The Sustainability Scorecard

The Sustainability Scorecard
The Sustainability Scorecard
How to Implement and Profit from Unexpected Solutions
Edition: 1
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 12 July, 2022  Available in all formats
EPUB ISBN: 9781523093809
PDF ISBN: 9781523093793

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Using a rigorous, straightforward scorecard as a guide, this book shows business leaders and innovators how to create breakthrough sustainable products and processes that are good for the planet, human health, and profits.

For decades, proponents of sustainability have promised effective ways to save resources and money, but they aren't moving the needle. The problem is that they haven't convinced skeptics that powerful economic incentives will work in their favor.

This book makes a crystal-clear economic argument for sustainable supply chains and provides a practical scorecard for creating one that is understandable to any executive, inside or outside of operations. In the midst of “green fatigue,” many leaders have lost sight of the business costs presented by hidden supply costs and toxic inputs in traditional supply chains. The authors show operations and implementation-focused business leaders how to innovate their supply chains to introduce and scale unexpected, cost-saving sustainable solutions.

Through repeatable, reliable processes that address model design and key performance indicators, this is a practical guide that leaders can rely on to make their existing systems more sustainable and more profitable.

The authors say it best: “To design a better future, you need to be a heretic today.”
Description
Using a rigorous, straightforward scorecard as a guide, this book shows business leaders and innovators how to create breakthrough sustainable products and processes that are good for the planet, human health, and profits.

For decades, proponents of sustainability have promised effective ways to save resources and money, but they aren't moving the needle. The problem is that they haven't convinced skeptics that powerful economic incentives will work in their favor.

This book makes a crystal-clear economic argument for sustainable supply chains and provides a practical scorecard for creating one that is understandable to any executive, inside or outside of operations. In the midst of “green fatigue,” many leaders have lost sight of the business costs presented by hidden supply costs and toxic inputs in traditional supply chains. The authors show operations and implementation-focused business leaders how to innovate their supply chains to introduce and scale unexpected, cost-saving sustainable solutions.

Through repeatable, reliable processes that address model design and key performance indicators, this is a practical guide that leaders can rely on to make their existing systems more sustainable and more profitable.

The authors say it best: “To design a better future, you need to be a heretic today.”
Table of contents
  • Cover
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Dedication
  • Contents
  • Foreword
  • Introduction: Doing Better Things Better
  • Chapter 1. Lies about Sustainability Courtesy of the Status Quo
  • Chapter 2. The Four Principles for Managing and Scaling Sustainability
  • Chapter 3. The Sustainability Scorecard
  • Chapter 4. Know Where You Are to Know Where You’re Going
  • Chapter 5. How Sustainable Product Design Leads to Unexpected Solutions
  • Chapter 6. Unexpected Opportunities for Large Corporations
  • Chapter 7. Unexpected opportunities for Innovators and Start-Ups
  • Chapter 8. Scaling a Green Organization
  • Conclusion: If It’s Not Profitable, It’s Not Sustainable
  • Example Scorecards
  • Notes
  • Recommended Reading
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index
Review quote
“Our society faces many challenges, ranging from lack of access to healthcare to climate change and depletion of natural resources. The response from corporates should be strategies that are sustainable (and not a sustainability strategy that isn't embedded in the company strategy), and this book should help managers develop such sustainable strategies.”
-Robert Metzke, Head of Sustainability, Royal Philips NV

“There are increasing policy and market drivers for safer, more sustainable products, and the evidence is clear that these are growing faster in the marketplace than the incumbents. In The Sustainability Scorecard, Urvashi Bhatnagar and Paul Anastas team up to provide a simple and commonsense approach for firms to evaluate their journey toward sustainable products. Through a flexible yet holistic set of principles, design criteria, and KPIs that firms can readily understand and measure, they provide a framework for companies to identify and address hazards, repair externalities, and build toward ‘unexpected solutions' that benefit both the planet and the bottom line. The book provides a tool kit and examples that can inspire both current and future business leaders.”
-Joel Tickner, ScD, Professor of Public Health, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and founder of Green Chemistry & Commerce Council

“The Sustainability Scorecard is unique and amazingly useful. It has pulled the best from science, industry, and improvement methodology to show the moral imperative and the business case for a smarter, stronger future. Great insights and many clear pathways will help any reader not just learn but take action.”
-Jeff Thompson, MD, CEO Emeritus, Gundersen Health System

“They say what gets measured gets done. Urvi and Paul's book pulls back the fog of vague words and concepts enveloping the practice of corporate sustainability and provides a practical framework to make meaningful progress. This book is essential reading for companies constructing a sustainability strategy and for those looking to improve performance.”
-Tim Mohin, Chief Sustainability Officer, Persefoni AI, and author of Changing Business from the Inside Out

“ESG is a major area of focus for most corporations and their boards, with the E being recognized as an imperative as companies identify the role their products or services may be having in terms of negatively impacting the environment. The challenge, however, is that the work on sustainability is usually seen through the lens of risk management and the assumption that solutions will often be costly. The Sustainability Scorecard presents a strong case that sustainability and profitability can go hand in hand and that sustainably designed products can perform better than traditional ones and bring increased efficiency and quality resulting in profitability. The Sustainability Scorecard provides real-life examples utilizing the Four Principles of Managing and Scaling Sustainability to demonstrate that the future can be sustainable and profitable for companies and for the environment.”
-Joyce Roche, former corporate board member, Macy's, Tupperware, and AT&T

“Paul Anastas and Urvashi Bhatnagar have created an essential handbook for companies that have graduated from the why and are ready for the how. The Sustainability Scorecard is chock-full of expert advice, analysis, and examples that are both relatable and inspiring. This is an essential guide for moving all companies, big and small, past being part of the problem-toward being part of the solution.”
-Christine Bader, author of The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist

“The Sustainability Scorecard challenges corporate leaders to check their assumptions about what's possible when it comes to the perceived limits of sustainable business practices. Backed by science and a wealth of innovative examples, the scorecard offers small and large ventures a scalable pathway to revolutionary solutions to the global environmental crisis. It underscores that we can (and must) think systemically when we think about profit and the finite resources that impact our collective future.
-Laura Calandrella, author of Our Next Evolution

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