Filed Under Project Profile

A Sustainability Vision for the Automotive Services Industry

Chas Martin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:03:22 -0400

Using The Natural Step Framework to Develop a Plan Toward Sustainability for Automotive Mechanical and Collision Repair Shops
Prepared for the Oregon DEQ

Project Overview

Automobiles have a significant impact on the environment. With the growing concern over global warming, the focus on this environmental impact will only get stronger.

In 1997 Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) began development of the Automotive Eco-Logical Business Program to encourage automobile services and collision repair shops to take extra voluntary steps in protecting the environment. There was a desire in 2000 to expand this program beyond Portland and to investigate the feasibility of enhancing the program by adding a perspective of environmental sustainability based on the Natural Step framework.

Participants from fifteen automotive shops and service organizations were invited to meet in a series of six two-hour meetings in Wilsonville to create a vision of what a fully sustainable automotive service operation might look like if it met the four system conditions of The Natural Step.

With interest in environmental sustainability growing faster in Oregon than most parts of the United States, Oregon has an opportunity to be a model and play a leadership role in the movement toward sustainability.

Download complete Project Summary:

A “Golden Standard” develops from collaboration in Dublin

Jennifer Reid — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:56:21 -0400

Caroline Nolan, Mary Ostafi and Mélina Planchenault

In January 2008, Dublin City Council (DCC) began working with RealEyes Sustainability Ltd. and The Natural Step to move toward strategic, organisational sustainability using The Natural Step Framework.

In November 2008, Dublin City Council kicked-off its new “Sustainable Dublin” effort with Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder of The Natural Step, providing inspiration through the keynote address. To date, the City of Dublin has already made significant strides with strategies to improve energy efficiency, waste management and protect biodiversity.

This past spring, Caroline Nolan, Mary Ostafi and Mélina Planchenault joined this collaboration as a thesis dissertation team from the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) program at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Karlskrona, Sweden. Their goal was to help the city envision an optimal planning and governance process, referred to as the “Golden Standard”, for achieving long-lasting cultural change from within the local authority. The “Golden Standard” acts as a process based on principles of success to lead local authorities through a transformational process while moving toward a sustainable vision. Backcasting from the ideal “Golden Standard” planning process, the team was able to analyse the current planning practices and generate key recommendations to help DCC move Dublin towards sustainability.

Feedback on the research results from Dublin City officials has been positive thus far:

“The City of Dublin was fortunate on two counts, firstly to have such competent ambassadors for The Natural Step who chose the Dublin City Development Plan as the practical focus for their master’s dissertation,” noted Dick Gleeson, DCC’s Lead City Planner, of the students’ work. “Secondly through a rigorous application of the Framework, the development of the Golden Standard establishes an inspirational and legible blueprint, which exploits the central role of a City Development Plan in forging a sustainable city.”

“In moving towards a sustainable Dublin we are committed to exploiting fully the platform provided by The Natural Step,” added Michael Stubbs, DCC’s Assistant City Manager. “The Catalytic City Development Plan dissertation is particularly timely and helpful in tackling the challenge of extending a set of principals into a strategic framework and implementation methodology.”

With more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas, city governments and planning agencies are a critically important part of addressing the world’s social, economic and environmental challenges. The “Golden Standard” offers a macro blueprint for planning in today’s complex urban systems. Caroline, Mary and Mélina hope that other cities will be able to benefit from the “Golden Standard” they developed through the DCC case study and happy to answer questions about their work.

To download the team’s full thesis, please click here.
To download the full Golden Standard table synthesis, please click here.

Accommodation and Real Estate Services, British Columbia, Canada

Kim Mackrael — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:47:52 -0500

Accommodation and Real Estate Services (ARES) provides accomodation and real estate services to government ministries and broader public sector clients in British Columbia. Its portfolio of 1.6 million square meters of space includes office and residential buildings, courthouses, correctional centers, and other special purpose facilities. Many ARES employees were already trained in the delivery of sustainable products, but the organization identified the need for a framework to help employees and clients make strategic decisions about sustainable accommodation options.

In 2008, staff members across 30 different departments completed The Natural Step’s award-winning eLearning course: Sustainability: Step by Natural Step and participated in facilitated dialogue sessions with The Natural Step sustainability advisors.

“Great learning took place [in the blended learning sessions]; now we want to see more follow through and integration,” explained John Berry, ARES’ Environmental Manager. “As more staff receive TNS training, we’ll be looking at how to help each department integrate sustainability into day to day work.”

Canada

Alcan: Clean solutions for today and tomorrow

Kirstin Piirtoniemi — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 11:15:05 -0500

(DISCLAIMER: The work portrayed in this document was undertaken with the former Alcan, prior to its acquisition by Rio Tinto in 2007. Rio Tinto Alcan remains committed to sustainable development. As such, the work begun with The Natural Step as described below was folded into larger efforts centrally directed by Rio Tinto in London, UK. The specific partnership between The Natural Step and the former Alcan’s Bauxite & Alumina division was halted in 2007 within the above-mentioned context.)

The Opportunity

Committed to sustainability and increasingly reliant on projects based in lesser-industrialized countries, Alcan’s Bauxite & Alumina (B&A) division saw an opportunity to develop a sustainability vision that brought social and environmental concerns even more into focus for the business.

The Response

In 2007, The Natural Step principles and process were put into action at Alcan’s B&A sites in the Pacific Region to help reduce risks and increase the company’s competitive advantage in alignment with their sustainability vision.

The Process

In 2007, The Natural Step Canada advisors Chad Park and Joe Herbertson held a workshop with the Alcan management team in Montreal, Canada. The workshop had two main goals:

To develop a sustainability vision that would guide Alcan’s B&A sustainability strategy moving forward.
To align the management team with a shared definition and understanding of sustainability, and to build buy-in for the sustainability vision.

Early in the workshop, participants identified Alcan’s top sustainability challenges, two of which were viewed as critical: meeting company growth expectations and addressing the issue of emissions associated with bauxite mining and alumina production. To address these challenges, the participants proceeded to develop a sustainability vision facilitated by The Natural Step’s science-based approach to sustainability and developed through backcasting from sustainability principles.

After the success of the Montreal workshop, a second session was held in Brisbane, Australia, not only to create the space for a cross-functional sustainability conversation, but more pragmatically to operationalize the vision in Alcan’s largest bauxite mining and alumina refining operation in Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia.

With Gove in mind, workshop participants were asked to brainstorm potential social, environmental, and management innovations that might lead them toward their envisioned future. Ideas were then discussed and divided into prospective long-term and short-term measures, some of which led to outcomes. These included: the use of sustainability metrics in monthly and quarterly reporting, research and development explicitly using sustainability to guide innovation, the integration of sustainability objectives and approaches within greenfield projects, and a cross-functional working group quantifying the business value of Alcan’s sustainability investments.

Although the specific work described in this case was halted, sustainability principles remain embedded in Rio Tinto Alcan’s current business systems and processes, ensuring that economic, social, and environmental considerations are considered in its day-to-day operations as it drives toward its vision of a sustainable future.

The Feedback

“The Natural Step Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development is useful because it provides a shared mental model and vocabulary. Sustainability doesn’t seem overwhelming and incomprehensible any more—everybody gets it!”

-Kariann Aarup, Alcan B&A Social Sustainability Team

View full case study

Learn more about The Natural Step Canada’s Service Path for Sustainable Business and how we can help your business develop a bold sustainability vision, strategy, and action plan. Please contact us to discuss your unique needs or join our next FREE Introduction to Strategic Sustainability for Business in Canada webinar.

Written by Talithea McInnis

Canada

Alcoa, Canada

Anouk Bertner — Sat, 03 May 2008 16:02:16 -0400

Quebec, Canada

Alcoa is one of the world’s largest producers of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina facilities. In 2006, The Natural Step Canada partnered with Alcoa Canada to create a customized version of Sustainability 101 for employees in several Québec production plants. Since then, using a combination of our award-winning eLearning course and in-person workshops, Alcoa Canada has worked towards meeting its goal of instilling a shared definition of sustainability and a common language for sustainability planning among its staff.

In 2007, The Natural Step (TNS) co-facilitated – via videoconference – a sustainability workshop for management and supervisory staff at the ABI plant in Bécancour, Québec who had already completed the eLearning course. The following year, TNS Canada facilitated a half-day workshop for Deschambault plant managers and supervisors that combined a group presentation of the eLearning course with additional interactive activities and a brainstorming session.

These engagements demonstrate the flexibility of Sustainability 101 as a learning tool and have inspired Alcoa Canada to further extend the integration of sustainability eLearning into staff training. So far, over 100 employees have gone through this training program.

Canada

Aliant, Canada

Kim Mackrael — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:29:29 -0500

Bell Aliant is one of North America’s largest regional communications providers serving customers from Newfoundland and Labrador through to Ontario and beyond. The company is committed to integrating long-term economic, environmental and social considerations into its business operations.

In 2007, Aliant became a charter member of the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative (ACSI), a network of municipalities, businesses, and other organizations working toward sustainability in Atlantic Canada. As an ACSI partner, Aliant created an implementation plan for the development of its Strategic Plan for Corporate Sustainability.

In order to build capacity and commitment to sustainability among its staff, Bell Aliant worked with The Natural Step Canada to develop a customized 1-hour eLearning program. As of December 2007, more than 100 Aliant employees had already completed Sustainability 101. Lunch and learns have also been held at a number of regional offices to educate and engage employees around sustainability issues.

Aliant was recently recognized by Natural Resources Canada for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air contaminants as a result of energy efficiency improvements to their buildings. Work is ongoing to establish Aliant’s baseline carbon footprint and implement additional carbon reduction initiatives. Aliant’s paper use has been cut by 24% over the last two years saving more than 7.6 million sheets of paper per year and they have committed to purchasing Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper for all internal 8 ½” x 11” paper use.

Announcement: International Wineries Sustainability Benchmarking Project launches

Richard Blume — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:24:44 -0400

Calling all winemakers and wineries! We're pleased to announce the launch of the International Wineries Sustainability Benchmarking Project, and we invite you to participate.

The project aims to compare 15 wineries per country with each other and with global best practice. Each participating winery will receive a baseline measurement with regard to their sustainability performance, the ability to compare with peers and world class levels of sustainability, and identify areas of strength and weakness as well as capacity for early improvement.

