With a rising level of awareness about the role of consumers in the overall environmental picture rising, it would make sense that we would not only begin seeing studies about how consumers felt about green, and whether or not they are willing to buy “green”, but begin to see companies take steps to understand what that means for themselves as well.

In a recent report, Redesigning Business Value: A Roadmap for Sustainable Consumption, the World Economic Forum lays out a document that is in part supposed to report out and motivate leaders who were not in the room, and as always, part to show that there is a historic opportunity upon us. An opportunity that really is ours to waste.

So, with that, the report opens up with a set of constraints that they feel is needed to build a future of sustainable consumerism:

• Innovation: Sustainability is an enabler of innovation and should be at the core of the design of products and services and the development of new business models and platforms.
• Collaboration: New forms of collaboration between business partners, along entire value chains, and with key stakeholder groups will be needed.
• Investment: To catalyse a prosperous future, business needs to look beyond short-term pressures and focus on investment for the long term, working to build understanding among investors of the value at stake in long-term planning.
• Values: To become relevant in shaping a better future for society, new values-based frameworks are needed to align behavior in more productive and innovative ways.
• Leadership: As business leaders, we choose to lead from the front, because we see that the cost of inaction to our businesses far outweighs the cost of action.

All of which are good, but of course, I would also add Commitment and Sacrifice to that as well. commitment because while everyone keeps saying that this is a long term problem, strategies are still being constructed in a very short term manner… and have visibly fallen apart since COP15 wrapped up.  Sacrifice because (as I you will see later), this entire exercise is being sold a as a huge win for EVERYONE.  business wins, policy makers win, civil society wins, and the earth wins, and without any sacrifice on any level.  Sure there is a change in mindset, but costs of production will not have to go up, margins will hold, and consumers can choose all the sustainable products they want at the same cost (if not lower) than those stinky brown ones.

Why sustainable consumption matters to business
In 2009, The Business Case for Sustainability provided a cogent argument for sustainability as an issue that should be incorporated into the strategy and operations of business, not just as a matter of stakeholder responsibility but as a matter of business survival and value creation:

• Managing resource risks: Sustainability matters to business because it reduces exposure to volatile and rising resource prices, to the risk of increased scarcity of resources and to the risk that these (carbon, water, waste) are radically re-priced in the near future. Embracing models of sustainable consumption across the value chain will provide stronger resilience against external shocks.
• Shaping the regulatory environment: Principles of sustainability are increasingly being incorporated into the regulatory environment. If businesses wish to flourish in this environment, they must make themselves active participants in its construction.
• Engaging consumers as citizens: The biggest drivers of corporate sustainability investments are consumer concerns, employee interest and government legislation.8 For business, driving sustainable consumption can be an effective long-term strategy for deepening authentic engagement with consumers and employees.
• Engaging consumers as customers: Consumers increasingly want to be treated as customers, demanding not only more sustainable products and services, but also greater transparency over sourcing and content of existing ones. At the same time, the speed, spread and changing patterns of use of the media are forcing businesses to adopt pre-emptive strategies to manage their reputational risk on sustainability issues. Engaging proactively with the sustainable consumption is one way of managing these challenges in depth.
• Driving innovation: Businesses are the chief engines of value creation and innovation in society. The challenge of sustainable consumption presents an opportunity

A list of 100% gains for companies… that while good (and some very new), I think fails in some way to be completely transparent about the risks that business face should they continue to do little.  that, while some firms may have the opportunity to shape the regulatory environment, more than likely, they are going to be shaped BY IT.  That while they formulate a strategy on engaging citizens, heir once loyal consumers are going to turn into citizens and begin demanding change.

That being said though, where I do like the report (in attitude and guidance) is that while a bit over aspirational, it does offer a strong pragmatic approach for readers to follow, and is grounded in economic approach. That, while certainly selling the win to everyone, looking between the documents lines and you will see how it is promoting a radically different approach to how products are produced, sold, and disposed of through their closed loop analysis. The report also does a good job to highlight the importance of investment funds coming into the space to apply the appropriate pressure, as well as highlight the role that regulations will play as resources run dry and governments are forced to make a decision.

