Transforming Organizations with Sustainability Management – Huffington Post

More and more companies and nonprofits have a chief sustainability officer and are beginning to incorporate sustainability concerns into routine management. The world is slowly starting the transition from todays economy based on fossil fuels, destruction of ecosystems, and the one time use and disposal of finite resources, to an economy based on renewable resources and the least possible damage of natural systems by human activities. I believe that we can develop a sustainable economy and generate sufficient wealth to end poverty and maintain the type of lifestyle many of us enjoy today. I am counting on our values, human ingenuity and technology to accomplish this goal. But to deliver on our potential, we must develop the organizational capacity to make our vision a reality. Dreams, vision and policy are necessary, but not sufficient, to achieve sustainability. To achieve sustainability we must define, measure, staff, and learn the new organizational behaviors that preserve rather than destroy our natural world.

The organizational capacity we must develop will not be built by government fiat, nor will it be built quickly. But over time, with the hard work and brain power of many we can transform the old-fashioned, industrial-style organizations of yesterday into the agile, fast learning, sustainable organizations of tomorrow. These organizations will pay close attention to what we have come to call the physical dimensions of sustainability: the careful use of energy, water and other material resources; the construction of green buildings and sustainable physical settings for work; the reduction and reuse of waste streams; and the reduction of the environmental impacts of an organizations production processes and outputs. Our goal is to maximize our use of renewable resources, recycle resources as much as possible, and minimize our impact on our planetto grow our economy while preserving the planet.

This requires a change in the nature of consumption but also a change in the definition of competent management. A competent manager must be able to read financial statements, and understand finance, human resources, strategy, information, technology and marketing, as well as understand and manage their organizations physical sustainability. Last week I had the pleasure of moderating a discussion of the key elements of sustainability management with a panel of sustainability professionals who all graduated from masters programs built and managed as partnerships between the Earth Institute and Columbias School of International and Public Affairs and School of Professional Studies. I started and direct these programs: the Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy and the Master of Science in Sustainability Management. Together, they have together graduated over 1,000 sustainability professionals. The panelists included:

We had a thoughtful discussion of sustainable supply chains, recycling, green building, and concern for ecological and climate impacts. We also explored the kind of internal governance structures that help sustainability take root in contemporary organizations. We examined the ways in which sustainability is being factored into corporate finance. We discussed energy efficiency and renewable energy and learned how organizations communicate their sustainability practices to investors, customers, funders and stakeholders.

Many discussions of sustainability focus on macro issues of goals, policies and strategy, but our discussion focused on the nitty gritty of day to day work that takes sustainability management from talk to action. From the classroom and text book, these concepts need to be translated into standard operating procedures and organizational routines. If we are to build a sustainable economy it will take hundreds of millions of small steps by many, many dedicated change agents. No matter what happens in Americas national capital, this work is going on every day in communities all over this country and all over the world.

The reason this work continues in the face of a backwards-facing federal government was discussed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a superb New York Times column this past week. According to the mayor:

The movement toward sustainability is driven by ideals and self-interest. It is a powerful combination. My graduates and Mayor Bloomberg represent the future and the reality of the evolving world economy. That reality is being shaped everyday as companies, cities, communities and individuals decide on how to shape their work and lives. Its an unstoppable force.

As a political scientist, Ive always been fascinated by the forces that shape the public policy agenda and political competition. Politics, society, the physical world, culture and economics interact and influence each other. Social preferences create an irrefutable reality. Feminism, civil rights, gay rights, globalism, the move toward wellness, sustainability, individual freedom and expression are grassroots, social phenomena. They will persist and find voice. The web, smartphones, security cameras, satellite communication and drones assure that whatever happens can be observed, and despite the rhetoric, news cant be faked. Powerful images and stories go viral and if they are not real, they are typically exposed. Climate change, toxics, marine debris, invasive species, destroyed mountains and landscapes can all be observed and cant be denied. They create a reality that policy and politics either acknowledges or is consumed by. Some environmental policy and regulation may no longer be needed, but most is needed and changing technology brings about new threats requiring new rules. We live on a more crowded and resource stressed planet. Deep down, everyone knows that that, even if they choose to pretend its a hoax or fabrication. They all know that hill they used to hike on is now a strip mall, and the ride that once took 15 minutes now takes 45 due to traffic. Reality, not ideology, fuels the drive for sustainability.

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Transforming Organizations with Sustainability Management - Huffington Post