Unfortunately, that applies to quite a few of us – especially to those of us born between the Second World War and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Whether we like it or not, conspicuous consumption was embedded in our lives. We were raised in an era of abundance. Progress was signified by economic growth as measured by the GDP. Financial metrics ruled. ROI was measured by the single bottom line of profit.

That translated into disposable lifestyles with the latest toys and fashions, two-car garages and international travel. Now we are challenged to adjust to a new triple-bottom-line paradigm; one where ROI considers the cost of our lifestyles to the planet and to quality of life, not just at home but in countries far away. How do we reconfigure ourselves to live within the capacity of our shrinking planet? How do we embed sustainability into our lives?

The same dilemma applies to business.

As environmental constraints and social inequities increase with the growing population and globalization of our world, organizations are challenged to develop new business models. They seek to address these social and environmental risks and threats – and to capitalize on the opportunities they present. Many of the companies I work with – including sustainability and CSR leaders in their industries – are working to embed their social and environmental policies and commitments into their business operations. This typically involves re-engineering the way they do daily business, the way they identify and manage risks, and the way they plan for the long term.

Awareness of the need for change now infiltrates the highest echelons of organizations. Many companies now see the strategic advantage of developing a CSR or sustainability agenda. For instance, the Chief Financial Officer is predicted to be the future champion of sustainability.

But the path forward is not always clear. What are the implications for purchasing, for HR managers, for planners, product development, sales and operations? Whether in the C-suite or on the shop floor, what are the new role expectations? This lack of certainty creates inertia in some, while for others it is the innovation frontier. With a proven CSR business case – it is now up to managers to capitalize on the opportunities ahead.

I find that organizations now look for tools and guidance to advance this agenda to embed sustainability. They want tools that address the role of the board, strategy, accountability and performance management systems, stakeholder engagement, and finally, monitoring and reporting. Some turn to the ISO standards such as 14001 or 26000 for guidance, or to the Global Reporting Initiative for an ESG framework, methodology and metrics. Some may look to their industry associations for support in developing an industry protocol for good sustainability practice. And others turn to ENGOs, or other non-governmental organizations, for insights into good social and environmental performance management.

This need for guidance is why Credit Union Central of Canada asked me to develop a practical approach for member credit unions to embed CSR or sustainability factors from their boards to their branches. This tool, “Governance and Management for Credit Union Social Responsibility” is generally applicable to most sectors, so if you are looking for some help in this area, you might want to check it out. A companion document, “CSR Governance Guidelines”, which I co-produced with Canadian Business for Social Responsibility, is very useful if your board of directors is grappling with these issues, as many are starting to do now that CSR has become a business issue.

So, as we face these issues in both our business and our personal lives, let’s hope that we all make the shift, sooner than later, to conspicuous non-consumption.

For businesses, the steps are not much different. But you might be surprised by the breadth and scope of the goals and commitments some large companies are publicly setting for themselves. Recently I tracked a new trend where large companies set bold and visionary game-changing targets. (See my list of companies below.)

For the most part, these companies are based in Europe in the food and retail sectors. They have set short-term and long-term targets. They have developed holistic, all-encompassing plans. They have used stakeholder input to help identify their key sustainability impacts and opportunities. They have committed to act beyond their own operations, and the foreseeable future, to become world-class sustainability leaders in their region and sector. They recognize they don’t have all the answers and that solutions may not exist yet. They have extensive plans to engage their supply chain (including downstream actors) in their sustainability efforts. They talk about decoupling growth from their impacts. They hope to not only reduce their environmental footprint, but to restore biodiversity, natural resources and habitats and to tackle world poverty. For the most part their targets are measurable, time-bound and cover the full range of social, environmental and economic impacts. To me, these are game-changing resolutions!

Usually introduced by the CEO, the plans cover the following common impact areas:

• Environment: Carbon, energy, waste, packaging and water (including impacts from their own operations and those of customers and suppliers); toxins and green building standards.
• Employees: Safety, health and wellness and retention; sustainability awareness and engagement; and hiring locally disadvantaged.
• Products: A range of topics including local, fair trade and third-party certifications.
• Community: Involvement, job creation and poverty eradication.

