Note to Rio+20: Place the Right Value on Corporate Sustainability

“We need corporate sustainability to be in the DNA of business culture and operations.” — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, KPMG Global Summit Opening Address, February 14, 2012[1]

In four months, Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. With the critical goal of setting the global sustainability agenda for the next decade, it is expected to be the biggest event in the history of the United Nations.

There have been many key meetings in the run-up to Rio+20, one of them being KPMG’s “Business Perspective on Sustainable Growth: Preparing for Rio+20,” a three-day global summit held last week in New York City intended to give business and policy leaders a chance to identify and prioritize a range of sustainability issues that will be key agenda items in Rio. The topics included all the usual suspects: carbon emissions, food security, energy security, supply chain security, tax regimes, regulation and corporate social responsibility.[2]

Speakers included former President Bill Clinton, New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who opened the summit, which was organized in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Business Council on Sustainable Development and the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), an initiative advocating the adoption of sustainable and socially responsible policies throughout the private sector that has been signed by almost 7,000 corporations in 140 countries.

TEN SUSTAINABILITY MEGAFORCES

Much of the summit centered around the KPMG International report, “Expect the Unexpected: Building business value in a changing world,” which presents ten interconnected and unpredictable “sustainability megaforces” that will impact all businesses — and indeed, society-at-large — over the next two decades: climate change, energy & fuel, material resource scarcity, water scarcity, population growth, urbanization, wealth, food security, ecosystem decline and deforestation.[3]

These megaforces “are putting the world on a development trajectory that is not sustainable,” write KPMG International Chairman Michael Andrew and KPMG Special Global Advisor for Climate Change & Sustainability Yvo de Boer in the report’s foreword, striking a rather sober tone that speaks to the urgency of the pressing issues at hand, and also the dwindling time left to prepare for Rio. “[I]f we fail to alter our patterns of production and consumption, things will begin to go badly wrong,” they warn, telling business leaders to “expect the unexpected.”[4]

CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP

In his opening address, Secretary-General Ban ramped up the sense of urgency and even gave the executives in the audience a bit of a dressing down. “Trust in government and the private sector is declining dramatically,” he said. “A series of disasters, scandals and business-as-usual have made people increasingly skeptical of the corporate world. The future of markets is under debate. But one thing is clear: we need markets that can deliver a sustainable and equitable future for all. Many argue whether capitalism is in crisis. Others call this a crisis of globalization. What I see is a crisis of leadership — a lack of imagination in looking at old problems with fresh eyes — and a lack of urgency as the clock keeps ticking down.”[5]

He argued that sustainability is not correctly valued in the corporate world, noting that many proven solutions to reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency, for example, are not properly supported by the right incentives. “In fact, incentive structures still tend to encourage unsustainable behavior,” he said. “As a result, too many companies limit their sustainability efforts to pilot programs that never take off. Even worse, sustainability becomes more a matter of public relations than how companies operate.”[6]

“While it is encouraging to see sustainability valued so highly on corporate agendas, we are far from reaching a tipping point,” said UNGC executive director Georg Kell. “Most companies are not doing enough, and many are not doing anything to address pressing challenges.”[7]

UNSUSTAINABLE FINANCE: NEGATIVE EXTERNALITIES

The KPMG report also includes research on externalities, the by-products or incidental results of a company’s activities that harm or benefit a third-party that is not part of the original transaction, such as the adverse effects a community must bear by the pollution caused by a factory.

The report found that the external environmental costs caused by the production of 11 key industry sectors jumped 50 percent over an eight-year period, from USD 566 billion in 2002 to USD 846 billion in 2010. These costs are not reflected on financial statements because they are born by individuals or society-at-large. If companies were required to actually pay for such costs themselves, according to the report, they would lose 41 cents for every dollar in earnings.

Ban’s call for a change in corporate behavior must be heeded for the sake of future generations. But curing capitalist myopia requires more than an appeal to the private sector; it needs legislation within nations as well as enforceable international agreements. And most of all, sustainability practices have to involve a company’s bottom line for better or worse. If the corporate DNA is going to evolve enough to make sustainability a part of operations and not just public relations, finding a way to make companies pay for negative externalities would surely be an evolutionary leap in the right direction.