Wineries will be represented by both the largest in country as well as mid/medium size community wineries, drawn from the target regions:

Europe - France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK
Americas - Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, USA
Australasia - Australia, New Zealand
Africa - South Africa

The initiative is being led by the PROBE Network and uses a proven method - the PROBE for Sustainable Business benchmarking tool developed with the aid of The Natural Step. Advisors from The Natural Step will be involved in carrying out the assessments and are available to provide further support.

What is the value to a winery?

Savings in operations cost – recent studies show PROBE provides up to a 5:1 return on investment and average savings of $30,000 a year in medium size manufacturers
A smarter and broader application of sustainability in the business beyond a simple “carbon reduction” focus that’s backed by the TNS methodology.
On-going support to achieve their goals the facilitator people can be with them for the whole journey
The ability to use the 3-tier scalable PROBE for Sustainable Business to map the winery’s performance against their supply chain and smarter, achievable targets for improvement
International Best Practice Transfer enabling recipients to identify specific areas for improvement and the potential to collaborate (with other wineries in the regional project) and reduce costs in exporting
Increase in sustainability credentials potentially opening new brand/marketing opportunities and reducing in country carbon/other government tariffs
Identifying reductions of scarce and/or harmful substances to reduce safety, liability and regulatory oversight issues
Easily translating the heretofore complex language of sustainability into a coherent business process and performance framework

The PROBE Benchmarking Methodology

The PROBE (PROmoting Business Excellence) methodology has a long history of providing organisations, governments, change agents, academia and many other institutions with a proven framework for business improvements.

The benchmark is based upon a set of questionnaires that ask factual data questions; and questions about the company’s practice and performance covering all aspects of the winery’s sustainability. Questionnaires are sent out prior to the benchmark and a selected team complete them, at an agreed date the facilitator will conduct the benchmark which will last approximately 5-6 hours.

The benchmark will position the winery against its peer groups and against world class levels of sustainability. It will also identify area of strength and weakness and the winery’s actual capacity for early improvement. All of this information will be encapsulated in a client confidential tailored report.

All benchmarks are client confidential and data will only be used in non-identifiable and aggregated manner, this data will be used in an overarching industry report which will be jointly authored by TNS and The PROBE Network LLP.

Contact us

Interested to participate, learn more or be part of sponsoring the study?

You can make contact with accredited Advisors at The Natural Step here: http://www.thenaturalstep.org/probe

Alternatively, you can reach the lead contact for the study here:

Gerry Oates
PROBE Network LLP
6th Floor, Building 8, Exchange Quay, Salford,
M5 3EJ. United Kingdom
Tel No. +44 (0)161 932 1196. Fax No. +44 (0)161 932 1100
Mobile +44 7921 387214
www.probe-network.com

Sweden

Antigonish Sustainable Development, Canada

Kim Mackrael — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:38:15 -0500

Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada

The town and county of Antigonish are located in the province of Nova Scotia, on Canada’s east coast. The county has a population of about 22,000 people, with just over 4000 of them living in the Town of Antigonish itself. As home to St. Francis Xavier University and the longest-running Highland Games festival in North America, Antigonish already has an international reputation. But if area residents have their way, Antigonish could soon be known for a lot more than excellence in education and bag piping.

In 2007, the town, county, and a number of local organizations discussed a model to make Antigonish a sustainable community and regional leader. In July 2007, the Framework for Antigonish as a Leading Sustainable Community was released to the public - a plan developed locally with a group of individuals representing organizations, businesses, municipalities and the community.

The plan was developed under the umbrella of a local non-profit organization, Antigonish Sustainable Development (ASD), which is made up of a group of volunteer representatives from civil society, businesses, cultural groups, and environmental organizations.

As a participating organization in ACSI, the group gained access to leading sustainability expertise from The Natural Step Canada and other organizations. Using The Natural Step and other models for sustainable development, ASD’s framework includes working with organizations seeking to become sustainable, a community-wide capacity building program and the creation of an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP) by December 2008.

ASD invited local businesses, the two municipalities, and other organizations to become change agents in their community and help develop momentum for sustainability. Twenty local organizations signed up for the first round of the Early Adopters’ program, which began in September 2007. As the adopters began to receive recognition as innovators, other organizations followed their lead. ASD has already begun a second round of the adopters program; the Early Minority Champions program has attracted an additional fifteen participants. This brings the total number of Antigonish adopters to 35 and makes it one of the largest sustainability networks in any Canadian community.

The program assists each organization to develop sustainability visions, identifying and implementing quick hits [best practices], conducting a sustainability assessment and developing an action plan. ASD facilitates the process for adopters through the delivery of instructional sessions, meetings and the provision of resources to organizations. ASD has compiled all of the ‘quick hits’ to create a 75-hit toolkit to inspire other local organizations to take similar actions. This list is being shared with other organizations seeking to become more sustainable.

“One outcome of this process is the creation of a peer network where organizations are going to be talking to other organizations through regular meetings. Our aim is to bring them all together to discuss ways to implement sustainability initiatives within their organizations and within the community.” Kuli Malhotra, Executive Director of ASD, explained.

It didn’t take long for the early adopters to start attracting attention in Antigonish and beyond. Just six months into the first round, Early Adopter Bergengren Credit Union was nominated for small business of the year sustainability award by the Resource Recovery Fund Board of Nova Scotia, and ASD won a 2008 community-based award from the Eastern Region Solid Waste Management.

Above: ASD Early Adopter Bergengren Credit Union receives the Small Business of the Year Sustainability award, 2008.

Canada

Aquafil: leadership rigeneratrice nell’industria chimico-tessile

Anouk Bertner — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:40:46 -0400

La collaborazione di Aquafil con The Natural Step nasce dalla volontà di Interface, leader mondiale nella produzione di moquette, di condividere con i propri partner una solida strategia di innovazione. A seguito del percorso realizzato, il top management di Aquafil ha sviluppato competenze strategiche ed ha riconosciuto nella sostenibilità un fattore chiave di innovazione, arrivando a ridefinire una nuova visione: diventare il leader nel mercato delle fibre di poliammide e polimeri con totale impegno per la sostenibilità, la rigenerazione dell’ambiente e delle persone.

Aquafil ha definito obiettivi concreti e misurabili: una riduzione del 50% dei gas a effetto serra (CO2) entro il 2020, un traguardo notevole per una società con processi di produzione ad alta intensità energetica. Gli obiettivi sono stati declinati da subito in azioni concrete: è stato già progettato e costruito in Slovenia un rivoluzionario impianto per la produzione di nylon a ciclo chiuso (depolimerizzazione e ripolimerizzazione di post-consumer waste) che consente un radicale risparmio di risorse naturali, energia, materie prime, riduzione drastica delle emissioni inquinanti, oltre a dare un vantaggio economico e competitivo.

Italy

Ashforth Pacific, Inc., Portland, Oregon, USA

Chas Martin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:07:31 -0400

A Natural Step Network Case Study

Overview
Ashforth Pacific, Inc. (API), is an investor, owner, and operator providing third-party property management, construction, and parking management services in West-Coast markets. An affiliate of The Ashforth Company, a Connecticut-based firm, API was established in Portland, Oregon, in 1995 and currently has 55 employees. The Ashforth Company presently owns and manages upwards of 15 million square feet of office space, of which 1.5 million square feet is in Portland. In May 1999, API launched an environmental initiative based on its newly created environmental statement and the four system conditions of The Natural Step.

Background
The Ashforth Company was founded as a family owned real estate company in New York in 1896. Throughout the next century, it expanded its services and coverage areas. The creation of the API office extended The Ashforth Company’s services beyond the Northeast to include the rapidly growing Northwest real estate market.

The company strives to bring social and economic benefits to the communities in which it operates. The opening page of its centennial celebration book states, “We owe it to our ancestors to preserve entire the rights they have delivered to us; we owe it to our posterity not to suffer their dearest inheritance to be destroyed.”

Ashforth is dedicated to serving its customers by adhering to its four operating principles: Commitment—to create enduring business relationships that will enhance the value of the company, Quality— to be dedicated to providing the highest level of service with speed and professionalism, People—to foster teamwork, personal growth, creativity and leadership and to encourage respect for the individual, communication, optimism, and a sense of humor, and Practices—to act with integrity and fairness to customers, employees, and community.

Introduction to The Natural Step: the Passion of a CEO
Hank Ashforth, CEO of API and the great-grandson of The Ashforth Company’s founder, learned about The Natural Step (TNS) through his involvement with the environmental community in Portland. Convinced that the business community must be part of the solution of pressing environmental issues, he attended an Oregon Natural Step Network breakfast meeting and quickly saw a good match between API’s principles and the framework TNS provided. In March 1999, he invited Duke Castle to give a briefing for members of the API executive team in charge of property management, construction, leasing, and finance.

The executive team met with Castle again to conduct a visioning exercise and brainstorm potential ideas. The team came up with a list of “low hanging fruit” and sent several employees to the National TNS conference in Portland in April 1999. Its purpose was to gain insight on ways to implement TNS framework, recruit a summer intern to focus on environmental issues, and train employees.

Launching the Environmental Initiative
In May 1999, the executive team hired Wendy Faubert as an intern and worked with her on a strategy for implementing an environmental initiative. They developed an approach that was both top-down and grassroots oriented. This strategy was designed to take advantage of the strong support of the executive team, the small and personal nature of the company, and the existing interest and passion of some employees.

The primary function of the grassroots approach was to develop awareness and interest among office employees in a fun and non-threatening manner. Meanwhile, the top-down strategy involved the executive team formulating an environmental policy statement and the formation of two sustainability teams. The teams’ mandate was to focus on ways that office operations and building-management practices could support the environmental initiative. The two groups, OSCAR (Office, Sustainability, Conservation, and Recycling) and BEAT (Buildings Environmental Action Team), would each be staffed by six employees handpicked by the CEO.

In July 1999, API officially launched its Environmental Initiative at an all-hands meeting—a debriefing meeting attended by all members of the office. The initiative was based on the company’s new environmental statement, “We will be stewards of our environment by taking responsible actions within our business and our communities,” and the four system conditions of The Natural Step. During the meeting, Duke Castle presented TNS framework, Hank Ashforth spoke, and a brainstorming activity allowed employees to write down their ideas for practices that could be implemented within the company.

By the fall it was apparent the Faubert was needed fulltime, and she accepted the job of sustainability coordinator.

