Lake Oswego Train the Trainer Sustainability Workbook January 28 & 29, 2011 Workshop

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Lake Oswego Train the Trainer Workbook

January 28 & 29, 2011 Workshop

Table of Contents

1. Natural Step Sustainability Presentation with notes

2. U.S. Sustainability Primer: Step by Natural Step

3. A Primer on The Natural Step System Conditions and Planning for Sustainability (developed by Natural Step International)

4. Exploring Human Needs

5. City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan (11/21/07)

6. Natural Step Case Study: the Whistler Story

7. Journal of Cleaner Production: Strategic sustainable development — selection, design and synergies of applied tools

Lake Oswego is updating the city’s comprehensive plan and using sustainability as a foundation in its development . Because sustainability can be a confusing and at times complex issue to understand the city is using the Natural Step sustainability framework to guide its efforts. The Natural Step is a scientifically based set of four principles that can act as a compass in guiding any organization or municipality toward full sustainability. One of the strengths of the Natural Step framework is that it is non-prescriptive. It doesn’t dictate what an organization must do. Instead it provides a set of first order principles that one can use to determine if a particular scenario or plan will ultimately lead toward full sustainability. Organizations and communities that have successfully used the Natural Step have done so by providing training on sustainability and the Natural Step so that there is a common understanding of what sustainability is and a shared mental model of how to get there. The purpose of this presentation is to provide that understanding to help our community create a sound sustainable foundation for whatever future we choose.

1 Here are two definitions of sustainability. The first comes from the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) and was used at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. It focuses on the intergenerational issue of sustainability – allowing for future generations to have the opportunity to have the same opportunity for a good quality of life as we do.

The second, taken from the City of Lake Oswego’s Sustainability Plan adds the recognition that sustainability is more than just an ecological issue. It also involves having a health society and healthy economy.

The real challenge regarding sustainability is not defining it but instead knowing if what we are doing will ultimately meet these definitions . Sustainability is a complex issue that requires a commonly understood set of principles or framework to guide our actions.

2 Many people confuse sustainability with being “green”. Green thinking primarily focuses on tactical ecological issues such as minimizing waste, treading lightly on the planet, etc. Although these are good things to do, their perspective is one of being less “bad” and they lack a clearly defined set of metrics to know if what society is doing will ultimately lead to a sustainable society .

Sustainability understands that we are living in a complex system where things are interrelated. Consequently sustainability requires a strategic, whole systems perspective where we understand how actions in one area can impact activities in another. Sustainability is also about more than having a healthy environment. It is also about having a healthy society and economy. When properly seen from a whole systems perspective the goal is not be less bad but to instead understand the basic principles nature has used to create and maintain a healthy planet and to then align our community and business practices with those principles.

3 Most audiences understand there is a problem. In Oregon we don’t need to look further than prematurely melting snow packs, reduction of fish off the Oregon coast, rising demand for finite resources such as water and debates over how to manage our forests. For many these debates are confusing and complex where scientists can even seem to agree on what is happening.

4 The Funnel as a metaphor of our current global trends Basically there are two trends that are on a collision course. One is a world population that is continuing to grow. Not only is the population growing but many want the same kind of affluence that they see those of us in the West having

Currently that is causing a growing consumption of life supporting resources faster than they can renew themselves. If these two trends continue they will eventually lead to a collapse of our ecological, social and economic systems.

Risk vs. Opportunity The good news is that there is still time to act. However the longer we wait the less options we have to solve these issues and the cost to solve them will only increase. Consequently it is in our best interest to act now.

Take away •There is no way of knowing how much time we have •We had better make sure that we are heading in the right direction •Given the problems are at the global level: we need a systems level approach that can address this scope all of society needs to be a part of the solution

5 Swedish oncologist, Karl Henrik Robert, felt that environmental issues could be better understood by taking a whole systems perspective that focuses on the upstream causes or principles that drive all the details. He was also looking for areas of agreement that could provide a common language all could understand. Consequently he drafted a list of basic scientific principles and circulated among his colleagues. Twenty one drafts later he had agreement from 50 leading Swedish scientists on the basic science that underlies a sustainable planet.

6 7 Most people who want to create sustainability initiatives often want to start at the Action Level – what kind of recycling program should we have? What purchasing policies should we pursue?

However if we are going to play the “sustainability game” we need to understand the basic rules of the game and what constitutes “winning” or success if we are going to play the game well. Otherwise we can take actions that may help one issue but cause problems in another area.

8 First scientific principle: Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy says that matter and energy at its most fundamental level is not created or destroyed. One implication is that when we throw something away there is no “away”. All we are doing is moving stuff from one part of the planet to another part.

Second scientific principle: Second Law of Thermodynamics and the concept of Entropy imply that without input of more energy systems run down and disperse. The implication of that is over time everything spreads. It is why we are seeing pesticides sprayed in South America show up in polar bears in the Artic.

The value then in matter is the way atoms are combined to make things. Gasoline has value because carbon, hydrogen and oxygen combine to make gasoline. When the gasoline is consumed it disappears but the atoms don’t. They are now transformed into other substances such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, etc

Just in the process of living we break down the concentration and structure of matter. What restores order? Karl Henrk’s conclusion was that green cells through the pppypyyrocess of photosynthesis is the primary way that atoms are recombined into useful structure.

9 How did Nature use this science to create a sustainable planet. There are many attributes but some of the most important are:

-Closed loop systems: waste from one species is “food” for another -Use of solar energy to drive the system and keep it from running down -Sequestering of matter in the earth’s crust that could be life threatening resulting in a biosphere of o xygen , carbon dio xide and nitrogen that s upports li ving s ystems

10 When Karl Henrik Robert convened the team of scientists to come to consensus on the system dynamics you see here, he ultimately wanted to know, how is this system being destroyed?

They concluded that there are four things we as human beings are doing

1. We are taking more out of the ground than is going back in – metals and minerals that are scare in nature that are toxifyi ng the system. W e are rel easi ng billi ons of years of sequestered materi al s over a sh ort peri od of ti me i nto th e biosphere. Nature cannot tolerate this as these substances are either directly toxic to the living system or they alter the conditions needed to support life.

2. We are creating synthetic or man-made substances nature has never seen before, some of which are toxic and persistent – DDT, PVC, PCBs, etc

3. We are physically inhibiting the ability of nature to run its cycles by clogging up the system with excess toxins and by reducing nature’s restorative capacity - more and more asphalt on fertile land, lower and lower ground water tables from irrigation, more and more encroachment on marine systems from overfishing, and loss of biodiversity from deforestation. This diminishes nature’s ability to restore order, to clean up the waste that is occuring.

Ex: The diversity of species helps to ensure the health of the system, each has its role to create balance.

4. Finally, the Societal economy is so designed that it destroys the social tissue. We mostly take care of our families, friends, and colleagues but we don’t see the consequences of our actions in other parts of the world – perhaps from suppliers in the developing world. We often and unintentionally don’t allow them to meet their needs, and act as if we didn’t understand that this will – sooner or later – lead to serious consequences, also from a self-beneficial point of view and just like with the destruction of the ecosystems.

Ex: When people aren’t able to meet their needs they are even less able to focus on protecting the integrity of their neighbors let alone the balance of animal and plant life that we are all dependant upon.

11 From www.naturalstep.org: Sustainability is fundamentally about maintaining human life on the planet and, thus, addressing human needs is an essential element of creating a sustainable society. Therefore, one of The Natural Step’s principles of sustainability is to meet human needs worldwide. The other three principles focus on interactions between humans and the planet. They are rooted in an understanding that contemporary life is fundamentally supported by natural processes, such as the capturing of energy from the sun by photosynthetic organisms and the purification of air and water. These processes are essential to maintaining human life. However, as a society we are systematically altering the ecosystem structures and functions that provide life-supporting services and resources that we need to survive. Based on this understanding, The Natural Step sustainability principles are based on science and supported by the analyses that ecosystem functions and processes are altered when: 1. Society mines and disperses materials at a faster rate than they are re -deposited back into the Earth'scrust s crust (examples of these materials are oil, coal and metals such as mercury and lead);

2. Society produces substances faster than they can be broken down by natural processes, if they can be broken down at all (examples of such substances include dioxins, DDT and PCBs); and,

3. Society depletes or degrades resources at a faster rate than they are replenished (for example, over- harvesting trees or fish), or by other forms of ecosystem manipulation (for example, paving over fertile land or causing soil erosion).

By considering these three ways in which human life-supporting structures and functions are being altered, The Natural Step has defined three basic principles for maintaining essential ecological processes.

We also recognize that social and economic dynamics fundamentally drive the actions that lead to ecosystem changes. Therefore, the fourth principle focuses on the importance of meeting human needs worldwide as an integral and essential part of sustainability.

From this assessment, The Natural Step’s sustainability principles, also known as "conditions" that must be met in order to have a sustainable society.

12 •We cannot take more from the Earth’s crust than is redeppgosited again. •We are releasing billions of years of sequestered material (esp. oil and gas) over a very short period of time into the biosphere. •Nature cannot tolerate this, as the substances are either directly toxic to living systems, or they alter the physiochemical conditions that are necessaryypp to support life.

•Other notes: •Yes, we will require metals, but the question is how do we extract them, and from where? •No, no filflfossil fuels are partfthiftt of this future unl ess you’ re di ditlrectly injecting carbon back into the wells.

