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Summary of Winning Sustainability Strategies
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Corporate Social Responsibility Book SummaryWinning Sustainable Strategies
I/ Chapter 1 : Introduction
Global Targets : 1. Conference of the Parties 21’ (COP 21)
2 . United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
→ implementation of corporate sustainability programs = slow at best, sloppy and ineffective at worst.
● storytelling : good stories but little action
● cherry-picking : some actions but with limited objectives
→ initiatives are stuck here, the need is at the executive level
URGENCY = moving from the realm of compliance to that of a key driver of performance and innovation
(requires imbedding deeply into core strategies)
We need to get a wider acceptance and implementation of this new reality
→ requirements : - eduction,
- new skills,
- competences
- tools
Vectoring
→ combination of direction and speed (which generates impact in sustainability programs)
→ (also) a term in telecommunications to refer to a transmission method that employs the coordination of
line signals for the reduction of crosstalk levels and overall improvement of performance, similar to the
principles used in noise cancellation for headphones.
- The analogy is particularly poignant here, where, as will be shown later, an inappropriate sense of
direction and the consequent lack of resources often conspire in many companies to generate
limited results from their sustainability efforts.
→ diagnostic tool & prescriptive method
- applications : Designing and executing new sustainability programs, Embedding the SDGs into the
company’s core strategy, Assessing the impact of sustainability programs on competitiveness and
valuation
→ ultimate objective: provide a clear, potent framework that offers directions for executives to help shift
their companies from integrated reporting to truly integrated sustainability thinking.
Sustainability Programs
→ lack this air traffic controllers /pilots (Vectoring), why :
1. weak direction (= the specific sustainability issues → materialities, that are the most relevant and
impactful)
2. board of directors + CEO should = air traffic controller
→ absence of directional bearings lead to misguided, uncoordinated actions + unsatisfactory results from
sustainability initiatives
II/ Chapter 2 : Patterns of Frontrunners
● WBCSD (= World Business Council for Sustainable Development)
○ = a global, CEO-lead organization of over 200 leading companies representing combined revenues
of more than 9 trillion euros with more than 19 million employees
○ Peter Bakker = president -- “It is becoming ever clearer that for us to create a society that supports a
healthy planet with happy people, we must change our course drastically.”
,● DSM
○ = Nutrition. Health and Sustainable Living
○ Feike Sijbesma = president -- “Corporate Darwinism”
→ unescapable corporate responsibilities = climate change + labor conditions
a) Climate Strategy: An Example of Data Analytics
→ Climate change is portrayed as one of the most important and truly global material issues
Consequences : - destruct entire nations,
- kill wildfire (Great Barrier Reef),
- dramatically change agriculture practices,
- force massive migrations of people
● Carbon Disclosure Project
○ DJSI composer RobecoSAM
○ = global disclosure system that enables companies, cities, states and regions to measure and
manage their environmental impact.
○ claims to have built the most comprehensive collection of self-reported environmental data in the
world
○ survey on climate strategy criterion includes : transparency in disclosure, emission targets, the
presence of products and/or services classified as low carbon or that enable third parties to avoid
GHG emissions, companies need to assess their own financial risks and opportunities resulting from
climate change
○ Other questionnaire criteria include corporate governance, operational eco-efficiency and human
capital development
Results : highest-scoring industry (Construction Materials) and lowest-scoring industry (Telecom) are
different by a stunning 36%
b) Sustainability-Based Transformations
i) Umicore: From Mining Bad Boy to Tesla Partner
→ focus + speed
→ adopted a radical new business model : The old mining–refining approach to developing material
solutions was replaced by a leading-edge recycling-based model that relied on chemistry and metallurgy
2013 : awarded #1 in global sustainability benchmark of Corporate Knight
ii) Raising the Bar in Chocolate
2005 : Tony’s Chocolonely was created from scratch
- eradicate slavery from chocolate value chain
2010 : Daintree estates (North Queensland - Australia)
- first chocolate company in Australia that covered the entire supply chain from seedling nursery, cocoa
plantations to post-harvest pod processing, chocolate production, marketing and selling. Focusing on
the perceived health properties of antioxidants found in cocoa, their plantation-to-plate value chain
enabled Daintree to capitalize on higher-yield cocoa beans while avoiding the old-style sustainability
issues of smaller-sized farms.
c) Identifying Key Success Drivers
Key Findings: transformational companies have a much higher sense of direction and accelerate execution
by embedding sustainability into their core businesses, not adding them as appendices. This combination of
direction and speed (or momentum) is what we refer to as vectoring.
i) Vectoring Step 1: Getting the Bearings Right
→ less is more, when it comes to selecting objectives
→ “grasp all, lose all” → don’t try to improve on all sustainability materialities at once
- evidence suggests : shareholders react positively (by increasing the firm valuations) when companies
deliver on key sustainability issues
,→ Focus : key to proper implementation and ultimately capturing value from the efforts, particularly when
addressing sustainability issues directly distilled from a well-articulated company vision, a longstanding
family culture or a distinct statement of purpose.
ii) Vectoring Step 2 : Accelerating Execution and Getting Momentum
→ Frontrunners rigorously implement sustainability programs that deliver value through reputation, cost
reduction and/or growth, usually all three simultaneously. Laggards, on the other hand, often limit their
efforts at reporting activities as part of their customary non-financial information cycle.
