Sustainability Matters

Sustainability Means Zero Waste

The ultimate sustainability goal is zero impact on the environment through integration with and respect for the natural environment. In the zero waste business model, every resource used in the creation and delivery of a product or service is renewable and completely recyclable. In the zero waste lifestyle, consumers look for products and services that save money, that are healthier, and that are better for the environment.

The chart below helps clarify the challenge of achieving sustainability through achieving zero waste.

Current Production Methods are not Sustainable

Unfortunately, our current production methods and life-styles are not sustainable. We power our lives with non-renewable natural resources like coal and oil, destroy biodiversity as our cities expand into natural areas, and generate harmful waste from sites like Chernobyl, the BP Oil Spill, and the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island that can be seen from the moon.

The strains our current production methods place on the environment are only expected to increase as world population increases by 50% between now and 2050, and the standard of living continues to advance in developing countries.
This worldwide growth in resource consumption creates a serious risk for ecosystem collapse, massive extinctions, fierce competition—and even wars—for limited resources, and a reduced standard of living for everyone.

Important Questions to Ask Your Organization

In order to identify these opportunities, every manager, researcher, and employee should ask themselves the following key questions:

• Where can we remove material content from our products?
• Where can our waste products be added to other processes?
• How does the product price compare to the lifecycle cost of the product (manufacture and development, sale, operation, and disposal at the end of its life)?
• What harmful or potentially harmful chemicals can we eliminate from our products or services?

Other Organizations Worth Noting

Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) – Launched in 1999, the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes are the first global indexes tracking the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide. Based on the cooperation of Dow Jones Indexes and SAM they provide asset managers with reliable and objective benchmarks to manage sustainability portfolios.

The Carbon Disclosure Project – The Carbon Disclosure Project,, representing 300 large institutional investors worldwide and more than $41 trillion in funds under management, investigates the emissions strategies of companies.  This is one example of investor pressure for sustainability creating different costs of capital depending on a company’s level of emissions.

The Forest Stewardship Council – The FSC sets international standards for responsible forest management.  Over the past 13 years more than 90 million hectares in more than 70 countries have been certified according to its standards.

The Electronic Industry Code of Conduct – This code has been adopted and implemented by the world’s leading electronics brands and their suppliers.

The Business Social Compliance Initiative – A broad business-driven platform for the improvement of social compliance in all supplier countries and for all consumer goods with a membership comprising more than 80 companies.

The Suppliers Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) – A web-based system for companies to maintain data on labor practices at production sites, supported by a group of UK retailers and suppliers including Geest, Marks & Spencer, Northern Foods, RHM, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Uniq and Waitrose. SEDEX covers 13,000 suppliers and is adding 500 each month.

California Climate Action Registry – The California Climate Action Registry is a program of the Climate Action Reserve and serves as a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry to protect and promote early actions to reduce GHG emissions by organizations. The California Registry has provided leadership on climate change by developing and promoting credible, accurate, and consistent GHG reporting standards and tools for organizations to measure, monitor, third-party verify and reduce their GHG emissions consistently across industry sectors and geographical borders.

The Climate Registry (TCR) – THE CLIMATE REGISTRY is a nonprofit collaboration among North American states, provinces, territories and Native Sovereign Nations that sets consistent and transparent standards to calculate, verify and publicly report greenhouse gas emissions into a single registry.

Western Climate Initiative – The WCI is a collaboration of independent jurisdictions working together to identify, evaluate, and implement policies to tackle climate change at a regional level. This is a comprehensive effort to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, spur investment in clean-energy technologies that create green jobs and reduce dependence on imported oil.

Thousands of people from a variety of backgrounds contribute to the corporate social responsibility efforts of their organization and call themselves a “sustainability professional.”

While the field has been enriched and informed by the diversity of expertise these people bring, it has also created inconsistency in practice and definition. In order for the field and its professionals to be taken seriously and be granted due credibility, there needs to be some definition and standardization of the competencies employers and seekers of consultants can come to expect.