Issues that are highlighted through 6 sections of analysis, and at the end of the report, they developed a list of 6 steps for how this group intends to make it happen:

1. Catalyse opportunities for business towards creating a consumer movement for sustainable consumption
2. Connect corporate executives and university leaders, with a view to creating a pipeline of future talent for sustainable businesses
3. Index, compare and contrast the existing metrics and tools for measurement of sustainable consumption
4. Bridge perspectives between investors and companies on the role of sustainability in driving long-term value creation
5. Create an innovation platform for sustainability which connects open sourced intellectual property to developers and markets
6. Collaborating while competing: explore business models, tensions and solutions, and regulatory implications
7. Launch a pilot to measure and manage waste in the food value chain, and share key learnings
8. Launch a consumer industry pilot on reverse logistics, and identify key barriers and opportunities for scalable solutions
9. Develop a track to bring the business voice into the United Nations Process for Sustainable Consumption and Production
10. Look at the implications for business in moving beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as the main measure of social progress

To which I would add:

• Move economic calculations from current models to one that includes costs negative exernalities
• Move product sustainability initiatives beyond single products to entire portfolios
• Work with government agencies (and consumer groups) to move standards for industries forward (i.e. Hybrid technology rollout to EVERY car)
• Focus on making specific reductions in packaging waste, and improving product designs that improve reuse and recyclability
• Focus on real consumer awareness campaigns that provide unbiased sources of educational materials on products, where they come from, and the impacts they have on the economic, environmental, and societal sustainability.

All in all, where I really enjoyed this report – and others that WEF has put out – is the emphasis on multi-stakeholder engagement through an issue, and a respect for the role that the supply chain itself plays.  However, there is still a need for a bit more honestly when it comes to the fact that to achieve environmental balance and sustainability, there will be sacrifices.  sacrifices not only within industry, but also in the wider community.

• Part 1:Higher Education’s Purpose: A Healthy, Just, and Sustainable Society
• Part 2:Making a Sustainability Perspective Second Nature in Education
• Part 3: The Campus as Living Laboratory
• Part 4:Leadership for a Thriving, Sustainable World

Looking at many of the same trends in China (and preparing my own 30 page paper), what strikes me as very familiar is that there is a lacking strategy to guide institutions and academics in developing real platforms.  It is a process that, while considered important, is very fragmented in planning (i.e. stakeholders are not aligned) and uneven in implementation.

In a series of recent discussions on one of China’s leading business schools, what we found was that there were 4-5 very strong programs occurring on the campus, and while each was supported by a professor, each were developing bodies of research, and each was supported by students, none of the professors were speaking to each other.  The level of fragmentation was actually counterproductive as there was little understanding of the fact that there was a real movement occurring, and that had the professors been coordinating with each other, it would have been possible to significantly increase program size, strength, and administrative support.

As some of you know, for the last 9 months I have had the privilege of teaching a project based course to 193 MBA students on sustainability at the China Europe International Business School.  Split into 35 teams, they have been focused their research projects across 25 separate issues, and for the last 2 months have been working on developing strategic plans with corporations, NGOs, and social enterprises in China to turn the theoretical into the tangible.

But, I want to take this further. .. I want you to hire them as your interns, bring them in-house for 2 months, and let them  to help you understand the opportunities you have to improve on your current products, processes, or partnerships.

CEIBS Responsible Leadership Program (RLP) Summer Internship Program

The question of whether companies should embrace sustainable business practices that will continue the business to be profitable while at the same time, address community needs and stakeholders’ interests isn’t just a question of moral obligations anymore. It has become one where it makes good business sense to do so. In addition, the gradual change in people’s values is a key compelling reason for companies to re-evaluate the way they operate.

