Chapter 1 Environmental stewardship ... amazonaws com
Chapter 1
Environmental stewardship: integration of sustainability into managing of envronmental resources. •
Due to no regulations, businesses would bury waste without thinking of the future generation or biological impacts.
•
From the 20th century people and governments have started becoming more aware of the environmental impacts of the poor resource management and governments have begun to create minimum levels of regulatory envronmental compliance
•
Because of the unexpected costs, businesses have started to incorporate in ecomanagement initiatives into business practices. Started basic levels of conservation such as pollution prevention, recycling and environmental health and safety assessment
Environment degradation: deteriotion of the environment through depletion of environment and destruction of ecosystems •
Redesign business processess in a way that environment conservation and resource sustainability is practised along with increased weath and enhanced competitive advantage. environmental conservation has to be has to be integrated into core mission, vision, values, codes of conduct and business system.
•
Successful development of an economy should no longer be measured by gdp and domestic consumption growth but has to include additional measure such as sustainable use of resources, energy conservation, environmental restoration, waste reduction, safe water disposal practices, public education about environmental stewardship.
5 great sustainability challenges: 1) Climate Change 2) Pollution and Health 3) Energy Crunch 4) Resource Depletion 5) Capital squeeze
Climate Change: (improving energy efficiency, decarbonizing energy supply, transportation innovation, biodiversity, human behavious modification) •
we need to cut carbon emissions by atleast 50% of their current levels
•
Several can be put into place using current technologies:- low energy lighting, more fuel efficient vehicles, zero emission initiatives in industries. Decarbonizing energy supply be switching to renewable sources of energy (wind power, solar power, geothermal, biomass, nuclear)
•
Fuel efficient transport- advancement in engine design, hybrids, electric vehicles, next generation biofuels
•
Protecting “green carpet” , reducing deforestation, keepimg green carpet is the least expensive way to combat global warming. Educating about reforestation in developing countries.
•
Government regulations- incentives, penalties. Carbon tax cap, kyoto protocol
Pollution and Health: •
40% of death globally are due to organic and chemical pollutants ( HIV aids, heart disease, cancer, malaria)
•
Lack of sanitation, unsafe drinking water due to dumpage of waste into rivers is cause of deaths
•
Bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer, are due to air pollution. Blacksmith institute identified 2000 instituitions that were contributors to air pollutants
Energy Crunch: •
Energy consumption will rise even if measure for sustainability are implemented. (page 23)
•
Resource Availability:-
•
Peak model theories: resources are finite and at some point availability of resources will pass their maximum production point and begin to decline.
•
Possibility of supply shcok is real not just bacause of peak model theory but because of several key factors:
-
Current supply development constraints: "how quickly we can develop the production of existing known resource supplies" so that basically means how quickly we can get raw materials from the ground or its source into its production use, that's why it says "into the pipline" so how quickly can they get oil from the ground into pipeline for it to be produced
-
Political impact factors: political, legislative or environmental factors that constraints the ability of organization to proceed with supply development. Feed-in tariff subsidies (Feed-In tariffs: government payment subsuidy arrangement whereby participants are paid a guaranteed premium for energy conservation) and other grant/investment programs by government to support development of energy alternatives and improvements in energy productivity would also fall under this factor.
•
-
Rate of new discoveries: identification of new fossil fuels (if this rate is increasing because of technological improvements, more and more fossil fuels are being found at a faster rate than they can be "regrown" so eventually, if fossil fuels run out, there will be less supply resulting in a supply shock)
-
Declines in current production: reduction in supply due to drying up of energy resources
-
Immediate access to additional capacity- ability of current suppliers to tap into to excess capacity to meet the demands of the marketplace.
-
Geopolitical instability: instability in countries that supply our global energy needs ( middle east, libya)
-
Development speed of alternate energy resources: speed at which alternate energy resources can be brought online and be viable as a means of energy for current and future energy needs.
Improvements in energy productivity: improving efficiency of energy production and reducing overall demand for energy so that it does not compromise economic growth. Capital investment will result in a combination of: reducing energy amount of energy per dollar of GDP input and create more GDP from the same level of energy input.
