COMPANY-LEVEL BUSINESS CASE
The New Sustainability Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line was published in 2012 on the 10th anniversary of The Sustainability Advantage. It is a rewritten, recalibrated and more compelling business case for sustainability strategies. It shows that if a typical company were to implement best-practice sustainability approaches that have already been used by real companies, it could improve its profit by at least 51% to 81% within three to five years, while avoiding a potential 16% to 36% erosion of profits if it did nothing.
The business case is organized around seven easy-to-grasp bottom-line benefits that align with current evidence about the most significant sustainability-related contributors to profit.
1. Increased revenue
2. Reduced energy expenses
3. Reduced waste expenses
4. Reduced materials and water expenses
5. Increased employee productivity
6. Reduced hiring and attrition expenses
7. Reduced risks to revenue and expenses of inaction
Buy the book
Portuguese version
A Portuguese version of the book, is available from Amazon.
Note that Bob has a ”25% for People and Planet” policy. That is, he makes monetary donations of at least 25% of SA’s annual profit to worthy sustainability champions―registered charities, grassroots NGOs and individuals who are helping to improve the well-being of society and our planet.
Company-level business case videos
- The New Sustainability Advantage: The Presentation (42 minutes): This is a composite of excerpts from three of Bob’s talks. It includes an overview of sustainability terminology, an explanation of the five-stage sustainability journey, and an overview of the compelling business case for sustainability strategies.
- Business Case Presentation (21 minutes): This is the brief talk done at the book launch at the Toronto Sustainability Speaker Series (TSSS). It skips the discussion about sustainability terminology and the sustainability journey in the Keynote Presentation video, but includes the overview of the new business case and associated tools available to sustainability champions.
- Business Case for Sustainability (4.5 minutes): This is a short, animated video about The New Sustainability Advantage by Sustainability Illustrated / Alex Magnin. It is brilliant.
Sustainability Advantage Worksheets
This is an Excel version of The New Sustainability Advantage (NSA) book. The worksheets help users calculate how much more revenue, savings, and profit the company could make if it simply implemented proven, best-practices sustainability strategies. It monetizes the potential pot of gold at the end of the sustainability rainbow if the company went all-in on smart environmentally- and socially-beneficial actions.
- A French translation of the simulator was developed by ECOsystemIE. To learn more about the French version, please contact Marie-Chantal Vincent, Principal, ECOsystemIE.
- To include your enhanced version of the Worksheets in this list, contact Bob Willard.
Help videos for the worksheets: These help videos provide guidance on how to use the New Sustainability Advantage Worksheets, plus they provide background on possibilities in each of the benefits areas.
- NSA Worksheet – How to Use (11:48 mins)
- Benefit – Revenue Growth (9:50 mins)
- Benefit – Waste Expense Savings (12:44 mins)
- Benefit – Materials Expense Savings (15:12 mins)
- Benefit – Employee-Related Expense Savings (13:41)
- Benefit – Risk Mitigation (15:50 mins)
21st Century Sustainable Enterprise Force Field – white paper
The business case is all about justifying a company paying more attention to its impacts on people and planet than it already is. The above business case worksheets help monetize the benefits. There are other forces in play theses days. This white paper outlines how seven forces are driving a business to be more sustainable, while six other forces are still pushing back and protecting the status quo. Because it amplifies all the other helping forces, the significance of the new “Pressure from primary stakeholders” helping force is highlighted. It’s making a big difference. The whitepaper can be downloaded here.
Company-level business case slides
Master – Sustainability Business Cases slide set is one of six slide decks available to Master Slide Decks subscribers. It includes an overview of the company-level business case and backup on the potential opportunities that could be captured and risks that could be avoided if the company were to implement sustainability best practices. The deck is updated quarterly.