PDF — Caesars Sustainability Report 2011

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Caesars Entertainment’s
2010-2011 Sustainability Report covers calendar 2010 and the first half of 2011.
It is both the company’s and the casino-entertainment and hospitality industry’s
second such report.

Environment: One report highlight is an updated CodeGreen (environmental)
strategy that produced new two- to five-year targets for energy conservation,
renewables, water consumption, waste diversion, supply chain, and guest and
employee perceptions of Caesars’ CodeGreen performance. Other highlights:

On track to meet 2010 target to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 10
percent 2007-2013

Created Green Meetings & Events certificate program, graduating more than
200 managers

Joined and played active role in UN Global Sustainability Tourism Council

Launched replacement of 65,000 halogen bulbs with LED lighting that requires
less than 10 percent of the electricity

Awards include: EPA WasteWise Gold Achievement (2 resorts), Virgin Holidays
“Partner in Sustainability,” Travelocity Green Hotel Certification (7 resorts)

Employee Wellness: Caesars re-envisioned its health benefits to provide
on-site wellness services and incentives for employees to become healthier. By
June 2011 more than 77% of employees had enrolled, and more than 1,000 had been
alerted to diabetes, cancer, cardiac and other chronic conditions, allowing them
to begin monitoring and wellness activities.

Communities: Caesars staff recycled more than 61,000 pounds of hotel soap and
43,000 pounds of bottled amenities for the nonprofit Clean the World, which
sanitizes and distributes them to developing countries and low-income
communities in the United States to combat illnesses preventable through proper
hygiene.

About Caesars Entertainment Corporation

Caesars Entertainment Corporation is the world’s most geographically
diversified casino-entertainment company. Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada,
more than 73 years ago, Caesars has grown through development of new resorts,
expansions and acquisitions, and now operates casinos on four continents. The
company’s resorts operate primarily under the Harrah’s®, Caesars® and Horseshoe®
brand names. Caesars also owns the World Series of Poker® and the London Clubs
International family of casinos. Caesars Entertainment is focused on building
loyalty and value with its guests through a unique combination of great service,
excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and
technology leadership. Caesars is committed to environmental sustainability and
energy conservation and recognizes the importance of being a responsible steward
of the environment. For more information, please visit www.caesars.com .

About Caesars Entertainment Corporation Sustainability

From coast-to-coast, Caesars Entertainment Corporation resorts are committed
to environmental sustainability. Caesars is the first company in the casino
entertainment industry to join the EPA Climate Leaders Program and to make an
EPA-approved commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent by
2013. The company has been awarded the “EPA WasteWise Gold Achievement New
Partner Award,” “EPA Regional Environmental Quality Award” and is the only
company to win seven “Travelife Gold Awards for Sustainability in Tourism.”

In the past seven years, more than 110 conservation projects at Caesars U.S.
casino resorts and $60 million of conservation investments have dramatically
reduced the company’s energy usage. The implemented programs annually reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 243 million pounds, the equivalent 247,000 barrels
of oil. A few highlights include:

A newly redesigned laundry facility in Las Vegas saves 72 million gallons of
water annually while increasing capacity 40 percent.

Throughout all properties, millions of light bulbs have been replaced with
energy efficient lighting, saving more than 50 million kilowatt hours (kWh) each
year.

Restaurants throughout Caesars Entertainment’s Las Vegas resorts have
installed on site water filtration and bottling systems reduce purchase and
transportation of plastic water bottles.

A steam turbine in Atlantic City Showboat generates electricity as a
by-product of the normal steam production at the resort. Use of the steam
turbine produced an annual savings of 2,283,041 kWh and avoided emissions of
more than 1,077,685 pounds of carbon dioxide and other gases.

Several properties, including the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino, Harrah’s
Lake Tahoe and Showboat Atlantic City; have co-generation facilities that
generate electricity, reducing demand on the nation’s power grid.