Other notable targets and commitments are:

• Raise customer awareness regarding sustainability issues and create opportunities to help customers make a difference.
• Influence their industry and advance a sustainability culture within their operations.
• Campaign and advocate on sustainability issues.
• Address young people’s issues, customer accessibility and co-operative development.

And speaking of co-operatives, you may recall that one of my clients, The Co-operators, was recognized as the top corporate citizen in Canada by Corporate Knights last June. As well, last year the board approved a number of measurable four-year targets for their sustainability strategy. They set targets in the areas of employees and agents, operations, clients and products, governance, investments, advocacy and their relationships. Their 2011 sustainability report, to be released in May, will have more details. Stay tuned.

The list of the companies I’ve been tracking follows. A good New Year’s resolution would be to keep an eye on their progress as you chart your own.

Here’s to a game-changing 2012!

Coro

Marks & Spencer Plan A 180 commitments
Unilever Sustainable Living Plan 50 targets
Sainsbury’s 20 by 20 Sustainability Plan 20 targets
Coca-Cola Enterprises Our Sustainability Plan 17 targets
The Co-operative Group Ethical Operating Plan 47 targets
Cascades Sustainable Development Plan 18 targets

Consider Unilever, which has committed to sourcing 100% of its agricultural raw materials sustainably by 2020, or Marks & Spencer’s Plan A commitment that encourages factories to achieve at least 20% energy reduction by 2015, and the 59 members of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition committed to improving the social and environmental performance of their supply chains. As reported in my September newsletter, the Greater London Authority group of public sector organizations is working to embed responsible procurement across its spend of more than £3.4bn a year on goods and services essential to London.

Ethical Corporation surveyed ethical sourcing leaders in 2010 and found that, over the past decade, sustainable supply chain management has brought the rule of law to tens of thousands of factories, ensured payment of minimum legal wages and helped workers recover millions of dollars in unpaid wages. And that is just on the ethical sourcing side. It doesn’t count environmental procurement or social purchasing (e.g. buying from social enterprises or minority-owned firms).

Organizations find that through sustainable purchasing, risks can be better anticipated and managed, costs can be reduced, efficiency enhanced, brand value can be protected and innovation catalyzed.

Sustainable purchasing is an essential tool for acting on a CSR or sustainability commitment and for creating a sustainability tipping point. I have recently worked on a number of tools and guides on sustainable purchasing, including a “how-to” guide I developed for Credit Union Central of Canada. This guide includes a definition, business case and benefits of responsible purchasing. It also includes components and steps for a sustainable procurement program.

I have also pulled together a list of “critical success factors for sustainable purchasing”. It includes the need to have an organizational commitment and a sustainable purchasing policy.

Organizations find it difficult to measure and report on their sustainable purchasing progress. If that’s your experience, have a look at this high level scan of the approaches 11 organizations took to sustainable purchasing metrics and targets. Approaches vary widely, depending on the priorities of the organization. Metrics include volume of spending with minority suppliers, inner-city businesses, or local suppliers; volume of spending on contracts with sustainable purchasing requirements; and number of suppliers which have signed, received or acknowledged a Code of Conduct that sets a minimum sustainability standard.

It’s still the “wild west” out there in terms of measuring and reporting on sustainable purchasing performance. To help reporters, the Global Reporting Initiative is developing guidelines to improve the quality of supply chain performance disclosure.

For those of you in Vancouver just starting out on your sustainable purchasing path, I will facilitate an introduction to sustainable purchasing workshop for the Fraser Basin Council’s BuySmart Network, on February 24 from 9 – 12. I hope to see you there.

Download (963 kb PDF)

View at Canadian Credit Union Social Responsibility

Read PDF at BuySmartBC.com

Download (65 kb PDF)

I recently facilitated a lively discussion among green economy experts. We talked about how public policy can advance a green economy agenda.

