounting for 55 percent of the world’s emissions in 1990) had ratified it. This occured in 2005.

The Kyoto Protocol ultimately failed to reach its initial target, but laid the foundation for a more comprehensive climate agreement that would eventually replace it.

This decade also witnessed the creation of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). It was formed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988. Its purpose was, and is, to provide policymakers with regular scientific assessments on climate change, it’s implications, and potential future risks. It also puts forward adaptation and mitigation options. Between 1988 and 2018, the IPCC produced six assessment reports in support of UNFCCC efforts, and they, along with these reports have had great influence over global policy.

2000: Millennium Development Goals Created

In the year 2000, the United Nations came together and created eight international development goals, also known as the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals expanded well beyond environmental sustainability and included focus areas such as eradicating poverty, increasing access to primary education, promoting equality, reducing infant mortality, improving maternal health and combating disease.

However, environmental sustainability remained a major focus, and the 7th goal was to Ensure Environmental Sustainability. The 7th MDG pertained to climate change, resource depletion, the preservation of biodiversity as well as terrestrial and marine areas, and water quality.

This MDG extended beyond climate change and established sustainability issues as global challenges that deserved attention.

2015: Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Change Continued

2015 was an important year for global sustainability and climate change efforts. The first major development was the expiration of the millennium development goals and the creation of seventeen new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which would take their place.

The original year 2000 Millenium Development Goal number 7) Ensure Environmental Sustainability, was deconstructed into several component parts in 2015, with each part being made into its own goal. The new environmental sustainability goals created included:

6) Clean Water and Sanitation
7) Affordable and Clean Energy
11) Sustainable Cities and Communities
12) Responsible Production and Consumption
13) Climate Action
14) Life Below Water
15) Life on Land

The expansion of the original Ensure Environmental Sustainability goal into seven new goals demonstrates the growing importance of sustainability and resource conservation on the global agenda.

The second major development of 2015 took place at COP21 in Paris, France, where a new climate agreement was formed. This new climate accord, named the Paris Agreement, effectively replaces the Kyoto Protocol. Its main goal is to keep the global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the rise to only 1.5 degrees Celsius. It received near unanimous approval.

This agreement is particularly notable because participation was completely voluntary. It demonstrated that countries around the world with varying interests recognized the importance of climate change and were committed to coming together to tackle this shared challenge.

2018: Time Is Running Out

2018 was also a big year for global climate efforts. The IPCC released its 6th assessment report, California hosted the Global Climate Action Summit and the United Nations held its 24th Climate Conference (COP24).

The results of the IPCC’s 6th assessment report were eye-opening, yet perhaps not completely surprising. Existing actions to address climate change aren’t enough and the negative impacts of our changing climate continue to increase. The world’s leading scientists warn that we have 12 years to act before catastrophic damage takes place. Co Chair of the IPCC Working Group summarized her thoughts in a single sentence:

“The next few years are probably the most important in our history.”

The assessment report clearly emphasized that the time to act is now.

2018 was an equally big year for California, which hosted the Global Climate Action Summit. The summit aimed to galvanize climate change mitigation efforts across all sectors. California also set some ambitious climate change and clean energy targets of its own. For more info on California’s statewide sustainability goals, check out our previous article here .

Also in 2018 was the United Nations 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24), which took place in Katowice, Poland. Discussions at the conference centered around the Paris Agreement and climate change. One of the most productive outcomes of COP24 was the development of a technical rulebook with detailed guidelines on how to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement.

In spite of this achievement, COP24 was not without tension. Countries grappled over details of the Paris Rulebook and how to ensure greater transparency in reporting emissions. The stakes are high and while every stakeholder believes these issues are important, the sense of urgency surrounding action on climate change tends to vary by country. In spite of the obstacles being faced, global leaders continue to show resilience and commitment to working toward a solution.

This year’s conference brought in a diverse range of supporters. One notable attendee was famous naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough. While he is most well known for his narration of BBC’s Planet Earth Series, he is also a steadfast supporter of taking immediate action on climate change, and believes it is the greatest threat to mankind in thousands of years.

"If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon."