Building Employee Support for the Environmental Initiative
From the beginning, building employee interest, awareness, and support for the Environmental Initiative was a top priority. The initial strategy was to keep the activities voluntary and fun. Several different methods were used to educate employees about sustainability and concepts surrounding TNS framework.

A brown bag lunch series served as the primary means of engaging employees. Employees learned about other environmentally conscious businesses organizations such as The Collins Companies, the Sustainable Chef’s Collaborative, Nike, PGE, The Rebuilding Center, and Carsharing Portland.

Other education methods included field trips and a bulletin board displaying relevant articles and information on sustainability and TNS framework. Office games and activities for each system condition kept the initiative and the concept of environmental responsibility in front of employees in a fun and interactive way. One popular activity was the “cookies-for-trash-cans” trade where employees voluntarily gave up their individual trash can and agreed to throw away all of their garbage in a central area. This activity was easy for employees to participate in, succeeded in raising employee awareness about what they were throwing away, and saved API 9,000 plastic trash can liners a year.

Finally, each API office employee attended a two-and-one-half-hour TNS framework training. The sustainability coordinator, office manager, and assistant controller conducted the training in groups of six to ten people during August and September 2000. All office employees attended the training as well as several outside vendors and other organizations interested in The Natural Step. The training focused on understanding the four system conditions through a combination of games, videos, visual aids, and discussions exploring how our actions and purchases affect the environment. The employees also completed a questionnaire that polled their perceptions related to the initiative and their interest in participating in other environmental events.

Results, Results, Results
API’s Environmental Initiative is a vision shared by the entire company, but it is rooted in producing results, results that can be measured and managed. Hank Ashforth has emphasized quantifiable results, believing that “if we know where we are, it is easier to go where we want to.”

Energy. Many of API’s initial projects focused on energy conservation measures. Between 1997 and 2001, the company reduced energy consumption by 18% through lighting and heating/cooling changes in the four commercial properties it owns, saving $654,000 over five years. T-8 lights, compact fluorescents, and LED lights replaced less efficient products; and automatic controls sweep all lights off during evenings and weekends. Thermostats were adjusted by two degrees. As a conservation incentive, sub-meters were installed so that tenants pay for any extra use of electricity above a standard amount. In addition, API has invested 6% of total electricity usage in wind power through Pacific Power’s Blue Sky program. The company is one of Pacific Power’s largest supporters of Blue Sky.

Water. API reduced water consumption in its portfolio properties by 6% by not using air conditioning after hours and not watering lawn areas, saving $43,000 annually. To handle storm water on site, the Liberty Center Parking Garage was retro-fitted with bioswales that filter the runoff and allow it to seep into the ground.

Waste. Through electronic communication and double-sided copying, API reduced paper purchases by 39% between 1998 and 2001. As a further commitment to saving trees, the company switched to 100% post-consumer recycled copy paper and 100% (40% post-consumer) recycled, chlorine-free toilet paper, saving over $15,000 annually. In 1999, when PacifiCorp’s office space was renovated, API’s construction arm made an extraordinary effort to recycle not only metal and wood, but also ceiling tile, window glass, drywall, and carpet. The company is now working to expand recycling options available to tenants to include batteries and packing peanuts and to create a better mechanism for tracking waste and recycling outputs. The centralized trash collection system for the office is on its way to becoming standard operating procedure for all tenant spaces.

Toxics. The company worked with ABM Janitorial Services (ABM) to switch to non-toxic cleaning products in the maintenance of its buildings. First testing the citrus-based Bi-O-Kleen on an outside curtain wall and finding it effective, ABM found it could replace over 20 standard cleaners, from scouring powder to carpet spotter, degreaser to disinfectant, with the same solution in different concentrations. As a result, 25 hazardous chemicals have been eliminated. ABM now promotes Bi-O-Kleen with its other commercial clients.

To reduce landscaping impacts, chemical herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers are now prohibited in API’s maintenance specifications. Gasoline-powered maintenance equipment has been replaced by propane, electric, or manual equipment wherever possible, and the most polluting two-stroke engines are no longer allowed. Leaf blowers, because of their air and noise pollution, are allowed only at the height of fall season.

Transportation. Not only does API provide free transit passes to all employees, but it also actively supports alternative transportation throughout the Lloyd District. For example, it played an instrumental role in the expansion of Tri-Met’s Fareless Square to the District. That means that workers can travel from downtown to the Lloyd District free of charge. For those who don’t drive to work, API has loaned two parking spaces and purchased a membership in Flexcar, a service that makes a car available when needed during the workday. To encourage bicycle commuting, it provides 34 bicycle lockers in addition to racks and included showers in its newest building. To further encourage employees to use alternatives to single-occupant auto commutes, it offers a special benefit on a trial basis. Those who use alternative transportation 80 percent of the time each month get a half-day of personal time.

Green building. When API remodeled its office space, it installed Interface carpet tiles, allowing worn tiles in high-traffic areas to be sent back to the company without replacing the entire carpet. Low VOC paints were specified for the walls. Environ Biocomposite, a particle board manufactured from agricultural wastes, was chosen for desk surfaces.

Operating from the belief that people want to do their best, API has been pleased by employee ideas that have been generated through the Environmental Initiative. In fact, many of the projects API has worked on or is currently working on came from employees’ suggestions. A sampling of other employee ideas include double-siding fax cover sheets; using glasses, plates and silverware in the office instead of disposables; using envelopes provided by vendors in their invoices instead of API envelopes; and standardizing office supplies with choices based on TNS principles along with efficiency and cost.

Lessons Learned
• Invest time in training workers so they are knowledgeable and excited about the company’s new direction.
• Take small steps. The challenges, changes, and ideas can be overwhelming at times. Look for the easy things to do first, as accomplishments breed success.
• Encourage workers to come up with ideas to support the initiative.
• Set up a structure to make employees’ ideas a reality.
• Communicate environmental goals and policies to vendors to help expand your company’s impact.

API feels that the most important element in launching an initiative is enlisting the support of people working in the company. As Wendy Faubert, API’s first sustainability coordinator put it, “I strongly believe that having taken the time to get people on board, to make it fun, to increase the energy around the initiative before we start [more] projects. . . is going to pay dividends in the long run.” According to the office manager and assistant controller, benefits of involving employees in the Environmental Initiative include improving the cohesiveness of the company, challenging employees to think of new ways to improve existing processes, and better communications among departments.

Challenges
API spent the first 18 months of its environmental initiative pursuing “low-hanging fruit,” primarily in the property management division. The projects were fairly easy to accomplish because they did not radically change business operations (e.g., shifting to a more environmentally friendly cleaner) and demonstrated short-term economic justification (e.g., the energy savings). The company’s next challenge will be changes that alter fundamental practices and are harder to justify economically. Greener construction, for example, often requires a large investment in materials and, initially, more employee involvement and time. In the “time-is-money” world of construction, such challenges can seem daunting. However, API is quick to point out that while construction will be more challenging, there is ample opportunity for significant environmental benefits.

Beginning September 2001, API was selected as property manager for the Vollum Natural Capital Center, a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) gold-rated green building located in Portland’s Pearl District. Involvement with this high-profile project has raised the bar for API to continue to develop innovative and environmentally friendly approaches to property management.

In 2002 API accepted a new challenge—participation in a pilot project of the U.S. Green Building Council to test its new LEED-EB (Existing Buildings) rating system. To date, the Council’s LEED certification system for green buildings has applied largely to new construction. Over the course of the coming year, Ashforth Pacific staff will document Liberty Center’s performance and policies in the areas of cleaning and maintenance, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, recycling and facilities, and landscape maintenance. Where necessary, building systems may be upgraded to bring the building into compliance with LEED criteria.

The Future
The company is now developing a more in-depth approach to sustainability involving all office staff. Smaller teams will focus on revising specific areas of corporate and building operations and working to balance sustainability goals with the needs of tenants, profit expectations, and the constraints of the company’s existing buildings. Each group will conduct a thorough analysis of its area of operations, identify and implement necessary improvements, and track indicators that will help the company measure environmental performance. The four system conditions of the Natural Step will serve as a compass for these groups as they redefine organizational processes and operations.

Many organizations and individuals have contributed knowledge and inspiration to the company’s sustainability efforts. As the work of the Environmental Initiative further unfolds, API will strive to share information and lessons learned with clients, suppliers, and the community at large. While recognizing that much work lies ahead in the company’s quest for
sustainability, Ashforth Pacific intends to continue stepping forward to increase service to clients while improving the environmental and economic bottom line.

Sources
1. Interview with Wendy Faubert, Sustainability Coordinator, Ashforth Pacific, Inc., December 15, 2000
2. Master Recycler News, October 2000, “Profile: Sustainability in Real Estate Management,” Mendola, Kathleen Finn
3. The BEAT Bulletin, November 2000, March 2000, October 1999

This case study was prepared in April 2001 by Vanessa Margolis for The Natural Step Network and updated in October 2002 by the Network.

Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative (ACSI)

Anouk Bertner — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:34:02 -0400

Atlantic Canada

Fourteen organizations across Atlantic Canada have come together to embed sustainability in the region with the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative (ACSI). These partners, ranging from the major Atlantic telecom provider, a large municipal government to a local coffee shop have all taken on the challenge of modeling strategic sustainability using The Natural Step Framework. Each partner attended three intense workshops, created a sustainability plan and is showing tangible actions toward sustainability. Further, each partner has received one-on-one coaching from The Natural Step and is building their own ability to teach others about sustainability. ACSI is coordinated on the ground by the Centre for Rural Sustainability.

There have been many accomplishments. For example, the City of Bathurst adopted a Sustainability Vision for 2020 and made a commitment to work towards the vision goals by using the Natural Step Framework. The Bathurst City Council also announced that they will be adopting the first of several Sustainable Transportation Action Plan (STAP) recommendations. To learn more about the network and their next steps, visit the ACSI website.

Read the full case study here.

Canada

Axis Performance Advisors, Portland, Oregon, USA

Chas Martin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:42:36 -0400

A Natural Step Network Case Study

Background
Axis Performance Advisors was started in 1990 by Marsha Willard and Darcy Hitchcock as an organizational management consulting firm, specializing ins self-directed work teams. As of today, November 2003, about 53 percent of Axis' work is directly related to sustainability.

