Page 31 – Sustainability Academy

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Do Business and Politics Mix?

The second annual SDG Business Forum takes place at the United Nations on 18 July 2017 during the ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. The 2030 Agenda recognizes the critical role of business in delivering on the promise of sustainable and inclusive development.

The private sector has been invited to share its support for the Agenda during the HLPF at the SDG Business Forum. The SDG Business Forum convenes leaders from business and government, together with the heads of UN agencies, key international organizations and civil society groups to delve into the role business will play in delivering the 2030 Agenda

What is needed to achieve the goals under the 2030 Agenda?

A careful review of 70 years of the United Nations’ economic advice reveals that the analysis still remains relevant to guiding countries through a difficult current global economic situation and for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, according to the World Economic and Social Survey launched last week by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

SDG Business Forum, Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability Leadership, UN, Business Forum 2017, HLPF, SDG's, Climate Change, CSR, Sustainable Innovation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Sustainability, Environment, CSE, Sustainability Academy| — “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a moral and economic imperative and an extraordinary opportunity.”
– ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, Secretary-General of the United Nations

Key lessons for implementing the SDGs Lessons from the past 70 years of development history that are relevant to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development emphasize that:

The global economy needs strong institutions and coordinated international action.
Stability in the international monetary and trade systems underpins development.
Countries need adequate policy space to accelerate development.
International solidarity is the foundation for development and rebuilding the global economy.
Development is multidimensional, context-specific and about transformation, underpinned by strategic development planning and strengthened State capacity.

The state of play

In this regard, an open multilateral trading system is fundamental for continued growth and development. At the same time, it is critical to ensure that such a system results in positive development outcomes regarding those who are being left behind and those who are vulnerable to economic disruption, climate shocks or conflict. It is also critical that inequality be tackled head on, particularly within the context of globalization and technological progress, low-emissions and high-growth economic pathways which are transforming the very essence of labor demand.

How will the G20 meeting in Germany, affect corporate sustainability? Twenty of the world’s largest economies faced transitioning from polluting energy and technologies while keeping the world’s economy growing. In many ways relevant to sustainability, they missed the mark.

Training in sustainability (Sustainability Magic Bullet: Invest in Training!) is more important now than ever. Even when governments cannot organize themselves to promote sustainability, multinational corporations recognize the imperative for sustainability. They will go it alone, relying on the vision and drive of sustainability practitioners.

Missed Opportunity One – Increased Globalization with Sustainable Trade

US President Donald Trump made his first appearance at the G20 which was tasked to tackle commerce issues such as fair trade and corporate responsibility. In alignment with Germany’s focus on finance, various working groups did tout less protectionism and a uniform financial code. Both measures go contrary to past statements by Trump which can impede a more open multilateral trading system. For example, the US is posturing with China on steel production, threatening trade barriers.

Missed Opportunity Two – Unanimity on Climate Change

The G20 addressed climate change, focusing on energy, infrastructure, transport, land and industry. The need is urgent as the IEA and IRENA (international energy agencies) forecast necessary investments of US$120 trillion in energy projects between 2016 and 2050 (twice the current annual rate of $1.8 trillion a year) to achieve the Paris targets. Trump remained inflexible on the Paris Agreement, putting his long-awaited meeting with Putin ahead of the climate change session.

Missed Opportunity Three – Global Fair Labor Practices

Leading global labor unions asked the G20 leaders to consider the Bangladesh Accord on worker safety as a blueprint for promoting sustainable business practices. Led by the OECD, the Bangladesh Accord was extended to 2018 in Paris and signed by 15 major brands from the clothing and textile industry, but a global consensus remains elusive.

Despite these stumbles, Nikos Avlonas, president of the Center for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE), believes missteps will not stymie progress on climate change. “Business leaders will make sure of that,” he writes for the Sustainability Academy blog.

CSE trainings promote professional preparedness, covering global legislation and standards, foundational knowledge needed in international corporate sustainability. The next U.S. training is in New York City, Sept. 28-29, led by Nikos Avlonas, followed by Toronto, Oct. 26-27, and San Diego, Oct. 31-Nov.1.

Nike’s moonshot ambition is to double its business while halving the company’s environmental impact. The company has set a vision for a low-carbon, closed-loop future as part of the company’s growth strategy. Nike has placed three strategic aims to guide this work: minimize environmental footprint, transform manufacturing and unleash human potential.

