Page 50 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

External Drivers: The Voice of Society 29

Stakeholder Examples of Relevant
Group Typical Expectations Metrics

Religious • Sensitivity to human • Commitment to codes
groups, NGOs, rights & global envi- of conduct (e.g., UN
advocacy ronmental issues Global Compact)
groups, • Demonstrated • Percent reduction in
public interest improvements in emissions and resource
groups performance consumption
• Transparency of • Partnerships with NGOs
decisions
Youth, women, • Commitment to • Indigenous employment
indigenous equal opportunity • Percent of workforce
peoples, • Access to education holding diplomas
minority groups and training • Number and extent of
diversity programs
Academic • Degree of innovation • R&D investment as
and research • Willingness to percent of sales
organizations collaborate • Environmental research
partnerships

TABLE 3.1 Stakeholders’ Environmental Interests and Concerns (continued)

mea surement in greater detail. Through sincere commitment and
authentic dialogue with stakeholders, companies are able to inte-
grate their concerns more effectively into their decision making
processes.
This chapter describes efforts by organizations around the world
that have contributed to the establishment of DFE principles, prac-
tices, and performance goals, often working hand-in-hand with in -
dustry. It turns out that defining “green” products or processes is
not an easy exercise. Among the many stakeholder communities of
the world, there is a wide diversity of views on what it means to be
environmentally responsible, sustainable, or eco-efficient.

How Clean Is Green?
In the early days of environmental regulation, government and busi-
ness officials frequently debated the question of “how clean is clean?”
This question arose in making decisions about pollution limits or
environmental remediation for substances that might be present at
levels as low as one part per billion. Assuming that the objective is to
avoid human health risk or ecological risk, then the above question
translates to “what level of residual risk can we accept?” Since zero