13 •We cannot emit more waste ppproducts than nature can process. •Two parts to the problem: a) We are producing substances that are alien to nature b) We are producing substances familiar to nature at a rate faster than it can cope with, leading to accumulation •SitSociety prod uces over 70, 000 syn the tic ch em ical compounds commercially, many of them persistent as they cannot easily be metabolized by the biosphere. •Examples include DDT, PCBs, CFCs, endocrine disrupters leaching from plastics (gender benders!)

14 This is a list of chemicals found in mother’s milk. The list was provided by Paul Hawken from two studies done in New Jersey and New Orleans. A Google search on “chemicals in mother’s milk” brings up over 600 references

For recent studyyy see “Study finds toxic chemicals in p pgregnant womens' bodies” - http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/parenting-family/pregnancy/2011-01- 14-chemicals14_st_N.htm

15 •We must not syyystematically undermine the abilityypy of nature to “pay the bills”, as photosynthesis is the only large scale net producer of order on Earth. •We must also maintain its productive capacity. •Currently we are experiencing worldwide deforestation, soil erosion, increased salinity of soils, depletion of fisheries, and loss of biodiversity.

16 •In order to be able to achieve the first three system conditions,,y society must also be sustainable. •We must meet human needs worldwide. •Inefficiency works like a gas pedal on the other three system conditions

17 Summary Of Max-Neef’s findings on human needs

Needs are few in number and are the same across cultures and over time. Satisfiers are not needs – they are the way a need is met. Satisfiers do change over time and across cultures. In fact, the way needs are met helps define a culture. Needs are not exchangeable – increasing the amount of satisfiers for one need does nothing to help satisfy another need. The only need that requires material means to be satisfied is subsistence. It is thus completely possible to improve our quality of life while consuming significantly less material resources – to have more satisfaction with less stuff. It's not the materials and energy that provide satisfaction, but the degree to which basic needs are met. However, any need that is not met leads to a human poverty – and each poverty generates pathologies that lead to other problems.

Synergistic Satisfier – breast feeding – primary need satisfied is Subsistence – others are Affection, Protection, Identity

18 From www.naturalstep.org: Sustainability is fundamentally about maintaining human life on the planet and, thus, addressing human needs is an essential element of creating a sustainable society. Therefore, one of The Natural Step’s principles of sustainability is to meet human needs worldwide. The other three principles focus on interactions between humans and the planet. They are rooted in an understanding that contemporary life is fundamentally supported by natural processes, such as the capturing of energy from the sun by photosynthetic organisms and the purification of air and water. These processes are essential to maintaining human life. However, as a society we are systematically altering the ecosystem structures and functions that provide life-supporting services and resources that we need to survive. Based on this understanding, The Natural Step sustainability principles are based on science and supported by the analyses that ecosystem functions and processes are altered when: 1. Society mines and disperses materials at a faster rate than they are re-deposited back into the Earth's crust (examples of these materials are oil, coal and metals such as mercury and lead);

2. Society produces substances faster than they can be broken down by natural processes, if they can be broken down at all (examples of such substances include dioxins, DDT and PCBs); and,

3. Society depletes or degrades resources at a faster rate than they are replenished (for example, over- harvesting trees or fish) , or by other forms of ecosystem manipulation (for example , paving over fertile land or causing soil erosion).

We also recognize that social and economic dynamics fundamentally drive the actions that lead to ecosystem chhfhfhiilfhifihdhanges. Therefore, the fourth principle focuses on the importance of meeting human needs worldwide as an integral and essential part of sustainability.

From this assessment, The Natural Step’s sustainability principles, also known as "conditions" that must be met in order to have a sustainable society.

19 The four Natural Step sustainability principles define the ecological and social components of success for the “sustainability game ”. When you add an economic element you have a triple bottom line definition for success. The economic element can be that an organization cannot systematically have a negative cash flow; i.e., it must either be profitable or have sufficient assets to support its operation for the foreseeable future.

20 All of these organizations have used the Natural Step framework. In-depth case studies are available at http://www.naturalstepusa.org/case-study-index/

21 Nike Earlier adopter of TNS Developed a vision (“Northstar”) to guide their sustainability efforts Created a product line (“Considered”) with a sustainability index as a vehicle to move all products toward that vision by 2020. One of the first companies to ban PVC from future products Created a non-profit to foster development of organic cotton Full case study: http://www.naturalstepusa.org/storage/case- studies/Nike%20Case%20Study_Jan2009.pdf

Hot Lips Pizza Cut electric bill in half ($900 per month to $450 pp)er month) with $3000 investment Developed a seasonal menu that focuses on locally grown, organic food Developed an award winning line of real fruit sodas Has received nationwide publicity with stories in New York Times, Wall St. Journal, and National Public Radio Full case study: http://www.naturalstepusa.org/case-studies/hot-lips-pizza.html Blog update: http://www.naturalstepusa.org/

Catlin Gable School Developed a strategic sustainability plan using ABCD process Institutionalized sustainability in curriculum and operations Rapidly moving toward eliminating all landfill waste. Article in Journal of Sustainability Education: http://www.journalofsustainabilityeducation.org/wordpress/content/catlin-gabel- school%E2%80%94a-focus-on-food_2010_05/

22 Now mainstream businesses are looking to sustainability as a factor in guaranteeing their long term survival. The Association of Oregon Industries (AOI), a mainstream business trade organization, has made sustainability a cover story in past issues of their trade journal.

23 Sustainability has also become a growing part of higher education curriculums and research. Portland State University received $25M for sustainability work, the largest grant in the university’s history.

24 Sustainability is also a key issue with younger people who make decisions about where they will work and live based on the issue.

25 Sustainability has been a growing issue with communities ever since the Rio Conference in 1992. In 2000 the American Planning Association issued a Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability based on the four sustainability principles of the Natural Step.

26 One of the early communities outside of Portland to address sustainability was Corvallis. It started as it has in many communities with citizen initiatives. In Corvallis it came out of discussion groups based on material from the NW Earth Institute. This was followed by Natural Step presentations at OSU and Hewlett Packard. Next the city developed a sustainability plan for internal city operations that was followed later by a facilitated gathering of citizens to create a community sustainability action plan.

City of Corvallis Sustainability – http://www.ci.corvallis.or.us/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1825&Ite mid=2099

Corvallis Sustainability Coalition - http://www.sustainablecorvallis.org/

27 Sustainability is about looking at activities from a systems perspective. This is from the city’s 2008 sustainability report that used a systems flow chart to analyze the environmental impacts of the city’s police department. An outcome of this process were initiatives to save the department money by the eliminating the need for batteries in their flashlights and the replacement of burning roadside flares with electronic ones.

28 This is a page from the original Sustainability Action Plan developed by the citizens’ Corvallis Sustainability Coalition

29 Sustainability has been a Lake Oswego City Council goal since 2002. A city sustainability plan using the Natural Step principles was adopted by the council in 2007. A citizen Sustainability Advisory Board was formed in 2008 to advise the city on how to broaden the use of sustainable concepts both in city operations and within the community.

For the complete plan see http://www.ci.oswego.or.us/plan/sustainability/City_Sustainability_Plan/LO%20Sus tainability%20Plan%20Final%2011-21-07.pdf

30 31 A successful sustainability initiative requires a strategic long term perspective that defines what long term outcome or “success” an organization is looking for and how it will get there. The Natural Step uses a process called “backcasting” where you envision the future you want and then backcast how you will reach that future from the current state of unsustainability. The strategic planning and “backcasting” process is encapsulated in a four step process called the ABCD process.

32 33 ABCD Planning Process: Putting Backcasting into Action Reinforce the backcastinggp process. The System Conditions describe the basic requirements that must be met in a sustainable society. How can these System Conditions be applied to everyday organizational development? Each organization must draw its own conclusions from the sustainability principles as regards to problems, solutions, and goals. The Natural Step has developed and tested an approach to help organizations incorporate sustainability into their core strategies . The four -step “A-B-C- D” process provides a systematic way of guiding this process: (A)wareness: Understanding sustainability and the TNS Framework as a shared mental model. (B)aseline: An assessment of “today” is conducted by listing all current flows and practices that are contributions to violations of the four System Conditions, as well as considering all the assets that are in place to deal with the problems. (C)ompelling Vision - Opportunities for Innovation: Possible solutions and innovations for the future are generated and listed by applying the constraints of the System Conditions to trigger creativity and scrutinize the suggested solutions. (D)own to Action: Priorities from the C-list are made, and smart early moves and concrete programs for change are launched. Innovative actions are prioritized by screening them through the following TNS prioritizing questions: • Does this measure move us in the right direction with regards to sustainability (i.e. the 4 Principles)? • Does this measure provide a steppingstone for future improvements? • Is this measure likely to produce a return on investment soon enough to fertilize the further process? 34 Once an organization understands the rules of the game, has defined success and developed a strategic plan as to how it will achieve that success , it is ready to play the game – to take actions that will move the organization toward its desired outcome.

35 36 37 38 From www.naturalstep.org: Sustainability is fundamentally about maintaining human life on the planet and, thus, addressing human needs is an essential element of creating a sustainable society. Therefore, one of The Natural Step’s principles of sustainability is to meet human needs worldwide. The other three principles focus on interactions between humans and the planet. They are rooted in an understanding that contemporary life is fundamentally supported by natural processes, such as the capturing of energy from the sun by photosynthetic organisms and the purification of air and water. These processes are essential to maintaining human life. However, as a society we are systematically altering the ecosystem structures and functions that provide life-supporting services and resources that we need to survive. Based on this understanding, The Natural Step sustainability principles are based on science and supported by the analyses that ecosystem functions and processes are altered when: 1. Societyyp mines and disperses materials at a faster rate than they are re-deposited back into the Earth's crust (examples of these materials are oil, coal and metals such as mercury and lead);

2. Society produces substances faster than they can be broken down by natural processes, if they can be broken down at all (examples of such substances include dioxins, DDT and PCBs); and,

From this assessment, The Natural Step’s sustainability principles, also known as "conditions" that must be met in order to have a sustainable society.