Resource Depletion: •
Resource management: ability to actively manage existing supplies and regenerate new supplies of materials in such a way that we minimize resource depletion
•
Overall concern has grown that resources are being used up faster than they are being replaced. Furthermore, in some areas, resources have reached past their peak supply point.
•
Resource depletion curve continues to accelerate due to the rapid increase in population combined with tremendous economic growth in emerging economies.
•
Resource depletion is felt beyond oil and other fossil fuels: mining, fishing and agriculture.
•
Groundwater is essential to agriculture, industry and doemstic use. Excessive pumping has resulted in drying up of wells, lowering water in lakes, rivers and streams, detoriation of water quality and increased costs as governements and organizations try to get hold of the resources.
Capital Squeeze: •
Due to the demand for investment, developed nations have tapped into the reserves of emerging economies, and saving rate in developed countries is very low which results in increase in consumption. This is a problem because emerging economies are developing internally and their need for capital is dramatically increasing.
•
The consequence of massive capital infusionment and capital shortage is:
•
-
access to capital by fully developing economies will become difficult due to low savings rates of their citizens which means, less investment, and increasing needs of developing economies to use their capital reserves for internal domestic investment resulting in less capital to lend out.
-
to enhance quality of life in developing economies, there will be a predicted reduction of savings among the citizens of developing economies
-
interest rates will increase because demand for capital for investment will exceed supply
-
(financial protectionism is government actions that restrict or restrain the outflows from one economy to another) financial protectionism could creep into global marketplaceas countries with surpluses keep their capital for internal and external investment in a manner that provides them with global competitive advantage.
Result of capital crunch will be that access to cheap capital will no longer be the large contributor to global growth, because of ths, growth may be slowing down, scarcity of capital may increase the gap between countries that have access to capital and those that do not. Might result in higher taxes and fewer services.
Business’s responsibility to sustainability challenge: •
Needs to be driven by top level management approach that analyses an organization’s current practises, sets sustainable development policies and objectives, and designs and executes an implementation plan that is integrated into an organization’s overall strategc plan
•
Success for sustainability will require us to rethink about trade and cost/price relationships associated with it. Also, how we utilize our resources, must redifine the thought process of the entire business system
Trade Management: •
•
Involves shifting the impact of trading and economic development as a primary cause for environmental degradation toward being a process that exists in an area of environmental sustainability. Global markets must be unanimous in their agreement in three practices: -
Participants in trade and economic development must agree to pay for the social costs and it should not be a choice or an option
-
Participants across markets need to support and accept pricing policies that reflect the full cost of expenses incurred in order to achieve environmental sustainability. It also recognizes the reality that costs associated with the development and application of new techologies and sustainability processes need to be recovered as part of an organization’s pricing strategy.
-
Partcipants must block the ability of marketplayers to obtain and leverage a competitive advange to avoid environmental costs.
The movement to an environmentally sustainable model will be a challenge because of the impact of the costs associated with the transition period which needs to be factored into the prices we pay for the goods and services we use. The soverign debt loads and weak global economic recovery will make this initiative more difficult to achieve.
Eco-Efficiency Management:- shifts required in the business operations to maximize the efficiency of resource utilization and eliminate the current degradation of the planet the are brought by operations. Two broad categories are: 1) Resource Management: focuses on shifting away from the old consumption model where
the end result was production of waste. Three fundametal shifts of resource management model:
-
Recognition that resources are finite in many markets and the procurement of these resources results in additional costs, thereby having an effect on the upwardsloping of prices.
-
Recognition that resource efficiency will yield higher costs in the short term but lower overall costs in the long run. Companies who’ve adopted the 4R initiatives (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover) are yielding long term lower costs.
-
Because of societal pressure. One of the main reasons for environmental degradation is their image and brand reputation.
