Sustainability more than just green
DEAR SIR — Reading the “Greening Your Business” ad in Business Day this week, I had a little dilemma. Do I quietly appreciate that we are all doing our bit for a better society; or do I grumble about how “crafting a green policy” is a misguided first step to “putting sustainability measures in place for your organisation?”
Despite the obvious value of raising environmental awareness, and your laudable intent in promoting it, the grumble won the day.
Equating sustainability and green is not only incorrect; it is divisive and short sighted. Assuming a policy to be the appropriate first step is, in my experience, mistaken. Sustainability is an endlessly elastic concept. It will always mean different things to different people, depending on context.
Business sustainability as a global movement is something more concrete. It is not a feel-good mix of going green and philanthropy, no matter how well intentioned. It is not something companies adopt a policy about and “implement”. Rather it is a continuing strategic response to the fact that social and environmental challenges are re-shaping the competitive playing field.
In SA, these are as much about unemployment and disparity as they are about natural resources. Focusing this response requires thorough analysis and precise positioning.
Companies such as Unilever, GE and SABMiller are clear about this. They understand that the playing field is changing. They see how the concept of value is starting to encompass aspects of social and natural capital. They know they must address our destructive obsession with shorttermism and engage a growing range of stakeholder concerns.
They have already seen how sustainability thinking is leading to intelligent innovation and partnerships. They are fast-tracking processes that use these perspectives to interrogate their business strategy, and ultimately their business models. They appreci- ate what integrated reporting is seeking to achieve.
These companies did not start by trotting out a green policy and plakking it up on the wall. They started by asking questions like: What does sustainability really mean for us? How should we compete in a world where societal trends are increasingly shaping the business agenda? What are our risks in this emerging space, and where are the opportunities?
These are not questions for large corporations only. They are fundamental to a business of any size.
Pursuit of this strategic perspective will bring executives to a realisation: how we position on societal challenges is pivotal to our competitiveness, now and in the future. Once clear on how the response aligns with strategy, companies systematically develop the competencies required to deliver on it. Those that fail to develop this fitness will lose out to their competitors.
In 20 years as a sustainability consultant, I have yet to see a green policy doing much more than divert focus from the big issues. Many sustainability practitioners have realised this — they are not my concern. But this seductive simplicity does make it difficult for us to get sustainability taken seriously in the boardroom.