39 This is the wording used in the Lake Oswego Sustainability Planning flyer for the four principles of the Natural Step.

40 These are the questions to help guide decision making during the planning process. These questions are a way of assessing if an option will both align with the city’s vision and its sustainability principles.

41 Once an organization is at the Action Stage, it needs to select and prioritize the actions it wishes to take. It is easy at this stage to get caught up in environmental conundrums where an action can have a benefit but also have potentially harmful consequences. An example is choosing between incandescent light bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Compact fluorescents use 75% less electricity but have mercury. Which is the right choice? It is important to realize that neither option is ultimately where an organization wants to be. The choice instead is which option moves toward success and how would trade offs be minimized .

42 Sunk Cost: After going through the Natural Step process with Karl Henrik Robert (KHR) , Electrolux was going to set up a cadmium battery recycling program. KHR asked them what was going to happen next? Where did they ultimately want to go? They realized that ultimately they didn’t want to use cadmium at all and in fact the cost of setting up a cadmium recycling program would have made it very difficult to pursue other strategies. So they decided to invest in a nickel metal hydride battery system instead.

43 Direct savings: From a life cycle perspective, CFL’s cost less because they last longer. However even up front costs can be a barrier even if they save money. So State of Oregon has passed a bill that allows utility companies to pay for home energy efficiency upgrades and then pay for it with the energy savings they will accrue on their energy bill.

. Risk of not acting: Cost of hitting the wall can be exorbitant. So even though there maybe some upfront costs they help you avoid a disaster later on. It is similar to fire insurance something CEOs will pay for even though they most likely will never get a financial return.

Intangible benefits: Although these maybe difficult to pin down they are very real. Example is employee retention and recruitment. Another example is how a company’s brand is impacted. One reason Nike adopted TNS was in response to the impact their brand had taken over labor practices in Far East. They didn’t want the same thing to happen around the environment

44 45 One of the first communities in North America to use the Natural Step sustainability framework to guide its efforts. More details are available in the case study at http://www.naturalstepusa.org/storage/case-studies/Whistler_TNScasestudy.pdf

-Award: International Awards for Liveable Communities 11/7/05 in La Coruna, Spain

46 When Whistler decide that they wanted to move toward full sustainability based on the Natural Step sustainability principles, they put together a interim plan called Whistler 2020 with strategies in 17 areas. There is more information at www.whistler2020.ca

47 An example of how to apply the “Down To Action” Questions. This is the Description of Success for Energy or the desired outcome Whistler is moving toward in their sustainability plan regarding energy.

48 Whistler had been dependent on trucking propane for its energy needs. The system was reaching saturation.

49 The local energy company , Teasen , proposed installing a natural gas pipeline at a cost of $42 million. To be economically viable all current and future energy users would need to convert to natural gas.

50 The major source of energy in Whistler has been propane. As the community outgrew that approach, their supplier, Terasen, proposed installing a natural gas line at a cost of $43 million amortized over 50 years. The community felt that this would not take them in the direction they ultimately wanted to go regarding energy so they worked out a smaller use of natural gas as a bridge that would ultimately lead them toward their Description of Success.

More on this issue at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W9JjszYaRw (part 1) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvSpd78VrRo&feature=related (Part 2)

51 52 53 54 The first phase of the Sustainable Energy Plan involves the development of an innovative district energy system for the Athlete Village and associated legacy neighborhood. This system will draw energy from local, renewable sources. The primary energy source will be waste heat from the sewage treatment plant; the secondary source will be a cogeneration system powered by landfill gas. The district energy system will provide approximately 95% of the space and water heating for the neighborhood. It is estimated to reduce GHG emissions by 60% compared to using stand ard b aseb oard el ect ri c h eati ng an d by 70% compared t o nat ural gas f or space and wat er heating. Moreover, the financial feasibility assessments show that the project as planned is net present value positive – in other words, this project pencils!

55 The money saved from the smaller natural gas proposal was diverted toward installing renewable energy sources.

56 Although the state comprehensive planning process only requires planning for 15 years out, Lake Oswego realizes that achieving full sustainability will take longer. Consequently decisions are made with at least 2035 in mind.

More information on the process and how you can get involved: www.welovelakeoswego.com

57 58 59 60 Un i t e d St a t e s Sustainability Primer Step by Natural Step Acknowledgements

Photos on the cover page by (from left to right): Intiaz Rahim, Chris & Lara Pawluk, Property#1 & Nicolas Raymond - Flickr.com

This Sustainability Primer was developed by The Natural Step Canada. United States Edition edited by The Natural Step US.

Prepared by: Kelly Baxter, Alaya Boisvert, Chris Lindberg, and Kim Mackrael

Design and Layout: Alexandre Magnin

A special thank you to the following people for their editorial comments and suggestions: Jennifer Allford (Writer and Communications Consultant), Cheryl DePaoli (Alberta Real Estate Foundation), Ann Duffy (Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games), Nola Kate Seymoar (International Centre for Sustainable Cities), and Natural Step Sustainability Advisors Sarah Brooks, Pong Leung and Chad Park.

We are grateful to the Alberta Real Estate Foundation and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation for their support.

www.mcconnellfoundation.ca www.aref.ab.ca

2009. Some rights reserved.

For more information, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/.

The Natural Step Canada www.naturalstep.org/en/canada The Natural Step US www.naturalstepusa.org

Your feedback on this primer is appreciated. Please share your thoughts at info@ naturalstep.ca.

Printed on 100% FSC-certified material using vegetable-based inks.

ii About This Document

Sustainability is about creating the kind of world grounded in best practices, rigourous science we want for ourselves, our neighbours, and fu- and the contributions of thousands of experts, ture generations. It challenges us to live our business professionals and community leaders lives and make decisions as individuals, organi- from around the world. The good news is that zations and societies so that we make sure that we already have all the knowledge, tools and re- future generations have access to the same op- sources we need to create a sustainable world. portunities and quality of life that we do. The bad news is that time is running out and we are desperately short of the leadership we need The purpose of this primer is to cut through the to make real change happen. The challenge to confusion surrounding the term ‘sustainability’ all of us is to inspire and become the sustain- and provide the reader with an overview of: ability champions that are needed to lead this change and create a better tomorrow. 1. The root causes of ‘unsustainability’ in the world today; 2. An internationally recognized, science-based definition of sustainability; and GLOSSARY 3. A strategic framework for applying sustainabil- As you read this primer, you may come across terms and ity in day-to-day planning and decision concepts that are new to you or that are used in a different making. way than you may be familiar with. The Natural Step’s online glossary is a good resource to refer to throughout your reading and can be accessed here: This primer describes 20 years of thinking about http://www.naturalstep.org/en/glossary. what sustainability is and how to achieve it. It is

Table of Contents Introduction 01 The Sustainability Challenge 02 A Look at the Big Picture 04 A Look at Root Causes 07 System Conditions for a Sustainable Society 08 Beginning with the Future in Mind: Backcasting 11 Planning for Sustainability 13 Bringing It All Together 17 More Resources 19 About The Natural Step 20

iii Introduction

“We thrive and survive on planet earth as a single human family. And one of our main responsibilities is to leave to successor generations a sustainable future.” –Former United Nations Secretary General Kofi A. Annan Photo by Msteeljam - Flickr.com Photo by PentaxFanatiK - Flickr.com No one reading this primer can have escaped the news headlines of recent decades, which seem overwhelmingly to tell the story of a world that is getting more dangerous, more divided, and more complex to live in. Glaciers are melting and causing sea levels to rise; babies are being born with unprecedented levels of toxins in their bodies; and millions of people are dying of poverty-related illnesses each year. As of 2009, the global economy is in recession, and all of our global ecosystems are either 1

under stress or in decline. Photo by nuanc - Flickr.com

Amid these and many other alarming trends, it can be hard to maintain a sense of hope for the future. Even if The Brundtland definition brought the discussion about we manage to address one problem, the rest remain so the way we live and plan for the future to a new level overwhelming that it can be difficult to imagine the kind of of international debate. It also prompted many to ask real change that is needed for us to feel good about the a deeper question: Where is our global society headed world we will leave to our children and grandchildren. today, and what needs to change in order for our development to become sustainable? What if we could create a different kind of future? What if we could leave a legacy of hope for future gener- The goal of this primer is to help shift sustainability from ations by creating a world full of thriving ecosystems and something abstract that we want to something concrete communities? A world where clean water, safe streets that we can plan for. Scientific reasoning helps us to see and meaningful work are the norm rather than the excep- that we must avoid degrading both our ecological and tion? What would it take to create a future like that? social systems in order to survive and prosper into the future. Based on this understanding, we can ask: The promise of a better world is the promise of sustainable development. It presents both an enormous oppor- • What are the basic problems that make our global tunity and the greatest challenge of our time. society unsustainable? Sustainability: What is It? • How are we contributing to these problems? • What can we do today and tomorrow to stop In 1987, the United Nations convened the Brundtland contributing to these problems? Commission to address growing concern about the decline of environmental systems and the consequences This primer brings together two decades of scientific and for economic and human development. The resulting social research to answer these questions. It is grounded report gave us what is now the most common and in best practices and is based on the contributions of widely accepted definition of sustainable development: experts, business professionals and community leaders “Development that meets the needs of the present from around the world. without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”2 1 The Sustainability Challenge

st 1.8 LIVING PLANET INDEX “The defining challenge of the 21 1970-2005

century will be to face the reality 1.4

that humanity shares a common 1

fate on a crowded planet.” Index (1970 = 1.0) 0.6

–Jeffrey Sachs, Economist and Director of the Earth 0.2 Source: The Living Planet Report 2008 Institute, Columbia University 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