In light of both the internal and external pressures that companies face in evolving their business practices that address the sustainability issues, the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) recognizes that future business leaders should be equipped with the knowledge, skill sets and drive to help meet these needs.  The School has since launched a full-year class, “Sustainability and Responsibility Leadership” for its current cohort of students.

Over the last year, 190 MBA students at CEIBS have enrolled in this course. They have researched and managed projects on more than 25 of China’s most pressing issues. They include:

• Market landscape and entry strategies for green building technologies, smart grid, water filtration, e-waste management, and cold chain logistics
• Business plans for improving small scale CDM project funding, food labeling, organic food and clothing, and natural cosmetics
• Capacity development for community enterprises focused on elderly care, migrant education, urban poverty alleviation programs and assisting persons with disabilities

Why Hire a Summer CEIBS RLP Student?

CEIBS RLP students are trained to think strategically to understand market and regulatory landscape. They have also been taught to conduct stakeholder mapping and partnership development. Bringing their previous experience in human resources, operations, finance and marketing, they have brought the projects to fruition.

CEIBS is providing an opportunity for both these students and companies to be engaged for two months in building and improving a current product, process or partnership that aim to address the changing business environment.

How Can Hiring a RLP Intern Help Your Company?

The most tangible means for CEIBS RLP students to work with your company is to evaluate the risks that are brought about from changes in regulations, stakeholders and the public. They can help research current opportunities to develop a new product, service and/or embark in a new partnership that will have direct positive impact for your company, customers, partners and community.

Sample projects could include (but are not limited to):

• Analyzing cleantech market applications and investment opportunities
• Identification and research of new sustainable products and services in China
• Market entry strategies for foreign products and services within the sustainability sector
• Consumer and branding studies for consumer focused green products
• Industry level regulatory, stakeholder, and risk analysis
• Community partnership development as part of a CSR outreach program
• Lifecycle analysis and strategy construction related to waste management and reduction

What are the requirements of hosting an RLP Intern?

As graduate students at China’s top MBA program, CEIBS’ students look for internships where they can truly provide the expertise and value add that your firm currently lacks. They look forward to internships that are strategic in nature, and at the same time be hands-on in the project(s) that they are assigned to. CEIBS also expect the same as well.

The duration of the internship is two months, starting from early July and ending late August 2010.

Note: Some students might be more flexible in their availability depending on their time and location of their internship.

Internships should be paid positions, with work related expenses reimbursed.

How To Get Started

To learn more about this opportunity, please see the list of issues and projects that the students are currently undertaking. Following which, please download the form where we will need you to provide a brief description of the position and contact information where we can reach you. Please email the completed form at rlpinternships @ collectiveresponsibility.org.

For more information of this program, please contact:

Rich Brubaker, Visiting Professor of Responsibile LEadership, CEIBS and Founder of Collective Responsibility

Encouraging to see these shifts, although I personally would like to see more schools really integrate sustainability into their core curriculum.  That, rather than just capture those that are interested, really training on a braod base the concepts of sustainability as they relate to how decisions can have an environmental impact for the better or worse.

That, there are externalities that need to considered going forward

Following the recent holiday, I found the above tree that mixed the new (haibao) with the old (a packet of Double Happiness) as a strange reminder of just how far we have yet to go.

While many had their eyes trained on the outcome of the last day at COP15, my eyes were reviewing final project submissions from the recent batch of students at Shanghai’s Raffles Design Institute.

A school dedicated to all things design, this class of students was coming from the communications department and were charged with taking an existing brand and developing a nee message for them.  A message of sustainability.

For me it was an interesting exercise as I had just wrapped up my own class, and 2 weeks of s sustainability bootcamp, and the projects I was reviewing at Raffles were complimentary to the work my own class had been doing. In fact many of the projects involved the same product classes.

Unlike my students thought, who were focused on developing issue, stakeholder, and regulatory maps, these students were focused on a single branded product, and quite often one that was in existence, and what was interesting to see was that I was able to see behind the communications process as these students researched the issues, sketched out their ideas, and developed entirely new branded messages to fit their angle (see this poster as an example).

