Wednesday 24 September 2008
Sustainability - What’s in a Name?
Pop Quiz: If you’re a business owner or senior executive, spot the difference between these two phone calls: “Hi, I’m Bob, an Environmental Consultant and I’d like to come out and chat with you” “Hi, I’m Bill, a Sustainability Consultant and I’d like to come out and chat with you” Notice any difference? Chances are you’re expecting the discussions to be similar, if not identical. How can that be so? Many in the environmental movement (activists, scientists and engineers) have successfully used the term “sustainability” so that people think environment equals sustainability. The rise of the term has provided a new, freshly painted vehicle with which to convince, and sometimes even shame or scare, business into lifting its environmental performance (or at least to buy its products and services). Unfortunately, this has been highly successful in convincing the business community that sustainability does indeed equal environment, which is incorrect. If I’m planning to be in business for six months only to extract as much money as I can, then I’m probably going to care less about the environment, my employees, the community, my reputation, my credit rating, future customer needs, legal compliance and governance. A business that wants to stay in business has to operate differently and this is where sustainability starts to be useful. Sustainability is simply about longevity and being able to do something indefinitely. Most businesses want to be around for the long-term but are managed and assessed primarily in the short-term. This organisational myopia can cause significant problems for a business as short term results can often look good while the business is in long-term decline. The decline may only become apparent when it is too late to act. It is common for a business to simply not see the end coming. Sustainability integrates a wider and longer view of a business’s performance into its current practices. A business that wants to stay in business has good environmental and social performance by design. It does not necessarily have to cost any more money. What’s required is a bigger and longer term perspective and a way of integrating that into your culture and processes. It is time for “sustainability” to be reclaimed by the business community as a better way of doing business.
Paul Hodgson
Managing Director - Sustainnovation
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