Principle 9: Corporate Citizenship (Item 4)
The organization's action to ensure a clean, safe, fair and prosperous
society enhances the perception of its value to the community.
You should be working strategically to reduce the harm you do to the
environment. (Eg, your dependence on mining and fossil fuels; your dependence
on persistent, unnatural substances; and your dependency on nature consuming
activities. You should always try to do more with less.)
With the continuing rapid increase in the Earth's human population
over the next few decades, there will be greater demand for food, water
and other resources needed to support the additional people. There will
also be increased pressures on the capacity of the ecosphere to absorb
waste. In the face of such growing demands, and in a world of limited
resources, fundamental societal changes are necessary.
When making investment decisions, assess the investment in terms of:
- How can we reduce our dependence on mining and fossil fuels?
- How can we reduce our dependence on persistent, unnatural substances?
- How can we reduce our dependency on nature consuming activities?
- How can we do more with less?
The Earth's human population has reached six billion people. Due to
the collective actions of the current population, life-supporting systems
such as croplands, wetlands, the ozone layer, forests, fisheries and
groundwater are in decline. An increasing amount of waste is being generated
which includes visible garbage, such as that which is placed in landfills,
as well as invisible forms of molecular garbage such as greenhouse gases
and CFCs which are accumulating in the atmosphere.
Author, environmentalist and director of The Natural Step, US, Paul
Hawken notes, "We are far better at making waste than at making
products. For every 100 pounds of product we manufacture in the United
States, we create at least 3,200 pounds of waste. In a decade, we transform
500 trillion pounds of molecules into nonproductive solids, liquids
and gases." The `nonproductive garbage', produced by our linear
way of living and working, never finds its way back into the cycles
of society or nature to be reused or absorbed.
What happens if we do not begin to live more sustainably? "As
we busy ourselves with tearing down more than we rebuild," founder
of The Natural Step, Dr. Rob“rt notes, "we are racing toward world-wide
poverty in a monstrous, poisonous garbage-dump. The only thing that
can save us from the consequences is the restoration of cyclical processes,
where wastes become new resources for society or nature."
The primary components of the environmental situation can be viewed
as the walls of a giant funnel where societal demand for resources is
one wall of the funnel and resource availability is the other side.
As aggregate societal demand increases, and the capacity to meet those
demands decreases, it is as if as a society we are moving into the narrower
portion of the funnel.
It is possible to change this situation. Sustainable and restorative
behavior opens the walls of the funnel and moves the sides further apart.
According to Dr. Rob“rt, eventually our businesses and our communities
around the world will `hit the wall'. If humans can recognize the limits
of the ecosystem in which we live, and target activities within the
parameters of the Natural Step's four system conditions (see box), we
may be able to avoid hitting the walls of the funnel and create a sustainable
society.
Today in Sweden, the Natural Step is a household word and has transformed
the way individuals, schools, communities and businesses think about
the natural world and sustainability. More than 70 municipalities have
adopted the framework and 60 corporations (eg IKEA, Electrolux, McDonalds,
Scandic Hotels and OK Petroleum) are actively using the Natural Step
to change the way they do business.
The Natural Step framework helps individuals and companies address
important environmental issues from a systems perspective, reduce the
use of natural resources and develop new technologies. The system conditions
are used by business corporations, municipalities and other companies
as an instrument for strategic planning for sustainability; and as a
shared mental model for problem solving and for developing consensus
documents (e.g. sustainable practices for metals, energy, agriculture
and forestry). They give people a common language and guiding principles
to help change existing practices and decrease their impact on the environment.
The Natural Step was founded in Sweden in 1989 by Dr. Karl-Henrik Rob“rt,
an oncologist who was concerned that so much of the environmental debate
was focused on downstream issues and so little on systemic causes of
problems. He had noticed a significant increase in childhood leukemia
cases and witnessed first hand the connection between human illness
and toxins. On a cellular level, he observed limits within which a living
cell will properly function.
With the help of 50 Swedish scientists, Dr. Rob“rt developed a consensus
document that describes the basic knowledge of the biosphere's functions.