The Brundtland Report helped achieve a global consen- 1.8 HUMANITY’S ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT sus that society, the economy and the environment are 1961-2005 inextricably linked. This means that human well-being is 1.4 fundamentally dependent on the health of our enviro- World biocapacity ment. 1

0.6 Yet we are undermining our environment at an alarming Number of planet Earths

rate. The Living Planet Index, which measures the health 0.2

of the planet’s ecosystems, shows that they have been Source: The Living Planet Report 2008 2010 in steady decline since the mid 1980s. Reports by thou- 1970 1980 1990 2000 sands of researchers and scientists from around the world tell us that human activity is putting such a strain on our environment that the earth’s ability to sustain us The main problem isn’t an absolute lack of resources; it can no longer be taken for granted.3 is the fact that our global consumption of resources is extremely uneven and inefficient. It may be hard to be- On a global scale, we’re already seeing the conse- lieve, but the richest 200 people in the world have a combined annual income that is greater than that of the quences: the collapse of fisheries around the world is 7 threatening lives and livelihoods; the loss of arable farm- poorest 2.5 billion people. land is contributing to global food insecurity; and shrink- ing supplies of clean water mean many more people are Americans are among the most privileged people on the vulnerable to preventable diseases like cholera and di- planet. If everyone on earth consumed resources the arrhea. Climate change, in particular, has emerged as a way the average American does today, we would need defining challenge of the 21st century. By 2050, as many five planets to support ourselves. In contrast, if the world as one billion people could lose their homes because of lived like the average person in Haiti or Malawi, human- water shortages, crop failures, and rising sea levels.4 ity would be using only a quarter of the planet’s biological capacity. Clearly, the balance lies somewhere in be- Urgent action is needed now if we wish to avoid these 8 problems. tween these two examples.

At the same time that natural resources are disappear- Ecological footprints ing, our demand for them is increasing. The Ecological Footprint calculates how much of the planet’s ecosys- 5 tems are needed to produce the resources we use and United States absorb the waste we create, and it shows that our global 4 demand for resources and ecosystem services has been rising steadily over the past 30 years. It tells us that our 3 demand on the planet’s living resources is already 30% greater than its capacity to regenerate those resources.5 2 World World biocapacity Yet despite consuming more resources than ever be- 1

fore, we are not meeting the most basic human needs of Ecological footprint (Number of planet Earths) more than a billion people: half of the world’s population Malawi Sources: www.pembina.org and www.footprintnetwork.org Sources: www.pembina.org lives on less than $2 a day and more than 800 million 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 6 people go to bed hungry each night. 2 The Sustainability Challenge (continued)

The concept of the funnel – of things getting worse and The Funnel Metaphor the opportunities for change becoming more limited over time – is obviously frightening. But it’s also hopeful. It is Based on current trends, human society as a whole will a reminder of the great opportunity that exists for those demand twice as much as our planet can support by the who can help us redesign the way we live and move us mid 2030s.10 The truth is, that while the past century has in a more sustainable direction. It also makes it clear brought extraordinary improvements in human health that there is no better time to act than now. and medicine, public education, and material well being,

the unintended side effect of our progress has been the Metaphor of the funnel destruction of ecosystems, the undermining of human needs, and a way of life that cannot continue for much longer. The consequence of living beyond the planet’s means is that ecosystems are being run down, resources Increasing are disappearing and waste is accumulating in the air, pressure over time land and water. The resulting impacts – such as clean water shortages and climate change – are putting the ? well-being and development of all nations at risk.

A simple way of visualizing these challenges is to picture a funnel. The walls of the funnel represent the increasing pressures on us – our growing demand for resources Time and ecosystem services, the declining capacity of the Pressure on society increases over time due to our growing earth to provide those resources and services, stricter demand for resources and ecosystem services, the declining governmental laws and consumer pressure, and the capacity of the earth to provide those, stricter governmental social tensions resulting from abuses of power and laws and consumer pressure, and the social tensions resulting inequality. from abuses of power and inequality. The most important element of this metaphor is the systematic nature of the pressures we face. There are many different problems, but the overall trend is that success story these problems are becoming increasingly common and increasingly severe because they are a direct result of The Co-operators is a leading Canadian-owned multi-product the way our society grows and develops. insurance company. As part of an industry that identifies and manages risk, the company recognizes that climate change For example, the real challenge is not that we are con- and other unsustainable trends are serious threats both to the suming natural resources, but that our society is sys- planet and their business operations. Over the past 50 years, our consumption year after tematically increasing the narrowing walls of the funnel have had a direct impact year. In the process, we’re also systematically de- on The Co-operators: the cost of the damage resulting from the ability of natural systems to provide the creasing natural disasters has doubled every five to seven years and resources and services we need. Even though we know climate change has emerged as the number one threat facing we are running out of fish and trees and oil, we keep the insurance industry. The Co-operators recognize that their investing more energy and resources into finding, pro- success will be dependent upon their ability to fully embrace cessing and consuming them. And we often don’t stop sustainability in all aspects of their operations. Among other until the system breaks down – just look to the collapse achievements, they have introduced socially responsible of the Atlantic fishing industry for an example. Similarly, investment options and new insurance products catering to the while we know that the growing gap between rich and non-profit/voluntary sector, owners of windmills, and drivers of poor is contributing to social tensions, violence, and an hybrid electric vehicles. undermining of human needs, we often focus on building more secure borders rather than challenging our Visit www.thenaturalstep.org/en/the-co-operators for more. own ways of living.

3 A Look at the Big Picture

rescue and treatment that they never thought to look “It really boils down to this: that upstream to find out why people were falling in the river all life is interrelated …Whatever in the first place.10

affects one directly, All too often, we act much like the villagers described here and invest enormous resources into tackling affects all indirectly.” problems without taking the time to understand their root causes within the larger system. By venturing ‘upstream’ –Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Activist, Author instead we have the opportunity to resolve problems before they happen and avoid the costs of dealing with In order to understand what’s behind our sustainability ‘downstream’ impacts. In Downstream’s case, they challenges, we need to step back and look at the big might have avoided the need to invest in lifeguards picture, see the connections, identify the root causes of and rescue boats by simply posting a warning sign or our problems and find the leverage points for change. building a bridge across the river upstream.

Humans have an incredible capacity for problem solving. To get to the root of the many problems associated with Our challenge is that we tend to address problems as if sustainability, we need to begin by understanding the they are one-time issues that can be fixed with a new basic laws and principles that govern human and natural technique, a new medicine, or a new technology. In fact, systems. most of our big problems are interconnected through the complex human, economic and environmental systems that make up our world.

We often try to understand these complex systems by studying their individual parts, and we try to solve our problems by using linear thinking. The reality is that systems consist of individual but interrelated parts, and they depend on the relationships among those parts as much as the parts themselves. These relationships make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. If you don’t look at the system as a whole, you miss the pattern of relationships; in other words, you don’t see the forest for the trees. Photo by Nick Atkins Photography - Flickr.com Photo by Nick This teaches us that the best way to solve our problems is to look for the underlying ‘system errors’ that cause them in the first place. This point can be illustrated by There are systems all around us. The human body, a city, a lake the fable of a village called Downstream: or even a hockey game are all examples. To study a system, you need to understand what its limits (or boundaries) are, The residents who live in the village Downstream had what’s inside those boundaries (its various parts), what goes built their community beside a river. Many years ago, in and out (inputs and outputs) and what happens inside (the they began to notice that growing numbers of drowning relationships between each part). people were caught in the river’s swift current. So they went to work inventing ever more elaborate technologies One example of a system is a tree. Its main components are the to save them. Talk to the people of Downstream today, roots, trunk, branches, twigs and leaves, and its boundaries are and they’ll speak with great pride about the hospital by its outer surfaces and bark. The tree’s leaves capture energy the edge of the water, the fleet of rescue boats ready from the sun to fuel its growth, and the roots of the tree absorb for service, or the large number of dedicated lifeguards water and nutrients from the soil. All of these parts have to work ready to risk their lives to save victims from the raging together to keep the tree healthy and strong. waters. So preoccupied were these heroic villagers with

4 A Look at the Big Picture (continued)

Defining Human Needs

The Brundtland definition of sustainability as “develop- Nor is a need the same as a want or a desire – you ment that meets the needs of the present without com- may want caviar, but what you need is subsistence, and promising the ability of future generations to meet their what you do to fulfil this need will depend greatly on own needs” raises some important questions: What is a your income, culture, location and social network. Each human need? Do we all have the same needs? And how of the nine needs must be met if people are to remain do we know if they are being met? physically, mentally and socially healthy.

