Page 103 - The Green Building Bottom Line The Real Cost of Sustainable Building

82 CHAPTER 3

Economy Society

Environment

Figure 3.1 Sustainability as triple bottom line.

According to Daniel Esty and Andrew Winston, authors of Green to Gold, there are
two driving forces behind the push for sustainability. “First, the limits of the natural
world could constrain business operations, realign markets, and perhaps even threaten
the planet’s well-being. Second, companies face a growing spectrum of stakeholders
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who are concerned about the environment.” This would lead one to believe that the
path to sustainability is charted through a narrow strait: avoiding constraints posed by
the natural world while also avoiding pressure from various stakeholders. Flashback
to the authenticity question: Imagine a reporter asking you why your firm has pursued
sustainable initiatives. What do you really want to be the rationale, and what do you
feel is the true explanation? Consider which of the following explanations seems most
compelling:

■ “Well, we didn’t necessarily want to, but boy, a few board members sure did.”
■ “Our CEO made us go in that direction.”
■ “We had to make that move in order to get a certain client’s business.”
■ “Our customers were asking for it.”
■ “We felt it was an opportunity to create greater brand value for the company.”
■ “It fit our overall set of core values and beliefs.”
■ “Our staff members felt it was an important step to make.”
■ “The market was moving in that direction.”
■ “We were facing regulatory pressures that pushed us in that direction.”
■ “We felt a moral responsibility toward addressing a global need to reduce our footprint.”

Usually an organization develops an overarching sense of authentic sustainability
either as a top-down decision by key executives or as an upwelling of support from
employees. Each approach has advantages and disadvantages. It often takes a com-
bination of both approaches to truly create a sense of buy-in for any new idea. Sustain-