Page 125 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

104 Cha pte r Se v e n

example, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has built its sustainability efforts
around two major themes:
1. Water—since 85% of P&G products involve household water
use, the company has focused on how it can enhance both
water conservation and water quality.
2. Health and hygiene—the company has sought to enhance the
global contributions of its products to cleanliness, sanitation,
health care, infant care, and education.

Once a company has identified the environmental aspects to be
measured, the next step is to select measurable performance indica-
tors. It is common to distinguish between indicators (which define what
is to be measured) and metrics (which define how it will be measured).
Thus, an indicator of environmental improvement might be “reduced
energy consumption,” and associated metrics might include:
• BTU/year or BTU/ton produced (for manufacturing)
• Kilowatt-hours consumed per operating year (for product
design)
• Total net energy consumed per unit over the product life
cycle
As discussed in Chapter 3, different stakeholder groups have a
variety of differing concerns and will respond to different types of
indicators. The choice of appropriate performance indicators will
usually differ depending upon the intended communication pur-
pose. For example, in measuring energy efficiency, a company might
choose to focus on operational measures, such as BTU of fuel per ton of
product for product benchmarking purposes, while reporting to stake-
holders in terms of percent annual decrease in net energy consumption.
An important consideration in choosing performance indicators
is selection of goals and targets. While it is not essential to announce
targets for all sustainability indicators, stakeholders increasingly
expect corporations to commit to specific, measurable goals. Some
leading companies have established aggressive, long-term goals that
“stretch” the organization (e.g., DuPont’s well-known Goal of Zero
for injuries, incidents, and waste), while setting realistic annual mile-
stones to track incremental progress. †
The following is a list of selection criteria that can be used to
choose sustainability performance indicators. The set of indicators
should be
• Relevant to the interests of the intended audiences, including
enhancement of social and environmental conditions for

† One popular term for “stretch” goals is Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs).