SUSTAINABILI

TY IN
PRACTICE
PROF. SUBHASIS RAY
SCARCITY FOR…
▪ Individuals 🡪 increased prices
▪ Businesses 🡪 increased price of inputs;
alternatives? [technocentric view]
▪ Society 🡪 Policy changes [2021 Olympics,
Japan]

2
3
POLLUTION
FOR…
▪ Individuals 🡪 health hazard
▪ City Municipal Corporations’ waste segregation;
Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001
[India]

▪ Businesses 🡪 Penalty
▪ Environment (Protection) Act, 1986

▪ Society 🡪 decline in health and quality of life

▪ Oil spill, Ennore; Odd-Even rule in Delhi

4
5
CURRENT
E-WASTE
SCENARIO IN
INDIA?
▪ Processes?

▪ Legislations?
▪ E-waste Management Rules, 2011 & 2016 [India]
▪ Based on the principle of extended producer
responsibility (EPR)

▪ Ground realities?
▪ Global generation: ~50 million tons
▪ Indian generation: ~1.6 million tons (4th highest in
Asia)

6
7
SUSTAINABILITY &
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
▪ Sustainability refers to the continuation of earth/ natural
systems

▪ Sustainable development- new way of producing,

consuming and living in a way that leaves enough
resources for everybody, now and in future.

▪ Both relates to Economy, Environment & Society

8
WEAK SUSTAINABILITY

Environment
▪ Technocentric
Be le
a ra b
bl ui ta
▪ Natural and Human( e S Eq

produced)Capital: Total

Viable
Social Economic
remain same- /they are
substitutable
9
 People

SUSTAINABIL
ITY

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE Planet

Profit 10
STRONG SUSTAINABILITY
▪ Natural and human Environ
ment
capital are
complimentary but not
interchangeable e.g. Society
ozone layer

▪ Ecocentric Economy
[Non-substitutablility]

11
 Strong Sustainability
Fairness

SUSTAINABIL
ITY

Finitude Fragility 12
13
POTENTIAL STAKEHOLDERS*
Regulatory
Agencies/
Govt.

Special
Interest Competitors
Groups

ORGANIZATI
ON

Society Customers

Employees Suppliers

14
 High
LATENTS DOMINANTS

- Keep satisfied - Closely manage

Interest/Power
Framework
Stakeholder
Power
MARGINALS OBSERVERS

- Monitor - Keep informed

Low
Low Stakeholder Interest High
15
 High
LATENTS DOMINANTS

[Supportive] [Mixed blessing]

- Involve/Exploit - Collaborate
Potential for
Threat/Coopera
Stakeholder tion Framework
Power
MARGINALS OBSERVERS

[Marginal] [Non-supportive]
- Hold & Monitor - Defend
Low
Low Stakeholder Interest High
16
TOOLS FOR
ASSESSMENT:
1. LIFE CYCLE
ANALYSIS
17
18
 LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
▪ A method in which the energy, raw material consumption, and
different types of emissions related to a specific product are
measured, analyzed and summoned over the product’s entire
life cycle from an environmental point of view.

▪ Considered to be the most comprehensive approach to

assessing environmental impact.

19
20
 TYPES OF EMISSIONS
Scope 1: direct emissions from sources owned by the entity
within premises of the entity

Scope 2: emissions on account of generation and purchase of

electricity, heat, and steam for use within entity premises (for
business operations of entity)

Scope 3: indirect emissions from sources not owned by the

entity but connected with the business operations of the
entity(product usage)

21
LCA STANDARDS
Generally, a LCA consists of four main activities:

1. Goal definition

2. Inventory Analysis

3. Impact Assessment

4. Improvement Assessment/Interpretation
22
LCA: MULTIPLE STEPS
▪ Products can be evaluated through each stage of their life-cycle:
▪ Extraction or acquisition of raw materials
▪ Manufacturing and processing
▪ Distribution and transportation
▪ Use and reuse
▪ Recycling and Disposal

▪ For each stage, identify inputs of materials and energy received; outputs of
useful product and waste emissions

▪ Find optimal points for improvement – eco-efficiency

▪ Two distinct attributes of LCA:

▪ whole system consideration of the total product life-cycle
▪ presentation of tradeoffs among multiple environmental issues
23
EXAMPLE: SIMPLIFIED PROCESS
TREE FOR A COFFEE MACHINE’S
LIFE-CYCLE STEP
1

24
 STEP
▪ The final step in Life-Cycle Analysis is to identify areas for improvement. 4
▪ Consult the original goal definition for the purpose of the analysis and the target
group.