Across 35 domestic resorts, Caesars Entertainment recycles more than 640,000
gallons of waste vegetable oil annually.

SOURCE Caesars Entertainment Corporation

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/caesars-entertainment-issues-2010-2011-sustainability-report-highlighting-achievements-awards-and-impacts-2012-02-22

The United Kingdom’s Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) has been diligent in providing the public up to date statistics on the waste generated by the hospitality industry. According to a report issued by WRAP in July, 2011 the hospitality industry produces over 3.4m tonnes of rubbish annually.

600,000 tonnes of food waste was disposed of in 2009, two-thirds of which could have been eaten if it had been better portioned, managed, stored and/or prepared. It has been estimated that through better waste management the food industry could save up to £724 million [$1.11 billion)].

— WRAP

Meanwhile, in the United States there are no current food waste statistics that specifically deal with the restaurant industry.

Landfills are the third leading human related source of methane in the United States which, in 2009, accounted for 17% of all methane emissions.  Methane is one of the more powerful greenhouse gasses; the prodigious amount of organic waste dumped in landfills has contributed to the degradation of the atmosphere.

Composting & recycling

It is no wonder then that the restaurant industry, as a leading generator of food waste, has started finding ways to curtail their refuse.  One of the most prevalent ways restaurants are doing this is simply through separating their garbage into waste, recycling, and compost, along with recycling other byproducts from cooking, such as spent cooking oil.

San Francisco’s landmark restaurant Cliff House did just this.  The Cliff House educated its staff on waste reduction and reinforced the habit by using illustrated signs to designate which items were to go in which of the three bins.  Ralph Burgin, general manager at Cliff House, stated that his staff responded positively towards this effort, and the restaurant was able to reduce an astonishing 80% of its waste by diverting it to compost and recycling.

Turning trash into soil, or water

Although restaurants rarely have the luxury of on-site composting due to the lack of space and the sheer volume of materials composted, several innovative methods of dealing with compost have developed.

In cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and Louisville, urban composting has been made a public utilities project.  San Francisco was one of the first cities in the United States to make recycling and composting mandatory for all restaurants, businesses, and private residences in an effort to reach zero waste by 2020.  Currently the city diverts 72% of waste from its landfills.

San Francisco contracts with Recology one of the leading employee-owned waste collection services in California.  Recology converts the compost it collects into fertilizer at their Jepson-Prairie compost facility, which is then released for sale to the public; what was once waste becomes a profitable commodity which is used to grow the food it used to be.

Composting technology has gone a step further with Totally Green’s Organic Refuse Conversion Alternative (ORCA) Green Machine, which has taken on-site composting to the next level.  The ORCA Green Machine breaks down food waste through aerobic composting with the help of micro-organisms which are added to the waste mixture.  Kept in a constantly turning and consistently moist environment, the ORCA Green machine can compost up to 2,400 lbs. (roughly 1,089 kg) in a 24-48 hour period.

The most miraculous aspect of this composting process is that the machine breaks down organic material into wastewater which is safe to discard into the sewer system and leaves behind no trace of residual compost sludge.

“More and more places are seeking better ways to dispose of their organic waste, and our ORCA machine is an excellent on-site option,” commented Nate Baker, President of Totally Green.

Getting usable food to the needy

One of the best ways to reduce waste is to create a conscientious and consistently updated ordering schedule. By carefully evaluating which foods are most often left on diners’ plates after their meal, as well as the foods that spoil due to overstock or lengthy transportation time, restaurants are able to order the right amounts of food at the right times, while leaving out foods that dinners often reject.

It is, however, impossible for restaurants to perfectly predict how much food they will need.  At the end of the night there is bound to be some food left over that cannot be used the next day. This is why companies like Food Donation Connection (FDC) links restaurants with a network of hunger relief agencies and charitable organizations to which restaurants can donate their surplus food.  Currently the FDC is established in the United States and Canada, but is working to spread to the UK and Australia.