The end result of these three shifts is that more companies are investing in the 4R approach and the consumption model is more emphasised on waste disposal and treatement of waste reduction and prevention. The first goal of resource management is to achieve a goal of zero waste. This generates considerable secondary benefits in terms of lower waste treatement costs, disposal costs, storage costs, energy costs, and cleanup costs. The second outcome is the preservation of resources which allows to prolong the resources for the future. It is accomplished through internal resource and product service systems via technologies and the use of renewable systems and the development of strong reusing of the excess finite resources. Furthermore, it is supported bystrong recycling processesthat maximises alternate uses of excess resources and resource by-products. Resource management also includes improving the durability of products to increase their lifespan, rebuilding or replenishing the resources used, reducing the energy consumption used, and reducing or eliminating the use of toxic chemicals within such processes. 2) Emissions Management: focused on achieving “zero” global emissions. To accomplish,
participants must: -
Attack the pollution at the source rather than after it is created. This means, seeking to develop substitutes, or creating technologies that eliminate waste prior to it being created.
-
Prove, before implementation that processes being employed will not harm the air.
For this to be successful, ,arket participants have to be transparent to operational approaches and communicate to their workers, consumers and global community. Zero emissions will be a very big challenge for the global marketplace, because in several developing economies, it requires access to latest technologies and educational effort.
Strategic Integration: businesses need to see sustainability as an integral part of value creation and this creation incudes sustaining and enhancing the resources we’ll depend on in the future. Managers need to recognize the long term benefits the integration can bring. The need to conduct a self assessment of howthe benefits can be realised into the organization. Long-term Benefits of Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Integration: for many businesses, environmental sustainability is focused on two short term outcomes; improved corporate image and regulatory compliance. Some long-term benefits of environmental sustainability are: -
Pricing power: a stronger brand increases the organization’s pricing power.
-
Enhanced efficiencies: by reducing less resources, it can lead to greater long term efficiencyand stronger supply chain management.
-
Customer retention: improved customer loyalty leads to reduced customer desertation rates.
-
Stronger employee base: enagaing employees can result in greater employee retention, stronger recruitment positioning, and more employee motivation and productivity
-
Strong environmental management: lower risk exposure, lower insurance premiums, lower capital costs, and more access to capital.
-
New business options: leads to new skill development, leads to creation of new business, enhanced ability to enter the market.
Capabilities: Critical Self Assessment: -
Define sustainability within the organization
-
Identify the opportunities, threats and gaps
-
Build the business case
-
Establish the targets
-
Commit the resources
Productivity cycle: includes the processes involved in transforming materials into a product or service available for sale in the marketplace.
Environmental stewardship: integration of sustainability into managing of envronmental resources. •
Due to no regulations, businesses would bury waste without thinking of the future generation or biological impacts.
•
From the 20th century people and governments have started becoming more aware of the environmental impacts of the poor resource management and governments have begun to create minimum levels of regulatory envronmental compliance
•
Because of the unexpected costs, businesses have started to incorporate in ecomanagement initiatives into business practices. Started basic levels of conservation such as pollution prevention, recycling and environmental health and safety assessment
Environment degradation: deteriotion of the environment through depletion of environment and destruction of ecosystems •
Redesign business processess in a way that environment conservation and resource sustainability is practised along with increased weath and enhanced competitive advantage. environmental conservation has to be has to be integrated into core mission, vision, values, codes of conduct and business system.
•
Successful development of an economy should no longer be measured by gdp and domestic consumption growth but has to include additional measure such as sustainable use of resources, energy conservation, environmental restoration, waste reduction, safe water disposal practices, public education about environmental stewardship.
5 great sustainability challenges: 1) Climate Change 2) Pollution and Health 3) Energy Crunch 4) Resource Depletion 5) Capital squeeze
Climate Change: (improving energy efficiency, decarbonizing energy supply, transportation innovation, biodiversity, human behavious modification) •
we need to cut carbon emissions by atleast 50% of their current levels
•
Several can be put into place using current technologies:- low energy lighting, more fuel efficient vehicles, zero emission initiatives in industries. Decarbonizing energy supply be switching to renewable sources of energy (wind power, solar power, geothermal, biomass, nuclear)
•
Fuel efficient transport- advancement in engine design, hybrids, electric vehicles, next generation biofuels
•
Protecting “green carpet” , reducing deforestation, keepimg green carpet is the least expensive way to combat global warming. Educating about reforestation in developing countries.