There was also an entire day at COP24 dedicated to business and industry. Many business leaders believe the Paris Rulebook was an important step toward providing the clarity needed to take major action on climate change. U.S. Business Leaders have also been very vocal in their support of the Paris Agreement, despite the U.S. President’s stance on the issue.

Where Businesses Fit Into the Story

One key theme that emerged over the last 50 years is that businesses have become increasingly engaged in global sustainability discussions. It’s become clear that government action alone is insufficient to produce a favorable outcome and businesses are expected to play a lead role in the transition to a more sustainable and low carbon world.

Businesses manage most of the world’s infrastructure, are responsible for 70% of global CO2 emissions and their ability to influence a positive outcome is unparalleled. Even the 1987 Brundtland Commission recognized that moving the needle on sustainable development could not be left to regulators and policy-makers alone. The foreword written by Gro Harlem, the chair of the Brundtland Commission, read:

“The Commission is also addressing private enterprise, from the one-person business to the great multinational company…”

The Bruntdland Commission understood that industry had to play a substantial role in this global undertaking if we were to make any meaningful progress. Over 31 years later at UN’s 24th Climate Conference (COP24), the message to businesses has held true to its original form:

“Businesses across the world should no longer be viewed solely as greenhouse gas emissions culprits, but more as indispensable partners for climate action, who stand to increase profits from “going green”.

Businesses are no longer standing idle at the fringes of global sustainability dialogue. They are at the forefront and that is where we need them to stay.

Conclusion: 2019 and Beyond

What the future has in store is uncertain, and the challenges we face are of monumental scale. However, there are now more invested players than ever. From businesses to governments to NGOs and to the individual citizen, more people recognize the gravity of the situation, the opportunity it presents, and that the time to act is now.

As Seneca so eloquently said 2,000 years ago, It’s time to “turn words into works.” Whether you are acting on behalf of yourself, your community, a local or national government or a business, your actions will ultimately determine how this story ends.

We hope you found this article helpful and gained a more thorough understanding of what sustainability is, how it developed into what it is today, and why businesses such as yours have started to become such an integral part of our world’s sustainability story.

While this article offered a “macro” or “big picture” view of sustainability, the second article in our three-part “Introduction to Sustainability” Series will offer a more “micro” or “business focused” view on the topic. It will delve into how sustainable business became mainstream and identify specific factors that led to its adoption. The second article will also highlight why sustainability is one of the greatest opportunities for your business to reach a new level of success and impact in the coming years.

For supplemental reading, this article from the guardian presents a thorough timeline of business action on sustainability, and Harvard Business Review wrote a thoughtful piece on our current situation. Find it here .

If you liked what you read and want to learn more, please sign up for our email list and share it with others, or follow us on instagram to get notified of our newest articles and other updates.

California Passes Landmark Climate Legislation: What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:06:47 GMT

Last month, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 100 , a landmark 100% clean energy goal the state must achieve by 2045. In addition to SB 100, Brown issued an executive order establishing a carbon neutrality target that California must also reach by 2045.

One thing is certain, California is completely and unabashedly dedicated to addressing climate change, and intends to continue onward in its relentless pursuit of a carbon neutral economy. California’s stance on this issue is unlikely to change, and will likely grow stronger in the years to follow.

For many, the news of these regulatory updates were cause for celebration, while for others they were viewed with slightly less enthusiasm.

So what does all this mean for small- and mid-sized businesses residing within the Golden State’s borders? We believe it indicates a few different things:

High emitters of greenhouse gases ( > 25,000 metric tons) will continue to be monitored and enforced under the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Cap-and-Trade Program. Allowable emission limits will grow more stringent with every passing year. Some small- and mid-sized businesses fall under this category.
Medium emitters of greenhouse gases ( < 25,000 and > 10,000 metric tons) will continue to be monitored and will eventually have to comply with CARB’s enforceable Cap-and-Trade program. Many small- and mid-sized businesses fall under this category.
Low emitters of greenhouse gases ( < 10,000 metric tons) will eventually be required to comply with both California’s Mandatory Reporting Regulation and Cap-and-Trade.

Although regulations for businesses emitting lower quantities of emissions ( < 25,000 metric tons) currently aren’t required to comply with Cap-and-Trade, many are still required to report their emissions to the state. It’s only a matter of time before unregulated businesses will lose their exemption. If California is to reach full carbon neutrality by 2045, emissions from every business, big and small, must be accounted for.

