The economic, social and cultural benefits of a healthy environment are one of the things that GDP doesn’t measure. However, in 2007 the World Bank conservatively estimated (see reference (1) below) the cost of China’s pollution at 5.8% of its GDP.
Recent reports (2) show that business is beginning to notice the cost of such environmental harm: 27% of global CEOs surveyed by PwC in 2009 expressed concern about the impacts of biodiversity loss on their business growth prospects.
For example, direct and indirect costs to business, communities and governments from biodiversity loss from logging natural (as opposed to plantation) forests include flood damage, property loss, transport interruptions, soil erosion, reservoir infilling, loss of productive land and reduced timber output, soil fertility, rainfall and water runoff.
Nature does a lot of things for us for free, including purifying water, soil and air and pollinating food crops. Such “ecosystem services” offer new and wider opportunities for every business sector. Astute businesses will be positioning themselves to get a hold of some of the billion dollar opportunities offered by rapidly emerging biodiversity and ecosystem services assessment, certification and trading systems.
That’s why one of the results will be that cities will be the new countryside.
As our Victorian era infrastructure decays and people all over the world flock to the cities, the pressure is on them to meet their own needs for water and food in ways that also meet their inhabitants’ needs for healthy and restorative environments. Businesses in the urban design, transport, building, energy and engineering sectors are realizing they need to work with a host of other professionals and with urban communities to bring nature and its processes and services back into the city – and make the most of the associated business opportunities. Multi-disciplinary businesses will be taking on people with social, ecological and design skills and forging new and fruitful alliances with firms that have complementary skills in order to progressively transform our cities into vibrant and beautiful places that restore both nature and people.
The content of this blog is adapted from some thoughts I put together for the wonderful Ann Andrews of The Corporate Toolbox for her free ebook, "What's next? 29 Entrepreneurs share Predictions for 2011/12". Many thanks to Ann for allowing me to reproduce some of that material here.
References
(1) Jonathan Watts, 2010. When a billion Chinese jump. Faber/Allen and Unwin.
(2) TEEB – The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Report for Business - Executive Summary 2010. Downloadable from here.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Productivity is the new green
Praseodymium, lanthanum, ytterbium – no, it’s not a spell from a Hogwart’s wizarding textbook: these are some of the 17 rare earths that are… rare. Used in all manner of essential electrical and infrastructure components, they are now so scarce that the few nations lucky enough to have them are reluctant to part with them. Of course, part of the reason they are so rare is that most of them end up in the landfill in the 2.25 million tons of electronics people in the US threw away in 2007 (see reference (1) below).
However, water, oil, food as well as many other commodities we’ve taken for granted are also becoming increasingly scarce. In some places, money can’t buy water that just isn’t there, as several large US cities are finding (2).
We are likely to see wildly fluctuating but generally rising prices for many basic commodities. Prudent businesses will be planning to survive this financial insecurity by carrying out wide-ranging risk assessments of financial exposure related to their resource inputs.
Necessity is the mother of invention, as the old saying goes: the upside of scarcity and uncertainty is that it will stimulate innovation. As businesses develop alternatives for their resources, products and processes and work out how to do more with less, they will find themselves using more environmentally and socially sustainable practices.
Some may do this because they want to; others will discover that’s what they’ve been doing once they’ve gone a way down the path. In either case, they will find out things they didn't know about their people and processes. This learning process means they will become smarter and more profitable organizations.
Creative businesses will be measuring productivity in new ways – waste per widget instead of widgets per worker, for example – and the boost that everyone in the firm and its value chain gets from contributing to new ideas will give these businesses the edge over their competitors.
The content of this blog is adapted from some thoughts I put together for the wonderful Ann Andrews of The Corporate Toolbox for her free ebook, "What's next? 29 Entrepreneurs share Predictions for 2011/12". Many thanks to Ann for allowing me to reproduce some of that material here.
And again.... more on all this in my keynote presentation, "The Productivity Paradox"!
References
(1) David Pogue, 2011. “Gadgets are garbage: your brand new device is about to be obsolete. Save it from the trash heap.” An article in the May 2011 issue of Scientific American.
(2) Kyla Fullenwider, 3 November 2010. Is Your City Running Out of Water? The Ten Largest Cities Facing a Water Crisis. Find out more at http://www.good.is/post/is-your-city-running-out-of-water-the-ten-largest-cities-facing-a-water-crisis/.
However, water, oil, food as well as many other commodities we’ve taken for granted are also becoming increasingly scarce. In some places, money can’t buy water that just isn’t there, as several large US cities are finding (2).
We are likely to see wildly fluctuating but generally rising prices for many basic commodities. Prudent businesses will be planning to survive this financial insecurity by carrying out wide-ranging risk assessments of financial exposure related to their resource inputs.
Necessity is the mother of invention, as the old saying goes: the upside of scarcity and uncertainty is that it will stimulate innovation. As businesses develop alternatives for their resources, products and processes and work out how to do more with less, they will find themselves using more environmentally and socially sustainable practices.
Some may do this because they want to; others will discover that’s what they’ve been doing once they’ve gone a way down the path. In either case, they will find out things they didn't know about their people and processes. This learning process means they will become smarter and more profitable organizations.
Creative businesses will be measuring productivity in new ways – waste per widget instead of widgets per worker, for example – and the boost that everyone in the firm and its value chain gets from contributing to new ideas will give these businesses the edge over their competitors.