▪ Life-cycle areas/processes/events with large impacts (i.e., high numerical values)

are clearly the most obvious candidates

▪ However, what are the resources required and risk involved?

▪ Good areas of improvement are those where large improvements can be made with minimal
(corporate) resource expenditure and low risk.

25
26
TOOLS FOR
ASSESSMENT:
2. ECOLOGICAL
FOOTPRINT 27
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

▪ amount of land and water required to maintain one’s

consumption patterns and disposal requirements

▪ an approximation that provides a graphic way of understanding

the impact of human consumption needs on the earth's resources

28
29
HOW TO MEASURE
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
■ Demand side: population’s demand for
plant-based food and fibre products,
livestock and fish products, timber and
other forest products, space for urban
infrastructure, and forest to absorb its
CO2 emissions from fossil fuels

■ Supply side: a city, state, or nation’s

biocapacity represents its biologically
productive land and sea area, including
forest lands, grazing lands, cropland,
fishing grounds, and built-up land

■ Benefit-cost analysis with NPV+

resiliency
Ecological debt = Biocapacity - Footprint
30
FOOTPRINT
▪
FOR BUSINESS
Establish benchmarks, set quantitative targets and evaluate alternatives
for future activities

▪ Identify
▪ regions, industrial sectors and companies that will face increasing
limits in resources
▪ strategies that will succeed in a resource-constrained world, including
products and services that will be most needed in the future

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

http://ecologicalfootprint.com/
31
FOOTPRINT FOR BUSINESS*
▪ Investors, credit rating agencies and country risk analysts identify,
quantify and integrate environmental risks in their decision-making
(ESG)

▪ scarcity and/or price volatility of non-renewable resources

▪ long-term loss of income due to the overuse and degradation of

bio-productive assets 

▪ loss of crop productivity due to climate change 

▪ dependence on fossil fuels and use of carbon-intensive

technologies - 50L Homehttps://youtu.be/3cYuO2sNcwQ
32
TOOLS FOR
ASSESSMENT:
3. GREEN MARKETING 33
GREEN MARKETING:
CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS
Conventional Marketing Assumptions
▪ Wants are natural and infinite and therefore encouraging unlimited consumption is good
▪ Planet’s resources are infinite
▪ Earth’s carrying capacity is infinite for pollution and waste
▪ Quality of life and personal happiness increases with increased consumption and want
satisfaction

Green Marketing Assumptions

▪ Wants are culturally influenced and strongly shaped by marketing and other forces
▪ Earth’s resources are finite and fragile
▪ Earth’s carrying capacity for waste and pollution is fairly limited
▪ Quality of life and personal happiness do not always increase with increased consumption
and want satisfaction
34
4P-S TO 4 C-S OF GREEN
MARKETING
▪
Product: e.g. Materials used, effect on environment, excessive packaging?
CUSTOMER SOLUTION

▪ Price: e.g. Different price points for products with varying green attributes?
COST (full-cost)

▪ Place: e.g. Taking point of sales to consumers? online vs offline sales?

CONVENIENCE

▪ Promotion: e.g. Digital and online promotion vs paper promotion?

COMMUNICATION

▪ Reduced Consumption or Responsible Consumption ?

35
SHOES

36
TOOLS FOR
ASSESSMENT:
4. ECOLABELS

37
WHY ECOLABELS?
▪ Ecolabels are labels to certify the environmental and social dimensions of a product/
service
▪ Increased consumer awareness on environment and sustainability

▪ Increased push from government, civil society and regulators

▪ Reduce information asymmetry between producers of “green” products and consumers

▪ Foster informed purchasing decisions and reduce information search cost for consumers

▪ Important strategic consideration for firms

38
WHY SHOULD A FIRM
GO/NOT GO FOR
ECOLABELS?
▪ Cost of getting ecolabels

▪ Understanding the context and the target segment

▪ Type of ecolabels: wide acceptability, easy recognition

▪ Potential benefits: customer loyalty, customer retention, product/brand differentiation etc.