Instead of competing with similar non-profit organizations for government aid to support them, funding for the FDC comes from a small portion of their food donors, who donate a portion of their tax savings received from federal tax deductions and decreased disposal costs.  In return the FDC manages and coordinates the food donors’ surplus food so that it can go to optimal use.

Since their founding in 1992, FDC has coordinated the donation of over 164 million lbs. (75 million kg) of prepared food that would have otherwise gone to waste, often due to the rigidity of food safety guidelines.

— Food Donation Connection

Running buses on spent cooking oil

Food is not the only waste coming from the kitchen–fats, oils, and grease (FOGs) get disposed of as well.  In this regard San Francisco has surpassed many other metropoles in its grease recycling program, called SF Greasecycle which was launched in 2007.  Due to the improper disposal of grease down restaurant and residential drains, the city of San Francisco has spent roughly $3.5m each year to unclog public piping systems.

To Karri Ving, the Water Pollution Prevention Program’s biofuel coordinator, clearing up grease from the sewer system is, “Like a 70 year old person who’s eaten cheeseburgers all their life and then goes vegan–cleaning up those arteries takes a while, but it will happen much faster with less grease entering.”

Run by San Francisco’s Wastewater Department, SF Greasecycle collects grease for free from over 1,000 restaurants as well as six household drop-off sites stationed across the city.

“We will be exchanging the cooking oil we collect (about 25,000 gallons each month) for biodiesel.  Biodiesel producers send a 6,000 gallon tanker to our transfer station located within our treatment plant to collect the used cooking oil, then they drop off 6,000 gallons of biodiesel at our city’s fuel vendor for use in our municipal fleet.  That way we can guarantee grease collected is dedicated to fueling our fleets,” Karri said of their grease for biofuel exchange, begun in December 2011.

Once grease comes into contact with water it goes from being yellow grease, which is reusable and able to be used to create biofuel, to brown grease which is unsuitable for reuse.

Although there are private companies that pick up grease from restaurants, SF Greasecycle focuses on smaller businesses that are often overlooked.  “Big establishments like fast-food chains often are competed for by private grease haulers but the small mom & pops with small amounts of grease, as well as language and logistical barriers, are often ignored by private grease haulers.  This is the grease that can end up in the sewers.”

The city does not collect any profits from the Greasecycle program.  Their benefits lie in the money that would otherwise be spent on cleaning the city’s pipe system as well as on biofuel for the city’s public transport bus fleet.

Toxic clean

Grease is a fairly obvious byproduct of a kitchen that is capable of polluting streams and damaging sewers, however the kitchen contains other pollutants not  often thought of.  Cleaning supplies used in restaurants often contain hazardous chemicals.  The most common in the restaurant industry–chlorine, which was listed under the 1990 Clean Air Act as a hazardous air pollutant–is found in certain types of dish washing detergents, bleach, disinfectant cleaners, mildew removers and toilet cleaners.

One of the most prominent ways in which chlorine contributes to inside air pollution is through dishwashers, which release chlorine into the air through a process called “volatilization”, in which a chlorine/water mixture gets vaporized during the cleaning cycle and is let out in an exhaust of steam.

According to the Hazard Summary released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , “Chlorine is a potent irritant in humans to the eyes, the upper respiratory tract, and the lungs.  Chlorine is extremely irritating to the skin and can cause severe burns in humans.”

Natural or other non-toxic cleaning supplies are hard pressed to compete with their cheap, toxic counterparts, in part because of health food regulations.  America’s Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) food code stands as a model upon which states can adopt or pattern their own food health code, and 48 states and territories representing 79% of the U.S. population have done just that.

The latest food code released in 2009 requires surfaces to be sanitized so that 99% of representative disease microorganisms of public health importance are killed. Restaurants are free to use alternative cleaning supplies as long as they can meet these guidelines.

Miracle water

However, restaurants like The Plant Cafe in San Francisco have found alternatives to using harsh chemical cleaners.  The first restaurant to use this technology commercially, the Plant Cafe has outfitted its restaurants with an electrolyzer system made by EcoLogic Solutions, which introduces acidic and alkaline fluids into the tap water in order to clean everything—from counters, floors and windows—to dish and hand washing.