•
Government regulations- incentives, penalties. Carbon tax cap, kyoto protocol
Pollution and Health: •
40% of death globally are due to organic and chemical pollutants ( HIV aids, heart disease, cancer, malaria)
•
Lack of sanitation, unsafe drinking water due to dumpage of waste into rivers is cause of deaths
•
Bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer, are due to air pollution. Blacksmith institute identified 2000 instituitions that were contributors to air pollutants
Energy Crunch: •
Energy consumption will rise even if measure for sustainability are implemented. (page 23)
•
Resource Availability:-
•
Peak model theories: resources are finite and at some point availability of resources will pass their maximum production point and begin to decline.
•
Possibility of supply shcok is real not just bacause of peak model theory but because of several key factors:
-
Current supply development constraints: "how quickly we can develop the production of existing known resource supplies" so that basically means how quickly we can get raw materials from the ground or its source into its production use, that's why it says "into the pipline" so how quickly can they get oil from the ground into pipeline for it to be produced
-
Political impact factors: political, legislative or environmental factors that constraints the ability of organization to proceed with supply development. Feed-in tariff subsidies (Feed-In tariffs: government payment subsuidy arrangement whereby participants are paid a guaranteed premium for energy conservation) and other grant/investment programs by government to support development of energy alternatives and improvements in energy productivity would also fall under this factor.
•
-
Rate of new discoveries: identification of new fossil fuels (if this rate is increasing because of technological improvements, more and more fossil fuels are being found at a faster rate than they can be "regrown" so eventually, if fossil fuels run out, there will be less supply resulting in a supply shock)
-
Declines in current production: reduction in supply due to drying up of energy resources
-
Immediate access to additional capacity- ability of current suppliers to tap into to excess capacity to meet the demands of the marketplace.
-
Geopolitical instability: instability in countries that supply our global energy needs ( middle east, libya)
-
Development speed of alternate energy resources: speed at which alternate energy resources can be brought online and be viable as a means of energy for current and future energy needs.
Improvements in energy productivity: improving efficiency of energy production and reducing overall demand for energy so that it does not compromise economic growth. Capital investment will result in a combination of: reducing energy amount of energy per dollar of GDP input and create more GDP from the same level of energy input.
Resource Depletion: •
Resource management: ability to actively manage existing supplies and regenerate new supplies of materials in such a way that we minimize resource depletion
•
Overall concern has grown that resources are being used up faster than they are being replaced. Furthermore, in some areas, resources have reached past their peak supply point.
•
Resource depletion curve continues to accelerate due to the rapid increase in population combined with tremendous economic growth in emerging economies.
•
Resource depletion is felt beyond oil and other fossil fuels: mining, fishing and agriculture.
•
Groundwater is essential to agriculture, industry and doemstic use. Excessive pumping has resulted in drying up of wells, lowering water in lakes, rivers and streams, detoriation of water quality and increased costs as governements and organizations try to get hold of the resources.
Capital Squeeze: •
Due to the demand for investment, developed nations have tapped into the reserves of emerging economies, and saving rate in developed countries is very low which results in increase in consumption. This is a problem because emerging economies are developing internally and their need for capital is dramatically increasing.
•
The consequence of massive capital infusionment and capital shortage is:
•
-
access to capital by fully developing economies will become difficult due to low savings rates of their citizens which means, less investment, and increasing needs of developing economies to use their capital reserves for internal domestic investment resulting in less capital to lend out.
-
to enhance quality of life in developing economies, there will be a predicted reduction of savings among the citizens of developing economies
-
interest rates will increase because demand for capital for investment will exceed supply
-
(financial protectionism is government actions that restrict or restrain the outflows from one economy to another) financial protectionism could creep into global marketplaceas countries with surpluses keep their capital for internal and external investment in a manner that provides them with global competitive advantage.
Result of capital crunch will be that access to cheap capital will no longer be the large contributor to global growth, because of ths, growth may be slowing down, scarcity of capital may increase the gap between countries that have access to capital and those that do not. Might result in higher taxes and fewer services.
