The sustainability handbook : the complete management guide to achieving social, economic and environmental responsibility

822 Pages·2007·7.84 MB·English

by  William R Blackburn

THE SUSTAINABILITY HANDBOOK
By William R. Blackburn

London · Sterling, VA
FirstpublishedbyEarthscanintheUKandUSAin2007
Copyright©2007EnvironmentalLawInstitute
2000LStreetNW,WashingtonDC20036
Allrightsreserved
ISBN-13:978-1-84407-495-2
PrintedandboundintheUKbyCromwellPress,Trowbridge
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Dedication
To Sara Jean, whose love and support (and tolerance for
towers of research materials stacked in my home office)
made this book possible.

The Sustainability Handbook:
The Complete Management Guide to Achieving
Social, Economic, and Environmental Responsibility
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
AbouttheAuthor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
IntroductionandExecutiveSummary . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Chapter1
AddressingtheConfusionAboutSustainability:
TheTypicalExecutiveView . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter2
DeterminingScope:AnOperationalDefinitionof
Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter3
TheValueofSustainability:WhyBother? . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter4
BuildinganSOS:TheKeyElementsandBasic
Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Chapter5
SOSStandards:TheRoadmapforChange . . . . . . . . 163
Chapter6
StrategicPlanni ngforFocusedSustainability
Improvement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Chapter7
SelectingGoalsandIndicators. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Chapter8
BringingSustainabilitytotheFrontLine:Deployment,
Integration,andAlignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Chapter9
DataSystems,Auditing,andOtherMonitoringand
AccountabilityMechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
v
vi THESUSTAINABILITYHANDBOOK
Chapter10
TransparentSustainabilityReporting . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Chapter11
StakeholderEngagement;TheRoleofNGOs. . . . . . . 373
Chapter12
ApproachtoSustainabilityforSmallandStruggling
Companies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Chapter13
ApproachtoSustainabilityforNGOs . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Chapter14
ApproachtoSustainabilityforGovernmental
Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
Chapter15
ApproachtoSustainabilityforCollegesand
Universities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Chapter16
KeepingtheInitiativeAlive:MakingtheSOS
Sustainable. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
Appendices
Appendix1
SummaryofSustainabilityTrends. . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Appendix2
Sustainability-RelatedCodesofOrganizational
Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647

Appendix3
Sustainability-RelatedManagementSystemStandards . . 687
Appendix4
PlanningFormsforAssessingandPrioritizing
SustainabilityRisksandOpportunities . . . . . . . . . . 703
Appendix5
MethodforCalculatingSavingsandCostAvoidancefor
Baxter’sEnvironmentalFinancialStatement . . . . . . . 709
Appendix6
ExamplesofSustainabilityIssuesforVariousFunctional
Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713
vii
Appendix7
ExamplesofSustainabilityMetrics . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Appendix8
SustainabilityResourcesforUniversities . . . . . . . . . 751
Acronyms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789

Seewww.WBlackburnConsulting.comforamodelsyllabus
foracollege-levelcourse.

Acknowledgments
My three-year effort of researching and writing this book has not been
easy.LikethosewhoclimbMountEverest,Ifoundmyprogressstalled,
redirected,orreversedfromtimetotimebyobstaclesthatweretoughto
predictattheoutset.Andlikesuchclimbers,Ireliedonateamofskilled
and knowledgeable experts to help me to the end. I thank them all for
their belief in this project, for their generous contributions, and for the
encouragement they provided me along the way.
IoweaspecialdebtofgratitudetoCarolynFischer,DickMacLean,
William D’Alessandro, and Donna Schmid who tenaciously read the
drafts from front to back, pointing out the rough spots needing repair.
Carolyn, my superb editor at the Environmental Law Institute (ELI),
gave her all to the project. Dick, along with Frank Friedman and Gib
Hedstrom,allrespected,seasonedveteransofthecorporateenvironmen-
talarena,helpedkeepthetextgroundedintherealworld.Donnajoined
another friend of our family, Andrew Fisher, in offering views from a
quitedifferentperspective—theperspectiveoftwogiftedyoungwriters
unfetteredbythebiasesofthepast.William,along-timereporteronen-
vironmentalandsustainabilityissues,servedasagoodfoilforidentify-
ing gaps in my information and arguments. Margery Moore, also from
theenvironmentalpublishingbusiness,lentherexpertiseontheselection
anduseofinformationtechnology.BobWillard,awell-knownauthoron
sustainabilityinhisownright,alsosuggestedimportantimprovements.I
witnessed first hand the benefits of paying all those expensive tuition

billsformydaughterLaura’seducationinbusinessanddesignwhenshe
producedmanyofthemoredifficultgraphicsforthebook,andguided
mebythehandthroughafewepisodesofcomputerhell.Iwouldalsolike
tothankLindaJohnson,BillStraub,andAprilKingatELI,whowerere-
sponsible for making the book visually coherent.
Various teammates from my days at Baxter International Inc. re-
viewedsignificantportionsofthedraft,providingthesametypeofcan-
did,usefulfeedback(basednodoubtintheirfirmbeliefofmyfallibility)
that enabled the company to become so well regarded in the fields of
sustainabilityandenvironment,health,andsafety.Thoseteammatesin-
cludedBobSeguy(nowofEnviance),RonMeissen,PeterEtienne,Jenni
Cawein,MikeCycyota,LisaKeltner,SueMiller,DennisShoji(nowof
ix