The Step By Step Guide To Sustainability Planning

Sustainability is now the greatest business imperative, yet how do you actually develop and implement a sustainability plan if you aren‘t an expert? From the authors of the award-winning handbook The Business Guide to Sustainability comes this highly practical guide to designing and implementing a customized sustainability plan in any business, organization or government department of any type and scale. This step-by-step guide explains how to create a sustainability plan and sustainability report. Each chapter has two vital sections. The first contains background reading, tips and case examples to help you be successful. The second presents a set of methods each with step-by-step instructions and a selection matrix to help choose the best methods. The book also contains sample worksheets and exercise materials that can be copied for organization-wide use.

Sustainability is a journey, and this book provides the guidelines and resources for any local government to develop a sustainability plan and begin this journey. To assist local governments, the toolkit provides: Step-by-step guidelines for how to achieve each milestone in sustainability planning Tips on what to include in a sustainability plan Best-practice examples Guidelines for organizing a team of experts to develop the plan The toolkit can be used to create a sustainability plan for local governments large and small, including cities, towns, and counties.Recognizing that local governments around the United States are vastly different, this toolkit presents a straightforward yet flexible process for developing a sustainability plan. It can be used by any local government regardless of its structure, geography, size, and available resources. The foundation of the toolkit is the Five Milestones for Sustainability process, which outlines the major steps a local government should follow to improve its sustainability. The Five Milestones for Sustainability are an evolution of ICLEI's Five Milestones for Climate Mitigation and includes the following five major steps: Milestone One: Conduct a sustainability assessment Milestone Two: Establish sustainability goals Milestone Three: Develop a local sustainability plan Milestone Four: Implement policies and measures Milestone Five: Evaluate progress and report results Readers will find guidance on both how to structure their planning process and what types of strategies and measures to include in their sustainability plan. This toolkit places particular emphasis on the approach to the planning process, because having a high-quality plan isn't enough. A well-executed planning process is essential because it builds broad support from local stakeholders which leads to a smoother implementation process.Local governments are encouraged to use the framework of the Five Milestones for Sustainability as a starting point to understand the key steps involved in developing a sustainability plan. The toolkit can be used by local governments at the very early stages of the planning process or by local governments that already have a plan and are preparing to update it.

This highly practical and concise book shows you how to undertake a reporting process and produce a sustainability report in line with the new standards and frameworks presented by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Fully updated to ensure compliance with the new standards, this second edition shows how to actually produce a sustainability report as well as the key processes in the planning: how to produce a business case; the development of actions plans; process and team leadership; and generating cross-functional buy in. Templates are provided for certain steps in order to simplify the tasks involved at each point in the process. Anyone involved in delivering or developing a process to embed sustainability reporting for an organization will find this book invaluable, for example Chief Sustainability Officers, Chief Financial Officers and Company Secretaries. It will also be of interest to students in the field of sustainability.

This open access book discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by companies in an age that increasingly values sustainability and demands corporate responsibility. Beginning with the historical development of corporate responsibility, this book moves from academic theory to practical application. It points to ways in which companies can successfully manage their transition to a more responsible, sustainable way of doing business, common mistakes to avoid and how the UN Sustainable Development Goals are integral to any sustainability transformation. Practical cases illustrate key points. Drawing on thirty years of sustainability research and extensive corporate experience, the author provides tools such as a Step-by-Step strategic guide on integrating sustainability in collaboration with stakeholders including employees, customers, suppliers and investors. The book is particularly relevant for SMEs and companies operating in emerging markets. From a broader perspective, the value of externalities, full cost pricing, alternative economic theories and circular economy are also addressed.

