2Sustain

I would expect no less from Seventh Generation, the nation’s top provider of environmentally preferable non-toxic household products and a pioneer in the corporate responsibility movement.

The company’s newly released 2008 Corporate Consciousness Report, titled “Crossroads: Reinventing the purpose and possibility of business,” pushes the envelope, exploring how companies today must reinvent CSR in a way that merges social justice and environmental stewardship with economic growth.

In short, Seventh Generation is ready “to take corporate responsibility to the next level,” says Jeffrey Hollender, the company’s chairman and Chief Inspired Protagonist.

The 84-page report includes details about Seventh Generation’s new collaboration with Justmeans, an online network for responsible business. Through a partnership site the two will explore how the growing breed of socially responsible companies can become a voice in shifting the business status quo.

“We inherently believe that businesses can succeed in creating products and services that deliver a return on purpose as well as a return on investment,” explains Dave Rapaport, Seventh Generation’s Director of Corporate Consciousness. “Through our work with Justmeans, we hope to leverage the knowledge of the many individuals and businesses aligned with us in this belief.”

The concept of sustainability is changing. It has to. It’s a message we heard from Adam Werbach last month with the release of his new book, Strategy for Sustainability: A Business Manifesto. Others have called this new movement “Sustainability 2.0”

A handful of corporations, like Seventh Generation, Wal-Mart, IBM, and GE, are leading the way. They’re out well ahead of regulations, because for them, sustainability is not solely about compliance. Instead, they’re learning to capitalize on the sustainability “sea change” with increased efficiencies and innovation, and that, in turn, is creating business success.

More information about Seventh Generation’s 2008 Corporate Consciousness Report is available at http://www.seventhgeneration.com/corporate-responsibility/2008.

And, here’s some straight talk from Hollender as he answers the question: Is corporate responsibility dead?

“(CSR) can’t just be about a variety of efforts to be less bad,” he says. “It can’t be about an uncoordinated attempt by some businesses to mitigate the problems that we face. We need to move into a time where we take much bigger and bolder initiatives, where we as companies take the responsibility to provide leadership with NGOs and with the government to reshape the American economy and the landscape within which we do business.”