European PVC industry launched VinylPlus—a new voluntary commitment to enhance the sustainable production and use of PVC by 2020. It is no secret that PVC is a controversial material that has both critics and supporters, so when an entire industry consortium mobilizes around a voluntary commitment such as this, it is surely a positive sign that sustainable development is being taken seriously in the board rooms of major corporations.
On top of this, the VinylPlus initiative represents an expanded scope and level of ambition over prior efforts. Targets are derived from TNS System Conditions for sustainability and build on previous work in the sector.
Over the last eight years, through a series of activities, TNS has worked with the board of the initiative to review and map out the challenges for PVC, offer capacity building workshops, gather stakeholder views and provide recommendations on the formulation of the new industry charter.
They used the ABCD planning process to help industry leaders apply the framework and arrive at the priorities. They did this by first beginning with a vision of where the industry wants to head, identifying challenges that must be overcome, generating ideas on what needs to be done, and finally arriving at priorities and targets for the period to 2020.
Before deciding on the priorities and actions to be undertaken, they contacted 113 stakeholders across Europe on behalf of the board of Vinyl2010 with a briefing on the challenges they had identified together with industry representatives. Information from these stakeholders were used in the formulation of exact goals and targets.
They were pleased to see an increased level of ambition in VinylPlus and believe it sets out a clear roadmap for the industry. Proof will nevertheless be in the action, and it will be judged by whether targets are met and stakeholders feel their views are being heard.
Moving forward TNS's role will be to follow the new initiative in the following capacity:
1 Critical friend—Challenging and advising the industry to make progress while ensuring the initiative retains the direct link to TNS system conditions for sustainability.
2 Stakeholder intermediary—Encouraging constant external monitoring and communication with external stakeholders
3 Capacity builder—Supporting industry to integrate sustainability principles into their operations in order to achieve the goals set out in the initiative
Dow Measures Up
By any measure, Dow is a sustainability leader.
Dow has been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index nine times. They have won “green” awards from Michigan to China for their wide array of products from insecticides to solar panels. And in 2006, CEO Andrew Liveris enthusiastically announced seven new sustainability goals for 2015 even after the company had already met or exceeded many of its 1996 sustainability goals. In that initial 10 years span, they saved more than US$5 billion in bottom-line costs.
Yet probably their most impressive feat to date might be their array of clear and simple bar graphs that dot the end of each of their quarterly sustainability reports. These simple beige and green charts aren't flashy—they probably were produced right in an Excel spreadsheet. But it is the function of these graphs that make them so meaningful and compelling, based on what they represent.
First, whether one particular graph is showing their product safety leadership or the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions, you can immediately see the upward or downward trajectory of the company. Their goals are always marked with a simple black line, and for the most part, the green and orange bars show that they are hitting their intended targets. Dow's progress is clear.
Second, Dow may have some of the most complete, public, and long-range sustainability data available. It is immediately evident that the company keeps great records of the data that they produce. This meticulous study certainly seems central to the corporate culture, with good reason—Dow is driven by the exacting art and science of chemistry, which demands precision from heaps of data. Dow's progress is credible.
The data are so complete that their sustainability managers are able to make sense of specific anomalies when they occur. For instance, in 2009, the company's intensity of greenhouse gas emissions (the amount of energy used to create a single pound of finished product) increased 5%, which went in the opposite direction after four years of downward progress. They were able to attribute this slide to lower operating efficiencies of their production facilities during the worldwide recession. In short, they could see exactly what the effect underutilizing their facilities had on their overall emissions levels—a fantastic feat for any company as large as Dow. Dow's progress can be meticulously tracked.
There is not a company in the world that can claim to be operating in a “sustainable” way, and Dow most certainly has a long way to go to get beyond doing “less bad” and claim that they have no negative impacts on social and ecological systems. But one thing is clear: with the help of their simple bar graphs, Dow will probably know it the exact moment when they do get to that point!
Nike's Core Values
Nike credits TNS, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), Deloitte & Touche, and the World Economic Forum as collaborators that helped Nike define its strategic path toward sustainability, and they are very proud to have played such a larger part in Nike's ongoing efforts [11].
This step is a big one and it reflects a cultural shift coming from the core values of the organization. CEO Mark Parker explained:
And for all the athletic and cultural and financial successes of the company, I believe our work in sustainable business and innovation has equal potential to shape our legacy. For that to happen, we have to focus on the lessons we've learned:
Transparency is an asset, not a risk
Collaboration enables systemic change
Every challenge and risk is an opportunity
Design allows you to prototype the future, rather than retrofit the past
To make real change, you have to be a catalyst
As part of this work, Nike tested the real business impact of the changing world on NIKE, Inc. and explored how the consumer brand could thrive in a sustainable economy. They concluded that it needs to continue to refine its existing business model while simultaneously looking at new ways of doing business.
In 2008, Nike partnered with TNS again to help assess and further develop its approach to product innovation by defining a long-term vision for sustainable products. The resulting North Star vision and innovation goals position Nike to become a leader in sustainable product innovation and navigate toward a sustainable future.
As Nike entered 2010 the work continued, with a number of ambitious goals:
1 Put investing in sustainability as a key innovation/R+D priority on consumer brands' agendas
2 Fast track innovation through investment and collaboration
3 Launch the GreenXchange as a platform for enabling the sharing of intellectual property to fast track changes efficiently
4 Build an advocacy agenda to push for large-scale policies and investments in sustainable innovation
Nike's commitment did not come about
