Making $ense of Sustainability
Wellington
6th August 2010
New Thinking
“The volume of education…
continues to increase, yet so do
pollution, exhaustion of
resources, and the dangers of
ecological catastrophe. If still
more education is to save us, it
would have to be education of a
different kind: an education that
takes us into the depth of things.”
E.F. Schumacher
Our Vision is of a sustainable human society.
Our Core Purpose is to develop a genuine commitment
to, and competence in, sustainable development
throughout society.
What’s different about The Natural Step?
Strategic focus – systems approach
Scientific foundation
Develop learning organisations
The Natural Step
"It was not until at least ten years later, we understood
how much money Electrolux had saved and earned from
applying the TNS Framework to foresee changes on
markets and legislation".
Leif Johansson, CEO Volvo and former CEO Electrolux
“… start at the other end. Start by defining completely sustainable
products rather than trying to improve the existing, flawed one.”
Nigel Stansfield, Innovation Director, Interfaceflor
Sustainable development
Development which meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs
Our Common Future
(Bruntland Report), 1987
A dynamic process which enables all people
to realise their potential and improve their
quality of life in ways which simultaneously
protect and enhance the Earth’s support
systems
Forum for the Future (UK)
Global ecological footprint
Adapted from Global Footprint Network http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/
Defining sustainability
SOCIETY
bearable
equitable
Sustainable
ENVIRONMENT
ECONOMY
viable
Environment
Society
Economy
Used under creative commons licence
What do you think are the
main sustainability issues?
The Great Squeeze
600
Projected Concentration After 50 More Years of Unrestricted
Fossil Fuel Burning
500
400
CO2 [ppmv]
300
280
260
240
220
200
180
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
Age (years Before Present)
100,000
CO2
Concentration
Today’s CO2 Concentration
70% of crude oil is refined into transportation energy
98% of transportation energy comes from oil
Products / services
Resources / materials
6%
product
94% of all materials
involved in production
process = waste before
the product is sold
Source: Robert Ayres, Industrial Metabolism
1.2% of total
materials used after
6 weeks remain as
useful product
Time until 1 % remains
Recycling rate
50%
75%
90%
99%
Beverage can,
three weeks
duration
5 months
11 months
31 months
27 years
Car chassis,
fifteen years
duration
100 years
650 years
6900 years
©
240 years
Ref. Factor X concept from a Sustainability Perspecitive, Holmberg & Carlsson, 1999.
Chris Jordan 2009 ©
9 Planetary Boundaries
1. Climate change (105%)
2. Interference with Global
100 % = max safe limit
– Nitrogen Cycle (200%)
Red indicates limit exceeded
TBD = To Be Determined
– Phosphorus Cycle (90%)
3. Stratospheric Ozone Depletion (100%)
4. Atmospheric Aerosol Loading (TBD)
5. Chemical Pollution (TBD)
6. Ocean Acidification (98%)
7. Global Fresh Water use (60%)
8. Land System change (75%)
9. Rate of Biodiversity Loss (200%)
Source: Dr Johan Rockström, Stockholm Environment Institute and an international group of experts
Social inequity
“Declining ecosystems and increasing pollution tend
to correlate with the erosion of our spiritual and nonmaterial well-being, in developing and developed
countries alike. Growing social stresses are all too
often taken as the norm today.”
Senge – The Necessary Revolution 2008
From 1980 to 2000 the share of global income for
world’s poorest 25% fell from 2.5% to 1.2%
Source: World Bank
We are here
© 2010 The Natural Step
• Availability of natural resources for
productive use
• Availability of natural systems for
productive purposes and enjoyment
• Demand for finite natural resources
• Government intervention / regulation / taxes
• Consumer pressure for change
• Lifestyle aspirations globally
• Costs (resources, waste, insurance etc)
Copyright © The Natural Step
• Poverty and inequality
• Breakdown of trust
What are the main issues
that present risks or
opportunities for your
organisation?
BP – comic relief
Vision/Outcome
Strategies
Evaluate
Actions
Metrics/Tools
Ecological reality
Principles of
sustainable business
Vision/Outcome
Strategies
Evaluate
Actions
Metrics/ Tools
Accumulating
concentrations of
substances taken from
the Earth’s crust
Accumulating
concentrations of
persistent substances
that do not easily
break down in nature
4 basic disruptions to natural cycles
Destruction of and
damage to natural
systems
Copyright © The Natural Step
Creating barriers to
people meeting
their basic needs
worldwide
Adapted from Planning for Sustainability – TNS Canada
Ray Anderson on The Natural Step
What is sustainable?
