designing your business for the future bio-economy
TRANSCRIPT
DES IGNING YOUR BUS INESS FOR THE FUTURE
B IO-ECONOMYRichard Blume
Senior Sustainability Advisor
Enable collaboration for systems change.
Help organisations get fit for the future.
Empower sustainability change-agents.
C ATA LY Z I N G C H A N G E
1)Closing the Loop !
2)Healthy Chemistry !
3)Climate Stability !
4)Water Stewardship !
5)Thriving Communities !
6)Athletes Change the Game
T H E TO P O F M O U N T S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y ?
Source: Interface
Getty Images/Shutterstock/NASA; illustration by Dave Mosher/Business Insider
Welcome to the “Anthropocene” or “Great Acceleration”
Source: IGBP
Stockholm Resilience Center!Rockström et al, January 2015
A S U S TA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T =
...”development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
S C I E N C E - BA S E D P R I N C I P L E S F O R S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y ?!
•Necessary (only what's essential)
•Sufficient (to avoid gaps / greenwashing)
•General (applicable at all scales and contexts)
•Concrete (to guide innovation on monday morning)
•Distinct (to aid progress monitoring)
Broman, G.I. and Robèrt, K.H., 2017. A framework for strategic sustainable development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, pp.17-31.
A S U S T A I N A B L E S Y S T E M
Systematically increasing concentrations of substances
from the earth’s crust
Systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society
Systematically increasing physical degradation of nature
Structural obstacles that erode the social fabric
S Y S T E M E R R O R S T O A D D R E S S
T H E E C O N O M Y O F T H E F U T U R E M U S T A D D R E S S F O U R B A S I C P R O B L E M S .
Increasing concentrations of substances from the earth’s crust(eg. heavy metals, phosphates, fossil fuels, etc.)
Increasing concentrations of substances produced by society(eg. DDT, POPs, CFCs, nitrates, etc.)
Increasing physical degradation of nature(eg. poor land management, overfishing, deforestation, etc.)
Human needs are not met & trust is eroded(due to structural obstacles to health, influence, competence, impartiality & creation of meaning)
Today
Future
B U S I N E S S E S T H AT WA N T TO B E PA RT O F T H AT E CO N O M Y S H O U L D B E G I N W I T H T H E E N D I N M I N D
Vision
How will we offer sustainable value?
Where’s the business case for each step?
Stakeholders + Flows (inputs / outputs)
T H E N A S S E S S T H E P E R F O R M A N C E GA P S AC RO S S T H E F U L L VA LU E C H A I N
An upstream lens to design out the problems
SLCA
Raw materials
P
ost u
se
Product use Distribution
Prod
uctio
n
1234
Sustainability -Life Cycle
Assessment
POST USE
PRODUCT USE
DISTRIBUTION
SOURCING
PRODUCTION
BIOLOGICAL & TECHNICAL NUTRIENTS
CLOSING THE LOOP
RESOURCE SUBSTITUTION
PROCESS OPTIMIZATION
CONSERVING MATERIAL VALUE
CHANGING MANAGEMENT
PRACTICESENHANCING
PRODUCT USECHANGING BEHAVIORS
How would we know a truly sustainable company if we saw one?
How can we tell how far away a company is now from where it needs to be?
http://futurefitbusiness.org
How must a ‘typical company’ operate to ensure it meets the system conditions?
The future-fit goals were derived by examining all of the ways in which a typical company must avoid breaching the system conditions in the course of its interactions with its critical stakeholders.
It equips business leaders with a clear destination to aim for
It helps to guide strategic innovation
It offers actionable insight on nature/size of performance gaps
It inspires and highlights true sustainability leadership
The Benchmark is designed to be useful and usable