Page 83 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

62 Cha pte r F o u r

The Sustainability Landscape
While the logic of shareholder value creation is compelling, it is not
necessarily a sufficient motivation to break old habits. Many forces of
change in the business environment have converged during the late
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, resulting in a sort of “tip-
ping point” for adoption of corporate sustainability. Most of these
changes have been discussed in previous chapters, and are summa-
rized here:
• Climate change anxiety. Once climate change was finally
acknowledged as a reality, governments, NGOs, and corpo-
rations began to seriously explore policies and technological
solutions for mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions; and car-
bon offset schemes flourished.
• Energy security. Concerns over depletion of fossil fuels and
dependence on imported petroleum, coupled with the prob-
lem of carbon emissions, drove investments in alternative
fuels; this trend was further intensified by a sudden rise in
oil prices in 2007.
• Customer awareness. Both retail and industrial customers
became increasingly concerned about the environmental
performance of products that they purchased. Major corpo-
rations began to systematically review the environmental
performance of their suppliers, and many governments intro-
duced environmentally preferred procurement policies.
• Legislative requirements. A series of government direc-
tives in the European Union forced global multinationals to
change their practices with regard to product design and life-
cycle management; similar measures were adopted in many
other countries.
• Voluntary codes and standards. Voluntary codes of conduct
such as the Ceres principles, as well as environmental man-
agement system standards such as ISO 14001, were widely
adopted by the business community as a way to demonstrate
environmental responsibility.
• Eco-labeling programs. A number of eco-labeling initiatives
have gained acceptance by consumers around the world, and
companies in the electronics, consumer products, food and
beverage, and other industries are now compelled to qualify
in order to remain competitive.
• Sustainability-driven investing. The financial investment
community has begun to recognize sustainability as an indi-
cator of overall superior management, as exemplified by the
increasing interest in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes
and other rating systems.