Business’s responsibility to sustainability challenge: •
Needs to be driven by top level management approach that analyses an organization’s current practises, sets sustainable development policies and objectives, and designs and executes an implementation plan that is integrated into an organization’s overall strategc plan
•
Success for sustainability will require us to rethink about trade and cost/price relationships associated with it. Also, how we utilize our resources, must redifine the thought process of the entire business system
Trade Management: •
•
Involves shifting the impact of trading and economic development as a primary cause for environmental degradation toward being a process that exists in an area of environmental sustainability. Global markets must be unanimous in their agreement in three practices: -
Participants in trade and economic development must agree to pay for the social costs and it should not be a choice or an option
-
Participants across markets need to support and accept pricing policies that reflect the full cost of expenses incurred in order to achieve environmental sustainability. It also recognizes the reality that costs associated with the development and application of new techologies and sustainability processes need to be recovered as part of an organization’s pricing strategy.
-
Partcipants must block the ability of marketplayers to obtain and leverage a competitive advange to avoid environmental costs.
The movement to an environmentally sustainable model will be a challenge because of the impact of the costs associated with the transition period which needs to be factored into the prices we pay for the goods and services we use. The soverign debt loads and weak global economic recovery will make this initiative more difficult to achieve.
Eco-Efficiency Management:- shifts required in the business operations to maximize the efficiency of resource utilization and eliminate the current degradation of the planet the are brought by operations. Two broad categories are: 1) Resource Management: focuses on shifting away from the old consumption model where
the end result was production of waste. Three fundametal shifts of resource management model:
-
Recognition that resources are finite in many markets and the procurement of these resources results in additional costs, thereby having an effect on the upwardsloping of prices.
-
Recognition that resource efficiency will yield higher costs in the short term but lower overall costs in the long run. Companies who’ve adopted the 4R initiatives (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover) are yielding long term lower costs.
-
Because of societal pressure. One of the main reasons for environmental degradation is their image and brand reputation.
The end result of these three shifts is that more companies are investing in the 4R approach and the consumption model is more emphasised on waste disposal and treatement of waste reduction and prevention. The first goal of resource management is to achieve a goal of zero waste. This generates considerable secondary benefits in terms of lower waste treatement costs, disposal costs, storage costs, energy costs, and cleanup costs. The second outcome is the preservation of resources which allows to prolong the resources for the future. It is accomplished through internal resource and product service systems via technologies and the use of renewable systems and the development of strong reusing of the excess finite resources. Furthermore, it is supported bystrong recycling processesthat maximises alternate uses of excess resources and resource by-products. Resource management also includes improving the durability of products to increase their lifespan, rebuilding or replenishing the resources used, reducing the energy consumption used, and reducing or eliminating the use of toxic chemicals within such processes. 2) Emissions Management: focused on achieving “zero” global emissions. To accomplish,
participants must: -
Attack the pollution at the source rather than after it is created. This means, seeking to develop substitutes, or creating technologies that eliminate waste prior to it being created.
-
Prove, before implementation that processes being employed will not harm the air.
For this to be successful, ,arket participants have to be transparent to operational approaches and communicate to their workers, consumers and global community. Zero emissions will be a very big challenge for the global marketplace, because in several developing economies, it requires access to latest technologies and educational effort.
Strategic Integration: businesses need to see sustainability as an integral part of value creation and this creation incudes sustaining and enhancing the resources we’ll depend on in the future. Managers need to recognize the long term benefits the integration can bring. The need to conduct a self assessment of howthe benefits can be realised into the organization. Long-term Benefits of Environmental Sustainability and Strategic Integration: for many businesses, environmental sustainability is focused on two short term outcomes; improved corporate image and regulatory compliance. Some long-term benefits of environmental sustainability are: -
Pricing power: a stronger brand increases the organization’s pricing power.
-
Enhanced efficiencies: by reducing less resources, it can lead to greater long term efficiencyand stronger supply chain management.
-
Customer retention: improved customer loyalty leads to reduced customer desertation rates.
-
Stronger employee base: enagaing employees can result in greater employee retention, stronger recruitment positioning, and more employee motivation and productivity
-
Strong environmental management: lower risk exposure, lower insurance premiums, lower capital costs, and more access to capital.
-
New business options: leads to new skill development, leads to creation of new business, enhanced ability to enter the market.
Capabilities: Critical Self Assessment: -
Define sustainability within the organization
-
Identify the opportunities, threats and gaps
-
Build the business case
-
Establish the targets
-
Commit the resources
Productivity cycle: includes the processes involved in transforming materials into a product or service available for sale in the marketplace.
