March was a great month. I’ve been counting backward from that date for two years. I wanted to co-release four new interrelated business case resources for sustainability champions. It worked.

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In addition to the new book, dashboard, worksheets, and slides that will be released together in March, I’m also creating a new Sustainability Advantage DVD that will encapsulate my talk these days on new business case for sustainability. It will be ready in the summer and will include footage of several talks that I am doing between now and then. I’m still on track to do another 80-100 talks this year. Last year, I did 93 plus wrote the new book, so paying attention to the bi-weekly blog was a bit of a challenge. For people who are unable to attend one of my talks, the DVD will provide an opportunity for them to experience it virtually.

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First, it is one thing to be expensive; it is another to be more expensive than competitors. The adjacent slide shows the concerns that drive companies’ climate change strategies. Pricing worries are behind the top three. If competitors are quicker to harvest the benefits of materials, energy, and water efficiencies, they could gain a price advantage and attract customers away.

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In my last two blogs, we looked at how company sustainability efforts can help generate more revenue because of its enhanced brand image as a responsible corporate citizen, as well as more revenue from new products and new markets. This week, we will look at additional revenue from selling services and leasing products.

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In my last blog, we outlined how companies can gain more Business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) revenue from a more responsible company brand. This week we will look at a second way that sustainability strategies bolster revenue: the green attributes of the company’s products and services become differentiators.

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Tweet People buy from companies they trust. More and more, customers prefer to do business with companies that are doing good things and are responsible. The responsible image of the company builds loyalty with customers who identify with the values of the company – their loyalty is more to the company than to its products. [...]

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So the credit standing of borrowing firms is influenced by legal, reputational, and regulatory risks associated with environmental accomplishments. Companies with weaker environmental performance pay a premium for debt financing and companies with better scores pay less for debt. The study found that spread can be as much as 64 basis points (0.64%) and it is growing.

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How lenders respond to a company’s request for financial assistance is somewhat driven by the applicant’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) track record. Borrowers require financial capital in order to purchase equipment or new premises in which to produce its goods or services.

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There are only two reasons a company changes: to avoid risks and / or to capture opportunities. They go for the upside, and / or run from the downside. They are attracted to the carrot, and / or want to duck the stick; the yin and / or the yang. Trying to convince a company to fully embed sustainability into its strategies and operations requires a very compelling business case. The standard business case is made up of these same two parts, shown in the figure below.

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We need to make it easy for CEOs, CFOs, and others in the C-suite to see how embedding sustainability strategies into the company’s strategies and operations will contribute to the firm’s success. That is, we need to connect the dots between typical financial statements and the benefits that can be realized from smart environmental, social, and governance (ESG) approaches and programs. Aligning ESG benefits with income statement elements helps executives see the relevance of sustainability initiatives to their current financial priorities.

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