Inspiration
In addition to its consulting work, Axis would, on occasion, host one-day think-tank meetings. In 1996, having heard about the concept of sustainability, it hosted a meeting on the subject. At that meeting Hitchcock had an “aha” experience when she realized that Axis was showing companies how to be more efficient and effective in depleting the planet’s resources. She decided that she and Willard had to do “something.” Shortly thereafter Hitchcock was introduced to The Natural Step (TNS) at a Business for Social Responsibility meeting. She says she felt a great relief, because TNS offered the “something” that Axis should do. In 1998 she went to the TNS conference in Chicago and began doing volunteer work for the Oregon Natural Step Network as a speaker and as a contributing writer for the Tool kit.

Action
Upon learning about TNS, Axis first examined the impacts of its own business on the environment. Hitchcock and Willard quickly realized that as a service business, their greatest impact was through their consulting services and the influence they had on their clients. Since they had experience in organizational change, they could help companies become more sustainable.

Axis also examined its internal practices against the four systems conditions. It determined that its greatest impact was greenhouse emissions from energy use, especially transportation, but it was able to take action to reduce its impacts in all four system conditions.

System Condition One (Taking Substances from the Earth's Crust)

Willard and Hitchcock measured their greenhouse gas impact and purchased carbon offsets to be climate neutral with a cost of approximately $20 per year per person (see Appendix 1 for measurements, including tracking alternative transportation).
Hitchcock moved her home office from Vancouver, Washington to Portland, Oregon to reduce travel.
Both Hitchcock and Willard use bicycles and public transportation whenever possible, resulting in 43% of business travel through alternative transportation (up from 0% before 2000)
Hitchcock and Willard both work from their homes, they purchased Green Power for both work and personal consumption.
Hitchcock purchased a Toyota Prius for business and personal use.
Axis purchased Energy Star rated computers (MAC G3s and monitors) and chose not to buy a copying machine.

System Condition Two (Use of Synthetic Substances)

Switched overhead transparency markers to ones that wash off with water instead of isopropyl alcohol.
Decided not to purchase certain products (e.g., glues) that had volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

System Condition Three (Preservation of Natural Resources)

Committed to buying recycled content paper, using 100% post-consumer recycled paper for company stationary.
When copier broke, did not purchase new one. This reduced the number of copies Axis makes.
Transitioned services like its newsletter and Team Booster product to an electronic service to save paper.
Axis does small print runs of the Sustainability SeriesTM booklets so as not to build up a large inventory, which might need to be scrapped later.
Axis has also chosen ShoreBank Pacific for their banking services.

System Condition Four (Meeting Human Needs)

Offered no- or low-cost services for targeted non-profits which would otherwise not be able to afford consulting services and which had a mission related to sustainability (Housing our Families, Planned Parenthood, Oregon Environmental Council, OMSI).
Provided pro bono facilitation services for the Oregon Natural Step Network’s Climate Change Peer Learning Group.

Results
Axis’s expenditures have mainly been in time, although it has paid for some training as well. It characterizes the time and training as R&D because Axis’ goal has been to transform the business to sustainability consulting.

That said, just operating its business more sustainably has saved Axis money over all. It has spent less money on parking fees, equipment not purchased, and printing and postage and has less wear and tear on its vehicles. The combined effect of its transportation efforts resulted in an annual reduction of 4,000 pounds of CO2 emissions. Axis has also learned that measurement does change behavior. It helps inform decisions and makes an immediate impact.

Challenges
One irony is that the more successful Axis becomes the more Hitchcock and Willard have to travel, which will actually increase their environmental impacts. They will address these impacts through the use of offsets.

Because sustainability is the focus of Axis’s business, the biggest challenge is creating a market to sustain all those who want to work in this field. It appears that sustainability is still at the early adopter phase in most sectors so the list of potential customers is limited. Also in tough economic times, people tend to pull back from exploring new options (even if they could save time or money) because they are already feeling stressed and stretched. That said, the challenge for consultants is always: to provide value to customers.

This case study was prepared by Regina Hauser for the Oregon Natural Step Network. For more information contact Darcy Hitchcock (503) 288-7704, darcy@axisperformance.com, or Marsha Willard (503) 284-9132, marsha@axisperformance.com, or visit the Axis Performance Advisors’ Web site, www.pacifier.com/~axis.

Appendix 1

Bathurst Sustainable Development, Canada

Kim Mackrael — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:05:59 -0500

Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada

The coastal city of Bathurst, New Brunswick, (population 12,714) is proving to be fertile ground for the development of strategic sustainability initiatives. In 1998, an organization called Bathurst Sustainable Development (BSD) was formed in response to growing local concerns over quality of life and water in the region. The project began with the goal of facilitating communication and action towards sustainability among businesses, the local government and the community.

Today, BSD operates as an Environmental Resource Centre to help the public learn more about the environment and sustainability, under the direction of Community Development Coordinator Brenda Kelley. It also continues to work with the municipality itself, most recently co-developing a Local Plan of Action for greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the city.

In 2007, BSD joined the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative (ACSI), a regional project designed to build capacity and momentum around sustainability. Along with 13 other businesses, NGOs and municipalities, BSD signed a project charter committing it to take action on sustainability issues, using The Natural Step Framework as a guide.

“TNS and ACSI coaches were vital in providing understanding about the ACSI initiative and principles of TNS,” Kelley said.

As a partner organization of ACSI, BSD developed a 2020 vision for the City of Bathurst, outlining the characteristics and objectives of a sustainable Bathurst. The city approved the vision statement in March 2008 and followed BSD’s recommendation that it become a partner of ACSI itself.

As a part of its ACSI commitment, BSD educated city staff on sustainability topics, including The Natural Step framework and the practice of sustainable procurement. The organization worked directly with city staff on the drafting of a green procurement policy, which was adopted by City Council in March 2008. This was accomplished through a series of information sharing meetings, webinar participation, and the use of examples of ethical purchasing policies adopted by other communities.

Finally, BSD prepared a number of transportation-related recommendations as part of its Sustainable Transportation Action Plan (STAP). The goal of the plan is to ensure that community members have access to active and sustainable transportation options such as walking, biking and public transportation, and the city has already adopted a number of the STAP recommendations.

BSD continues to work with staff at the City of Bathurst to develop stronger leadership on sustainability within the municipality itself. For more information on Bathurst Sustainable Development, visit the organization’s website.

Canada

BC Hydro, Canada

Kim Mackrael — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:34:40 -0500

BC Hydro is one of the largest electric utility companies in Canada, serving more than 1.7 million customers in the province of British Columbia. The company’s mandate of providing “reliable power, at low cost, for generations” captures its commitment to the triple bottom line of economic, social, and environmental performance.

The company’s Customer Care and Conservation department regularly engage with clients on energy consumption and sustainability issues. To train and support staff in this department on BC Hydro’s sustainability objectives, the company introduced The Natural Step’s blended eLearning program in July 2008.

Ten staff members took part in a pilot of The Natural Step’s online course, Sustainability 101 and participated in a 90 minute facilitated dialogue session hosted by The Natural Step Canada. After reflecting on the course content, participants discussed how sustainability might be applied to BC Hydro and its clients.

Based on the success of the pilot project, BC Hydro offered the blended learning program again in Fall 2008 to an additional 60 staff members and provide ongoing coaching and support for the company as it works to embed a comprehensive understanding of sustainability into its operations.

Canada

BECCS - Bio-Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage

Richard Blume — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:41:55 -0400

What is BECCS?

BECCS stands for Bio Energy with Carbon Capture and Storage. It is an emerging technology that has the potential to go beyond traditional climate change mitigation, and instead actually achieve negative emissions, i.e. net removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

How does it work?

Negative CO2 emissions are generated by combining bio-energy production (biomass fuel-power stations, pulp mills and bio-fuel plants) with carbon capture and storage technology, allowing carbon dioxide to be captured from the atmosphere and remitted back underground.

The road to commercialisation

The Natural Step is pleased to be collaborating with Biorecro, a Swedish clean tech company that is commercialising BECCS technology with the vision to reverse climate change by returning to pre-industrial levels of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere (i.e. below 350 ppm).

Various partners from Scandinavia and North America are involved in a wider collaboration to establish the business models, infrastructure and industry networks needed for commercialisation.

Listen to a podcast with Henrik Karlson, President and CEOBiorecro, recorded by Think Globally Radio.
Learn more about Biorecro by visiting their website: http://www.biorecro.com/

Sustainability Analysis of the Technology

The Natural Step has conducted a baseline assessment of BECCS technology using the The Natural Step Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development and its underlying scientific sustainability principles.The assessment is conducted from the perspective of asking does the technology have a role in a sustainable society or act as a stepping stone to get us there?

The results are promising and The Natural Step is conducting ongoing work with Biorecro to provide a third party view on their processes.

The assessment is part of The Natural Step's involvement in the international research alliance, Real Change. Enquiries about the study or the research program can be directed to Jonas Oldmark at The Natural Step.

Pilot Demonstration Study

A conclusion from the investigation is that further research is needed to road-test the sustainability credentials of the technology as it scales. The Natural Step is therefore supporting a demonstration project that will allow for further action research and documentation of the results within the Real Change research program.

Learn More

A public seminar on BECCS technology will take place on May 18th, 2010 in Stockholm, hosted by SIANI. The seminar will provide insight into BECCS technology, its scientific background, sustainability potential, current status of development and implementation and case studies from around the world. Event details are posted here.

Further information

Interested parties can contact Jonas Oldmark at The Natural Step International to learn more about the technology, The Natural Step's assessment or our collaboration with Biorecro.

Sweden

BOORA Archietcts, Portland, Oregon, USA

Chas Martin — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:47:08 -0400

A Natural Step Network Case Study

TNS gave us a banner to march behind. It enhanced the spirit that was already here and gave us order and direction. —Eric Miller, BOORA employee Overview BOORA Architects provides architecture, planning, and interior design services to clients throughout the United States and abroad. With one office in Portland, Oregon, BOORA currently has 85 employees and annual gross revenues in excess of $13 million. The firm’s projects include schools, theaters, museums, libraries, office buildings, and recreation facilities.

· LEED implementation: Assisting in the registration and certification of BOORA projects. Currently, four of BOORA’s buildings are LEEDä registered.

· Products library classification: “Greening” BOORA’s interiors and products library so that teams can use the best and most responsible materials available; developing product classifications which describe what makes various products green; and developing a classification form that product representatives can use to provide detailed information
about their product’s sustainability features.

Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead
· Provide leadership from the top. BOORA management communicated to the staff its commitment to the firm’s sustainability efforts through specific goals and objectives
outlined in the annual business plans.