Given the importance of these questions, it’s not surpris- Creating a sustainable society does not necessarily mean ing that researchers from around the world have com- creating a utopia where every single person’s needs mitted their lives’ work to trying to answer them. One are met at all times. From a sustainability perspective, of the most respected of these researchers is Manfred the problem is that we are creating ongoing structural Max-Neef, a Chilean economist and winner of the pres- barriers that actually prevent people from being able tigious Right Livelihood Award. Max-Neef has defined to meet their own needs. These barriers are rooted in nine fundamental human needs which are considered our global political and economic systems, and include to be universal across all cultures and historical time pe- the abuse of political power, of economic power and riods. They are: subsistence, protection, affection, un- of the environment.12 Examples include discriminatory derstanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and government policies, wars, businesses that promote freedom.11 the exploitation of child labour and waste management practices that pollute community water supplies. One way to understand this list is by asking yourself the following question: “What would happen if I were to be Clearly, removing these barriers around the world is an completely deprived of one of these?” Max-Neef points incredibly complicated and difficult task that may not be out that no one of these fundamental human needs can achieved in our lifetime. But the first step in any journey be substituted for another and that a lack of any one of is choosing a destination. Success in a sustainable so- them represents a poverty of some kind. For example, ciety means that we are not systematically undermining no amount of affection can make up for the absence of people’s capacity to meet their basic human needs. food.

Fundamental Human Needs

Subsistence Protection Participation

Leisure Affection Understanding

Creation Identity Freedom Photos by (from left to right and top to bottom): gussifer, emms76, Dieter Drescher, Pikaluk, teointarifa, emms76, Dieter Drescher, Photos by (from left to right and top bottom): gussifer, and LunaDiRimmel - Flickr.com Carf, MaxLow.com bhardy,

5 to be sustainable in the long run, human systems need The Rules of Nature to operate within the natural laws and principles that govern all life on earth. In order to create a sustainable society, we need to understand that we must operate within natural laws In other words, success in a sustainable society means and principles rather than attempting to overcome them. that we are not systematically undermining nature’s Scientists agree on the following non-negotiable facts ability to provide the natural resources and ecosystem about the earth: services upon which all life depends.

1. The earth is a closed system with respect to matter. Nothing enters or leaves (aside from the odd meteor Natural cycles or rocket), which means everything that was here two SPHER billion years ago is still here today. There is no away: BIO E matter can change form, but it doesn’t leave.

2. The earth is an open system with respect to energy. Sustainability is In fact, energy from the sun is the only input into the about the ability of our own human system. This energy enters our atmosphere and is society to continue released back into space in the form of heat. The indefinitely within sun’s energy drives everything. these natural cycles 3. Life exists in the thin layer around the earth called the Slow geological biosphere, which is as thin as the skin of an onion. Slow geological cycles (volcano cycles (sedi- The biosphere is very fragile – as we’re learning eruptions and mentation and mineralization) almost daily, and there is only so much wear and weathering) LITHOSPHERE tear it can take. And it is certainly rare. As far as we know, there’s only one just like it in the entire universe, and the more we learn about it, the more complex and beautiful it turns out to be. beyond the triple-bottom-line 4. Photosynthetic organisms (plants and some algae) capture the sun’s energy and use it to power their growth. This growth supports the development of every Many people think of the environment, economy and society organism on earth – in other words, photosynthesis as a ‘triple bottom line’ or a ‘three-legged stool’. Instead, it pays the bills. is more useful to think of them as three nested and interdependent spheres. The largest sphere represents the environ- 5. All life on earth depends on complex, self-regulating ment, or earth, upon which all economic and social progress systems that circulate materials and energy in ultimately depends. That’s our natural capital: it provides the closed-loop cycles. Slow geological processes move ecosystem services and natural resources that we need to sur- materials from deep in the earth’s crust (or lithosphere) vive. The middle sphere represents society, or human capital. to the biosphere and back again. Ecosystems in the Our economy is the smallest circle because it is governed by biosphere rapidly cycle and recycle nutrients, water the rules, regulations and structures of the other two spheres. and energy from one organism to the next. Nature The economy depends on human capital and natural capital to works in efficient cycles where nothing is thrive. You can’t have one at the expense of another. wasted. Environment As a society, we need to start by understanding that all of our economic and industrial systems sit within the larger Society systems of nature. We depend on ecosystem services to regulate our climate and clean our air and water. We harvest renewable resources (such as trees and Economy sunlight) and non-renewable resources (such as oil and uranium) to fuel our bodies and economies. Therefore, 6 A Look at Root Causes

And it is unrealistic because it assumes that we can “We can’t solve problems by using have infinite growth in a finite world. the same kind of thinking we used Most importantly, it is unsustainable because it system- when we created them.” atically undermines the ability of the earth to provide the resources and ecosystem services that are needed to –Albert Einstein meet human needs both now and in the future.

In the 16th century, many of the best thinkers in the Industrial-age systems are linear world were certain that the earth was at the centre of the universe. This idea was based on two observations: that Extraction Goods in Sales Goods in the sun, stars and other planets appeared to revolve Production Use around the earth each day, and that the earth itself appeared to be stable and solid. Discard Waste from Waste production from use When a mathematician named Copernicus shattered that idea by proving that the earth and other planets in Waste the solar system rotate around the sun, people literally had to re-construct their entire world view. Rather than Source: Peter M. Senge & Göran Carstedt, MIT Sloan Management Review 2001 seeing the earth and its people as occupying the centre of the universe, they had to come to terms with the fact Closed loop systems follow cycles that they were just a small part of a larger, interconnected system. Living System Regeneration Decay Hundreds of years later, understanding the sustainability challenge requires the same kind of shift in thinking.

For centuries, we have been operating our economies Nutrients based on the idea that we have unlimited natural resources to draw from, unlimited ecosystem services to support us, and unlimited places to put our waste. We Source: Peter M. Senge & Göran Carstedt, MIT Sloan Management Review 2001 have assumed that unlimited growth is not only possible, but that it is the only way to improve our quality of life success story and to meet human needs. This growth is fuelled by the assumption that we can find technological solutions to overcome any challenges that we run into along the Interface Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of modular way. carpet. The company’s dedication to sustainability is captured by their Mission Zero commitment — the promise to eliminate The result of these assumptions is an economic system any negative impact they have on the environment by 2020. that takes natural resources from the earth, makes Led by founder and Chairman Ray Anderson, Interface products, and then disposes of them as waste when they has identified seven strategic goals, or fronts, to guide the are no longer useful to us. Whether you look at residential company’s actions toward sustainability: Eliminate Waste, development, food packaging, car manufacturing, or Benign Emissions, Renewable Energy, Closing the Loop, water management, the approach is largely the same. Resource-Efficient Transportation, Sensitizing Stakeholders, and Redesigning Commerce. They call these their ‘Seven This take-make-waste dynamic is a design flaw. It is Fronts of Mount Sustainability’. grounded in faulty assumptions which ignore the fact that our economy and society are part of a larger, Visit http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en/usa/interface-atlanta- interconnected system – the earth – and are completely georgia-usa to read The Natural Step case study on dependent on the resources it provides. It is inefficient Interface. For more on Interface’s Mission Zero commitment, because it relies on a one-way, linear flow of resources see http://missionzero.org/. rather than building on the elegance of nature’s cycles. 7 System Conditions for a Sustainable Society

“Only when I saw the earth from broken down and reintegrated within nature’s cycles. space, in all its ineffable beauty and The third has to do with the physical impact we have on natural systems. We pave over productive bioregions, fragility, did I realize that humankind’s introduce foreign species, and over-harvest natural most urgent task is to cherish and resources such as forests and fisheries. The problem is not that we change or harvest natural resources; we need preserve it for future generations.” these to survive. The real problem is that we use those resources at a rate faster than nature can regenerate –Sigmund Jahn, Astronaut them. This means that the ‘pool’ of resources from which we can draw is getting smaller and smaller. The result In the years since the first human space flights, many of conventional agriculture, forestry, urban planning astronauts have described spending hours looking and resource management techniques is an ongoing down on the planet and understanding, for the first time, deterioration of nature and its ability to sustain us. that what we do to the earth, we do to ourselves. Imagine looking down on the earth from their vantage The fourth is a result of the way we organize our social point. From this perspective, we would see the whole systems. Abuses of political power and economic system and how our take-make-waste way of life has power make it possible for wealth and resources to influenced human development and the biosphere. be concentrated among a select group of people. The result is a global society that systematically undermines The Natural Step has spent the last two decades look- the majority of people’s ability to meet their most basic ing at the world from this whole-system perspective. human needs. They worked with an international network of scientists to develop a rigourous definition of sustainability (see Sustainability Defined on page 10). These scientists Unsustainable society unanimously concluded that there are four fundamental ways that human society is systematically undermining the ability of nature to function and the ability of humans to meet their needs. SPHER BIO E The first is related to the way we extract materials from the earth’s crust and then deposit them in the biosphere. SOCIETY Some of these materials (such as granite) are relatively common in nature and pose little harm when they are deposited on the earth’s surface. Others (such as heavy

N metals) are relatively uncommon and are toxic to most S D N

I O V I forms of life. Normally, these materials are brought to I T D A U Z A I L N the earth’s surface through extremely slow geological S W GA ITH N OR cycles, so the rapid pumping and dumping of these I materials into our biosphere – by activities such as mining and oil and gas exploration – can overwhelm natural systems.

