Meeting the challenges of climate change and a global transition towards a sustainable economy is such a monumental task that it requires the suitable governance structures that are able to channel corporate and other resources toward sustainability. This post covers some of the issues in this important subject including carbon lock-in, shorthand for the “interlocking technological, institutional and social forces…that perpetuate fossil fuel-based infrastructures in spite of their known environmental externalities”. It suggests a four pronged approach combining regulatory requirements, economic incentives for sustainability, public pressures, and finally to restructure the foundations of corporate governance to serve multiple stakeholders.
In this post, Elaine describes the new Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) 3.1 guidelines covering the new GRI Technical Protocol. The 3.1 guidelines are a stepping stone to the big promise of G4 in 2013 and address just three specific aspects of the current G3 framework relating to: community impacts, human rights and gender equality. The post then goes into more detailed commentary and explanation on each of these three issues.
NetImpact and The Center for Corporate Citizenship are offering a free guide entitled Corporate Careers That Make a Difference provides a practical framework for career development in sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
Building a green data center is a challenging undertaking; it is also one that is poorly understood and that can fail in many ways. This post goes into some of the deeper level goals that need to be kept in focus if the project is going to be a success.
In this post guest author Bob Faulhaber does a little bit of self examination, using his own personal life to illustrate the many ways and the many habits we may have that might make us considerably less green than we would like to think we are. He takes stock of how he lives; in what kind of house; his work; his car; his kids and his personal habits.
In this post Elaine gives her take on the latest slew of industry sector sustainability reports increasingly being published by various industry associations, ranging from cattle growers to consumer electronic and every where in between. She notes that they tend to be oriented towards good news marketing oriented material, but they can give you a good overview of the issues in a particular sector.
This post highlights how facilities management is an important, if often unsung part of so many businesses… any businesses with facilities, in fact. Sustainable facilities management is an area that can have a profound and near term impact on overall business sustainability. Very large potential energy savings and hence carbon footprint reduction could be realized in facilities management areas such as HVAC or lighting for example; the embodied energy of facilities — their materials and recurring requirements; how runoff is handled and so forth all are areas in which sustainable facilities management can really impact the triple bottom line in a positive way.
Summary of a talk given by Frances Edmonds, Director of Environmental Programs, HP Canada in which she outlined how HP’s environmental commitment has led to greater profitability. In this talk she uses various examples of how successful sustainability efforts can be win win propositions that are good for the environment and also good for the company’s bottom line.
What kind of jobs are available in sustainability, what kind of education and experience are required, will sustainability persist or will it fade away? Such questions lead one to ask what is sustainability? Multiple people have multiple definitions depending on their unique take on it. The triple bottom line is emerging as a defining conceptual explanation for what sustainability means, but widespread understanding of what this means remains somewhat shallow. This post suggests some of the expertise aspiring sustainability professionals should have.