· Commit to education and training. Strongly encouraging all staff to attend a half-day TNS training session at an early date gave everyone the same knowledge base and vocabulary.

· Take calculated risks. Believing that too much analysis can cause paralysis, BOORA did not get bogged down with elaborate cost-benefit examination or require concrete evidence of assured success before moving forward. It continues to implement ideas that intuitively seem like the “right thing to do.”

· Little successes add up. Having some tangible achievements, especially if they are recognized publicly, inspires staff to take them to the next level. BOORA has received a PGE EarthSmart Innovator Award for the design of George Fox University’s Stevens Center, and two BOORA-designed buildings were selected for the Ten Plus Northwest exhibition organized by Portland’s Office of Sustainable Development, showcasing the
latest and best in sustainable practices and technologies in the Pacific Northwest.

· Share the responsibility. BOORA created a Sustainability Coordinator position, but the position was eventually eliminated. Because the TNS framework touches every aspect of
BOORA’s practice, from architecture and interiors to specifications, marketing, and technology, the responsibility for integrating TNS was too large and undefined for one individual.

· Find quantifiable industry standards . In the United States, The LEEDä rating system of the U.S. Green Building Council is the standard for assessing sustainability in commercial and institutional buildings. Many local governments, higher education institutions, architects, and engineers are already using this standard to assess the “shades of green” of their construction and renovation projects.

BOORA’s efforts over the past several years have focused on “building” a green BOORA—its people, place, and practice. The biggest challenge BOORA will face in the future will be “marketing” green BOORA. This shift from a more “internalized” focus to an “externalized” approach will advance the practice and business of sustainable design and build BOORA’s
reputation for knowing how to do this work.

Developing marketing communications materials that reflect BOORA’s accomplishments and perspectives, presenting seminars on sustainable design, and promoting recent innovative sustainable design approaches and technical systems in trade newspapers and journals all contribute to BOORA’s reputation as one of the most knowledgeable in this specialty. Resources need to be allocated toward these efforts so they don’t take a back seat when other “billable” efforts are pressing.

Learning to become effective advocates of sustainable design will result in better buildings, more satisfied clients, and a strong referral base for future work. Clients may be wary of the benefits of sustainable design, either because they don't understand it, they think it's too expensive, and/or they don't want to take a risk on unproven technology and equipment. Design professionals need to better learn the language of the building owner, facility manager, and CFO in terms owners can understand--first-cost savings, return on investment, and enhanced productivity--to effectively champion the benefits and value of sustainable design.

This case study was prepared by Mary Van Domelen and Julie Wallis of BOORA for the The Natural Step Network.

Building Toward Sustainability, Literally

Jennifer Reid — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:18:53 -0400

The Landmark Group of Builders is a residential construction company further comprised of seven individual companies with offices in Edmonton, Red Deer, and Calgary. In the fall of 2008, in collaboration with The Natural Step, Landmark embarked on a journey to identify their key sustainability challenges, key innovation goals to overcome those challenges, and to develop a road map for embedding sustainability into their business. TNS advisor Sarah Brooks commends Landmark for “taking a long term perspective in their strategic planning for sustainability.” She points out that by “benchmarking progress from full sustainability rather than compliance regulations, [The Landmark Group] are taking an approach that is rigorous enough to answer the question “how will we know when we’ve arrived there [at sustainability]?””

To date, TNS has been involved in facilitating the Awareness, Baseline, and Visioning phases of TNS ABCD process. This has been accomplished through a series of workshops and webinars held with various members of senior management and members of Landmark’s Green Team. With support from TNS advisors, Landmark Group of Builders has prepared a baseline analysis of their company. This baseline analysis, along with a governance report drafted by TNS representatives, provided a means for the critical review of the company’s business practices which is integral for strategic planning. In preparation for sustainable action, a draft of a sustainability vision has been created by the company’s internal “Green Team”.

This partnership with TNS is only one of many initiatives making Landmark a strong corporate leader in Alberta. Dave Nasseri, the director and coordinator of the “Landmark Sustainability Initiative”, along with a group of dedicated visionaries, have a number of systems and assets in place from which to build. These programs, such as Landmark’s culture of learning, have greatly contributed to the progress made with TNS.

“Landmark is setting a solid foundation to move towards sustainability in a robust, efficient, and comprehensive way while staying viable in the market”, commented Sarah Brooks; “This is a foundation that will help to shed light on the sustainability journey and provide ‘proof of possibility’ for other construction companies interested in taking a similar path.”

Canada

Building towards sustainability with Pôle Sem Sud

Renaud Richard — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:01:44 -0400

Pôle Sem Sud is a privately and publicly owned organisation managing over 6,000 flats and offices in Marseille and its surroundings. Early 2007, the manager decided that the organisation of about 200 employees needed to formally move towards sustainability, going further than the independent and irregular good ideas and actions.

At the end of 2007, the cooperation with TNS France started with highlighting 3 main processes describing their activities: (1) planning, building and using sustainable buildings; (2) eliminate their contribution to un-sustainable societies as soon as possible; and (3) walking the talk with a vision and actions to transform their daily routines. The project manager then invited the staff to participate in three working groups, one per theme.

Within weeks, and without a second invitation, diverse groups of 11 were formed from all services and all levels of hierarchy. The groups worked through the ABCD process in one day, and met again half a day to finalise their work. The following and last step was a full day of work with all the directors and one representative per group to put together a systemic and strategic action plan that will create momentum and move the organisation and its actions towards sustainability.

The action plan is in implementation phase since mid-2008 and as an element of it an external and part time sustainability coordinator has been hired to keep the momentum going … and it is!

France

Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC)

Jennifer Reid — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:32:48 -0500

Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation (CCOC) is a private non-profit housing organization that owns and operates 48 buildings around Ottawa providing over 2,000 residents with affordable housing. Their mission is to create, maintain and promote housing for low and moderate income people. In 2008, CCOC received a grant to undertake an education campaign on behaviour change to promote sustainability and achieve measurable greenhouse gas emissions reductions. As a tenant and volunteer led organization it was natural for CCOC to include the day-to-day decisions their tenants were making into their overall sustainability efforts.

PACE Consulting, EnviroEconomics and The Natural Step were all enlisted to help CCOC in creating a more holistic approach through the Go Green Initiative. EnviroEconomics delivered a detailed quantitative and qualitative footprint survey for tenants, and PACE Consulting used the results to develop targeted behaviour change strategies through contests, events and promotions.

In order to ensure that staff and tenants had a clear and common understanding of sustainability and the ways in which current practices are unsustainable, The Natural Step was contracted to conduct introductory workshops with several groups of tenants. Additionally, all CCOC staff partook in two days of training in The Natural Step Framework. By engaging tenants and staff directly, The Natural Step empowered participants to understand and respond to sustainability challenges, to take personal action and to develop capacity to change organizational practices.

“As an organization focused on the social sector, CCOC is in an exemplary position to build the capacity of their organization and tenants to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by sustainability in an accessible, results-oriented way. Their Go Green Initiative did exactly this”, said Senior Natural Step Advisor Sarah Brooks.

In 2009, CCOC signed up as one of the 25 organizations that participated in the pilot project for TNS’s “Greening Ottawa’s NGOs” project. Through this initiative they gained a valuable network of companions with which they were able to problem-solve, learn, and engage to discuss the trials and tribulations of going-green/sustainable.

Congratulations are extended to CCOC who, in November, was awarded the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association’s “Going Green award”, for their “Go Green” initiative. On the ONPHA website, this award is described as an honour to be bestowed on “a non-profit housing provider who has taken innovative steps to reduce their impact on the environment” – an award for which CCOC is certainly deserving.

Canada

City of Airdrie, Canada

Anouk Bertner — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:51:15 -0400

Airdrie, Alberta, Canada

The City of Airdrie, just north of Calgary, is experiencing unprecedented growth with near doubling of real-estate prices. City Council, staff and citizens are increasingly interested in sustainable growth and development which has led the City to work with The Natural Step in creating a municipal sustainability plan, as part of its Sustainable Communities Program.

Airdrie will be using the Alberta Urban Municipal Association (AUMA) Municipal Sustainability Planning Guidebook which is based on The Natural Step Framework. The Natural Step will continue to provide training and coaching to the City of Airdrie as their municipal sustainability plan is developed. Airdrie has committed to engaging its citizens, participating in peer to peer networks and sharing the outcomes of their process.

Read about Airdrie's participation in the CBC's One Million Acts of Green challenge here.

Canada

City of Madison, Wisconsin

Anouk Bertner — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:40:07 -0400

Madison, Wisconsin and several other progressive municipalities in the state are coordinating their efforts through the North American Eco-Municipality Movement to help cities and towns throughout Wisconsin embrace sustainability strategically.

In 2006, Sustain Dane and 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, the two local non-profits, arranged for The Natural Step Canada to provide sustainability training for senior City of Madison employees. The training involved Sustainability: Step by Natural Step, our award-winning eLearning course followed by two in-person workshops with assigned homework in between.

These workshops led to the development of ten pilot projects to implement The Natural Step Framework into City operations. The Mayor of Madison is highly committed and once the initial projects have been completed, the City will identify new projects for the future.

For more on Madison or the North American Eco-Municipality Movement, read the case studies.

City of Santa Monica, California, USA

Chas Martin — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:18:42 -0400

A Natural Step Network Case Study

Overview
The City of Santa Monica is located on the western edge of the Los Angeles Basin in southern California. It is a small city of 88,000 people within 8.3 square miles that faces Santa Monica Bay and the Pacific Ocean to the west and is surrounded by other urban areas to the north, east, and south.

The City is defined largely by its relationship to the beach and ocean. Not surprisingly, it was degradation of Santa Monica Bay in the early 1980s that first galvanized action on behalf of the environment by citizens and community leaders.

Santa Monica has generally affluent citizens, high property values, and a strong economy based on high technology, entertainment, tourism, and retail. These factors mean that City government has a strong tax base with which to design and implement programs. The City government has approximately 1800 permanent employees in 13 different departments and an annual budget of $365,000,000.

Background on Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Program
Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Program (SCP) grew out of a Task Force on the Environment appointed by the City Council in 1991 to review the city’s environmental policies and programs. Seeing the concept of sustainability as a unifying theme, the Task Force recommended a program to define what sustainability means for the city, develop a plan to get there, and then implement the plan. After substantial public involvement, City Council adopted the SCP in 1994.