1. We only take what
nature replaces.
2. We make only what
nature can process.
3. We avoid breaking
nature’s systems.
4. We ensure that globally
people are able to meet
their basic needs.
Sustainability objectives
WHAT WE TAKE
Continually reduce and eliminate our dependence on mined metals, minerals
and fossil fuels - extract less, reuse, recycle, use renewable resources
WHAT WE MAKE
Continually reduce and eliminate our use of manufactured non-degradable
chemicals and substances - use natural alternatives and recyclable materials
WHAT WE DESTROY
Continually reduce and eliminate our dependence on activities that cause
physical encroachment upon the natural environment - draw resources from
sustainably managed eco-systems, restore nature, protect biodiversity
HOW WE SHARE
Ensure that people everywhere are treated fairly and with respect to enable
them to meet their needs efficiently – look after people, share resources fairly
Adapted from The Natural Step Framework 4 System Conditions
What do people need?
© 2009 The Natural Step
Successful planning
A
Awareness and understanding
B
Baseline / Benchmark
C
Compelling vision / creative solutions
D
Down to action
Successful planning
A
Awareness and understanding
B
Baseline / Benchmark
C
Compelling vision / creative solutions
D
Down to action
What do we deliver?
What do we depend on?
Earlier stages in
the supplier chain
Products
Energy
Services
Water
Transport
Land, Building, Equipment
Investment
People
What is left?
Waste
By-products
Copyright © The Natural Step
Use of
product/service
Your business system
• What raw materials do you use and where do they come from?
• What other materials and substances are used?
• Energy use – electricity, gas, petrol, diesel, other – and what for?
• Water – how much and what for?
• Transport – how many vehicles and what for?
• Emissions – what are your other liquid / gas by-products?
• Waste – hazardous, landfill, recycling - what waste and from where?
• Labour practices – impacts of your business on people – employees,
supply chain employees, local communities?
• Community – Are you a valued and beneficial corporate citizen? How do
you help people meet their needs?
Fossil fuels / other mined
materials
Synthetic substances and
chemicals
(oil, petrol, gas, minerals, heavy metals)
(pesticides, insecticides, chemical
cleaners, plastics, preservatives)
Physical impacts on nature
and natural systems
Meeting people’s needs
(food, trees, water, air, soil, landfill
waste)
© 2010 The Natural Step
(working conditions, job satisfaction,
creativity, health)
What are the significant
impacts; future risks and
opportunities?
What can you build on?
What initiatives and processes are already in
place?
•
•
•
•
Waste
Energy
Water
Purchasing
•
•
•
•
Employees
Customers
Leadership
Policies and plans
Successful planning
A
Awareness and understanding
B
Baseline / Benchmark
C
Compelling vision / creative solutions
D
Down to action
Ray Anderson - Vision
Back-casting
The Natural Step to planning for success!
Future
Present
1. Begin with the end in mind
2. Plan backwards from the vision to the present
3. Move step by step towards the vision
© 2010 The Natural Step
Interface: Vision
“To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire
industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions:
People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and
in doing so we will become restorative through the power of
influence.”
InterfaceFLOR – Commitments
Source: http://www.interfacesustainability.com
1. Eliminate Waste: Eliminating all forms of waste
in every area of business
2. Benign Emissions: Eliminating toxic substances
from products, vehicles and facilities
3. Renewable Energy: Operating facilities with
renewable energy sources – solar, wind, landfill
gas, biomass and low impact hydroelectric
4. Closing the Loop: Redesigning processes and
products to close the technical loop using
recovered and bio-based materials
5. Resource-Efficient Transportation: Transporting
people and products efficiently to reduce waste
and emissions
6. Care for people: Creating a culture that
integrates sustainability principles and improves
people’s lives and livelihoods
7. Redesign Commerce: Creating a new business
model that demonstrates and supports the value
of sustainability-based commerce
By 2020, DNV will be one of the most sustainable
communities in the world. This in part will be
achieved through a leadership role assumed by the
municipal government in its own operations. As an
organisation, the immediate challenge before the
district is to demonstrate how sustainability can be
implemented considering these values:
Developing a vision
What would the characteristics of your
organisation be if its operations and policies
were fully aligned with the four sustainability
principles?
Developing a vision
1.
Make a list of your key stakeholders
(employees, customers, suppliers etc)
2. Choose the 3 or 4 most important
3. What would each stakeholder group be
saying about you as a sustainable
organisation?
