Organizations of all types are recognizing that their core missions are strengthened when tenets of sustainability are their guide. Increasingly, organizations of all sizes are being drawn into sustainable practices. Beginning with multi-nationals and very large institutions, the trend is now being adopted by medium sized companies and institutions.
In Business
Sustainability drives innovation, lowers cost, creates new market space, attracts talent and advances managerial capacity. Adoption of sustainability as a strategic framework strengthens these core business drivers. It is good business AND it benefits communities and the environment.
In Government
Sustainability provides best practice example, lowers cost and satisfies public demand for environmental protection.
Governance on a sustainable basis is also inherently strengthens democracy through transparency and stakeholder inclusion. In Kansas City, my town, a sea change has occurred toward a sustainable governance mindset has occurred over the past three years. Our Climate Protection Plan is leading edge. The momentum was built from a volunteer group, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) which advises Mayor and City Council on environmental matters. The city’s new Office of Environmental Quality has brilliantly operationalized recommendations from the EMC.
In Institutions
The tenets of sustainability apply naturally to institutions which invest in place for the long-term. Their vested interest in environmental and community health lead naturally to policy and actions in a sustainable manner.
Motivations of these three broad categories are quite different, but they all need transformational leadership that touches the habits of every person in the organization. They all are asking what they can do to improve their sustainable practices and they all are naming their first in-house sustainability directors. Organizations that are not ready to take that staffing leap are hiring consultants to help them operationalize sustainability in the most efficient and effective ways.
It all bodes well for those of us who have been looking at this for years, wondering when the mainstream was going to embrace these issues. It is happening.
