Chapter 1: A new framework for implementing corporate sustainability

Key points:

▪ Sustainability performance is the effect of corporate activity on the social, environmental, and economic fabric of society.

▪ A balance between economic progress, social responsibility, and environmental protection, sometimes referred to as the triple bottom line, can lead to competitive advantage.

▪ The evaluation of social, economic, and environmental impacts of organizational actions is necessary to make effective operational and capital investment decisions that positively impact organizational objectives and satisfy the objectives of multiple stakeholders.

▪ The financial payoff of a proactive sustainability strategy can be substantial.

▪ To become a leader in sustainability, one needs to articulate what sustainability is, develop processes to promote sustainability throughout the corporation, measure performance on sustainability, and ultimately link this measurement to corporate financial performance.

▪ Corporate citizenship is an important driver for building trust, attracting and retaining employees, and obtaining a “license to operate” within a community.

▪ Corporate citizenship is much more than charitable donations and public relations—it’s the way the company integrates sustainability principles with everyday business operations and policies and then translates all of this into bottom-line results.

▪ For sustainability to be long lasting and useful, it must be representative of and integrated into day-to-day corporate activities and corporate performance.

▪ If sustainability is seen only as an attempt to provide effective public relations, it does not create long-term value and can even be a value destroyer.

▪ The key to success is integrating sustainability into business decisions, identifying, measuring, and reporting (both