▪ Strategy: long term goals, signaling, vision of company

39
WHO ISSUES ECOLABELS?

▪ Issued by
▪ independent organizations
▪ governments/regulators
▪ companies themselves

▪ (Find the connect among the three and type in the CHAT box- ‘Group X….)

40
ECOLABELS
▪ Type I - a voluntary, multiple-criteria based, third party program that awards a license
that authorises the use of environmental labels on products indicating overall
environmental preferability of a product within a particular product category based on
life cycle considerations

▪ Type II - informative environmental self-declaration claims

▪ Type III - voluntary programs that provide quantified environmental data of a product,
under pre-set categories of parameters set by a qualified third party and based on life
cycle assessment, and verified by that or another qualified third party.

41
42
ANY NEGATIVES OF
ECOLABELS?
▪ Information overload

▪ Consumer confusion and skepticism

▪ A mere marketing gimmick: Perception of green washing?

43
TOOLS FOR
ASSESSMENT:
5. SUSTAINBILITY
REPORTING
Who needs it ? Why 44
ISO 14000 STANDARDS
▪ For companies & organizations looking to manage environmental
responsibilities.

▪ ISO 14001: sets out the standards for environmental management systems (EMS).
▪ What it does: maps out a framework for organizations to set up effective EMS
▪ What it does NOT: mandate requirement for environmental performance

45
ISO 14000 STANDARDS: WHY
TO
▪
DO?
Internal Benefits
▪ Reduce incidents and liability
▪ Efficiency
▪ Performance
▪ Improved corporate culture

▪ External Benefits
▪ Third party assurance and recognition
▪ Market access
▪ Regulatory relief
▪ Expression of due diligence
▪ Public image and community relations
▪ Financial markets 46
 CURRENT GLOBAL
REPORTING SCENARIO Global
Reporting
Initiative
(GRI)
ISO 14000 UN Global
series Compact

Organization
of economic
Global
GLOBAL co-operation
Sullivan
EIGHT and
Principles
development
(OECD)

Internationa Account
l Labour Ability (AA)
Standards 1000
(ILO) Assurance
Conventions Social Standard
Accountabil
ity (SA) 8000
47
CERES
▪ Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies (1989)
▪ 10 principles for environmental management
▪ Endorsing companies
▪ American Airlines, Ben and Jerry’s, Coca-Cola, Ford, GM, Nike

▪ Launched Global Reporting Initiative (1997)

▪ Voluntary globally applicable sustainability reporting
guidelines
▪ Endorsing companies
▪ Wipro, Infosys, TCS, ITC, YES Bank, ICICI Bank

48
GRI: AN OVERVIEW
Core
Essential elements of a sustainability
report
Background against which an
organization communicates the
impacts of its economic,
environmental and social and
governance performance
Comprehensive
Builds on the Core option by
requiring additional Standard
Disclosures of strategy and analysis,
governance, and ethics and integrity
Performance communicated more
extensively by reporting all
Indicators related to identified
material Aspects
49
GRI: AN OVERVIEW
▪ Standardize non-financial reporting and can be applied to
organizations of all sizes and types

▪ General Standard Disclosures – Strategy and Analysis;

Organizational Profile; Identified Material Aspects and Boundaries;
Stakeholder Engagement; Report Profile; Governance; Ethics and
Integrity

▪ Specific Standard Disclosures – General Disclosures on

Management Approach; Indicators
50
 DOW JONES SUSTAINABILITY
INDICES (DJSI)

Launched in 1999; first & leading global index to track

leading sustainability-driven companies based on
analysis of financial material, and ESG factors

51
DJSI

52
BENEFITS OF DJSI
▪Relationship between Corporate Financial
Performance and Corporate Sustainability
Performance
▪2-14% increase in stock returns

