EcoSTEPS Sustainability SnapShot & Review

EcoSTEPS Sustainability SnapShot and Review services provide a sustainability SWOT analysis. They analyse the present situation to give a preliminary sustainability stock-take or 'gap analysis'. This allows one to measure an organisation’s current sustainability profile and identify areas for management attention to build greater competitive advantage.

EcoSTEPS have a multi-dimensional view of sustainability. Going beyond the now common articulation through the three aspects of the ‘triple bottom line’ of Economic, Social and Environmental, we work with organisations across three broad dimensions of sustainability: Strategic, Practical and Cultural.

Purpose of the Sustainability SnapShot and Review

• To provide a thorough analysis of an organisation’s positioning vis a vis sustainable development and the readiness of the organisation to embrace the changes in strategy and practices required by a sustainable approach to doing business;
• To identify areas of relatively poorer sustainable performance;
• To provide the basis for a strategic sustainability planning;
• To provide a baseline for ongoing measurement & benchmarking of progress towards organisational sustainable development.
  

The approach and methodology have been influenced by a wide range of national and international sustainability approaches, including:

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), UN Global Compact, SPI-Finance, AccountAbility (AA1000), Project SIGMA, The Natural Step, Australian Business Excellence Framework (ABEF), Business Council of Australia, ASX Corporate Governance, Towards Leadership Code etc.

Most organisations exist by providing products or services that meet a perceived demand. They do this by adding value in some way to the use of resources that have had their origin in Nature. The flows involved in this process are illustrated in diagram 1.
Managing these flows to achieve the minimal negative environmental and social impact, whilst preserving and building natural and social capital is the essence of Sustainability. The Building Blocks that are key factors in Sustainability are illustrated in diagram 2.

EcoSTEPS Sustainability Snapshot Scorecard

The results of the Sustainability Snapshot & Review process are summarised in an easy-to-understand ‘traffic light’ format. This is indicatively illustrated below. The results can then be considered by the management team to determine what actions should be taken to strengthen existing areas of strong performance and conversely, what can be done to address identified weaknesses and opportunities.

If you want to find out more about the EcoSTEPS Sustainability SnapShot and Review services, please contact us.

Implementing Sustainability

Implementing sustainability has much in common with implementing any major new organisation-wide change:

New ideas:
The key concepts, principles, techniques and tools of the new approach, in this case sustainability, need to be well understood and practiced throughout the organisation;

Specifically applied:
They need to be applied knowledgeably to the specific requirements in your industry sector;

Managed appropriately:
The changes need to be introduced in such a way that people at all levels will want to, and will succeed in, adopting and applying sustainability principles on an ongoing basis. The changes also need to be managed effectively so that the collective resources achieve the highest possible impact;

Aligned with existing business strategy and plans:
The approach and actions need to align with recognised business objectives. Performance indicators need to be developed and delivered in a manner that is seen to add value.

The EcoSTEPS Sustainability Review gathers and analyses data that provides information about an organisation’s readiness to adopt Sustainability into its culture and operations.

If you want to find out more about the EcoSTEPS Sustainability SnapShot and Review services, please contact us.

3. Where at now?