The Role of The Natural Step in Santa Monica’s Sustainable City Program
As part of the general land-use planning process required under California state law, Santa Monica began a review and revision of the conservation element of its general plan in 1998. The conservation element is one of seven state-required general plan elements. The city used this update as an opportunity to incorporate the systems-oriented, holistic approach of the SCP and to codify the SCP into the conservation element. This strategy would strengthen the environmental components of the City’s general plan because all elements of the plan are required by state law to be internally consistent with each other.

The company hired to help re-write the conservation element, Rincon Consulting, proposed using The Natural Step’s (TNS) system conditions as a unifying framework for the document. This was accomplished by developing four core objectives for the conservation element modeled after the TNS system conditions. Each objective is followed by a set of policies, which were taken from the SCP. The objectives in the conservation element read as follows:
Objective 1: Strive for the sustainable use of nonrenewable and limited resources such as fossil fuels, metals, minerals, and water. Related policy topics include energy, water, and others.

Objective 2: Minimize the accumulation of human-made substances in the water, air, and earth. Related policy topics include water, air, waste, and others.

Objective 3: Preserve the productivity and diversity of nature. Related policy topics include Santa Monica Bay, habitat, and others.

Objective 4: Seek to provide for the range of human needs in a fair and efficient manner, with a priority on meeting basic human needs. Related policy topics include environmental health risks to disadvantaged communities, promoting mixed use development, affordable housing, and others.

Attachment 1 is a sample page of the conservation element; showing objective 1 and specific energy policies. Finally, the conservation element charges the SCP with translating these policies into action.

During the revision of Santa Monica’s conservation element, both the City’s Planning Commission and its Task Force on the Environment received presentations about The Natural Step and discussed using it as the unifying framework. Both bodies enthusiastically approved this approach. City staff have not received any specific training in TNS framework, although the City co-sponsored, with the local Chamber of Commerce, a workshop open to the general public; several city staff attended.

TNS framework itself did not play a role in the city’s sustainability effort until after the latter was well underway. The primary role of TNS has been to provide a conceptual framework that gives clarity, elegance, and unity to what was once a complicated SCP. TNS framework is mentioned only as a footnote in the written conservation element, and there are no references to the framework per se in any SCP communications and marketing materials.

The Sustainable City Program Today
As stated above, the SCP is responsible for implementing the policies of the conservation element of the City’s general plan. It includes the following key elements:
1. Guiding principles (adopted in 1994):
    A. The concept of sustainability guides city policy.
    B. Protection, preservation, and restoration of the natural environment is a high priority for the City.
    C. Environmental quality and economic health are mutually dependent.
    D. All decisions have environmental implications.
    E. Community awareness, responsibility, involvement, and education are key
elements of successful programs/policies.
    F. Santa Monica recognizes its linkages with the regional, national, and global
community.
    G. Those environmental issues most important to the community should be
addressed first, and the most cost-effective program and policies should be selected.
    H. The City is committed to procurement decisions which minimize negative environmental and social impacts.
2. Goals in four main areas: resource conservation, transportation, pollution prevention and public health protection, and community and economic development.
3. Targets and indicators for each goal area. Eighteen targets and indicators spread among the four goal areas allow the City to measure progress. Attachment 2 is a copy of the resource conservation indicators and targets.
4. Periodic review to determine program effectiveness. A bi-annual review identifies accomplishments to-date and obstacles to future success.

Results
The SCP has achieved some impressive results:
Resource conservation
• Waste diverted from the landfill increased from 13.8% in 1990 to 55% in 2000.
• Citywide water use decreased 6.3% from 1990 to 2000.
• Greenhouse gas emissions decreased 5.2% citywide from 1990 to 2000.
• Santa Monica now purchases 100% of its energy from renewable sources, and all facilities have been retrofitted to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.

Transportation
• Annual ridership on the City’s Big Blue Bus increased 17% from 1990 to 2000. Big Blue was ranked the number one urban transit system in the US in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 (based on a comparative study by the University of North Carolina’s Center of Interdisciplinary Transportation Studies).
• The percentage of City fleet vehicles operating on reduced emissions (natural gas and electricity) increased from 10% in 1993 to 70% in 2000.

Pollution Prevention and Public Health Protection
• Untreated, dry-weather urban runoff entering Santa Monica Bay from City outfalls decreased by approximately 95% from 1990 to 2000.
• Citywide wastewater flows have been reduced more than 14% between 1990 and 1999.
• The City’s Urban Runoff Reclamation Facility (SMURRF) came on-line in 2001. It treats up to 500,000 gallons per day of urban runoff that can be reused for landscape irrigation and indoor toilet flushing at various sites around the City.

Community and Economic Development
• The number of publicly assisted affordable housing units in the City increased by 47% between 1990 and 1998.
• The total amount of open space in the City increased by 10% between 1990 and 2000.
• The number of trees in public spaces increased 8% between 1995 and 2000.

Lessons Learned
• Bring TNS into the discussion as early as possible. Had TNS framework been around when the SCP was developed, it would have helped Santa Monica’s sustainability effort achieve a clarity of purpose and a simpler, more coherent organizing framework sooner. Because the framework is simple and easy to understand, it helps build consensus on the vision of where a sustainability effort is trying to go. It helps people understand the problem and defines a shared goal.

• Start small. The SCP did not try to solve every problem immediately. Instead, it focused on the obvious problems and the low-hanging fruit to demonstrate early success and then used those successes to help sell the next steps. Also, the SCP often took a pilot project approach to an issue that began with a limited scope and resources. If successful, the pilot was then replicated on a larger scale, incorporating lessons learned from the pilot.

Example: Toxics-Use Reduction Program. Santa Monica began its Toxics-Use Reduction Program as part of its effort to reduce its use of hazardous materials. It targeted custodial cleaning supplies because there was a clear risk to both employee health and public health as well as the environment. The process relied heavily on involvement of custodial staff and testing the effectiveness of alternative products. The project resulted in 1) replacement of 15 of 17 cleaning product categories with less-toxic but equally effective alternatives; 2) reduced hazardous materials use by approximately 3200 pounds per year and saved approximately 5% in costs; 3) a set of procurement specifications for custodial cleaning products; and 4) improved morale of custodial staff. Equally important, the custodian pilot served as a successful model that has now been replicated in fleet maintenance, public facilities maintenance (painting, plumbing, and woodworking), printing, and pest management.

• Start where the issues and conflicts are in your community. Don’t try to force people to pay attention to things that are not on their radar screen, especially in the beginning. This is especially true if there is a local environmental “crisis” of some sort: use the issue at the heart of the crisis to begin the process towards sustainability.

• Set specific targets. SCP staff believes that specific targets drove policy change and accelerated action. Targets make the effort more compelling to the public and elected officials. If elected officials adopt the targets, they feel responsible for achieving them. Also, targets demand periodic performance reviews and set in motion continuous improvement.

Example: Bus ridership. The initial target was to increase ridership by 10% between 1990 and 2000. By 1995, however, ridership had dropped by almost 8%. The City Council said this was not acceptable and tasked the Transportation Department to develop a strategy to meet the target. The department started a service improvement program that included hiring a technical consulting firm to review operations and survey riders on what they liked and disliked. This led to improved safety en route and at bus stops, route changes, smaller and larger buses on specific routes, and schedule changes. These changes were implemented in 1997, and ridership started increasing shortly thereafter. By 2000, the City had surpassed its target, with ridership 17% greater than in 1990, and it had been voted the number one urban transit service in the US four years in a row.

• Support from the top matters. SM received support from the top elected and appointed officials early on. The city manager incorporated meeting SCP goals into performance criteria for department heads. This level of support gets all players on board, especially those who may resist the concept of sustainability or change in general.

• Respond to the public’s specific needs. Whenever possible, talk to public audiences about specific problems and the actions needed to fix those problems. People can relate to a polluted bay and the specific actions needed to clean it up; they cannot relate to vague terms like sustainability or The Natural Step.

The Future
City staff do not see any direct threat to the SCP because it has strong support among city leadership, and the city has a strong economic base. Also, the program only has one staff person who coordinates activities with staff in other departments. This keeps program overhead low. Finally, the staff has developed a variety of partnerships with other cities and the business community in support of the program and several other general public outreach tools. The business partnerships include annual Sustainable Quality Awards for businesses that meet certain criteria as well as a Sustainable Works program that provides free technical assistance to local businesses. General public outreach tools include an environmental directory for all city residents; a “Green Map,” which includes, not only parks and green spaces, but also electric vehicle stations, green buildings, green retailers, and other environmental resources; educational programs in schools taught by local nonprofits; a web site; and publicity around is bi-annual progress reports.

The SCP faces three challenges in the future:
1. Resource use in the City is increasing, both generally and on a per capita basis, despite the success of the SCP. This is the result of a strong local economy and a high day-time occupancy rate, which is due to the strong tourism component to the economy and the large number of people who work but do not live in the City (often because they cannot afford to do so). The high day-time occupancy rate also leads to greater regional traffic congestion and pollution.

2. Affordable housing is declining. Teachers, service sector employees, and other middle income earners often cannot afford to live in the City due to high property values and high rental rates. Also, the State of California recently passed a vacancy decontrol regulation that hampers the ability of local governments to control rent.

3. Social equity and economic development concerns should be included in the SCP.
The initial focus of the SCP was on environmental concerns; the program is just now expanding to include social and economic concerns. The City has been doing significant work related to homelessness, seniors, and children and spends more per capita in these areas than neighboring cities. But it is just now starting to formally and explicitly include these areas in the SCP by educating city staff who work on social and economic issues about their role in sustainability and involving them in development of new indicators and targets.

Attachment 1

Source
Interviews with Dean Kubani, Sustainable City Program Coordinator, City of Santa Monica, in November and December 2001.

This case study was prepared by Mike Riley of Conservation for Central Oregon (dba The Recycling Team), Bend, Oregon, for the Oregon Natural Step Network. You can reach Dean Kubani at (310)458-2227 or dean-kubani@ci.santa-monica.ca.us. The Web site for the Sustainable City Program is http://pen.ci.santa-monica.ca.us/environment/policy/. Copyright 2002 Oregon Natural Step Network City of Santa Monica
Attachment 1
Copyright 2002 Oregon Natural Step Network City of Santa Monica

City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Kim Mackrael — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:48:38 -0400

As part of its commitment to sustainability, the City of Saskatoon has identified the need for a decision-making culture that embraces sustainability principles and considers both long and short term impacts. In 2008, Saskatoon asked The Natural Step to review its internal decision-making and governance practices as well as the best practices of leading municipalities.

