Companies trumpet sustainability initiatives, but what is the significance of these initiatives? Another lens we can use to evaluate their efforts is a measure of sustainability depth. There are three levels of performance to consider: the company’s in-house sustainability performance the impact of the company’s products and services on society and the planet the company’sContinue reading “Sustainability depth – are you green from top to bottom?”
Category Archives: Sustainability
Stakeholder engagement pays!
This blog positions stakeholder engagement at the leading edge of sustainability and also, as a core process underpinning a superior business model is transforming older, extractive and exploitative models. However, it is also great to have evidence that stakeholder engagement supports financial sustainability in addition to environmental and social sustainability. Witold Henisz led a majorContinue reading “Stakeholder engagement pays!”
Stakeholder engagement is a core sustainability process for Ceres
Ceres, the pioneering sustainability non-profit organisation positions stakeholder engagement, alongside governance and disclosure as core processes to achieve a sustainable global economy. Ceres was instigated in 1989, making it a pioneer in the world of sustainability. Among its achievements are the development of the Global Reporting Initiative, the Ceres coalition and promoting sustainable investment funds.Continue reading “Stakeholder engagement is a core sustainability process for Ceres”
Sustainability – what’s real?
There are a belwildering array of sustainability ratings – but what do we believe? How do we know they are measuring and evaluating the right things? In their Rate the Raters documents, SustainAbility identified over 50 sustainability rating agencies. SustainAbility will offer insights into how credible each rating system is, but I suspect that many imponderables willContinue reading “Sustainability – what’s real?”
Sustainability, engagement and the end of empires, part 2
We are nearing the end of the age of empires (see part one of this post). As the old world is crumbling under its own dysfunction, the new shoots of a new civilisation are discernible. This is the context for the shift to sustainability. Civilisation by engagement and community building With the old world essentially aContinue reading “Sustainability, engagement and the end of empires, part 2”
Sustainability, engagement and the end of empires – the big picture
Here is a first in a series of blogs offering a interpretation of human history positioning the times we are in now as the end of a long historical saga of empire building, and the dawn of a new global civilisation. In later posts I will explore the parallel shift from economies of exploitation andContinue reading “Sustainability, engagement and the end of empires – the big picture”
Sustainability leadership report
How do you know if a company is green-washing, or over-promoting its sustainability performance? Brand Logic’s recently released Sustainability Leadership Report compares the perceptions of sustainability of 100 prominent brands, with their sustainability reality. Their matrix, sorts the brands into 4 categories: leaders – those who perform well in environmental, social and governance (ESG) dimensionsContinue reading “Sustainability leadership report”
Engagement stories: Kaipara tidal power
Crest Energy has won approval to install turbines in the entrance to the Kaipara Harbour in northern New Zealand. But when lengthy compliance and court processes position stakeholders as adversaries, there will inevitably be losers. How might we find a win-win? Crest Energy plans to install up to 200 turbines in the mouth of theContinue reading “Engagement stories: Kaipara tidal power”
Introducing engaging stories
I’m convinced that stakeholder engagement is the leading edge of sustainability, and that those organisations most skilled at engagement, are more likely to survive and thrive. Engagement isn’t a new practice; good communicators have been engaging for centuries – but with stakeholder engagement emerging as a discipline we have a better understanding of both theContinue reading “Introducing engaging stories”
The long twilight of hunter-gatherer capitalism
The firestorm that raged through finance and other companies over the last few years exposed the deficiencies of the current brand of capitalism. The naked greed and short-term thinking that characterised much of commercial world was over-looked as consumers enjoyed a bonanza based on the cornucopia of cheap finance. But as we stand surveying theContinue reading “The long twilight of hunter-gatherer capitalism”
Bruce-Iri 