During the first week of September, my colleague John Purkis and I had the privilege of leading a sustainability capacity building program in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).  This proved an excellent forum to apply the Natural Step Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (the Framework), as in a small island setting, sustainability challenges are both stark and very present; where does your waste go on a small island?  This, combined with a small country population of 27 800, makes for both a clear and compelling challenge in a society where decision-makers are active participants in the community and available to converse with citizens.  The size and scale of the islands makes change seem ‘doable,’ and while John and I were there, many people commented that ‘the BVI is a microcosm of the world.’

This week, two of our partners won awards honouring their contribution to the sustainability movement. Reza Nasseri of The Landmark Group of Builders and Barbara Turley-McIntyre of The Co-operators were both recipients of this year’s Clean50 Awards.

The Clean50 Awards celebrate individuals and small teams who have made great contribution to sustainable development or clean capitalism in Canada. Sixteen categories, ranging from advocacy, cities, consultants and retail (to name only a few) are included, and there is an additional award for the Clean16 – those sixteen individuals deemed to have had the most impact in each of the sixteen categories. We are incredibly proud that individuals belonging to two of our long-term partnerships have been recognized for their leadership and sustainability efforts.

Calling all those who care about sustainability!! Strat Leade is doing its annual fundraising drive to raise scholarship money for the BTH Masters in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability. Please join me in making a contribution. 

Why I donate to Strat Leade:

1. Because Strat Leade raises scholarship money to send students who otherwise couldn't afford tuition to attend the Masters in Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability program at BTH in Karlskrona.

2. Because the MSLS program is turning out the most competent generation of change agents capable of accelerating the shift to a sustainable society and that's a good thing not only for the work I do, but for my sons' future.

3. Because having MSLS graduates in new parts of the world (last year's scholarship went to Oliver Mazimpaka from Rwanda) is a great investment.

4. Because as a community, we can achieve collective impact by each doing a little bit. This is a great endeavour worthy of our collective support.

In May of 2012, hallmark company Nike published its Sustainable Business Report for 2010/11, demonstrating that it is increasingly reaping the benefits of integrating sustainability into its core business through a world-class vision and strategy.

Nike has contextualized all of its sustainability efforts relative to a bold, aspirational vision:

"Our vision is to build a sustainable business and create value for Nike and our stakeholders by decoupling profitable growth from constrained resources."

The Opportunity

Aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) wanted to explore how building on existing sustainability initiatives, toward a proactive approach to sustainability, could help capture additional market share and drive innovation for the company.

The Response

In early 2011, Pratt & Whitney Canada engaged with The Natural Step Canada to undertake an organizational review, create a vision and goals for the organization and develop a sustainability roadmap to guide their progress toward minimizing their environmental impact while capturing value for the organization.

The Natural Step International (TNSI) has two big pieces of news to share with you!

1. After several years of transition and review, TNSI is pleased to announce the emergence of a new strategic direction and the solid beginnings of a new strategic plan. These answer Göran Carstedt’s question, “What is The Natural Step good for?” and turn our gaze firmly outwards, re-focusing our attention on doing all we can to accelerate change in society towards sustainability. To this end, we plan to focus our efforts in the coming years in three main ways: first, by supporting the broadest possible dissemination of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD), which is in the public domain and free for all to use; second, by partnering with others to support the co-creation of a vibrant, inclusive, networked community of practice around the FSSD (one that is open to all, and places FSSD practice in service of the world’s need at the center, rather than placing TNS at the center); and third, by growing TNS’s capacity so that we can act as more powerful change agents for the broader good. A living, evolving draft of the strategic plan can be viewed on The Natural Step website.

What makes a transformational or sustainable company?  Versions of this question seem to be on a lot of people’s minds – from a recent call for feedback on this topic by Canadian Business for Social Responsibility to an article asking similar questions in last week’s CSRwire. The growing number of efforts to articulate an overarching vision for sustainable enterprises surely arises from our sense that despite our collective best efforts in recent years and the real progress being made, the sustainable business movement is still not affecting systemic change toward sustainability as fast as we would like it to.

Sustainability author and Natural Step Canada Board member Bob Willard has phrased the question another way - “how would we know a sustainable enterprise if we saw one?”

My experience tells me that this is a question worth asking, because the companies that capture the most value from their sustainability efforts – the truly transformational companies – are extremely clear about what they are transforming towards.

Wednesday, August 22nd was "Earth Overshoot Day", the date on which humanity exceeded the bio-capacity of our planet for the entire year of 2012. In essence, we have now utilized all of the resources that our planet can provide in a calendar year in a sustainable scenario, and for the remainder of 2012, we will continue to deplete the planet's ability to provide the resources we require to sustain our society in the future.

The concept of Earth Overshoot Day was developed by Global Footprint Network and the new economics foundation as a way to express the increasing stress placed on the natural environment by human activity. In the 1970s, humanity's consumption of natural resources began to overstep what the planet could replenish. In 1992, Earth Overshoot Day fell on October 21. In 2002, it was October 3. Not only is the trend moving in the wrong direction, but it is accelerating.

The Opportunity

Morguard, one of Canada’s largest integrated real estate companies, recognized the value of integrating sustainability into their operations for not only the social and ecological benefits but for the economic advantage gained through differentiating themselves amongst their competitors.

The Response

To integrate sustainability into their every-day practices, Morguard devised four phases of action:

The Opportunity

Based in Edmonton, the Landmark Group of Builders initiated ‘green building’ programs in 2006, but quickly realized that a strategic business advantage existed in scaling its sustainability efforts up to an organizational level and establishing themselves as the sustainability leaders in their sector.