The book examines management strategies for developing and implementing strategic resilience and sustainability plans for sustainable and climate-resilient communities and organizations. It examines trends in resilience and sustainability planning, highlighting best practices and case studies. The book explores Quadruple Bottom Line strategies and methods to implement resilience and sustainability-related initiatives in organizations and communities. It also examines diverse perspectives on climate resilience, climate preparedness and readiness, greenhouse gas emission reductions policies, climate adaptation and mitigation, disaster preparedness and readiness, and sustainable energy policies and projects. Additionally, the book offers insights on strategic resilience and sustainability planning during a pandemic as well as private sector perspectives on strategic resilience and sustainability. In chapter one, the author presents expanded definitions of strategic resilience and sustainability as well as mechanisms reshaping communities and organizations. Chapter two examines strategic planning processes for communities and organizations and lays out planning steps. Chapter three offers insights into community and organizational level engagement, looking at internal and external stakeholders, organizers, partners, collaborators, and implementers of distinct stages of strategic resilience and sustainability planning. Chapter four outlines measurements and tactics to track and improve strategic resilience and sustainability reporting mechanisms using the quadruple bottom line strategy. It offers a resilience progress report to ensure accountability, answerability, transparency, and good governance. Chapter five details the implementation of a strategic resilience and sustainability plan, describing programs and initiatives to achieve resilient and sustainable communities and organizations. Chapter six extensively examines the theoretical and practical intersection between climate change, resilience, and sustainability. Chapter seven reviews resources available for strategic resilience and sustainability plans to aid communities and organizations. Chapter eight assesses the current and future state of resilience and sustainability in communities and organizations, including concerns surrounding climate change, pandemics, disaster resilience, and emergency management and preparedness.

This book details a process of creating a long-term sustainability and resilience plan for local governments to use in designing and implementing sustainability and resilience-related policies, initiatives, and programs. It offers guidance and methods in applying sustainability and resilience strategies to attain the prosperity of organizations and communities. The recommendations in this book are based on the author's years of experience in directing applied resilience and sustainability planning for a local government, and years of research covering diverse aspects of sustainability and resilience from climate change, climate preparedness and readiness, quadruple bottom line strategy, greenhouse gas emission reduction policies, climate adaptation and mitigation to sustainable energy policies and initiatives. Chapter one defines terms related to sustainability and resilience and addresses how the topics reshape local governments and communities. Chapter two maps out the sustainability and resilience process for organizations and communities, determining the appropriate steps to be taken at each level of sustainability and resilience planning. Chapter three identifies community and organizational level engagement, with internal and external stakeholders, including designs necessary throughout these processes. Chapter four contains measuring, tracking, monitoring and reporting methods using the quadruple bottom line strategy, and developing a sustainability and resilience progress report to ensure accountability, transparency, and good governance. Then, chapter five details the implementation of a sustainability and resilience plan once it is established, describing potential programs and initiatives to achieve sustainable and resilient communities. Chapter six describes the intersection between sustainability and resilience, and chapter seven examines the tools and resources available to create a practical sustainability and resilience plan. Chapter eight concludes the text by addressing the future of sustainability and resilience, and complexities of the modern dynamics of the interconnected systems in cities, counties, and organizations, and recommends how local government administrators in their planning methods and strategies must consider these challenges.

Sustainability Management strategies and execution for achieving responsible organizational goals Sustainability is perhaps the most important term in the area of management today and indeed in all areas of organizational survival and progress as well as its influence on environment and society at large. Sustainability is relevant to all levels of human .activity, from the global level to the national, regional, community, organizational, and individual levels. The Harvard Business Review compared what it called the “Sustainability Imperative” to other game-changing business megatrends of the past generation, such as the rise of the quality movement, the personal computer, and the Internet. Such game-changing trends profoundly affect the competitiveness, and even the survival, of organizations. This book provides a global perspective on sustainability and therefore, provides ample examples and cases to demonstrate the benefits of practicing sustainability. Therefore, this book and the examples are relevant and applicable in the global as well as Indian context. The sustainability books that are in the market today address certain specific areas of sustainability however; this book is a comprehensive book on sustainability and applies sustainability to most areas of management. Ultimately, the purpose of the book is to trigger sustainable action from the organization and individual point of view. Sustainability is different from the environmental movement alone in that it recognizes economic and social imperatives too. The majority of Fortune 500 companies have a sustainability officer at the VP level or higher and leading businesses are coming to see sustainability as driver for the next wave of innovation and profitability and growth. Yet few graduates of business schools are given the tools to manage companies, governments, or organizations sustainably. This book addresses this gap adequately. The book is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in sustainability management as a text book as well as a reference book for practitioners and professionals of sustainability.