Page 44 – Sustainability Academy

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.

Last week, over 300 representatives from business, government, and non-governmental organizations gathered at the European Business Summit in Brussels to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals. The main focus was on the role that businesses can play in bringing about positive societal impact while at the same time generating shared value.

An Opportunity for Sustainable & Inclusive Growth

The study that was conducted on behalf of CSR Europe demonstrates that although the SDGs have already been embraced by many business leaders, middle-management remains disconnected. While progress has been made, collaborative efforts must be reinforced in order to meet the UN 2030 Agenda. The SDGs not only provide a common language for the private and public sector to communicate, they also offer Europe an opportunity to foster sustainable and inclusive growth.

According to CSR Europe’s Director Stefan Crets, “Collaboration is fundamental to bring about the change that is needed. This is why CSR Europe recently launched the Sustainable Business Exchange, with the aim to empower companies to take action and co-create sustainable growth models”.

Implementing the SDG’s means supporting the prosperity of society, as well as ensuring the long-term viability of business. While the common denominator amongst the SDGs lies in the need for change, the opportunity to reach benefits from the SDGs rests with businesses and with their ability to go above and beyond to establish concrete multi-stakeholder partnerships and realize the goals effectively.

Getting involved in the Sustainable Business Exchange

CSR Europe will work through its network of more than 10,000 companies across Europe to promote business transformation through its Sustainable Business Exchange campaign. Companies themselves can get involved in the Sustainable Business Exchange in two different ways:

A learning network. This will help them embrace the circular economy, rethink the value chain, foster innovative partnerships and business models, as well as sustainable consumption and production.
An SDG Incubator. This will facilitate projects between companies, civil society and governments, to drive business contribution to the SDGs and tackle common challenges.

CSR Europe calls on all stakeholders, including the European Commission, to embrace the UN Sustainable Development Goals with practical action and opportunities for multi-stakeholder collaboration which is needed to spark Europe’s potential.

The 43^rd annual G7 Summit was held last week, on May 26 – 27, 2017. The location this year was Taormina in Sicily, Italy. The decision to hold the event in Sicily – and in particular in Taormina was to highlight the capacity to unite hope and hospitality in a single shared effort. The attendees of the 43rd summit included the leaders of the seven G7 member states as well as European Union representatives.

Improving the Conditions for Economic Growth Worldwide through Innovation & Sustainability

The mission of this year’s summit was ‘Building the Foundations of Renewed Trust’. The agenda was based on three fundamental pillars: 1) Citizen Safety; 2) Economic, Environmental and Social Sustainability and the Reduction of Inequalities; 3) Innovation, Skills and Labor in the Age of the next Production Revolution.

More specifically, the G7 Summit placed a great emphasis on how Innovation and Sustainability will be key drivers in shaping the future patterns of industrial development and in guiding the transition towards a digitized, innovative, low-emissions and more circular economy. The Business world should be concerned by the challenges the planet is confronted with, and should be fully committed to conciliating economic growth, job creation and environmental sustainability.

Climate Change & the future of the Paris Agreement

With respect to the crucial issue of climate change, the Group of Seven (G7) leaders have said in their final communique that they had failed to bridge differences with US President Donald Trump – and that the U.S.A. was unable to join other countries in committing to the Paris Agreement.

“The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics,” the communique reads. “Understanding this process, the heads of state and of government of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom and the presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission reaffirm their strong commitment to swiftly implement the Paris Agreement,” it added.

G7 Nations Should Lead the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy

The G7 nations are responsible for 30 percent of coal-generated power worldwide – and as a result they should carry a large share of the responsibility for global greenhouse gas emissions. Talks about long-term growth are futile without taking into consideration the increasing scarcity of resources, which will push up prices and have an impact on the economy. The G7 nations ought to be a model for the necessary transition to a low-carbon economy.

To read the G7 Taormina Leaders’ Communiqué

The Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE) is proud to announce its collaboration with the 28th annual SRI Conference on Sustainable, Responsible, Impact Investing (Nov. 1–3, 2017), at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California.

CSE’s Certified CSR Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2017, is a pre-conference event, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, targeted to investment and sustainability managers alike. This challenging two-day training provides the latest practical tools and resources required to assess investment opportunities and to implement or upscale corporate sustainability. It provides the foundation knowledge in sustainability needed to generate value and create effective strategies. Executives from Fortune 500 companies such as PepsiCo, Pfizer, HSBC, Whole Foods, Under Armour and Lloyds Banking Group, the World Bank and European Investment Bank, local governments and academia have trusted CSE. They’ve participated in our advanced training to become Certified CSR Practitioners and earn a unique recognition in the Sustainability and CSR field. Click here to see the training agenda.

San Diego, SRI Conference, CSE, Sustainability, Sustainability Academy| — Responsible Investments

The SRI Conference offers attendees many opportunities to meet and learn from passionate, creative people from the responsible investment community in the United States and around the world. CSE is proud to offer our training to this community. Course topics include the principles of nature and business, the triple bottom-line approach to sustainability, incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) for 2030, new sustainability trends and regulations, calculating SROI, stakeholder engagement, cause-related marketing, sustainability ratings (DJSI, CSRHub, ET Research Index), materiality, external assurance, case studies and simulation exercises.

The CSE training at the SRI Conference provides an opportunity to network with hundreds of financial professionals and industry practitioners representing client-facing licensed investment professionals; SRI mutual fund companies, asset managers, social research organizations, and other product/service providers; and investors including nonprofit organizations, community development banks, credit unions, faith based organizations, and other groups working on social change initiatives. According to the 2016 Report on U.S. Sustainable, Responsible, and Impact Investing Trends from US SIF, $8.72 trillion is under professional management — nearly one in every five dollars of AUM in the U.S.

