Introduction to the Framework for Sustainability Conversations—part 1/7
Sustainability approaches and strategies #1
Introduction to the Framework for Sustainability Conversations—part 1/7
1—Foreword
We’ve created the Framework for Sustainability Conversations because we noticed that, over the years, companies don't know how to get started with sustainability. The Framework for Sustainability Conversations is a simple tool to help teams initiate conversations and ask the right questions.
We've interviewed dozens of the world's leaders and experts, and we've gotten to hear their visions and values. We asked them about the genesis of what makes it so essential sustainability to build a better future.
We picked up six dynamics to help in the identification of biases in the decision-making processes. It's an open-source rulebook to determine what we are optimizing for, identify biases and influence our ability to make better choices, judgments, and decisions.
Network leaders can then listen to the signals, react in time, demonstrate accountability and be confident in their decisions.
2—Approach
The focus on sustainability is a welcome response, recognizing that newly delivered solutions fail too often and often do not provide endless benefits to their users.
Both research and practice have shown that achieving sustained universal coverage will require more than building infrastructures and increasing access to services.
Understanding how benefits are maintained overtime needs to be at the heart of all sector systems, at all levels – from local community interventions to more comprehensive service delivery, and at the national level, where the enabling environment for services needs to be strengthened to make sure that, once provided, services and the benefits to the end-user continue endlessly.
3—A sustainable organization
Let's first start by defining what is a "sustainable organization."
[Extract from Wikipedia] A sustainability organization is (1) an organized group of people that aims to advance sustainability and/or (2) those actions of organizing something sustainably. Unlike many business organizations, sustainability organizations are not limited to implementing sustainability strategies which provide them with economic and cultural benefits attained through environmental responsibility. 1
4—The Framework for Sustainability Conversations
There are six dynamics in moving toward a sustainable enterprise. We will explore each one of them in the coming chapters:
The Framework for Sustainability Conversations considers different programming intervention levels and models: the upstream enabling environment and the importance of meaningful interactions with communities to ensure better access to sustainability solutions.
The framework is rooted in the collective ambition to strengthen organizational capacities to deliver lasting solutions while, as ever, leaving no one behind.
The framework consists of six parts linked to sustainable organization deployment: it offers guidance on understanding and integrating sustainability practices throughout program cycles, from the assessment phase to implementation and monitoring of results and feedback findings for reinforcement of course correction.
Available supporting tools and examples will be provided throughout guidance to simplified sustainability processes: this will include a list of core indicators and underlying factors to be analyzed in sustainability monitoring, which has been developed and complements the different parts.
5—Practice with the Framework for Sustainability Conversations in PDF
We believe sustainability should be at the core of every business. The Framework for Sustainability Conversation has been conceived to empower creators and leading modern teams to build purpose-driven projects and create value for the world’s most exciting companies.
➤ For sustainability insights, please subscribe to the Sustainability Insights Premium edition.
For sustainability organizations, sustainability can also be an end in itself without further justifications. Recently,[when?] the natural environment has become a key strategic issue in both the business and academic communities. Through "implementing sustainability strategies, firms can integrate long-run profitability with their efforts to protect the ecosystem, providing them with opportunities to achieve the traditional competitive advantages and cost leadership and market differentiation via environmental responsibility".[1] Sustainability strategies have been persistently employed in a number[quantify] of organizations.