It was another afternoon where the power and need for developing student capacity was needed, and that once engaged the students would match their passion for an issue with their talent.

THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Department of Geography and Resource Management
Assistant Professor / Associate Professor

(Ref. 0910/005(005)/2) (Closing date: September 30, 2009)
The Department invites applicants for a full-time Assistant Professor / Associate Professor post in Resource Management and Environmental Studies.

Applicants should have a PhD degree in geography, environmental science or other related disciplines, specializing in one or more of the following fields:
— energy resources
— environmental assessment and policy
— sustainable development
— global change and mitigation

Preference will be given to those with substantial experience in resource management and environmental sustainability research in China.

The appointee will teach both introductory and advanced courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as general education courses. He/She will be expected to demonstrate potential for teaching excellence, and to contribute actively and productively to research programmes. Appointment will normally be made on contract basis for up to three years initially commencing January 2010, leading to longer-term appointment or substantiation later subject to performance, funding and mutual agreement.

Salary and Fringe Benefits
Salary will be highly competitive, commensurate with qualifications and experience. The University offers a comprehensive fringe benefit package, including medical care, plus a contract-end gratuity for an appointment of two years or longer and housing benefits for eligible appointee. Further information about the University and the general terms of service for appointments is available at http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/personnel. The terms mentioned herein are for reference only and are subject to revision by the University.

Application Procedure
Please send full resume, copies of academic credentials, a publication list and/or abstracts of selected published papers together with names, addresses and fax numbers/e-mail addresses of three referees to whom the applicants’ consent has been given for their providing references (unless otherwise specified), to the Personnel Office, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong (Fax: (852) 2603 6852) by the closing date. The Personal Information Collection Statement will be provided upon request. Please quote the reference number and mark ‘Application – Confidential’ on cover.

***********************************************************************
Yongqin David Chen, Ph.D.
Chairman and Professor, Department of Geography and Resource Management
Deputy Director, Centre of Strategic Environmental Assessment for China
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2609-6539
Fax: (852) 2603-5006
Email: ydavidchen@cuhk.edu.hk

Anyone following @juccce last month saw a wave of updates from founder Peggy Liu as their first mayoral training kicked off.

18 months in the planning and  formalized at the November 2008 JUCCCE conference, the 8 day session:

50 mayors from all over China gathered in Beijing to learn from worldwide experts about how to create greener cities. Besides an intensive lecture series and multiple group breakout sessions to discuss how better to develop sustainably, the mayors were given exclusive on-site tours of the Olympic Village (the world’s largest Gold LEED-ND project) and the Inncon Coca-Cola PET recycling facility.

Without a doubt, and regardless of whether or not China hits a specific environmental statistic, one of the greatest needs right now is to build awareness and capacity at the highest levels… and programs like this one bring that.

Certainly it wil take more time, and certainly it will take more than 50 mayors to attend, but this is a step in the right direction and I am certain that Peggy and her team have been huddling up to plan out the next training session.

To learn more about JUCCCE and its programs, you can visit their website.

With the WWF China team still on a high from the success of March’s Earth Hour event, their local team pt together a press package (download here) of all the China based events that I think does a great job of summarizing the success they found in China.

For me, one of my primary concerns was simply how far into the local population they were getting, and was all the media making it into the Average Zhou’s house.  It is a question I ask a lot as many foreign NGOs have issues getting into the Non-English market, but I have to give WWF credit as in the end they were able to convince a lot of gatekeepers (government agencies, property management firms, and colleges to participant)

These are relationships that will continue to bear a lot of fruit going forward, which will of course mean that WWF will need to / be able to bring up these groups into newer and more sustainable programming as well.

My hat is off the the team.  job well done.

Founder of the Roots & Shoots program, Jane Goodall’s impact is being felt in China as programs in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Nanchang, and Inner Mongolia have developed.

Part 1

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Part 2

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Part 3

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Part 4

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Part 5

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Part 6

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