Chapter Summaries

According to a 2007 survey by McKinsey business executives consider environmental issues such as climate change to be among “the most important issues that will affect business over the next five years.”

Return on Sustainability provides a tangible framework for business leaders and students alike to understand how addressing climate change can increase financial returns and brand value.

 

Book Highlights

 

  • Analysis of how the marketplace is adapting to sustainability around Finance, Insurance, Supply-Chain, Energy, Corporate Reporting, and Marketing issues
  • Real world examples of over 40 companies that have taken action and have saved money and improved their brand value at the same time
  • An overview of the upcoming regulatory environment around climate change – including carbon taxes & cap and trade markets

For an educator looking to teach about Sustainability, or for a student that is trying to get a handle on these issues, Return on Sustainability offers a practical and action oriented approach to business sustainability. Equally balanced, the book demonstrates opportunities for companies to increase profitability and enhance brand value by addressing climate change – even during recession.

This is not a fluffy environmental-activism book, but is a down-to-earth account of how to conduct business in our current economy and it provides the hard numbers to back it all up.

If you are an educator and you are wondering what this book covers, here is a breakdown of each chapter and the major categories covered. For more info, please feel free to contact SBC staff at info@sustainablebizconsulting.com

 

Section 1: Addressing Climate Change: The Business Benefit

 

Chapter 1: The Climate Imperative

  • The major environmental, social, and human impacts that climate change imposes
  • A call to action as to why addressing climate change right now is so important

Chapter 2: Carbon Footprinting

  • Carbon Footprinting 101
  • An overview of what to measure and the process
  • Setting the scope and boundary

Chapter 3: Business Benefit

  • Case studies and real world examples of companies that have realized financial and brand benefit from their sustainability actions
  • Specific actions taken and the benefits broken down by the four major aspects of a carbon footprint: Energy, Transportation, Waste, Material Use
  • Dozens of additional actions that companies can take

Chapter 4: Return on Sustainability (ROS)

  • A description of how the ROS differs and improves upon the triple bottom line
  • The ROS Framework: Financial, Brand, Sustainability, and Ease of Implementation
  • New Financial and Carbon Metrics for companies to use: Net Income/Carbon, Earnings/Carbon, Debt/Carbon, Assets/Carbon, Carbon/Price, etc.

 

Section 2: Policy, Regulation, & Carbon

 

Chapter 5: Public Policy

  • City, State, and Regional Climate Initiatives
  • Vehicle emission standards
  • States with renewable portfolio standards
  • Municipal zero waste and green building requirements
  • Existing and upcoming commercial energy codes and chemical codes (REACH)

Chapter 6: Carbon Taxes & Cap and Trade

  • Carbon Taxes: What they are, how and where they are being implemented
  • Cap & Trade: A primer, the CCX and the European Climate Exchange
  • The Market Opportunity and how it can follow the SO2(Acid Rain) modelCarbon Disclosure Mechanism(CDM)

 

Section 3: The Market: Demanding Action

 

Chapter 7: Energy

  • US energy price trends and volatility
  • Peak oil
  • GHG regulation and what that means for businesses bottom-line
  • Peak load pricing
  • Carbon capture and sequestration
  • Companies using renewables for price stability

Chapter 8: Finance

  • Sustainability and the financial markets
  • Debt Markets: The Equator Principles, the London Accord and UN Principles of Responsible Investment
  • Equity Markets: SRI investing and sustainability indices outperforming the S&P 500
  • Venture Capital and the booming clean tech market
  • The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

Chapter 9: Insurance

  • Why the insurance industry is paying attention
  • What insurers are doing
  • The policy and financial implications for business

Chapter 10: Supply Chain Management

  • The Sustainable supply-chain
  • LEAN
  • Trends in supply-chain management
  • Recent impacts on packaging, materials, storage & inventory, transportation
  • Material recovery, industrial ecology & product take back

Chapter 11: Marketing to Green Consumers

  • LOHAS and conscious consumers
  • The size of the “sustainable” consumer market
  • Opportunities for companies
  • Reducing exposure to NGO attacks

Chapter 12: Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

  • Trends in CSR Reporting
  • Sorting through all the various methodologies
  • Attention being paid by institutional investors
  • The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
  • CERES, Climate Counts, ISO 14000 & 26000