Sustainable business is an ever-evolving – and increasingly popular – discipline for managing business risks and opportunities. From meeting consumer & investor expectations to supplier performance, sustainability touches all parts of the value chain and can be a driver for cost reductions, operational efficiencies, new market opportunities, and business resiliency.
Sustainability has many terms: corporate responsibility, ESG (environment, social, governance), CSR (corporate social responsibility), corporate citizenship, social responsibility, and triple bottom line – we could go on! This robust course will touch on all aspects of sustainability, from climate change and environmental footprinting to social issues and community/workplace programming, and even governance and risk management.
You will learn how sustainability can increase profitability, improve business efficiencies, identify hot spots to avoid, and gain a competitive advantage with customers. This course offers a one-stop-shop for practical knowledge, tools, and case studies to solve your most pressing challenges and elevate your sustainability performance to the next level.
Rooted in business, this course is not a fluffy, theory-based course, but one grounded in the practical, day-to-day skills designed to help your organization take the next step on sustainability, whether you are just beginning, trying to alight existing ad hoc efforts, or leading you industry
You may cancel or reschedule up to 21 days prior to the start date of the class at no penalty. For any cancellation or reschedule requests within 21 days, the full course tuition is still due and not eligible for refund. Any paid tuition will be credited towards a future class and must be used within 12 months.
*Partner delivered courses may be subject to different cancellation terms.
HOW TO SELL SUSTAINABILITY
Part 1: Making the Business Case & the Power of Purpose Driven Corporations
1. Consumer demand and employee preferences for sustainability
2. Supply-chain and investor requirements
3. How corporations are creating real change & the company of tomorrow
4. Case studies
Part 2: Business Value Potential
1. Cost reduction solutions
- Best practices
- Operational wins that save money and help the environment
- Case studies
2. Business growth opportunities
- Consumer markets
- Value chain
- Product markets
- Case studies
3. Changing tides of corporate responsibility
- Duty to stakeholders
- Beyond the nuts and bolts
- Investors care about sustainability
Part 3: Resiliency through Sustainable Business Practices
1. Integrating systems thinking to solve complex challenges
- Supply chain and labor disruptions
- Extreme weather risks
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- How to identify dual benefits and win-win scenarios
2. Reducing dependencies before it’s too late
- Building resiliency
- Protecting your value chain
- Climate adaption strategies
- How to adapt
3. Case studies
HOW TO IMPLEMENT SUSTAINABILITY
Part 4: Establishing and Leveraging Sustainability KPI Metrics
1. Understanding your data and which metrics to track
- The data behind sustainability
- Making data-based decisions
- Hedging against consumer distrust – transparency is key
2. Current tools on the market for tracking environmental and social metrics
3. What to do with your data
- Setting a definition, vision, and goals
- Identifying hot spots and opportunities
- Aligning incentives to optimize impact
4. Driving organizational change
Part 5: How to Address Common Risks & Opportunities
1. Operations
- Quick opportunity and risk analysis
- Social, environmental, governance, financial and brand
- Energy & natural resources
- Social issues and human capital
2. Products
- Life cycle impacts
- Ethical sourcing
- End of use options
3. Global supply chain
- Understanding your value chain
- Scenario planning and managing potential disruptions
- Applying future forecasting to drive decisions today
4. Employee satisfaction, attraction and retention
5. Customer & investor perceptions and brand recognition
6. Diversity, equity and inclusion
7. How to not boil the ocean
- How to prioritize
- Find common benefits across departments
- Lean on industry organizations and partnerships
HOW TO TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY
Part 6: Navigating the Reporting & Certification Landscape
1. Why report on sustainability – and how to avoid survey fatigue
2. Using reporting as a strategic framework
3. Types of external, formal reporting
- Customer questionnaires
- Investor questionnaires: ISS, MSCI, Ecovadis, Gresb, etc.
- Invitation only reporting: DJSI, etc.
- Volunteer reporting: CSR reports, GRI, CDP, SASB, UN SDGs, IIRC, etc.
4. Types of certifications/product labels for different companies
- Product: Cradle-to-Cradle, Fair Trade, FSC, EPA Safer Choice, Organic, Salmon Safe, etc.
- Service/General: B Corp, Climate Neutral, GRESB, EPA Smartway, Clean Cargo, etc.
Part 7: Marketing Sustainability as a Brand Reputation
1. Start with the end in mind
- Audience
- Differentiation through sustainability
- Competitive advantage
- Message/Voice
2. Walking the talk for today’s hyper-conscious consumer
- Consumers are employees too
- Transparency is key
3. Case studies