“At Nike, we believe it is not enough to adapt to what the future may bring – we’re creating the future we want to see through sustainable innovation,” said NIKE, Inc. President and CEO, Mark Parker. “Today our teams are advancing ambitious new business models and partnerships that can scale unprecedented change across our business and the industry.”

Minimize Environmental Footprint

Nike aims to minimize its environmental footprint throughout the product life-cycle, looking at carbon and energy, chemistry, water and waste to identify strategies to use less, use better, innovate new solutions and, where possible, close the loop and reuse. More specifically, Nike is targeting a 10% reduction in the average environmental footprint of its shoes by 2020, paired with a goal to increase use of more sustainable materials overall.

Transform Manufacturing

Nike’s sustainability vision does not only involve what products Nike makes but also how it makes them, by focusing on improving the manufacturing process. Nike’s manufacturing vision involves working with fewer, better contract factories that are committed to transforming their businesses beyond a foundation of compliance to be lean, green, equitable and empowering for workers. Nike is also investing in pilot research programs aimed at uncovering how services, technology and changes to compensation and benefits systems can positively impact workers inside and outside their workplaces.

Unleash Human Potential

Guided by the belief that diversity fosters creativity and accelerates innovation, Nike is strengthening its recruitment, promotion and retention of diverse talent by expanding representation of women and people of color to start, while continuing to increase diversity of all dimensions across its business long term.

Along with their commitments to the workforce, Nike is also looking for ways to serve the next generation of athletes by raising awareness of the physical inactivity epidemic and working with others to get kids moving, because research shows that active kids are happier, healthier and more successful.

Undoubtedly, these strategic efforts will deliver on Nike’s long-term strategy to leverage sustainable innovation as a powerful engine for growth and catalyst for change, serving as a bright example for an entire industry shift towards a more sustainable future.

In today’s increasingly competitive landscape, more and more companies are realizing the innumerable benefits of sustainability and its capacity to create strong brand names and achieve long-term economic growth. Brands can play an important role in communicating the message for a more sustainable, abundant future.

The Concept of “The Good Economy”

According to Matias Kelly, Secretary of Social Economy at the Ministry of Social Development of Argentina “The Good Economy is an economy that places the person in the center and is ordered according to the common good, and where everything that is spent, bought or produced points to that common good”. Therefore, companies should adhere to the rules of “the good economy” and work towards developing benefits for people either with the product they sell or through the way they produce and distribute it.

Are Brands Going Far Enough?

Brands have this unique opportunity to foster positive consumer relations through sustainable initiatives and improve a company’s image in the minds of consumers. The role of brands is to become aware of this growing need for a good economy that creates value and benefits for the consumer instead of being solely based on profit.

If in this logic, brands have the possibility to sell while they generate positive impact in the world, the benefit is double. Overall, brands should work even harder in order to inspire, engage and equip today’s business and brand leaders to prosper for the near and long term by leading the way to a sustainable, abundant future

Redefining the Bases for a New, Better Economy

It has become evident that the hunt for ever higher production and consumption is drawing down limited supplies of natural resources, using up the capacity of ecosystems to absorb wastes, and – despite all of this – failing to improve people’s lives in wealthy nations. It is possible to build an economy that meets people’s needs without undermining the life-support systems of the planet.

Big changes are needed to achieve such an economy. For example, limits on resource use and waste emissions to ensure environmental sustainability but also limits on income inequality to improve societal health. In order to achieve these changes we all need to ask ourselves how much we care about the planet and our society. All in all, when consciousness evolves, the market evolves, because the market is all of us.

In honor of Independence Day, we can ask ourselves “What does the United States of America stand for”? The nation’s founders believed a shared and enduring purpose was of utmost importance and they put it at the top of the Constitution. The American constitution is based on a set of shared values such as protecting and promoting the general welfare for everyone and for future generations. Very often, it falls to a particular generation to choose a new strategic direction in uncharted waters in order to safeguard these shared values for a more sustainable future. Many would assert that this is one of those times.

Two meaningful words: “global unsustainability”

We can sum up the great challenge of our era in two words: “global unsustainability.” It is evident that our planet is facing grave economic, social and environmental challenges. The United States, as one of the most powerful countries in the world should view these challenges as a great opportunity to lead the world’s transition to a more sustainable order. We can sum up all the challenges of our era in two words, “global unsustainability”.

