2Sustain

A diverse collection of some of the world’s leading companies have joined forces to create the Sustainability Innovators Working Group, an organization that will work to define and develop new approaches to environmental management and corporate sustainability.

Esty Environmental Partners (EEP), the organizer of the group, and IBM, a participant and supporting partner, announced the launch of the group last week.

The Sustainability Innovators Working Group –which includes global corporations such as Boeing, CH2M Hill, Coca-Cola, Delhaize Group, Disney, Diversey, Dow Chemical Company, FedEx, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., Shaklee, Unilever, and Xerox — will define a new set of management systems and tools for achieving greater value from sustainability strategy.  Each company will be able to apply the best practices from this collaboration within their own organizations not only to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in their operations, but also to better identify and develop related opportunities for innovation and growth.

As I have pointed out several times in previous posts, the business community is increasingly recognizing the linkage between financial performance and a commitment to sustainability.

Sure, some companies are still choosing to bury their heads in the sand.

But, others are doing the exact opposite. They’re seizing the opportunity to improve their environmental stewardship, respond to resource scarcity and make progress on even broader issues of corporate social responsibility. Today’s successful companies are making sustainability a fundamental component of their overall business strategy –because they realize that factors such as globalization, impending regulations, climate risks and evolving stakeholder expectations are making the business case for sustainability stronger than ever before.

“Finding the right strategic response to the sustainability imperative is a core competitive challenge for companies,” says Dan Esty, EEP Chairman and Hillhouse Professor at Yale University. “Companies that meet this challenge will find new ways to reduce risks and costs, achieve growth through innovation, and enhance the value of their brands. Through our partnership with IBM and our work with these leading companies, we plan to bring sustainability strategy and execution to a new level.”

For more information about the Sustainability Innovators Working Group, visit http://www.estyep.com.