A New York poultry processor uses it to kill salmonella on chicken carcasses.  Minnesota grocery clerks spray sticky conveyors in the checkout lanes.  Michigan jailers mop with electrolyzed water to keep potentially lethal cleaners out of the hands of inmates.

— Los Angeles Times

A process which has been used for several decades in both Japan and Russia, electrolyzing water is the simple process of taking water in which table salt is added and charging it with an electric current; the resulting chemical reaction creates alkaline and acidic components to the water, which kills micro organisms without toxic chemicals.

http://www.ethicalfoods.com/restaurant-pollution/

The Sustainability Mindset
Michael Spence

Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor of Economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Academic Board Chairman of the Fung Global Institute in Hong Kong, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. His latest book is The Next Convergence – The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World.

2-17-2012

MILAN – Markets and capitalist incentives have great strengths in promoting economic efficiency, growth, and innovation. And, as Ben Friedman of Harvard University argued persuasively in his 2006 book The Moral Consequences of Growth, economic growth is good for open and democratic societies. But markets and capitalist incentives have clear weaknesses in ensuring stability, equity, and sustainability, which can adversely affect political and social cohesion.

We really give our ORCA a workout. The staff love it. It’s right in the kitchen so it’s easier to dump our food waste in there than taking it out to the dumpster. And it’s really cut down the amount of waste we haul off.

–Jim Lawrence, Head Steward for the BOK Center & Tulsa Convention Center

Through a global survey conducted by MIT Sloan Management Reviewand The Boston Consulting Group, we sought to determine where exactly sustainability sits on the management agendas of the more than 2,800 companies.  It turns out that it’s prominent: more than two-thirds of companies have placed sustainability permanently on their management agenda.

Our study also found that two-thirds of companies see sustainability as necessary to being competitive in today’s marketplace, up from 55% a year earlier.  In addition, two thirds of respondents said management attention to, and investment in, sustainability has increased in the last year.

In our resulting report, which was released last week, we chose to focus on “Harvesters”—the 31% of companies that say that sustainability is contributing to their profits. These harvesters are not merely implementing individual initiatives such as lowering carbon emissions, reducing energy consumption, or investing in clean technologies; they are actually changing their operating frameworks and strategies.

Harvesters tend to have a distinctive organizational mind-set and design that supports sustainability. Compared to non-Harvesters, Harvesters are three times as likely to have created a business case for sustainability. They are also 50% more likely to have a CEO committed to sustainability, and twice as likely to have both a separate sustainability reporting process and a separate function for sustainability. Harvesters are also 50% more likely to have designated a person responsible for sustainability in each business unit and more than 2.5 times as likely to have appointed a chief sustainability officer.

Our report identifies three key areas where sustainability has driven significant organizational change among Harvesters:

• Organizational structure: Managers at Harvester companies are often supported by a separate cross-functional senior management committees that can sanction as well as support corporate sustainability objectives.
• Business model: 57% of Harvesters say they have a business case for sustainability, compared to just 18% among the rest of the respondents.
• Operations: Greater collaboration among geographic business units is a hallmark of Harvesters’ sustainable business practices. Harvesters also tend to collaborate more with customers and suppliers than other companies.

Edgar Blanco, a research director at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, says that although companies may find the collaboration process challenging, it is essential: “If you’re going to focus your strategy on carbon reduction or environmental impact or social impact, you need to engage your suppliers. Without them, you cannot succeed.”

Some multinationals with complex global supply chains have already started this process. Wal-Mart, for example, asks suppliers to complete a Sustainability Supplier Assessment evaluation. Starbucks has hosted a coffee cup summit at MIT for several years, bringing together representatives from its value chain in addition to competitors in order to improve the life cycle value of disposable coffee cups.

Although many companies are still struggling to define sustainability in a way that is relevant to their business, the attention and investment we see indicate the here-to-stay nature of sustainability for organizations everywhere.

Further study of those companies profiting from sustainability will refine where the true tipping point is, when the management focus on sustainability will rival that of marketing or human resources or other key drivers of performance.