53
INDUSTRY GROUP LEADERS
2019: DJSI
Industry Industry Group Leader

Automobile & Components Peugeot SA

Consumer Durables & Apparel LG Electronics

Diversified Financials UBS Group AG

Food & Staples Retailing Metro AG

Household & Personal Products Henkel AG

Healthcare equipment & Services Abbott Laboratories

Insurance Allianz SE

Media Pearson PLC

54
COMMUNICATION TOOLBOX
FIRM & ORGANIZATION LEVEL PRODUCT-RELATED (P-R)
▪ Environmental reports ▪ Eco-labels

▪ Social reports ▪ Environmental claims

▪ Environmental product
▪ Sustainability reports
declarations
▪ CSR - Corporate Social F&O
▪ Product Environmental
P-R
Responsibility Performance Indicators
▪ Company Codes ▪ Product Profiles
▪ Manuals of Conduct ▪ Eco-efficiency analysis
▪ Audits ▪ Prod. Information Schemes

▪ Supplier evaluation systems ▪ GPP guidelines

Advertising, Information brochures & campaigns, websites 55

WHICH TOOL TO COMMUNICATE TO
WHOM?
▪ External stakeholders Ext
▪ Final consumers
P-R
▪ Business clients
▪ Public administrators and
policy makers
▪ Financial stakeholders
▪ Other society stakeholders
F&O
▪ Suppliers Ext
Int

▪ Internal stakeholders
▪ Employees and management
▪ Shareholders Int

56
ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGIES
Eco Efficiency

Lower Cost
GENERIC COMPETITIVE Environmental
e.g. ISO 14001 Cost
certification; Leadership

COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE
circular
e.g. TetraPak
economy

Differentiation
Beyond
Eco Branding
Compliance
Leadership e.g. eco-labels
(FSC); green
e.g. CERES, EP,
marketing;
RE100,
H&M
GRI/UNGC

Organizational Products &

Processes Services
COMPETITIVE FOCUS 57
ECONOMIC VALUE ADDED
(EVA) FROM SUSTAINABILITY
▪ Differentiated cost savings
▪ Reduced Operating and Manufacturing Expenses
▪ Risk Reduction
▪ Decreased Employee Expense

▪ Increased Revenue and Market Share

▪ Access to Markets
▪ Preferential Purchasing
▪ Increased Innovation

58
SUSTAINABILITY IS JUST SMART
BUSINESS
▪Using best-practice sustainability
approach within 3-5 years
▪ Small or Medium Enterprise: 51%
increase in profits
▪ Large Manufacturing Company :
81% increase in profits

▪ Increased Revenue from

▪ Reduced energy
▪ Reduced waste
▪ Reduced material
▪ Increased productivity
▪ Increased sales
▪ Reduced risks
▪ Innovation and creating better product and
services - +++
59
Source: Bob Willard Sustainability Advantage (2013)
 Brand Value &
Stakeholders
■ Improved company or brand image

■ Cost savings

Waste disposal ■ Competitive advantage

■ Employee satisfaction, morale or

retention
Retail & ■ Product, service or market innovation
Marketing
■ Business model or process innovation

■ New sources of revenue or cash flow

Packaging &
distribution ■ Effective risk management

■ Enhanced stakeholder relations

Production
process Source: The Sustainability Initiative 2009 (BCG & MIT Sloan, 2009)

Raw materials
& energy
60
61
WHAT CAN FIRMS DO?

Ref: Stuart L. Hart (http://www.stuartlhart.com/sustainablevalue.html)

62
CONCLUDING
THOUGHTS
63
64
THE BIG IDEA: CSV &
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
▪ Legitimacy of Business :: Diminished trust in business

▪ How can companies overlook well-being of their customers, depletion of natural resources
vital to their businesses (e.g. rare earth metals), viability of key suppliers, or the economic
distress of the communities in which they produce or sell?

▪ Coca Cola efforts

▪ Shared Value: not corporate responsibility, or philanthropy or sustainability.

▪ Business must reconnect company success with social progress

▪ The purpose of the corporation must be redefined as creating shared value and not just profit
per se. 65
TAKEAWAYS FOR YOU
▪ Sustainability is not just about a 5 session/1 week workshop course .

▪ Sustainability is not just about environment !

▪ Sustainability is not just for engineers OR accountants OR humanities OR sciences.

▪ Sustainability is not just for Corporate Boards OR CEOs OR Managers OR Executives.

▪ Sustainability is about you, about me, about our family, our societies, our flora and fauna, our
cities, our state, our country, our world, our Mother Earth, about LIFE !

▪ Stay awake, be alert, and be a keen observer !

66