→ Companies end up stuck in a reporting trap , occupied all year round delivering reports and
communication and failing to turn ESG benchmark results into actions.
→The Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), launched in 2010, is often lauded in sustainability circles as
a best-practice example of vision and strategy.
- excelles not only through its clear corporate focus but also by fully integrating the underlying
management structures into the organizational framework of Unilever
d) The Business Case for Sustainability
hard truth : of the 20 global companies, 18 believe that a sustainability strategy is a key competitive
element, but only 12 have actually developed one, and 7 of those 12 have not yet figured out how to
convincingly connect that strategy to profits in the future.
- due to absence of clear business case → puts many sustainability programs at risk of turning into pure
communication exercises, handled by generalists and put on the low priority list at the corporate level.
- without the ability to connect sustainability to the bottom line, it is difficult to see how sustainability can
be made sustainable!
→ according to the IR (Integrated Reporting) Framework, there are 4 building blocks for a business case :
1) Cost savings from eco efficiencies (reducing waste, water usage or energy consumption)
2) Revenue growth from sustainable innovations
3) Enhanced reputation with stakeholders (clients, employees and shareholders)
4) Lowering risk (by reducing the cost of capital or the dependency on scarce resources)
● Novozymes
○ Danish enzyme manufacturer
○ champion of sustainability
○ approach to sustainability = enzyme window, for business opportunities emerging from enzyme
applications that can replace chemical substances in specific situations.
e) The Four Archetypes of Sustainability
→ According to the WBCSD (= World Business Council for Sustainable Development), a clear disconnect
exists in many firms between their enterprise risk management and their sustainability practices, leading to
vastly understated sustainability risk exposures.
→ description of risks and opportunities by the ESG specialist :
1) Revenue opportunities and risks arising from changes in market growth, market share and
competitive position
2) Cost implications arising from expenses related to regulatory compliance, maintenance of social
license to operate, environmental management, safety and human resources management
3) Capital efficiency trends reflecting additional investments required to meet regulatory and other
stakeholder requirements, environmental management, trends in the cost of installed capacity and
in the operational life of assets
4) Risk exposure arising from governance, regulatory, business conduct, envi- ronmental and social
connection to non-investor stakeholders.
, 4 Archetypes :
1) Traditional
- high-risk profile + limited development of their business cases for sustainability.
- Sectors that feature on the negative screening lists of institutional investors and private equity firms
with an inherent risk (tobacco and weapons)
→ Traditional companies tend to be compliance-driven, leveraging regulations to justify and extend their
licenses to operate. Most of them have sustainability departments reporting to regulatory affairs or investor
relations
2) Communicative
- companies with a limited capture of the opportunities provided by sustainability and high ESG
compliance (corporate governance and codes of business conduct)
- active in industries where opportunity seizing is complicated
- automobile industry
→ Risk reduction and compliance are often the first steps in the sustainability journey, and communicative
companies can be found in almost all industries. Their sustainability departments are most likely to report
into the corporate communications department.
3) Opportunistic
- companies that recognized the opportunities offered by sustainability but are still struggling with the
relatively high-risk profile of their portfolios.
- diversified conglomerates, with portfolio companies at various stages of sustainability maturity.
→ Opportunity seizing happens in part of the portfolio, but the risk profile overall remains high.
- These companies often suffer from a form of sustainability schizophrenia, where the
least-sustainable parts of the company often end up being spun off.
4) Transformational
- companies that have embraced sustainability in a holistic fashion, that is, both to capture
opportunities and to reduce risk exposure.
→ By focusing strongly on execution, transformational companies (re-)set the standard for their industry.
→ the sustainability programs of transformational companies are more closely tied to business operations,
driving new opportunities for eco-efficiencies and revenue growth, with co-creation with external
stakeholders a valuable source of new business development.
f) Red : A backbone provider with Some Real … Backbone
→ backbone provider : (formed in 2008) to strengthen the separation and transparency of the regulated
energy activities in Spain, the Red Eléctrica Group
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