The document describes how society influences natural systems, that
humans are a part of natural systems, that humans are threatening themselves
by causing natural systems to deteriorate.
It is possible to change the situation into an attractive sustainable
society. In the early nineteen nineties, Dr. Rob“rt worked with Swedish
physicist, John Holmberg, to define a set of system conditions for sustainability
which are based on laws of thermodynamics and natural cycles.
Gaining momentum and the recognition of the King of Sweden, the Natural
Step received support from business and political leaders, many of whom
subsequently participated in workshops designed to teach the Natural
Step framework. Major Swedish companies began incorporating the system
conditions into their business practices. Twenty independent, professional
networks for the environment (ie, Scientists for the Environment, Doctors
for the Environment, Farmers for the Environment) were initiated and
supported by the Natural Step. These networks share the core knowledge,
or system conditions for sustainability, and build consensus from this
common structure.
The Natural Step advocates a step-by-step implementation strategy.
Companies are not expected to achieve long-term goals immediately. On
the contrary, they are encouraged to move systematically by making investments
that will provide benefit in the short-term, while retaining a longer-term
perspective. They can use the Natural Step process to map out a series
of steps that will eventually lead to full sustainability. Companies
using the Natural Step are encouraged to start with the `low hanging
fruit'; those steps that are easiest to take and will achieve results
that help move an company closer to its goals. The Natural Step is not
prescriptive, and does not judge. Instead, it serves as a guide.
The Natural Step's Four System Conditions
[1]
1. Substances from the Earth's Crust Must
Not Systematically Increase in Nature.
In a sustainable society, human activities such
as the burning of fossil fuels, and the mining of metals and minerals
will not occur at a rate that causes them to systematically increase
in the ecosphere. There are thresholds beyond which living organisms
and ecosystems are adversely affected by increases in substances from
the earth's crust. Problems may include an increase in greenhouse gases
leading to global warming, contamination of surface and ground water,
and metal toxicity which can cause functional disturbances in animals.
In practical terms, the first condition requires society to implement
comprehensive metal and mineral recycling programs, and decrease economic
dependence on fossil fuels.
2. Substances Produced by Society Must Not
Systematically Increase in Nature.
In a sustainable society, humans will avoid generating
systematic increases in persistent substances such as DDT, PCBs and
freon. Synthetic organic compounds such as DDT and PCBs can remain in
the environment for many years, bioaccumulating in the tissue of organisms,
causing profound deleterious effects on predators in the upper levels
of the food chain. Freon, and other ozone depleting compounds, may increase
risk of cancer due to added UV radiation in the troposphere. Society
needs to find ways to reduce economic dependence on persistent human-made
substances.
3. The Physical Basis for the Productivity
and Diversity of Nature Must Not Systematically be Diminished.
In a sustainable society, humans will avoid taking
more from the biosphere than can be replenished by natural systems.
In addition, people will avoid systematically encroaching upon nature
by destroying the habitat of other species. Biodiversity, which includes
the great variety of animals and plants found in nature, provides the
foundation for ecosystem services which are necessary to sustain life
on this planet. Society's health and prosperity depends on the enduring
capacity of nature to renew itself.
4. We Must Be Fair and Efficient in Meeting
Basic Human Needs.
Meeting the fourth system condition is a way
to avoid violating the first three system conditions for sustainability.
Considering the human enterprise as a whole, we need to be efficient
with regard to resource use and waste generation in order to be sustainable.
If one billion people lack adequate nutrition while another billion
have more than they need, there is a lack of fairness with regard to
meeting basic human needs. Achieving greater fairness is essential for
social stability and the cooperation needed for making large-scale changes
within the framework laid out by the first three conditions.
To achieve this fourth condition, humanity must
strive to improve technical and company efficiency around the world,
and to live using fewer resources, especially in affluent areas. System
condition four implies an improved means of addressing human population
growth. If the total resource throughput of the global human population
continues to increase, it will be increasingly difficult to meet basic
human needs. Human-driven processes intended to fulfill human needs
and wants are systematically degrading the collective capacity of the
Earth's ecosystems to meet these demands.
Footnotes
This section come from material
on The Natural Step web
site.
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