There are four (4) causal interrelated connections that in sum could be called “global unsustainability”

The speed of change in our societies that has led 3 billion people into the global economy
The disruptions of climate change
The scarcity of resources that affects directly our supply chains and infrastructure
the fact that most major economies follow a restrictive monetary policy

The need for a more sustainable future

The cause of the United States will be found in taking on the immense global challenge of our age, global unsustainability — environmental, social and economic well-being — not by turning its back on this reality. The goal is to figure out a way for a more sustainable future and lead the rest of the world in that direction. And, in the process, perhaps the USA will even earn the credibility and influence needed to lead on the global stage in the twenty-first century.

The next CSE training is in New York, September 28-29, led by Nikos Avlonas, followed by Toronto then San Diego. Visit the website for other trainings around the world or for online courses offered by the Sustainability Academy.

As the USA celebrates 241 years of independence, we can also celebrate over 200 years of sustainability! Despite many set-backs and seemingly insurmountable problems, the USA has steadily made progress to improve our environment, society and governance (ESG).

Sustainability is largely credited as a new phenomenon, a child of the late 20^th century, heralded by the 1987 publication of “Our Common Future” by the United Nations.

As for the USA, cities may have been smelly in 1776 but within 25 years, by the early 1800s there were water delivery systems in urban centers shortly followed by sanitation systems. These made significant headway against cholera and other water born illness. Now that concerns focus on fresh water use, CSE clients such as Coca-Cola and Heineken are making significant sustainability investments in water conservation.

Yellowstone Park was established and protected in perpetuity, starting in 1872. Within another 50 years, the National Parks Service was established in 1916, not to mention over 10,000 state parks to date! Even developed lands are getting the green treatment as with CSE founder Nikos Avlonas’ work with the NAR Green Designation.

Another fifty-year jump gets us to Rachel Carson’s pivotal work Silent Spring published in 1962. The ground was already set and needed the social outcry to establish the US EPA in 1970.

Not even 50 years later, we have NASA’s Next Generation Solar Energy Center, building on the hundreds of technologies developed by NASA’s Mission to Planet Earth started in 1986, led by astronaut Sally Ride. The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) is proud to be part of this effort, having provided sustainability training for NASA employees.

Yes, let’s celebrate our history of successes. Let’s also acknowledge that we have a long way to go. CSE is only 15 years old. Our Sustainability Academy is only 2 years old. Still we hope to be a strong part of the next 50 years in US sustainability – training the practitioners of the future who will help celebrate USA’s independence, not only from tyranny but from the devastations of resource depletion, social injustice and corporate mistakes.

After several years’ hiatus, the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) returned to San Francisco, presenting its signature Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program at the University of San Francisco for their Master for Nonprofit Administration.

Why does such a sustainability oriented city need CSE? The Parks Department encourages food production, and the city government requires that Farmers Markets accept EBT cards, making healthier food more affordable. San Francisco is striving to be waste-free by 2020 and is already three quarters of the way there. Much of the public transit system is comprised of zero-emission vehicles, and San Francisco defies the state average of 100 gallons of water per person with a mere 49 gallons per person per day. The list goes on!

This implementation and planning for the future necessitates an enormous influx of a sustainability-trained workforce. Whether it’s infrastructure, finance, transportation, health care or agriculture, sustainability practitioners are needed in every field and every discipline throughout the community. Trained professionals need to be in place throughout the entire system – public and private.

Nikos Avlonas, president of CSE, has been addressing urban needs for decades. He was founder and co-chair of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Strategy Committee; is advisory council member of SERF (Society of Environmentally Responsible buildings) Green Building; and vice president of the Corporate Responsibility Institute, a nonprofit for CSR evaluation and benchmarking (based on the Business in the Community Index).

Sustainability practitioners are needed within many varied fields whether manufacturing, financials, real estate, energy or IT. Even though University of San Francisco is training tomorrow’s business leaders and social entrepreneurs, sustainability is not only a business or management issue. Engineering, R&D and operations need an approachable means of bringing sustainability into every aspect of the corporate world.

Not everyone has the time or the money to spend four years earning a sustainability degree. Informed employees, aware students, corporate leaders who understand the fundamentals are needed immediately! CSE has trained executives from Pfizer, Janssen, BP, and many others around the world. Modules on Local Legislation, Global Standards and Future Trends provide critical foundational knowledge.

In San Francisco, CSE can speak to a major revenue source – Silicon Valley. CSE completed ground breaking research in 2016 demonstrating that Silicon Valley corporations, for all of San Francisco’s successes, lag behind the sustainability achievements of the Fortune Global 500, many of whose executives CSE has trained. The report “Sustainability Trends in Silicon Valley” identifies weakness, and the CSE Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2017, is part of the solution.