CSE is offering a discount to conference participants, and registrants have the opportunity to use the conference hotel rates at the Hotel del Coronado. In the collaborative environment of the CSE training and The SRI Conference, investors, managers, corporate leaders and entrepreneurs can learn and engage, building knowledge, community and prosperity.

About the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence – CSE

Certified CSR Practitioner Program, Advanced Edition 2017, Oct. 31-Nov. 1 – registration

Click here for training agenda

About the SRI Conference, Nov. 1-3 – SRI Conference home

Conference registration

Hotel del Coronado reservations

For more information, academic or group rates, contact:

Rosalinda Sanquiche

rsanquiche@cse-net.org

Today, we live in a world where everything that surrounds us is driven and impacted by big data. As data gathering is becoming advanced, so is our ability to understand copious amounts at once. The corporate world can use Big Data in order to better understand the environmental impact of their operations and optimize their use of resources.

One “real world” problem that Big data analytics is being applied to right now is environment sustainability. Climate change is currently happening and there is nothing that can truly deny its existence. World leaders are discussing climate change at almost all major forums as the problem has moved to the forefront of world-scale issues. This is because it is affecting every country.

Human activity has proved to be the major cause of this change as CO2 emissions have heavily increased in recent years. While a major part of the climate change damage is irreversible, it is still possible to get some control over the global increase in temperature. Big data applications can be as relevant towards the cause of environment sustainability as they have been to other sectors, such as healthcare.

Understanding Environmental Impact and Resource Optimization through Big Data

Big data’s usefulness lies in its ability to help businesses understand and act on the environmental impacts that their operations are having. Big data’s potential impact on sustainability rests on its power to present a clear picture of the complete impact their operations are having.

An important application of Big Data is assessing environmental risks that the world faces right now or might possibly face in future. Another contribution of Big Data to the corporate world is its ability to help optimize usage of resources. Small improvements in efficiency due to resource optimization can result in large company savings.

Moving Towards Better Environmental Regulation

Big data can also be integrated with government policies to ensure better environmental regulation. Governments can now implement the latest technology and adopt real-time reporting of environmental quality data. This data can be used to monitor the emissions of large utility facilities.

Keeping track of how various business operations have an impact on the natural world gives way to new and innovative ways for bringing sustainability to an organization’s structure. Big Data is actively helping create a change, cut costs and boost long-term profitability in a resource-constrained world. That’s the real objective that every corporation should be aiming towards.

The Ecological Footprint is a measure that calculates human consumption and its demand on the planet’s ecosystems. According to reports from the GFN (Global Footprint Network) the world would need 1.7 Earths to support its current demands on renewable, natural resources.

Ecological Footprint & Biocapacity

The footprint takes into account how much in biological resources (such as forest land or fishing grounds) is necessary to fulfill the consumption of a country to absorb its waste. Along with an ecological footprint, the GFN also measures bio-capacity. This is the country’s ability to renew the resources demanded from its ecosystems. The smaller a country’s ecological footprint, and the bigger a country’s bio-capacity, the better it is.

Many countries have bio-capacities that are declining quickly. In some countries, this can be due to a combination of rapid population growth and deforestation. The United States for example, makes up 13% of the world’s total footprint and has the second-largest deficit in the world, after China. While the United States’ total footprint has been slightly decreasing since 2005, it is still twice the size of India’s and far greater than in other developed countries. Its consumption rate is still far from completely sustainable.

Economic Development

Economic development often means using more resources and increasing carbon emissions. For developing countries, an increase in ecological footprint may be necessary to strengthen their economies. The footprints in these countries may not be high to begin with, so small changes can cause a big jump. Also sustainable technology may not be as widely available in developing countries.

For developed countries, the opposite may be true. Because their rate of growth is decreasing and most already have large footprints, the fluctuations might not be so obvious. There are many different solutions, but the fastest way for a country to reduce its ecological footprint, according to GFN is to switch to greener energy sources.

On Friday, April 21, 2017, the United Kingdom had its first official coal-free day since the 19^th century. This marks an extremely historic milestone in Britain’s attempt to shift away from carbon fuels.

Coal-fired power generation is known to contribute heavily to climate change. Burning coal produces just as much carbon dioxide as it does to burn natural gas. We should attempt to reduce the world’s reliance on coal, by encouraging the use of renewable energy sources like solar and wind power instead.

UK’s Coal History

Historically, the U.K. was the first country in the world to use coal for electricity. Thomas Edison built the first ever coal-fired power station in Holburn, London back in 1882. This was considered absolutely groundbreaking for the time. Ever since that fateful day in 1882, coal burning has generally had nothing but success and expansion. That is, until the gradual industry decline of recent years. In 2015 the last deep coal mine closed, although open cast mining continued.

Before the complete coal shut down on April 21^st, the longest coal-free period in the U.K. had been in 2016 and lasted only 19 hours. The head of energy at Greenpeace UK, Hannah Martin remarked, “The first day without coal in Britain since the Industrial Revolution marks a watershed in the energy transition. A decade ago, a day without coal would have been unimaginable, and in 10 years’ time our energy system will have radically transformed again”.

Going Coal-Free in the UK by 2025

Fortunately, the government has announced that it aims to switch off all coal plants in the country by 2025 through the Paris Agreement. As a general advocate of renewable energy the UK has more offshore wind turbines installed than any other country in the world, as well as fields of solar panels with as much capacity at seven nuclear reactors.

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The head of climate and energy at WWF, Gareth Redmond King said that this change was a “Significant milestone in our march towards the green economic revolution.” Hopefully this dramatic, environmental step forward will be used as an example for other cities and countries around the world. We can only hope that in the future coal-free operations will become increasingly more common.