To read the full report with case studies, please visit Sustainability Nears a Tipping Point: http://sloanreview.mit.edu/feature/sustainability-strategy/?utm_source=release&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=sust12

http://mitsloanexperts.com/2012/02/06/mit-sloan-management-review-sustainability-contributing-to-company-profits/

Main Article Below:

February 9th, 2012

Today U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator, Paul Anastas, and Department of Defense (DoD) Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, Dorothy Robyn signed an agreement that formalizes the partnership between EPA and DoD to develop and implement technologies that will help create sustainable American military bases all over the world.

Under this Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development and the Department of Defense on Science and Technology to Support Resilient and Sustainable Military Bases, EPA will continue to collaborate with DoD in developing innovative technologies to help DoD create sustainable and resilient military bases across the country and overseas. The cutting-edge research of EPA scientists and engineers will be used to develop tools and technologies that will aid DoD in achieving its vision of sustainability, as outlined in the DoD Strategy Sustainability Performance Plan.

This MOU underscores this Administration’s commitment to reducing overlap and fostering collaboration among federal agencies. In addition to enabling the sharing of resources, this agreement provides an opportunity for EPA to use DoD’s military bases as test beds for tools, models and technologies that can then be shared more broadly in communities across the country.

Creating more sustainable military bases helps create healthier communities and a stronger economy. Reaching goals of sustainability in any community requires a holistic approach that addresses energy and water use while at the same time reducing waste. Instituting this sustainable approach will effectively manage costs and also shift the focus from how to clean up hazardous areas to how to prevent future environmental problems.

Read More — Full Memorandum, PDF — DOD EPA Memo Sustainability Agreement

http://www.epa.gov/research/

Nate Baker, President Totally Green, Inc. “Sustainable Solutions for Food Waste & Compostable Packaging” Video Interview Merriman Capital Investor Summit 2012

Totally Green, Inc. (TLGN: OTCPK) manufactures, sells, and distributes compostable packaging alternatives and organic food processing systems. SNNLive spoke with Nate Baker, President of Totally Green, Inc. at the Merriman Investor Summit 2012 in New York City. Totally Green, as Mr. Baker claims, is, “helping pioneer the future of green to providing equipment that composts organic food waste into a liquid that can go down the sanitary sewer.”

The equipment Mr. Baker is referring to is the Totally Green ORCA Green Machine, which turns organic food waste into liquid using ORCA’s biochip microtechnology. When you turn on the machine, ORCA’s microorganisms are sprayed into the machine through a special solution, which begin to eat the waste. The biochips serve as a special home for the microorganisms allowing them to multiply to speed up the process of eating the food waste. By keeping the environment moist and continually moving, the microorganisms break down the food waste into a liquid affluent that goes into the sewer in less than 24 hours.

Using Ingeo technology, Totally Green’s Green Bottle Spring Water uses plant materials rather than petroleum-based plastic that degrade biologically in an industrial grade compost pile in approximately 30 days. For more information about the Totally Green ORCA Green Machine and the Green Bottle Spring Water, check out their website, and you can follow them on Twitter @TotallyGreen. SNNLive welcomes, Nate Baker, President of Totally Green, Inc.

http://stocknewsnow.com/?p=2955

Brad Pitt earned a 2012 Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane in the movie Moneyball. Photograph by Sue Gordon/Columbia Pictures

Sustainability is the Moneyball of the Global Economy
By  Eric Roston     
Feb 6, 2012 9:07 PM PT

Baseball has always provided Americans a rich mine of metaphors and parables. Then along came Michael Lewis’s book Moneyball, now a movie nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, to knock one out of the park. Its lessons are applicable far from home plate.

Moneyball tells the story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who two decades ago threw aside commonly held assumptions about how to build a team roster. He proved that deep statistical measurement and analysis are more useful than conventional wisdom, sending the A’s to the World Series on one of the lowest budgets in baseball.