San Francisco isn’t CSE’s only California stop this year. CSE is collaborating with the SRI Conference Nov. 1–3, 2017, in San Diego, CA, hosting CSE’s Advanced Certified Sustainability Practitioner Program as a pre-conference training Oct. 31- Nov. 1, 2017.

The next U.S. training is in New York City, September 28-29, led by Nikos Avlonas, followed by Toronto then San Diego. Visit the website for other trainings around the world or for online courses offered by the Sustainability Academy.

The following tips will help to launch your sustainability career, and steer you in the right direction in order to excel in the field of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility.

1. Speak the language

As you apply to different positions, adjust your CV (and interview) vocabulary so that it relates to the company’s context, values, and challenges. Sell them on how you can add value to their current priorities.

2. Focus on your skill set

There are some key skills which are absolutely necessary for a sustainability career;

Interpersonal: You will be required to work across departments and be responsible for communicating and collaborating with others. At times you will need to rely on your relationships to get things done. You have to be a visible leader and be able to motivate those around you.
Communication: Knowing how to communicate well, both verbally and written is a critical skill for a career in CSR. You are responsible for communicating everything from the business case to your impact and need to be able to tailor messages to different audiences and stakeholders.
Connecting the dots: CSR often requires partnerships with other organizations. Being able to see the ‘big picture’ and explain how your organization fits into the cause will be important.
Business Insight: Strategic thinking, research, analytics, and marketing are some of the most common skill-sets looked for in a CSR role.

3. Network

Don’t spend all your time perfecting your CV. Attend conferences and events to build your network and expand your sector connections. Jobs are often filled through connections and referrals, people like to hire people they already know or have heard good things about.

Talking to those who have the type of job you want or are working for organizations you are interested in is one of the best ways to learn more about potential opportunities. Keep your network vibrant by celebrating other people’s success. Be helpful and be useful!

4. Read More

It is absolutely crucial to stay up to date with all the latest CSR and Sustainability issues and trends in order to sound educated, and updated. Also online courses are considered a vital education resource. They only help to inform and enhance your professional career – even when you are constantly on the go!

5. Focus on impact, not outputs

What really matters – or should matter – isn’t outputs, but instead the input, or the impact you are making at a company through your work and your presence. Following these five basic steps will guarantee a bright future for everyone who is eager to start a career in the challenging and exciting field of Sustainability & CSR.

Sustainability Academy wishes you Good Luck!

Corporate leaders find the skills they need with CSE’s unique Global Training Program on Sustainability

By Nikos Avlonas, Centre for Sustainability and Excellence

The Trump withdrawal from the Paris Agreement might slow but will never stymie progress on climate change – business leaders will make sure of that!

There is an important profit motive to staying in the game. A leadership role insures market share, builds brand and reputation, attracts the best and brightest employees, protects supply chains. More than 1000 political, corporate and academic leaders signed the “We Are Still In” declaration, pledging to help meet America’s Paris Agreement emissions target. Participants include California and New York – global powerhouses with huge GDPs: California’s larger than India’s; New York’s larger than South Korea.

Evidence is in action. The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) case studies, used to train global corporate executives from the Fortune Global 500, cross industry and government sectors. Even at the state level, CSE developed a case study focusing on carbon reduction with the Treasury Office of the State of Illinois. Under the leadership of Nikos Avlonas, award-winning author of the best-seller Practical Sustainability Strategies (Wiley, 2014), CSE has undertaken research on Silicon Valley and developed case studies covering: Sustainability and Materiality Assessment; Sustainability Strategies and Reporting; External Verification and Assurance; SROI and Stakeholder Engagement: LCA, Supply Chain and Green Buildings.

This research supports findings that major corporations have contributed to the $8.1 trillion investment in green technologies since 2007 (Ethical Markets Media), side by side with private and institutional investors, a decisive market signal that the transition to a clean economy is inevitable. The case studies demonstrate that a sustainable global economy allows businesses to:

Leverage low-carbon market opportunities;
Benefit from cross-border policy coherence, particularly in new markets;
Be recognized as leaders among stakeholders;
Increase investor confidence by managing climate risks;
Align investments to long-term policy.

More than 400 institutional investors with US $24 trillion of assets under management encourage national leaders to implement the Paris Agreement into national law. Even the corporate savvy in the Trump administration support climate change action: Rex Tillerson, formerly of Exxon; Gary Cohn of Goldman Sachs, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Disney’s CEO Robert Iger and Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk left Trump’s economic advisory council in protest.

