In this white paper by Glen Low and Julie Menter we describe what will define sustainability leadership in the future and contrast it with what has defined it previously. We then outline what companies should do to position themselves to compete successfully in the Sustainability Age and gain unprecedented competitive advantage.

We are living beyond our means – not just in the financial sense but in the environmental sense as well. Today, we are depleting the resources of the planet at a rate 50% greater than can be sustained. To make things worse, the next few decades of population growth combined with the increase in developing countries’ standards-of-living will result in a consumption boom that will further endanger the planet’s life support systems (clean water, clean air, predictable rainfall patterns, etc.). For example, scientists now predict that in the next 50 years we will have to grow more food than in the entire history of mankind to keep up with growing demand in a world constrained in clean water and healthy soil. The social and environmental challenges we face have never been more daunting.

Perhaps surprisingly, many companies have found real and positive opportunities amidst this crisis. By being Sustainability Leaders – doing business in a way that has a positive social, environmental and financial impact – leading companies have gained competitive advantage in the form of reduced costs, process improvement, product innovation and employee and customer engagement. In short, Sustainability Leaders are growing stronger by helping to solve the world’s most pressing problems...

Click here to download the white paper.