Based on these reviews, The Natural Step plans to provide a report that includes a summary of key best practices with relevant supporting examples. Excerpts from the report will be available here in the coming weeks. For more information on Integrated Community Sustainability Planning, read The Natural Step introduction to ICSPs here. For more details on best practices scans or other services offered by The Natural Step, contact info@naturalstep.ca.

A generic version of this best practise scan is available for download below.

Canada

College Campuses Become Climate Neutral Learning-Laboratories

Jennifer Reid — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:37:55 -0400

Georges Dyer, Senior Fellow, Second Nature, and Michelle Dyer, Vice President, Second Nature.

“We may only have 3% of the carbon footprint, but we have 100% of the education footprint.” These are the words of Michael Crow, Presidents of Arizona State University and co-chair of the steering committee of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC). Over 650 schools, which educate more than 5.5 million students, have made a pledge to integrate sustainability into the educational experience of all students, and eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions from campus operations.

On September 15th, nearly 100 of the participating institutions submitted plans detailing how they intend to achieve the goals of the ACUPCC. To review any of the hundreds of greenhouse gas inventories and climate action plans publicly reported by ACUPCC institutions, visit the ACUPCC Online Reporting System for examples of campuses investing $70 million in comprehensive energy efficiency retrofits, installing solar arrays over all buildings and parking lots, and launching a School of Sustainability (Arizona State University), reducing energy demand 50% and generating 20% of their energy onsite from renewable sources (Portland Community College), and developing mid-western wind power (University of Minnesota, Morris).

The ACUPCC network held its annual Climate Leadership Summit in college Chicago in August, where presidents and other senior leaders heard from Former President Bill Clinton about the urgent need to ramp up efforts on energy efficiency in our building stock. Other speakers included Janine Benyus of the Biomimcry Institute, Peter Senge of the Society for Organizational Learning, and Rick Fedrizzi, President of the US Green Building Council.

The ACUPCC is supported by Second Nature, a non-profit based in Boston that works with colleges and universities to promote education for sustainability. Second Nature has strong ties to The Natural Step, as its Founder and President, Tony Cortese, helped bring TNS to the US. Three staff members - Michelle Dyer, Georges Dyer, and Stephen Muzzy - are graduates of the Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability Program, a close TNS partner, and Barbara Koneval, a former staffer for the TNS Oregon Network runs their education and training programs.

To stay updated on the progress of the ACUPCC, sign-up for its free monthly newsletter and follow ACUPCC on Twitter.

College Housing Northwest, Portland, Oregon, USA

Chas Martin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:51:49 -0400

An Oregon Natural Step Network

Overview
College Housing Northwest is a non-profit organization providing housing for students at Portland State University (Portland State) and Central Oregon Community College. It has 120 employees and approximately $9.8 million in annual revenues.

Background
College Housing Northwest (CHNW) was founded in 1969 by a group of students and faculty members at Portland State. At that time, Portland State was not allowed to have housing on its campus and planned to demolish several apartment buildings and convert them into parking lots as part of a redevelopment effort. Students recognized the need for the preservation of those housing resources and convinced both the University and the State Board of Higher Education to allow them to form a non-profit organization to operate student housing called Portland Student Services. This organization later became College Housing Northwest. Portland Student Services was truly a product of the ‘60s’ culture, which included taking care of the earth. For example, the founding group also formed Portland Recycling Team, which operated a drop site on campus.

CHNW currently operates 1,407 apartments at Portland State and a 108-bed residence hall at Central Oregon Community College. Together they house approximately 1,920 students. CHNW owns 384 of the apartments it operates and partners with the Housing Authority of Portland for operation of 96 units at Portland State. The rest are owned by the two client schools.

Since 1988, Gary Meddaugh has been the CEO of CHNW. Meddaugh came to the job with an extensive background in both business management and earth stewardship. Through the ‘70s and early ‘80s Meddaugh managed a United Methodist Camp and Conference Center that had a two-acre organic garden, solar greenhouse, and vegetarian food program and offered several programs on the stewardship of the earth.

Introduction to The Natural Step
After coming to Portland as CEO of what is now College Housing Northwest, Meddaugh was able to find a model that made sustainability meaningful and workable in a business environment. Through his friend John Emrick of Norm Thompson, he was invited by Dick and Jeanne Roy of The Northwest Earth Institute to attend one of the early Natural Step workshops in Portland. Excited about the concepts and the possibility of building a business model that incorporates a healthy relationship with the environment as part of its business strategy, Meddaugh encouraged each member of his management team to go to a Natural Step workshop.
While the management team found The Natural Step framework to be a meaningful and important way to move the organization forward, it agreed that some outside assistance would be helpful to incorporate the concepts into the business. Russell Barton of Ekos International worked with CHNW over the course of 18 months to develop the vision, the goals, and the strategies to incorporate sustainability into the company.

Implementation of the NEXUS Model
What evolved out of this work is what the company calls The Nexus Model, referring to the nexus of three converging circles: human enhancement, organizational excellence, and environmental sustainability. The Natural Step principles serve as a framework for the environmental component. After the management team and an expanded group of 23 employees developed this approach, it was presented to the Board of Directors, which adopted it with this strategic directive: “Implement Nexus to achieve our mission and be the provider of choice for innovative and eco-friendly student housing.”

The company launched a program to educate all employees and develop plans for making the changes to the organization. It operated with the belief that the fundamental way to make this change successful over time was to focus early efforts on changing the culture, instead of just doing "green" things. Training programs about the Nexus model and The Natural Step were begun first for managers, then all employees. A workbook was created entitled “Solutions at the Nexus: Sustainable Excellence at College Housing Northwest.” The workbook served as the centerpiece of the company-wide training effort. The initial training was four hours long. It covered the history of CHNW; a sustainable vision for CHNW; a discussion of the environmental, social, and political challenges to sustainability; an introduction to operating at the Nexus; an overview of The Natural Step system conditions; and discussion of a company-wide Nexus implementation plan.

To allow wide involvement in the program and achieve early success, the company allowed employees, without management interference, to look for low-hanging fruit throughout the company. An employee Low-Hanging Fruit Team was formed to promote, review, recognize, and celebrate ideas. At the same time, the expanded Nexus group worked on strategies to move the company forward using the Nexus model. When the managers looked at all processes and practices of the company, however, they became overwhelmed. As a result, several adjustments were made.

A senior executive was put in charge of implementing the change. CHNW has found great value in having one person in the organization be responsible for making sure everyone is actually doing things, not just talking about them. That person needs to have management support, must be very direct, and must both engage the staff and work with them to find even better and more appropriate products and ways of doing things. For example, if the painting department group says it is doing well and that it has replaced oil-based paint with recycled paint for certain applications, it can still be challenged and engaged to make certain it is looking deep enough and examining every option for improvement: “Have you considered low/zero-VOC paint?” CHNW appointed Vice President Dan Potter, who had been with the company for 28 years, to fill this role. His new, restructured position includes responsibility for budget preparation, new acquisition start-up, and new construction and remodeling supervision, as well as the Nexus program development.

The company also set up a new annual plan strategy called GAME (Goals, Actions, Measurements, and Excitement). Each year the Board sets overall goals, the management team determines how they will be accomplished, and each supervisor writes a GAME Plan. Measurements include task completion, a key indicators report (occupancy, revenue, HR, statistics, etc.), and responses from an annual customer survey. A group of employees was put in charge of excitement. CHNW found that excitement is one of the keys to keeping the Nexus approach in front of employees at all times. This involves communication both with employees and CHNW's customers--its tenants. The employee team refined a monthly tenant newsletter to include Nexus-type information and added a quarterly employee newsletter that emphasizes Nexus.

The company decided that if it wanted to walk its talk, it needed to do a better job of training. The total training budget—not just Nexus--has nearly doubled, from $25,000 to $42,280. All new employees receive orientation at the start of employment and additional training within the first 30 days. This training, presented by CHNW staff, includes the Nexus program as well as the mission, policies and procedures of CHNW, employee safety, and customer service.

During the first year Potter has focused most of his efforts in the areas of purchasing and energy. He went to each group—paint, mechanical, carpentry, cleaning—and tried to determine where the opportunities were for more sustainable products. He took his employees on field trips to local sources of sustainable supplies, such as Endura Woods, Rebuilding Center, and Environmental Building Supplies; got a copy of Green Specs published by Environmental Building News, and met with painting and cleaning vendors. He then gave his employees the task of renovating an old storage area into a studio apartment using what they had learned. They had a chance to try reclaimed wood, waterbased wood finish, cork flooring, low-flow plumbing fixtures, zero-VOC paint, energy conserving light fixtures, and recyclable carpet. This exercise helped the employees to start thinking differently and gave them positive encouragement.

Potter also formed an energy conservation group that meets once a month to decide what projects to undertake. The company did have an energy audit for two buildings by the gas utility, but Potter found that it’s more helpful to have his in-house experts make suggestions and determine pay-back times. When a project is complex, he hires an outside engineer to help make a decision.

Initial Results
The first year of the program resulted in 83 submissions to the Low-Hanging Fruit Team. Approximately 55 percent of them met the Nexus test, as determined by the team and the appropriate department supervisor, and were implemented. They were primarily small steps such as using double-sided copies, increasing all forms of recycling from broken window glass to office paper, using e-mail instead of paper, replacing paper dishes with reusable ceramic ones, being aware of energy and resource usage, etc. From these initial steps, the company realized financial savings of approximately $5,000 a year, but, more importantly, they were the beginning of a change in the cultural mindset. Paint. As a result of extensive research, College Housing has selected a zero-VOC paint. Potter had put together a matrix that considered important factors, such as quality, appearance, environmental impact, odor, and cost, and let his employees test the paints. Sherwin-Williams Harmony best met all criteria.

Cleaning products. Potter met with the company’s vendor Coastwide Labs to request more environmentally sustainable cleaners, and employees tried all sorts of “green” products. They didn’t find any that satisfied them until Coastwide Labs came out with a hydrogen peroxide product that replaces three conventional cleaners. Since that decision, Coastwide Labs has received third-party certification for six “Sustainable Earth” products.