Strategic goals
List the high-level strategic
goals that your organisation
needs to achieve to be a
sustainable organisation
Whistler
Benefits of new natural gas supply proposal - C$42m
•
•
•
•
Secure supply of energy
Meet all forecasted energy demands
Cleaner – natural gas = 15% lower GHG emissions than LPG
Pay for itself within 50 years (assuming all new energy loads will
use natural gas)
• Natural gas supply required to avoid need for diesel generators
during Olympics
• Cost savings by laying pipe in conjunction with road upgrade
• No current energy alternatives - several renewable energy
heating systems under investigation – and geothermal is
technically feasible
Whistler’s energy vision
Copyright © The Natural Step Canada
Forecasted Growth and Natural Gas Supply
Heating
Cooking
Fireplaces
Transportation
© The Natural Step
Backcasted from Sustainability…
Today
Heating
Electric/Propane
Cooking
Fireplaces
Electric/Propane
Transportation
© The Natural Step
Propane
Gasoline
Diesel
Transition
District Energy,
N.Gas /GSHP
Natural Gas
Bio Gas
Gasoline,
Natural Gas
Biofuel,
Hybrids
Sustainable
Future
GSHP
Biofuels
Fuel cells
Other?
Bio gas
Wood
Biofuel
Fuel cells
Hydrogen
Other?
Adapted from Terasen Inc.
Olympic Village
Was: 100% Natural Gas
Now: 100% Renewables
© The Natural Step
© The Natural Step
For each of your strategic
goals, identify one or two key
milestones that must be
achieved along the journey
Fleet
Right size; reduce trips; alternative fuels
Waste
management
Less paper; composting; expand recycling
Purchasing
More investigation; better protocols
Building and
properties
Ambitious minimum standards; reduce water usage
Alternative energy Pilot on-site alternative energy for council equipment
and facilities; pilot large scale projects
Employee health
and well-being
Incentivise health and safety culture; support learning
on sustainability; support commuting alternatives
Strategic planning
Connect sustainability with everyday operations; act as
ambassador and support education
Guiding principles
For each of your strategic
goals, develop an action plan
of next steps that work
towards achieving the
milestones you’ve identified
Guiding principles



Easy wins first
Reduce waste
Identify financial benefits
Ray Anderson - waste
Guiding principles
 Back-cast from the ideal
solution, and work out the
next step towards achieving
that goal
What are your priorities?
• Biggest expenses?
• Most significant purchases?
• Where can you be more efficient?
• What can you do without – through efficiencies or redesign?
• What different materials, products, substances might you
use?
• What are your biggest risks and greatest opportunities?
• Where do you want to get to as an organisation?
• What are your values?
For each of your strategic
goals, identify what you need
to measure to know how
close you are to achieving the
goal
Developing a business case
Business case – the Benefit$
• Increase turnover - more customers, better offer
• Improve margins / reduce costs
– More efficient use of resources (materials / energy)
– Increase staff productivity and better retention
• Reduce risk
– Regulatory / compliance
– Reputation and customer perception
• Develop enduring competitive advantages
• Avoid tax – regulatory risks
• Attract the best staff
Getting started
Form a team
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Who should be at the table?
Who are the ideal people?
Include a cross-section of the organisation
Diverse skills
Influencers
Sceptics
Ensure time is budgeted
Governance and decision-making
• Is there a shared understanding of sustainability that can be
integrated into long-term goals?
• Is sustainability a strategic priority?
• Is there credible leadership and commitment on the issue?
• Organisation-wide sustainability analysis?
• Project based sustainability analysis?
• Training programmes?
• Ongoing internal communication?
• Policies and procedures?
• Connected to / communicated with external stakeholders?
• Sustainability progress reporting?
Poutama 2 - overview
• Quick re-cap of TNS framework
• How to drive sustainability initiatives
– Developing the in-house team
– Supporting structures
• Identifying the right initiatives
• Developing a persuasive business case
– Gaining permission and support
– Measuring success
Further resources
• Case studies – www.thenaturalstep.org
• Planning guides (available free on the website)
• Benchmarking tools
– PROBE for Sustainable Businesses
• Life-cycle Assessment tools
• E-learning
For more information contact Simon Harvey –
natstep@naturalstep.org.nz
The Natural Step approach is based on 20 years
of scientific research and applied experience.
TNS works with some of the world’s largest
companies and a growing number of local and
national government organisations.
For further info contact Simon Harvey
natstep@naturalstep.org.nz