The content of this blog is adapted from some thoughts I put together for the wonderful Ann Andrews of The Corporate Toolbox for her free ebook, "What's next? 29 Entrepreneurs share Predictions for 2011/12". Many thanks to Ann for allowing me to reproduce some of that material here.
And again.... more on all this in my keynote presentation, "The Productivity Paradox"!
References
(1) David Pogue, 2011. “Gadgets are garbage: your brand new device is about to be obsolete. Save it from the trash heap.” An article in the May 2011 issue of Scientific American.
(2) Kyla Fullenwider, 3 November 2010. Is Your City Running Out of Water? The Ten Largest Cities Facing a Water Crisis. Find out more at http://www.good.is/post/is-your-city-running-out-of-water-the-ten-largest-cities-facing-a-water-crisis/.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Ethics is the new black
People everywhere are rethinking the meaning of life and the role of work in contributing to that meaning. For many businesses, governments, community organizations and families, this has opened up opportunities to take stock; not just financially, but also in terms of their mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health.
What could this mean for businesses over the next year or two?
Society’s deep disillusionment with cynical, unethical, greedy and, let’s face it, downright dishonest practices in the financial and other sectors has forced many businesses to look within.
How can we navigate in an uncertain world unless we have a moral compass to guide us through complex and difficult decisions? Why are more businesses searching for their compass?
Because it’s becoming evident that ethical companies that go beyond legal compliance with tax and company law to become more socially and environmentally responsible are more profitable, too (see reference (1) below). Competitive businesses will be focusing on ethics to broaden their appeal to buyers and investors.
Sheer survival means businesses are competing intensely for the best and brightest staff. And those people are checking out potential employers very carefully. What they’re looking for is meaningful work – work that gives them professional satisfaction and is congruent with their personal values. They’re finding it in organizations that talk and walk social and environmental responsibility. A US survey of 100,000 people found 80-85% wanted to work for companies that were socially, ethically and environmentally responsible (2). Such employees will deliver 9% and higher productivity boosts for their firms (3). Responsible businesses will be recruiting the best to stay ahead of the rest.
More on all this in my keynote presentation, “The Productivity Paradox".
This is the first in a series of blogs that will be updated while I'm away - and TOTALLY offline! - for the next five or six weeks. The content is adapted from some thoughts I put together for the wonderful Ann Andrews of The Corporate Toolbox for her free ebook, "What's next? 29 Entrepreneurs share Predictions for 2011/12". Many thanks to Ann for allowing me to reproduce some of that material here.
References:
(1) The World’s Most Ethical Companies are designated on the basis of real and sustained ethical leadership within their industries, putting into real business practice the Ethisphere Institute’s credo of “Good. Smart. Business. Profit.” Find out more at http://ethisphere.com/wme2010/.
(2) Kelly Services. 2009. Ethical and Environmental Policies Serve as a Magnet in Attracting Employees According to Kelly Services Global Workplace Survey. October 28, 2009. Downloadable from http://ir.kellyservices.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=419388.
(3) Monahan, Tom. 2009. The role of business ethics in employee engagement. A 4 November 2009 article on the Ethisphere website downloadable from http://ethisphere.com/the-role-of-business-ethics-in-employee-engagement/.
What could this mean for businesses over the next year or two?
Society’s deep disillusionment with cynical, unethical, greedy and, let’s face it, downright dishonest practices in the financial and other sectors has forced many businesses to look within.
How can we navigate in an uncertain world unless we have a moral compass to guide us through complex and difficult decisions? Why are more businesses searching for their compass?
Because it’s becoming evident that ethical companies that go beyond legal compliance with tax and company law to become more socially and environmentally responsible are more profitable, too (see reference (1) below). Competitive businesses will be focusing on ethics to broaden their appeal to buyers and investors.
Sheer survival means businesses are competing intensely for the best and brightest staff. And those people are checking out potential employers very carefully. What they’re looking for is meaningful work – work that gives them professional satisfaction and is congruent with their personal values. They’re finding it in organizations that talk and walk social and environmental responsibility. A US survey of 100,000 people found 80-85% wanted to work for companies that were socially, ethically and environmentally responsible (2). Such employees will deliver 9% and higher productivity boosts for their firms (3). Responsible businesses will be recruiting the best to stay ahead of the rest.
More on all this in my keynote presentation, “The Productivity Paradox".
This is the first in a series of blogs that will be updated while I'm away - and TOTALLY offline! - for the next five or six weeks. The content is adapted from some thoughts I put together for the wonderful Ann Andrews of The Corporate Toolbox for her free ebook, "What's next? 29 Entrepreneurs share Predictions for 2011/12". Many thanks to Ann for allowing me to reproduce some of that material here.
References:
(1) The World’s Most Ethical Companies are designated on the basis of real and sustained ethical leadership within their industries, putting into real business practice the Ethisphere Institute’s credo of “Good. Smart. Business. Profit.” Find out more at http://ethisphere.com/wme2010/.
(2) Kelly Services. 2009. Ethical and Environmental Policies Serve as a Magnet in Attracting Employees According to Kelly Services Global Workplace Survey. October 28, 2009. Downloadable from http://ir.kellyservices.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=419388.
(3) Monahan, Tom. 2009. The role of business ethics in employee engagement. A 4 November 2009 article on the Ethisphere website downloadable from http://ethisphere.com/the-role-of-business-ethics-in-employee-engagement/.
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