Taking Corporate Eco-Strategy to the Next Level

The EcoInnovator » Taking Corporate Eco-Strategy to the Next Level.

"Today, in fact, many companies have a more progressive attitude about executing eco-strategies than environmental groups do. Companies are not as afraid of change as environmental groups sometimes can be. There have been great improvements in awareness and implementation.

However, despite this progress, we are still basically tinkering around the edges. We have not seen the revolutionary shift that we need to curtail environmental and human harm.

We can neither entirely produce nor shop our way to true sustainability."

Holly Kaufman, president of Environment & Enterprise Strategies, argues that businesses need to embed the "Precautionary Principle" into their strategies and processes.  Businesses must take responsibility for the human consequences of their products, rather than forcing the consumer to be "constantly vigilant".  The same approach can be applied to the consequences of our actions on the environmental systems that support all life on earth. 

Kaufman points out that the business case for sustainability depends on structural changes at levels above that of the individual company, such as taking account of "externalities" and valuing ecosystem services.  However, much can still be done at the corporate level.  We need to break the mindset that "eliminating waste and conserving energy is old-fashioned, unsophisticated."  We need to adapt life cycle analysis, instead of our current largely piecemeal approach.  Biomimicry can be a powerful tool in providing not only a set of principles but also specific 'time-tested' solutions.

Thanks to Corporations Should Take Eco-Strategies To The Next Level for the pointer!