Corporate leaders are taking the initiative with or without government leadership. Michael Terrell confirms Google has signed contracts for over 2 Gigawatts of renewable energy, making Google “the largest corporate renewable energy purchaser in the world,” says Terrell. Google has committed over $2.5 billion of capital in investments in renewable energy projects.

Companies recognize that addressing the effects of climate change is in their best interest. Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard says IKEA is already feeling the effects of extreme weather events, from floods in Asia disrupting supply chains to Hurricane Sandy affecting its business by $9 million dollars. IKEA is also concerned with the social impacts on employees and their communities.

While chief executives from major US companies such as Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever and Virgin penned a letter expressing strong support for US adherence to Paris Climate Agreement, small businesses provide more than half of the jobs in the United States. Sadly, almost 40 percent never recover when hit by an extreme weather disaster. The American Sustainable Business Council represents these voices to the US government.

And even the US government isn’t completely out of the effort. At the May 2017 intersessional climate talks in Bonn, Germany, a US team-member co-facilitated with China the transparency discussion, an important topic showing significant progress and one of the building blocks of the Paris Agreement.

The CSE trainings in New York and Toronto will address these issues specifically. CSE has trained North American executives from Medline, Heineken, Under Armor, LSI, AMB, as well as from around the world.

Modules on GHG emissions and carbon footprint reduction provide foundational knowledge needed to move on climate change. The next U.S. training is in New York City, September 28-29, led by Nikos Avlonas. Visit the website for other trainings around the world or for online courses offered by the Sustainability Academy.

Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) supported DePaul University’s 2017 on May 30, 2017, that brought together corporate leaders and social entrepreneurs to share successes and lessons learned. Facilitated by CSE President, Adjunct Professor of Sustainability at DePaul Nikos Avlonas, this one-day conference split the topic of sustainability in business in two. The first session addressed “Sustainability Success Stories from Corporations”. The second was broken into workshops covering: gaining a competitive advantage, starting-up, and for-profits with a social purpose.

Corporations tackle problems reaching far beyond the boardroom. Each industry has unique challenges. As diverse as they maybe, ranging in many fields, disciplines and countries, they have the same mission and goal – leveraging the business at hand to make a better world.

United Airlines representative Aaron Robinson, Senior Manager of Environment Strategy, shed light on their Eco-Skies commitment to reduce United’s footprint in the air, on the ground and at their facilities. Marco Ugarte, Sustainability Manager, MillerCoors, discussed their focus on making a positive impact on the social, environmental and economic issues that affect business, employees and stakeholders, challenging themselves to build on their heritage. Noel Paul, Global Leader, Elanco Corporate Responsibility, addressed the integrated issues of sustainability, animal welfare and food security. Joseph Maguire, MS, SFP, President of the Society of Environmentally Responsible Facilities, highlighted the private property rights and sustainability responsibilities faced by the real estate industry. Social entrepreneur Ann Rohmber, Executive Director of Solidarity Bridge, talked on “Creating an Enterprise for Good”, and Pat Hughes, Founder & CEO, Inclusion Solutions, focused on removing barriers between government and business communities to increase accessibility for everyone.

A special workshop focused on “How to apply sustainability in a startup and gain competitive advantage,” led by Nikos Avlonas, Adjunct Professor, DePaul University, and co-author of the bestseller Practical Sustainability Strategies (Wiley, 2014). Whether start-up or corporation, it is no longer acceptable to merely pursue a single bottom line. People, profit, planet is more than mantra – it is mission. When many global corporations started, the concept of sustainability did not exist. Now, many businesses start as social enterprises led by entrepreneurs with strong imperatives to grow a business that benefits the world. The challenge is knowing what to address and how.

The conference at DePaul University was organized by the Department of Management and the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center with the support of CSE. DePaul’s generous contribution made the conference free for participants (see pictures) with this year’s focus on taking the lessons from established corporations into the realm of the start-up.

About DePaul University Coleman Entrepreneurship Center: The Center was established in 2003 with support from The Coleman Foundation to encourage the study and successful practice of entrepreneurship in its connection to a community of practicing entrepreneurs.

About the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence: The CSE Certified Sustainability (CSR) Practitioner Program includes a module on the “Role of the Sustainability Practitioner and Future Trends”, providing foundational knowledge needed by both entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. The next U.S. training in is in New York City, September 28-29. Visit the website for other trainings around the world or for online courses offered by the Sustainability Academy.