LITHOSPHERE The second has to do with the vast amount of stuff that our society produces and allows to build up in the environment. This includes both natural substances (such Relatively large flows Introduce persistent as carbon dioxide and manure) and synthetic com- of materials from the compounds foreign pounds (such as plastics and pesticides). Natural sub- Earth’s crust to nature stances can cause problems when we produce them in Physically inhibit Barriers to people large quantities that overwhelm nature’s ability to pro- nature’s ability to meeting their basic cess them. Synthetic compounds can cause problems run cycles needs worldwide because they are foreign to nature and often cannot be 8 System Conditions for a Sustainable Society (continued)

When someone is starving, homeless or facing any other 1. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution threat to their well-being, they usually cannot afford to to the systematic accumulation of materials from the be concerned about how sustainable their actions are. earth’s crust. They may, for example, use pesticides or cut down trees to meet their short-term needs even if they know it is not This means substituting our use of certain minerals in their long-term interest. And when our entire global that are scarce in nature with others that are more society is consuming resources unsustainably, the abundant, using all mined materials efficiently, and people who are already struggling to meet their needs systematically reducing our dependence on fossil are the ones who will suffer the most. fuels. 2. Reduce and eliminate our contribution to the Taken together, the three systematic ways in which systematic accumulation of substances produced by we undermine natural systems and the systematic society. undermining of people’s ability to meet their own needs are the four root causes of unsustainability on earth. This means systematically substituting certain When re-phrased, they describe the basic requirements persistent and unnatural compounds with ones that for sustaining life as we know it – also known as The are normally abundant or break down more easily in Natural Step System Conditions for sustainability. nature, and using all substances produced by society efficiently. System conditions for sustainability 3. Reduce and eliminate our contribution to the In a sustainable society, nature is not subject to ongoing physical degradation of nature. systematically increasing... This means drawing resources only from well- ...concentrations of substances managed eco-systems, systematically pursuing extracted from the Earth’s crust, the most productive and efficient use both of those resources and land, and exercising caution in all kinds of modifications of nature, such as over- ...concentrations of substances produced by society, harvesting and the introduction of invasive species. 4. Reduce and eliminate our contribution to conditions that systematically undermine people’s ability to ...degradation by physical means, meet their basic needs.

This means offering products and services and and, in that society... changing practices, suppliers, and business models ...people are not subject to conditions to those that ensure that human rights are that systematically undermine their respected, income-making barriers are removed, capacity to meet their needs. safe and healthy work environments are provided, and living conditions allow local communities to Principles for a Sustainable Society meet the needs of citizens. At first reading, the system conditions and basic princi- The system conditions provide an overarching descrip- ples might seem to imply that we have to stop all mining, tion of what is required to achieve a sustainable society. close all of our factories, shut down our pulp and paper They can be re-worded as basic sustainability principles mills and renounce our worldly possessions. But that’s to help provide more explicit guidance for any individual not what they mean. or organization interested in moving toward sustainability. Returning to the metaphor of the funnel, the sustainability challenge is to reduce the growing pressures caused by The Natural Step Sustainability Principles state that, in a increases in consumption and decreases in ecosystem sustainable society, we will: services and natural resources. It is the systematic nature of those trends that is causing the funnel walls to close.

9 So the problem is not that we mine and use heavy metals, or use chemicals and compounds produced by Sustainability DEFINED society, or disrupt natural processes, or even that some people are unable to meet their basic needs. It is, rather, that our economic and industrial systems are structured Development of the System Conditions so that we systematically increase these activities year after year by taking, making and wasting and we While examining cells from one of his cancer patients under systematically undermine people’s ability to meet their the microscope, Swedish oncologist Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt own needs. was struck with a simple, but powerful idea. What if we could get agreement on a basic understanding of cells – The principles provide the constraints within which so- and therefore a basic understanding of the requirements for ciety can operate sustain- the continuation of life? If we could agree on the basics, ably. They can be viewed we could build consensus among governments, business much like the four sides people and environmentalists about what was needed of a picture frame: inside to become sustainable. Dr. Robèrt drafted a framework the frame we can be as My own picture of outlining these conditions and sent it to a broad cross- creative as we want. As sustainability section of scientists, including over 50 ecologists, chemists, long as we don’t contrib- physicists and medical doctors to ask for their input. Twenty- ute to violating the system one drafts later, there was at last consensus about what is conditions, each of us is needed to sustain life on earth. This scientific consensus is free to develop our own the foundation for The Natural Step System Conditions for unique picture of sustain- sustainability. ability. Visit http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en/our-story to learn more.

SUCCESS STORY

Nike Inc. has used sustainability principles to harness the ‘just a lifecycle approach to examine design and production factors do it’ mentality of the company in the service of sustainability. In such as material selection, solvent use, garment treatments, 2008, the world’s leading manufacturer of athletic footwear and waste, and innovation for footwear and apparel. Considered apparel officially launched Nike Considered, an index that uses products are rated as gold, silver or bronze.

Already, the index has been a key leverage point for Nike designers, successfully channelling the company’s competitive nature to focus on sustainable design innovation. It is rooted in the understanding that The Natural Step Sustainability Principles provide the ‘rules of the game’, or the constraints within which designers can innovate and improve performance.

Nike’s goal is to have all footwear meet the bronze standards at a minimum by 2011, all apparel by 2015, and all equipment like balls, gloves and backpacks by 2020.

Visit http://www.naturalstepusa.org/case-studies/nike.html to read the case study.

10 Beginning with the Future in Mind: Backcasting

Depending on your financial situation, you may need “The future is not a road to be to put your studies on hold for a while in order to save discovered, it is a place to be money for school, but even this step is part of your overall strategy to arrive at success – becoming an electrician. created.” At the individual level, most of us backcast automatically –Göran Carstedt, Chair of The Natural Step because it is the most effective way of figuring out how to International and Senior Director of the Clinton get from where we are today to where we want to be in the future. But when we plan for the future in larger groups, Climate Initiative such as communities, municipalities or businesses, we tend to use forecasting instead. This involves using past This first half of this primer has defined what sustainability information to establish trends and then developing a is, described the root causes of our unsustainability, and plan based on projecting them out into the future. For outlined a set of principles for a sustainable society. example, if we notice that a growing number of people The following sections focus on how we can plan, make are using the food bank, then we might plan to increase decisions, and take action for sustainability. The first funding for it or even open a second food bank. step is to understand the concept of ‘backcasting’ or starting with the end in mind. Forecasting is very effective if we are happy with how things are going. But what if we want – or need – a very Backcasting is a fancy term for something we are all different future than the one we are headed toward? familiar with. It simply refers to the process of deciding That’s when we need to backcast. Returning to the food on something we want in the future and then figuring bank example, we need to look upstream and backcast out what we have to do today to get there. We usually if we want to eliminate the need for food banks in the backcast whenever we think about some future first place. possibility, whether it be a change in career, buying a house, or planning for retirement. Backcasting is particularly useful when current trends are part of the problem that you’re trying to address. For example, let’s say that you are working as a In the case of planning for sustainability, backcasting dishwasher but want to become an electrician. There is a useful methodology because of the complexity of may be a number of options for proceeding, but it is the sustainability challenge and the need to develop likely that they will involve going to college, finding an new ways of doing things to address the challenge. apprenticeship, then passing your exams, and so on.

Backcasting

ion ? vis his e t iev ch a to y a d Vision of what o t o I want d I o d Future t a h W

Present

11 Backcasting also helps ensure that we move toward our desired goal as efficiently as possible. The focus on beginning with the end in mind means that planners start by agreeing on the conditions for a successful outcome.

Think about the last time you moved to a new home. You may have started by deciding on some conditions that would make the home a success, such as whether it was close to school or work, whether it had enough bedrooms, and how much it cost. After defining your criteria for success, you probably began to look for your home as efficiently as possible by using the conditions as a screen to determine which homes to visit. This way, you kept your options open but didn’t waste any time

looking at houses you couldn’t afford or would never Photo by Patxi64 - Flickr.com want to live in.

Similarly, the principles for sustainability help us identify the conditions for success in a sustainable society. Since In many ways, backcasting from principles is like a game of the principles are the result of broad scientific consensus, hockey. We don’t know exactly what the game will look like, but they help frame a goal that people and organizations we know what success is (scoring more goals than the other all over the world can share. If we can agree on those team). So we go about playing the game in a strategic way, principles as the basic criteria for a sustainable society, working within the constraints of the rules of the game and they become our starting point and help us evaluate always keeping that vision of future success in mind. our ideas and plan for the future while making the most effective and efficient use of our resources. SUCCESS STORY

The city of Madison, WI is using backcasting to make their sustainability vision a reality. By using a common framework, the city could weave a number of diverse planning strands together, better aligning the actions of different city departments and agencies while still allowing them to work independently.

A cross-departmental team of 25 senior municipal employees identified their vision for a sustainable future and chose ten immediate actions to move towards their sustainability goals. These projects include commuting incentive programs for City employees, fuel efficiency standards for the City fleet, solar energy implementation at City facilities, and public housing upgrades.

Creating a vision and working backwards allowed the city to identify economically viable solutions for now, and to create a plan for the future. Photo Madison, WI State Capital

For more information, visit http://www.naturalstepusa.org/ The City of Madison’s Common Council formally adopted the case-studies/city-of-madison-wisconsin.html. principles of The Natural Step in December 2005.