One realization in the discussion was that as social and environmental issues have more influence on corporate performance, chief financial officers will become more responsible for advancing corporate sustainability. When sustainability moves into the CFO office, governments are likely to pay more attention.

The group also identified procurement and investment as two powerful drivers of corporate sustainability. And they noted that these are areas where government can play a role. For instance, the Greater London Authority (GLA) group of public sector organisations is working to embed responsible procurement across its spend of more than £3.4bn a year on goods and services essential to London.

These green economy experts saw the need to account for the role ecosystem services play in the economy. (Ecosystems provide services from which humans benefit. They include supporting services such as pollination and photosynthesis; provisioning services such as fresh water; cultural services such as recreation; and regulating services such as carbon storage and climate regulation.) They also identified the need to create incentives for closed-loop production and consumption.

As well, the group identified a need common to both political leaders and sustainability practitioners. They both need a public that cares about sustainability. And, to get there, they both need to tie environmental outcomes to social well-being. For example, elected officials mostly hear from constituents about social or economic issues like jobs or worker compensation coverage. Few constituents raise environmental issues as their top concern.

So, as our industries move to more sustainable business models, we need to identify the accompanying opportunities for quality-of-life improvements such as family-supporting jobs, cleaner air and more dependable water resources.

Brazil Anyone?
TheRio + 20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development takes place in Brazil next June. One of the two themes focuses on a green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication. That’s one to watch.

Let’s all help create the shift. Let’s get out of red and nurture the green.

Download (830 kb PDF)

It’s true that I host the occasional dance party. But I also have the educational credentials to back me up — Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Social Work from the University of British Columbia.

In fact, I have committed my career to a form of “social work”, to system change and to improving conditions for people and communities.

In the first part of my career I worked on social service delivery by government and non-profits in such areas as affordable housing, job creation, and community, child and family development.

Then, as a consultant, I began to focus on how corporations could contribute to social sustainability and how to harvest the power of the market to contribute to community well-being.

In the early days I found most of the demand was for environmental strategy, particularly climate change. At that time, many organizations didn’t quite “get” social sustainability. But now as environmental considerations are becoming more commonplace (thank goodness), organizations are beginning to tackle social sustainability.

That’s why I was pleased to work with project lead, Susan Todd, of Solstice Sustainability Works, to provide advice, facilitation and strategic support to the City of Burnaby for the development of their Social Sustainability Strategy. The Strategy was approved by City Council in July 2011.

This project offers many lessons to other public- or private-sector initiatives that focus on social sustainability. For instance, these are Burnaby’s goals:

• community inclusion
•  community livability
•  community resilience

The city’s strategic priorities include:

•  meeting basic needs
•  celebrating diversity and culture
•  getting involved
•  learning for life
•  enhancing neighbourhoods
•  getting around
•  protecting our community

These goals and priorities could apply to many communities and be relevant to many corporations that are interested in contributing to the quality of community life.

These are some of the strategy’s initiatives that particularly intrigue me:

•  Support an adequate wage standard for City staff and contractors. If deemed feasible work with the Burnaby Board of Trade to investigate how such a standard might be advanced among other employers.
•  Consider on-going mandatory diversity training for all City staff. Consider opening opportunities to others, as appropriate. Consider becoming a “disability confident” organization which understands how disability affects all aspects of the City’s operations, creates a culture of inclusion and removes barriers for people with visible and invisible disabilities, makes adjustments to enable individuals to contribute and participate as employees, patrons and suppliers.
•  Review the range of opportunities for engaging community members in local environmental stewardship.
•  Consider researching emergent thinking and existing models about how to foster robust community engagement and participation.

I could go on, but basically many of the initiatives included in Burnaby’s social strategy could be adopted and implemented by a private-sector organization – better yet, in partnership with a local or regional government.

Local governments and private businesses have much in common when it comes to social, economic and environmental sustainability. Burnaby’s Social Sustainability Strategy is worth a look.