Energy. In the laundry rooms, top-loading washing machines were replaced with more hot-water-efficient side-loaders, saving $15,000 in utility costs. Occupancy sensors were installed in these rooms to turn out lights. LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs were installed in all exit signs. And in common areas, the fluorescent bulbs were replaced by more energy-efficient T8 bulbs. Other measures have been carried out in single buildings: an ultra-low-flow shower head retrofit, a switch to compact fluorescents in dorm rooms, and replacement of an electric water heater with a high-efficiency natural gas one.

Water. A water study in conjunction with a doctoral student at Portland State has resulted in a plan to retrofit plumbing fixtures in older facilities that will ultimately affect over 1,000 units. CHNW completed an informal study in three of its buildings to gauge the results of various actions with and without water conservation education. In one building, it made many retrofits to improve water consumption efficiency combined with an educational program for the employees and tenants. In another building, it implemented just the educational program, and in the third (control), it did neither. In the control building and the building with just education, there was no real difference in outcomes. There were significant improvements in the building with retrofits and education.

New student housing at PSU. A 134-unit housing complex to be completed at PSU by summer 2003 is seeking a LEED (a national environmental performance ranking system) silver rank. The architect firm was selected because of its experience in sustainable construction and has considered life-cycle operational costs as well as up-front construction costs. The units have been designed in the European style—with less floor space than traditional American ones. In a closet by the front door will be a space for hanging a bicycle. The building will be so well insulated that computers, lights, cooking, and bodies will provide most of the heat. Rainwater will be captured for flushing toilets and irrigating landscaping. As the water comes through downspouts to the ground, it will be sent through a bioswale for filtering and then stored in an underground tank. Before use, it will be treated with filters and an ultraviolet light. The heat from shower water will be captured and used to heat cold entry water to the hot water tank. Other features include wheatboard cabinets, and low-toxicity finishes.

So far, the financial results include a two percent increase in occupancy (to 97.5%) and $120,000 per year in additional income. The company has saved approximately $10,000 per year from recent retrofits to reduce utility consumption.

The Future
Potter’s next focus will be on carpet purchases, additional energy savings measures, and improvements in residential recycling. CHNW knows that if the recycling system is more convenient (containers close to where they are needed) and more materials are accepted, more students will participate.

Lessons Learned

Prioritize the projects and break them down into manageable pieces. Trying to analyze every system at once was not very effective. It was overwhelming for a small organization not used to taking on things of this scope. Starting out that way was unnerving to some people for a period of time and made them feel as though they were losing.
It is important to understand that cultural change is an ongoing process, and management needs to be consistent in its approach to succeed. Not everyone shares the view that the world is in trouble and that we need to help save it. Not everyone wants to understand that view or make it their first priority. To change the culture, continual training is necessary.
CHNW found there is great value in having a champion to get people motivated, someone who has the responsibility of implementing the vision, whose job is to challenge employees and work with them to find better and more appropriate products and ways of doing things. As this person starts to do things and lead by example, others see what the company is trying to accomplish. Then they have ideas and make meaningful contributions toward the common goal.
Source
Interview with Gary Meddaugh, President, in March 2001 and phone comments from Dan Potter, Vice President, in May 2001.

This case study was prepared by Kent Snyder for the Oregon Natural Step Network in May 2001 and updated by the Network in October 2002.

Collingwood Region, Canada

Anouk Bertner — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:49:28 -0400

Collingwood, Ontario, Canada

The local Environment Network hosted The Natural Step Canada in training a group of 15 people from local businesses, organizations and the municipality of Collingwood, Ontario.

The intent was to provide participants with a shared understanding and common language of sustainability so they could identify initiatives to overcome current and future sustainability challenges in a collaborative, strategic and systematic way.

With a common understanding and language of sustainability, participants will apply a systematic approach to evaluate programs, operations and policies using sustainability principles. The Natural Step Framework provides a context for making decisions and prioritizing the most strategic actions are in the short, medium and long-term.

One outcome of this project has been a proposed “Georgian Basin Sustainability Plan,” as well as a Carbon plan for The Town of Blue Mountain.

Canada

Come for the scenery, stay for the food

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:39:43 -0500

Mr. Ota’s hotel is unique among the small pensions and bed and breakfasts in the world-heritage village of Shirakawa in the Japanese Alps. For the last few years, he has been dedicated to providing a different kind of experience for his guests - one that gives Tokyo residents the chance to plant rice in organic fields, make their own rice cakes and care for the animals on the farm. It has been an incredibly successful venture for Ota, helping him to expand his business by offering guests a reason to stay more than just one night and to return during the year to contribute to the ongoing farming operations.

Mr. Ota’s journey towards sustainability began after attending a workshop given by Natural Step Japan member Sachiko Takami in her role as the municipality’s sustainability advisor. Six workshops involving 5 hotel and restaurant owners were held to introduce the owners to sustainability, help them analyze their businesses from a sustainability perspective and support them in their decision-making and planning.

The workshop participants began to change their business practices. Many now serve locally produced vegetables, rice and beef. They have also decreased the waste associated with one-time use items such as shampoo and soap. The thing Mr. Ota is most proud of is the relationships that he has helped to foster between city people and the food they consume. For him, sustainability has been a way to improve his business, his community, and the experience of his many guests.

Japan

Commitment to Sustainability Drives Rapid Change at ISL

Jennifer Reid — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:27:10 -0400

ISL Engineering and Land Services (ISL) roared into 2010 like a lion. In January of this year, the organization partnered with The Natural Step Canada to complete an organizational readiness assessment and develop a draft vision for a ‘Sustainable ISL’. This was coupled with the development of a road map to engage internal and external stakeholders to develop and implement strategies to reach the vision. Three months later, the work is complete and tentative targets have been set. This rapid action is driven by a corporate desire to take a leadership role in sustainability and enable clients of ISL to take significant steps toward sustainability.
The Natural Step Canada advisors Pong Leung and Sarah Brooks were brought on board to help the organization build in-house ‘sustainability capacity’ and facilitate the development of the vision and roadmap. In early January, 43 senior-level decision-makers, including the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer, took part in a 2-day workshop that focused on: building a shared understanding of sustainability among participants, articulating strategic objectives that describe a ‘sustainable ISL,’ and accumulating information important for building a road map.
“We covered a lot of ground and set a course for continued success along our sustainability journey” explained President and CEO Rodney Peacock in reference to the workshop. “As we noted during the wrap up [of the workshop], we have built up considerable steam and are charged with keeping the momentum going.”
Information accumulated over the two-day session was used to draft a sustainability roadmap, outlining suggested steps to be taken by ISL over the next 24 months. This was based on workshop output, best practices in sustainability planning, and informed by The Natural Step Framework.
“With this roadmap the organization will have a process for operationalizing their corporate level commitment to sustainability,” said Sarah.
“ISL’s commitment to sustainability will be formalized externally by visibly integrating our sustainability journey into our brand,” says Terry Myles, Senior Urban Designer and Sustainability Coordinator at ISL. “Our client research tells us clients care about sustainability innovation in their projects and see value in looking at current practices with sustainability in mind. By sharing our place on the journey with clients and partners, we hope to create an environment of inclusiveness and innovation—one where learning and practices are shared, and new ideas are always considered.”
In March, ISL launched its sustainability thrust. Nearly all 260 employees completed The Natural Step’s Sustainability 101 eLearning course and attended a half-day workshop focused on The Natural Step Framework and ISL’s sustainability road map. The event included an opportunity for all staff to provide feedback and explore their role in the process.
Looking forward, ISL plans continued engagement with The Natural Step Canada in the second phase of its sustainability journey. The organization will be building localized strategies to integrate sustainable practices, informed by The Natural Step sustainability principles, at the both the operational and service-sector level. The Natural Step Canada congratulates ISL on its commitment and progress to date. Watch our website for more developments from ISL!

Canada

Communities in Newfoundland Planning Strategically

Jennifer Reid — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:53:36 -0400

Communities in Newfoundland are very interested in creating integrated community sustainability plans (ICSPs), but have found the challenge of putting them together and the cost of training prohibitive in meeting that goal. These communities care deeply about sustainability, but have not been able to pursue that interest–until now.

In early March, representatives from eight communities were introduced to the concept of backcasting, developing descriptions and scenarios of success using sustainability principles. The intent of the workshops was to focus specifically on “Energy and Climate Change” in the context of their Region’s ICSP and informed by The Natural Step Framework. To that end, workshop participants envisioned a desirable and sustainable future where their region has successfully anticipated, mitigated, and adapted to the impacts of climate change, while at the same time significantly reduced their region’s direct and indirect contributions of climate changing greenhouse gas emissions. Actions and strategies to support the region’s transition towards that desirable and sustainable future for energy and climate change were brainstormed and prioritized. Prior to the workshop, participants completed a current reality survey to help establish a baseline to assist with tracking progress over time.

The workshops had representatives from several communities including: Bauline, Flatrock, and Pouch Cove located on the east coast of Newfoundland; and Forteau, L’Anse au Clair, L’Anse au Loup, Red Bay, and West St. Modeste located on the Straits of Labrador. The workshops were hosted by the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador, with financial support from the Newfoundland and Labrador Green Fund. They were facilitated by Mike Purcell from The Natural Step Canada.

Information collected from the one day workshop was synthesized into a chapter on “Energy and Climate Change” (comprising a “Description of Success,” “Description of Current Reality,” and “Strategies and Actions”) that will be included in each region’s ICSP document.

“For me, this workshop demonstrated that a one-day session is sufficient for participants to gain enough capacity around the Framework to be able to explore their community’s current reality and then create desirable and sustainable goals, objectives, and actions for a particular aspect of their community or region,” said Mike. “Further, the participants can use that same approach to focus on other aspects of their regions (i.e. transportation, food, water, arts and culture, etc.).”

Canada

Community Foundations of Canada

Anouk Bertner — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:55:55 -0400

Canada

The Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) is a non-profit organization that provides support to grassroots non-profit groups throughout Canada. It wanted to improve internal operations towards sustainability and provide leadership to their grantees around sustainability.

The Natural Step Canada started by interviewing the majority of workshop participants before the first session and found there were diverse interests and expectations. Based on these conversations, The Natural Step Canada designed three virtual workshops for the CFC.

One of the objectives identified during the virtual workshops was to design a sustainable regional plan. It was also hoped the new understanding of sustainability could help generate funds for the organization by focusing on sustainability projects and integrating financial sustainability into operations.

All of the participants attended three phone sessions and completed homework that was paced with their progress through the eLearning course, Sustainability: Step by Natural Step.

Canada