12 Planning for Sustainability

find themselves revisiting each of these planning steps “A vision without a plan is just a many times as they move through a spiral of change. dream. A plan without a vision is Throughout this process, the sustainability principles will help you to keep the end in mind as you tackle the just drudgery. But a vision with a multiple decisions involved in long-term planning. What’s considered realistic and possible today shouldn’t affect plan can change the world.” the direction of change, only its pace. -Old Proverb Awareness To create a sustainable society, we need both a vision of where we want to go and a plan for getting there. Awareness involves creating a shared understanding of There are many ways to plan for sustainability, and The sustainability and a common sense of purpose among Natural Step process outlined below is only one of them. teams, departments and organizations. It is essential What makes this approach unique, however, is that it that everyone who participates in the planning process focuses on building a plan for sustainability based on has a common understanding of what sustainability is the four sustainability principles and uses backcasting and why our current system is not sustainable. This pro- to evaluate each possible action for its strategic value. motes greater cooperation and collaboration in design- Although the process is described in terms of an ing innovative solutions and ideas. organization, it can be applied at many different levels, from an individual to a nation. It can also be applied to product and process design. Whatever the scope or Baseline Analysis level, the process involves four basic steps: Awareness, Baseline Analysis, Compelling Vision and Down to Once everyone understands what sustainability is and Action. what it means for your organization, the next step is to look at where you are today. This involves completing The steps are listed alphabetically as ‘ABCD’, but they a baseline assessment of the organization’s current are not meant to be followed in a linear way. Most people operations by looking at flows and impacts to see how

The Spiral of Change: The Cyclical Nature of the ABCD

In practice, the ABCD process is cyclical, not linear, with each As your group works through the ABCD process, you will: step helping to inform the others. For example, you may start simply by creating awareness (A) in a small group of key peo- • Generate increasing engagement and awareness of sustain- ple, and those people may work to create a high level baseline ability and its relevance to the organization (A); analysis (B) and a draft sustainability vision (C) for input. During this time, this group may already begin to identify some early • Clarify the gap between the current reality and your desired projects or prototypes (D) to implement. As the team learns from future. Looking back and forth between your group’s aspira- their prototypes and demonstrates that their early projects are tions and its current reality will help develop a creative ten- successful, they may get support for more projects. sion between the two, sparking more ideas and innovations (B – C); One of the key projects could be a broader training and awareness raising program (A) that targets the top managers in the • Implement more and more organizations, as well as a more in-depth analysis of product smart moves toward sus- D A lifecycles (B) and the development of strategic goals for the en- tainability, starting with the tire organization (C) based on the draft developed by the initial ‘low hanging fruit’ that are team. As part of the review of the process to engage people platforms for bolder initia- C B in the strategic goals, staff can be invited to provide ideas and tives in the future (D). resources to implement them (D), and so on.

13 different activities are supporting or running counter based on your organization’s unique values, services to sustainability principles. The analysis includes an and external environment. They form the basis for your evaluation of products and services, energy, capital sustainability vision and serve as a compass to guide and human resources throughout the life cycle and and orient all strategies and actions. looks at the social context and organizational culture to understand how to positively introduce change. This allows you to identify critical sustainability issues, their business implications, assets you already have, and opportunities for change. VISION OF SUCCESS

SERA Architects is an architectural, planning, and interiors Compelling Vision firm established in Portland, Oregon in 1968. While making considerable headway in the incorporation of sustainable At this stage, you need to consider what your organization design principles into projects, the ability to apply TNS to could look like in a sustainable society. What is your operational decisions remained elusive. Even though the description of success? And what are your opportunities vast majority of SERA’s impact is in the projects it designs, for innovation? This is a creative and open-ended the principals felt it imperative to “walk their talk” and to process that involves imagining what our organizations inventory, assess, and redesign office operations according to would look like in the future if we aligned our decisions sustainable practices. with all four of the sustainability principles. In 2002 the firm was ready to begin a comprehensive Ultimately, this brainstorming culminates with a compel- backcasting process. A team of ten individuals representing ling sustainability vision featuring bold strategic goals a vertical cross-section of the firm was created and began to mobilize the people in your organization. This trans- meeting on a regular basis. Over a nine-month period, the lates the four sustainability principles into tangible goals team created a “fully sustainable workplace” vision statement that expresses the ideal SERA of the future.

After diagrammming process flows, the team analyzed the office’s “metabolism” which includes all of the products used, choices made, and the corresponding long- and short-term impacts. The team then assessed these impacts by assigning an impact score to each operation, prioritized these impacts, and established one-, five-, and ten-year goals in each key area . In addition to high impact scores in the use of paper and plastic products, the highest office impact was transportation, particularly the commuting patterns to and from work. While some incremental savings have been realized through increased resource-use efficiences resulting from this process, the real benefit has been awareness created regarding resource consumption and waste management issues.

SERA’s conscious efforts at positioning itself as a leading design firm in the Pacific Northwest with expertise in sustainable design have landed it an increased number of sustainble commercial, government, residential, and non- profit sector projects.

For more on SERA Architects and the sustainable projects The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) has retained they’ve done since creating their vision, visit http://www. SERA to develop a model project that addresses affordability naturalstep.org/en/usa/sera-architects-portland-oregon-usa. and sets new standards for sustainable community planning, site and architectural design.

14 Planning for Sustainability (continued)

3. Does this action provide an adequate return on Down to Action investment?* It doesn’t do anyone any good if an organization that is trying to become sustainable goes This step involves charting out a plan to bridge the gap bankrupt. You need to maintain economic sustain- between where you are today and where you’d like to be ability as you travel toward ecological and social sus- as a sustainable organization. You can start by coming tainability. As a rule of thumb, it makes sense to start up with a long list of possible actions or investments, then by investing in the ‘lowest hanging fruit’. These are prioritizing them based on what moves the organization actions that generate a good return on investment toward sustainability fastest, while optimizing flexibility and can be used to fund more complicated and ex- and generating sufficient returns. This supports effective, pensive actions later on. Often, the low hanging fruits step-by-step implementation and action planning. are improvements in efficiency that generate immediate savings. Actions and ideas should be screened against three strategic questions: There are many different ways to become sustainable, and every organization needs to choose its own path 1. Does the action or investment move you in the right and identify the resources it will need to succeed. direction (toward your vision of sustainability and alignment with sustainability principles)? Many excellent tools, concepts and metrics are available to help you understand sustainability, identify actions 2. Does the action or investment provide a stepping- and evaluate your impact. If one of your strategic goals stone to future actions or investments? No single is to develop greener buildings, you might use the LEED investment will get you to sustainability, just like no tool to help evaluate your progress. If you are rewriting single play will win a hockey game. Knowing this, you municipal by-laws, you might use Smart Growth need to prioritize your investments to give you the principles to help develop land-use policies. Or if you are greatest degree of flexibility for future moves, and you want to avoid tying up capital in moves or technologies that are dead ends or that are so costly that they make it difficult to invest in improvements later. * Return on investment (ROI) is traditionally seen as a return on financial investment, but it can also mean a return on political, social or other types of investment.

The ABCD planning process

ing cast ack C A B

Awareness Compelling Vision Future

Present Down to B Action Does it move us in the right direction? Baseline Is it a flexible platform? Analysis Is it a good return on investment?

15 developing a new factory you might look at integrating cradle-to-cradle thinking into your design processes or SUCCESS STORY adopting ISO 14001 as your environmental management system. Sokol Blosser Winery, family owned and operated, is one The number of tools and approaches to sustainability is of the pioneering vineyards in Oregon has used the Natural growing rapidly – the key is to find the tools that meet Step Framework to incorporated sustainability into its mission your particular needs, priorities and capacity. Screening statement and define action steps towards sustainable potential actions by answering the three strategic development. Among these steps is: questions will help you prioritize your ideas for short-, medium-, and long-term implementation. • Organic farming • Uses 20 percent bio-diesel in vineyard tractors. Moving toward sustainability is not a linear process, so • Recycles used engine and hydraulic oil from vineyard it is important to evaluate your progress regularly and equipment and shrink wrap from bottling. make mid-course corrections along the way. Ultimately, • Builds annual compost piles to cover crops to build up the your sustainability action plan should be integrated with soil. Soil samples show significant microbial improvement your organization’s general business plan, budget and from 2003 to 2004. management systems. This will ensure progress toward • Became the first vineyard to be certified Salmon-Safe sustainability is evaluated regularly and continues to im- when the program began in 1996 prove. As each action unfolds, it’s also important to cel- • Uses no chlorine (one of the standard procedures) in ebrate and share successes, internally and throughout winery sanitation. your community. This will help make the story of your • Became the first winery in the nation to achieve a LEED journey toward sustainability inclusive, accessible and silver certification by the US Green Building Council on a exciting. barrel cellar which required half the energy of a standard building.

For more on Sokol Blosser Winery, visit http://www.naturalstep. org/en/usa/sokol-blosser-winery-dundee-oregon-usa.

EXAMPLES OF TOOLS AND CONCEPTS

Examples of tools and concepts for sustainability:

• Environmental management systems such as ISO 14001 • Measurement tools such as Genuine Progress Indicators, Happy Planet Index and the Ecological Footprint • Design approaches and tools such as Smart Growth, Cradle-to-Cradle, Factor 10, Life Cycle Assessment and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). • Development approaches such as Natural Capitalism, Sustainable Community Development and the United Nations’ Agenda 21 • Innovation movements such as Zero Waste, Climate

Neutrality and the United Nations Millennium Development Sokol Blosser’s LEED certified winery Goals

For more information on these tools and concepts – and Sokol Blosser’s use of natural cooling systems in their new many others – visit the resources page for this primer at wine celler saves about $62,000 of wine per year by providing www.thenaturalstep.org/en/canada/primer-resources. temperature and humidity control with a low energy cost.