Sustainability is the Moneyball of the global economy. Investors are pushing for new kinds of sustainability “stats” to measure an investment’s prospects. The protagonist of Greenball isn’t the general manager, but rather the prescient fund manager or company executive. Instead of restricting his understanding of a company’s value to traditional financial metrics, these investors are looking at environment, social and governance data (ESG).

Like A’s manager Billy Beane, sustainability investors are ignoring stolen bases and grand slams and focusing on who is consistently moving forward. ESG disclosure scores are the new OBP. There are dozens of possible ESG metrics. Topics are as universal as greenhouse gas emissions, water use, employee sustainability training or percentage of board members that are women. Measures are also sector-specific, such as number of spills, which are monitored in extractive industries.

Corporate sustainability reporting is still missing the uniformity and ubiquity of traditional financial reporting. Movements are afoot on some stock exchanges to encourage sustainability reporting, including initiatives at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Brazil’s Bovespa.

Despite much progress at collecting ESG data, now measured by financial data companies including Bloomberg and Reuters, the current backlog of five years of aggregate data is insufficient to quantify the value of pursuing sustainability. Do sustainability efforts drive better stock performance? What are the best ways for investors to weigh a company’s sustainability? The World Series of the global economy will play out over the coming decades, and sustainability rosters are just being filled out.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/sustainability-is-the-moneyball-of-the-global-economy.html

UN Sustainability Report PDF

Beginning Excerpt:

The report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability

Letter dated 30 January 2012 from the Co-Chairs of the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability addressed to the Secretary-General

We have the privilege to submit to you the report of the High-level Panel onGlobal Sustainability, entitled “Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing”.

We undertook this report during a period of global volatility and uncertainty. Economies are teetering. Inequality is growing. And global temperatures continue to rise. We are testing the capacity of the planet to sustain us. Efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals and other social and economic targets are hampered by both the inability to agree on decisive and coordinated action in national and multilateral fora, and by unmet commitments for financial support.

The signposts are clear: We need to change dramatically, beginning with how we think about our relationship to each other, to future generations, and to the eco-systems that support us. Our mission as a Panel was to reflect on and formulate a new vision for sustainable growth and prosperity, along with mechanisms for achieving it.

With seven billion of us now inhabiting our planet, it is time to reflect on our current path. Today we stand at a crossroads. Continuing on the same path will put people and our planet at greatly heightened risk. The other path, we believe, provides extraordinary opportunity, but we must be committed and courageous in following it. Changing course will not be easy. But over time, we believe that following a more sustainable path will enhance human well-being, further global justice, strengthen gender equity, and preserve the Earth’s life-support systems for future generations.

Nearly twenty years after the Rio Earth Summit, the challenge — and opportunities — of sustainable development are more relevant than ever. Today we see with increasing clarity that economic growth, environmental protection, and social equity are one and the same agenda: the sustainable development agenda. We cannot make lasting progress in one without progress on all.

People are at the center of our vision of sustainable development. Our report puts forth a series of core recommendations that, if implemented over time, will help lift large swathes of humanity out of dehumanizing poverty; bolster resilience; strengthen global equity, including gender equity; transform how we value goods and services and measure growth; preserve valuable eco-systems; enhance collaboration, coherence, and accountability across sectors and institutions; and create a common framework for global sustainability.

In the year 2030, a child born this year will come of age. Our recommendations seek to establish for her, and for all children, a world in which a sustainable, inclusive growth provides more for less, for all. Our report is addressed to you, but our recommendations will require commitment — and action — from citizens across all sectors of society: from Heads of State and Government and local mayors to business executives, scientists, religious leaders, civil society activists, and not least, the leaders of the next generation, today’s youth. Each of us must be a part of the solution.

We recognize the universal aspiration to sustainable development and our recommendations allow for addressing it in the context of diverse national circumstances. Implementation has to build on and go beyond agreements and mutual commitments reached up to now.

Our recommendations emanate from our collective personal experience in the public and private arena — in government service, in policy-making roles, in the private sector and civil society. Together, our engagement with the issues we have addressed herein spans several decades…. 

Read Full Report– UN Sustainability Report PDF

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