Global Sustainability Initiatives

The journey towards a sustainable world is our greatest challenge. This book includes reports, analysis, and discussion of cutting-edge approaches to incorporating sustainability importantly in the mix of organizational strategic elements. It includes examples of “zero-footprint” production facilities, leveraging environmental and social opportunities by projects, examining theories of excellence in sustainability through appreciative inquiry, social entrepreneurship, closed-loop supply chain management including reverse flows of products returned by end users, using triple bottom-line measures of success implemented in various societal and political contexts, implementing environmentally positive green technologies, new visions for making sustainability sustainable, and innovations in diffusing learning throughout an organization’s web of stakeholders and admirers. Examples and cases are drawn from business, government, and not-for-profit sectors and intra and inter-sectoral partnerships in the US, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, and Spain. Notable focal cases include the airline industry, with its emerging space-rich aerotropolises as potentially sustainable communities and higher education. These are at times supported by interviews that bring into focus positive learning experiences and high-point stories.

The book takes a holistic approach to sustainability. Acknowledging the Brundtland definition, that sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, the book is specifically concerned with the ethics of contemporary social and environmental sustainability activity and thinking. It is concerned with the role of institutions–both local and global in achieving sustainability initiatives. All twelve chapters extend sustainability–conceptually, empirically and theoretically, and in doing so provide insights into linking local and global sustainability. The book refocuses sustainability as a series of interwoven and dynamic relationships, backed by just ethical decision-making, which begin locally, and reach out to impact the global level.

Despite recent optimism and global initiatives, the implementation of corporate sustainability programs has been slow at best, with less than a third of global companies having developed a clear business case for their approach to sustainability. Presenting numerous award-winning cases and examples from companies such as Unilever, Patagonia, Tumi, DSM and Umicore alongside original ideas based upon 20 years of consulting experience, this book reveals how to design and implement a stronger sense of focus and move sustainability programs forward. This proven combination of purpose, direction and speed is dubbed “Vectoring”. Based upon practitioner cases and data analysis from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Vectoring offers a plain-spoken framework to identify the relative position of companies compared to their peers. The framework and its 4 archetypes deliver insights for practitioners to locate inhibitors and overcome them by providing practical suggestions for process improvements. This includes designing and executing new sustainability programs, embedding the SDGs within company strategy and assessing the impact of sustainability programs on competitiveness and valuation. Offering directions for CFOs to shift companies from integrated reporting to integrated thinking in order to accelerate their sustainability programs, Winning Sustainability Strategies shows how to achieve purpose with profit and how to do well by doing good.

Sustainability has become an unavoidable topic in modern society. In order for sustainable development to be fully achieved, it must be integrated into the planning and measurement systems of business enterprises. Green Initiatives for Business Sustainability and Value Creation is an essential reference source including the most recent scholarly research on the development and application of green business models for contemporary organizations, with a focus on possible contexts and constructs of closed loop supply chain management. Featuring extensive coverage on topics such as consumption behavior, political economy, and structural modeling, this book is ideally designed for academicians, researchers, and professionals seeking current research on the importance of strategic green business practices.

A well-planned marketing orientation strategy that keeps customers informed is the first step to building a long-term relationship with customers and providing them with appropriate incentives. The difficulty with providing a winning strategy in a highly competitive market, however, stems from responding to the specific needs of the customers. Customer Satisfaction and Sustainability Initiatives in the Fourth Industrial Revolution is an essential reference source that links together three highly relevant topics in the business of modern economy—innovation, customer satisfaction, and sustainability—and analyzes their synergies. Featuring research on topics such as e-business, global business, and sustainable innovation, this book is ideally designed for business consultants, managers, customer service representatives, entrepreneurs, academicians, researchers, and students seeking coverage on directing sustainable companies.

This volume discusses topics of global sustainability involving sustainability indicators, stakeholders' participation, and technological and strategic advances with the goal of "thinking locally to act globally". Scientists, academics, policymakers, and planners are currently focused on escalating global socioeconomic and ecological issues, such as rising inequality, adverse anthropogenic impacts on the environment, and deficiencies in natural resources. These variables are pushing the earth system's resistance capacity past its breaking point, with additional pressures incurred by a global pandemic. Therefore, this book looks to impart knowledge on participatory learning action research for human and environmental health and well-being. Sustainable development planning and management are needed in these pressing circumstances, and they necessitate an analytical interpretation of ongoing processes, current and future challenges, and an understanding of available tools and technologies. The main sections of the book focus on challenges and management practices for global sustainability, promoting educational values, smart initiatives in urban contexts, and integrating emerging sustainability dimensions in policies and legislation. The primary audience for the work is policy makers, urban planners, social scientists, economists, NGOs, and students, researchers, and educators engaged in environmental social science and sustainability management.

Support in higher education is an emerging area of great interest to professors, researchers and students in academic institutions. Sustainability in Higher Education provides discussions on the exchange of information between different aspects of sustainability in higher education. This book includes chapter contributions from authors who have provided case studies on various areas of education for sustainability. Focus on sustainability Present studies in aspects related with higher education Explores a variety of educational aspects from an sustainable perspective

Global Sustainable Communities Handbook is a guide for understanding and complying with the various international codes, methods, and legal hurtles surrounding the creation of sustainable communities all over the world. The book provides an introduction to sustainable development, technology and infrastructure outlines, codes, standards, and guidelines written by experts from across the globe. Includes methods for the green use of natural resources in built communities Clearly explains the most cutting edge green technologies Provides a common approach to building green communities Covers green practices from architecture to construction

The concept of sustainability has grown in recognition and importance. The pressure on companies to broaden their reporting and accountability from economic performance for shareholders, to sustainability performance for all stakeholders is leading to a change of mindset in consumer behaviour and corporate policies. How can we develop prosperity without compromising the life and needs of future generations? Sustainability in Project Management explores and identifies the questions surrounding the integration of the concepts of sustainability in projects and project management and provides valuable guidance and insights. Sustainability relates to multiple perspectives, economical, environmental and social, but also to responsibility and accountability and values in terms of ethics, fairness and equality. The authors will inspire project managers to be aware of these considerations, and to apply them to the role they play in projects, not just 'doing things right' but 'doing the right things right'.

In today’s changing business environment, managers and employees need essential capabilities such as innovativeness to successfully reach organizational goals. In this digitalized era, it is obvious that undigitized firms and organizations will not survive changing demands unless they can quickly adapt and form new business strategies. The upcoming era necessitates a digital transformation in all institutions from government to the non-profit sector. In such a change-oriented and complex business era, both entrepreneurs and leaders must keep up with the latest developments around them. Management Strategies for Sustainability, New Knowledge Innovation, and Personalized Products and Services discusses the emerging topics of digital transformation, new knowledge innovation, sustainability, and personalized products and services and provides a theoretical infrastructure to share the latest empirical research findings within management, knowledge creation, sustainability practices, artificial intelligence, and digital business functions and strategies. Covering a wide range of topics such as Industry 4.0 and user satisfaction, it is ideal for industry professionals, practitioners, consultants, educators, scholars, researchers, academicians, and students.