To top it all off, small- and mid-sized businesses residing in California already face countless other obstacles that our peers in neighboring states may not. From higher energy costs to higher labor costs, from limited access to a shrinking water supply to an increasingly complex regulatory environment, the obstacles are abundant. However, hope remains, and in spite of its ambitious climate policies, California remains the 5th largest economy in the world. We must be doing something right.

Three Ways Your California Based Business Can Address Regulatory Change:

California businesses have three different options: leave the state, go belly up or adapt and thrive. Many businesses have indeed left the state, which is a reasonable option for those capable of transitioning, but small- and mid-sized businesses generally don’t have that luxury. Others simply cannot keep up in this fast-moving and progressive economy. The third camp will see this as an opportunity to differentiate, evolve and create a competitive advantage. Businesses falling in this third camp share Valley to Summit’s Philosophy, and they’re the ones we’re going to focus on today.

"It's not the strongest, but the most adaptable that survive"

~Charles Darwin

This quote was coined by Charles Darwin, a famous 19th Century Naturalist. Valley to Summit believes that being adaptable is the single most important attribute an organization can possess. This universal law is no different in the business world of today than it was in the natural world Darwin observed nearly two-hundred years ago. Adapting and prospering in this 21st century low-carbon economy is going to require deliberate effort, collaboration and progressive thinking.

The Upside to Climate Regulations:

Fortunately for your business, California’s 100% clean energy and carbon neutrality based regulations also come with an upside. Reaching these ambitious targets requires new and scalable clean energy technologies to reach the market, and to do so in an affordable way. Often times it takes years for these new technologies to become price competitive with conventional technologies, thus rendering them non-viable options to cash-strapped small- and mid-sized businesses struggling to make ends meet. To bridge this gap, California has implemented dozens of financial incentive programs to help make this transition possible.

Some of these incentives include grants, rebates, zero-interest loans and tax incentives. However, all of these programs are very finite in their duration and generally expire once they’ve reached certain implementation targets.

Unfortunately, larger corporations tend to capitalize on these limited programs, while the small- and mid-sized businesses who need them most often get left behind. Not only does the adoption of sustainable practices lower your environmental footprint and keep you ahead of regulations, but it also means reducing operating costs, minimizing risk and improving the reliability of your operation. You can see how accessing these incentives provides a unique opportunity for businesses to utilize valuable resources and help subsidize capital improvements that yield a major competitive advantage.

This creates an even larger dichotomy between the businesses who are already thriving and the ones who have always been struggling. However, for those who embrace this new sustainability-oriented framework, the transition from struggling to thriving can happen swiftly. The key is to invest your time wisely and make sure you’re aware of projects and incentives that will help take your business to the next level.

Real Value of Sustainability Program Implementation:

Let’s highlight some potential advantages to proactive companies operating in this new business climate. Benefits include:

Reducing costs
Capturing incentives
Bolstering cohesiveness, uniformity and shared values across your organization
Building brand equity
Gaining a competitive advantage
Bulletproofing your business for an uncertain regulatory future

At the end of the day, your business has a choice. It may not be an easy one, but it’s a choice nonetheless. It can either adapt, hustle, act with purpose and move forward with the times, or it can struggle more with each passing year. When approached thoughtfully and strategically, these perceived regulatory challenges can be turned into unique opportunities for growth and differentiation.

Next Steps:

Now that California has once again raised the bar in its relentless pursuit of a carbon neutral economy, it’s time for your business to take action. We live in a world that is constantly changing, our state is progressing faster than most and our businesses must continually evolve to keep pace.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to get started on your sustainability journey, then now is the time to act. Progressive businesses seeking to thrive in our low carbon economy simply do not have the luxury of waiting.

However, if you’re too busy, or aren’t sure where to start but recognize this unparalleled opportunity, we can help. Valley to Summit (VTS) has created a seven-step process to help with sustainability program creation and implementation.

At the end of the day, we believe that embracing these changes will ultimately benefit us all, and we are excited to help businesses make their tactical transition to a more sustainable and profitable model.