16 Bringing It All Together

“The question of reaching sustainability is not about if we The 5-level framework

will have enough energy, enough The five-level framework pictured here was developed by food, or other tangible resources The Natural Step to help groups take steps toward success in many situations. This can be illustrated using the example of a … The question is: will there be hockey game.

enough leaders in time?” At the systems level, you have to understand the rules of the game in order to play. At the success level, your team has –Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, founder of The Natural a shared understanding of success: scoring more goals that Step the other team (and having fun!). You can use many different strategies to win, including building up a strong defense or So far, this primer has defined what sustainability is, out- passing in a certain formation. You then take concrete actions lined the root causes of unsustainability, and described to achieve success – hopefully by scoring a goal. Some of the a set of principles and an ‘ABCD’ process for planning tools you might use include training programs to get you in and decision making. Taken together, these provide a shape, coaching advice to build your skills, or a high-tech pair framework for strategic sustainability planning. of skates to improve your speed. We start by acknowledging that we are working in a system (the planet earth), where the ‘rules of the game’ Systems are the cycles that maintain our environment in a state level which supports a healthy human society. If we want to be successful in this system, which we define as Success being able to prosper on the planet both now and in level the future, we need to use the four system conditions for sustainability to guide us. Our main strategy for Strategic achieving success is backcasting from sustainability level principles. This allows us to identify the gap between where we are now and where we want to be in the Actions future. It also ensures that we choose specific strategies level and actions that will lead us to success. We then select among the many different tools, concepts and metrics that can help us understand where we are and support Tools level us on our journey toward sustainability. Next Steps There are endless possibilities for specific actions to help you move toward sustainability. The options will vary according to your budget, organizational culture and priorities. Some ideas for early action include:

• Build awareness and understanding - Hold sustainability education workshops for staff and stakeholders so that you are all on the same page and headed in the same direction;

• Collaborate - Create strategic partnerships to support your efforts to become more sustainable. These may include internal partners (such as Photo by dziner - Flickr.com suppliers, service providers, clients, or customers) as well as external organizations that share your interest 17 in sustainability; • Create a plan – Create a sustainability team within • Get involved – Adopt a local charity or volunteer staff your organization and work together to create your time to give back to your community. plan and solicit ideas and input from the rest of the organization; The two most important actions we all need to take are to: • Research – Conduct an energy audit or a baseline assessment of your resource use to see how greater • Become a sustainability champion – Any individual efficiencies can be achieved or research sustainable or organization can become a champion. All it takes product design and material recycling in a closed- is passion, commitment, and a systematic approach to loop approach; change. You can start by applying the planning process described in this primer and following • Become more efficient – Change your light bulbs, author Bob Willard’s seven practices of sustainability reduce paper use, reduce waste, and implement champions (below); energy-saving measures. Reduce transportation-

related CO2 emissions by initiating a walk- or bike-to- • Advocate for change – The reality is that we won’t work program. If you’re not already doing them, these become sustainable without making big changes. And are the easy things to start with, and they usually those big changes aren’t going to happen unless result in early cost savings; people stand up and demand them. Find the issue you are most passionate about and get organized. • Upgrade your infrastructure – Install new infrastruc- Write letters, make phone calls, run for political ture or technology, such as a high-efficiency furnace office, start a new business, take a risk. Unleash the or a renewable energy system using solar, wind or sustainability champion within you! geothermal energy; and

SUCCESS STORY Sustainability Champions

Seven Practices of Sustainability Champions: OMSI, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, is a premiere science and technology museum that is visited by 1. Get Credible, Stay Credible more than one million people each year. OMSI has 501(c) 2. Dialogue (3) status and relies upon donations, admissions, and 3. Collaborate, Educate, Network memberships from its 75,000 members. Through using the 4. Meet Them Where They Are Natural Step, OMSI was able to create their vision, define a 5. Piggyback Existing Initiatives plan, and become a model for change. 6. Influence the Influencers 7. Practice ‘Planful Opportunism’ Variable Speed Fans were put in place reducing energy demand by 240,000 kWh annually, lighting systems were made This list is taken from author Bob Willard’s 2009 book, The more efficient, and OMSI now receives 20% of its electricity Sustainability Champion’s Guidebook. For more information, from wind power. Waste was significantly reduced through visit www.sustainabilityadvantage.com. composting, recycling, bioswales, Styrofoam collection, vinyl and shipping material reuse. The museum also have public Styrofoam collection events where the public can recycle their Styrofoam items. They now host Science Pub meetings, created sustainability education programs, and deliver Science Camps and summer classes which focus on waste reduction.

For more on OMSI, visit our website http://www.naturalstepusa. org/case-studies/oregon-museum-of-science-and-industry-

omsi.html. Photo by Eric Ezechieli

18 Bringing it all Together (continued)

Last Words

Creating the future we want does not simply mean doing This is a journey that is going to take unprecedented things a little bit better than we did yesterday – using a leadership. We are not going to get the future we want if little less energy, a little less paper, or creating a little less we sit back and wait for someone else to start first. What waste. That’s incremental change, and while it is a very the world needs now, more than ever before, is leader- important first step, it’s not enough. Incremental change ship. Role models. Champions. People who are willing means we slow down while we continue to go in the to stand up and make a difference. wrong direction. David Suzuki has used the metaphor of a speeding car to describe our current direction: “We’re And leaders aren’t just CEOs and politicians. Leaders in a giant car heading toward a brick wall, and everyone can be champions at any level of an organization or is arguing over where they’re going to sit.” If we slow community. They can be summer interns, departmen- down, we buy ourselves some extra time, but we’ll still tal managers, janitors, teachers, technicians, engineers, hit the wall. We need to choose a new destination and stay-at-home moms, and students. Effective sustainabil- turn the car around. We need to change the way we run ity champions have a special combination of passion and our businesses, design our cities, and interact with the competence. They care deeply enough to make change natural environment. That’s transformational change. happen, even if the obstacles seem great. And they are skilled enough and committed enough to identify those The sustainability principles described in this primer shift obstacles and remove them one by one. our focus away from symptoms toward the underlying causes of problems. By taking action at the source, Sustainability is about nothing less than deciding the complexity becomes more manageable, and we are future of our world. We all share the privilege and better able to prevent damage before it occurs. responsibility of making choices in our lives. It is up to each of us to create a future we can be proud of passing onto future generations.

More Resources

This primer has provided an overview of a strategic approach to sustainability planning and decision making. The Natural Step has assembled an online list of additional links, toolkits, case studies and other resources for deepening your understanding and taking action to make sustainability a reality. For more information visit the online resource page for this primer at www.thenaturalstep.org/en/canada/primer-resources.

The Natural Step also offers affordable online courses in sustainable development. These interactive, award- winning courses have been used by individuals, businesses, not-for-profits and communities across the US and around the world to catalyze action toward sustainability. To learn more or to purchase a course, visit www.naturalstepusa.org/sustainability-courses/ or the eLearning website at http://thenaturalstep.org/usa/ Photo by DrGrounds - iStock.com courses-and-workshops-directory.

19 About The Natural Step

The Natural Step US is a national non-profit organization including the United States. The Natural Step Framework that provides training, coaching and advice on how to for Strategic Sustainable Development is being used advance the practice of sustainable development. Our internationally by hundreds of organizations, including mission is to motivate individuals and organizations to Fortune 500 companies, government departments, act according to the principles of sustainability, NOW! universities, municipalities and small- and medium-sized businesses in their respective journeys to sustainability. We offer a clear, compelling, science-based understanding of sustainability and a practical strategic planning framework to help organizations make the choices that For more information: will move them toward sustainability. The Natural Step US Our role is to act as coaches to help our partners build 133 SW 2nd Ave # 302 the leadership, commitment, and capacity they need to Portland, OR 97204-3526 transform their organizations. We help create alignment Tel: (503) 241-1140 among teams, departments and stakeholders through www.naturalstepusa.org/ the development of a common language and a shared [email protected] vision of success for sustainability. We also act as a hub for a growing network of sustainability leaders and champions who are sharing and learning from each other.

Founded in 1989 in Sweden by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, The Natural Step now has offices in 11 countries,

Works Cited:

1 The information presented here is available from the following locations: -- Houlihan, J. K. (2005, July 14). Body Burden 2: The Pollution in Newborns. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from Environmental Working Group: http://archive.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/ -- Macabrey, J.-M. (2009, March 11). Researchers: Sea Levels May Rise Faster Than Expected. New York Times. -- The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. (2007). 2007 Brochure. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from: www.theglobalfund.org/documents/publications/brochures/whoweare/gf_brochure_07_full_high_en.pdf -- Hails, C. (2008). The Living Planet Report. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from World Wildlife Fund: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf 2 World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our Common Future. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from United Nations: http://www.un-documents.net/wced- ocf.htm 3 These reports can be accessed online from the following websites: -- Millenium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Retrieved March 9, 2009, from Millenium Assessment: www.millenniumassessment.org -- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2007). Retrieved March 9, 2009, from www.ipcc.ch/ -- Stern, N. (2006, October). The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from www.sternreview.org.uk -- United Nations. (2008). Human Development Reports. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from http://hdr.undp.org/en/ -- Hails, C. (2008). The Living Planet Report. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from World Wildlife Fund: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf 4 Morris, N. (2008, April 29). Climate change could force 1 billion from their homes by 2050” April 29, 2008. The Independent. 5 Hails, C. (2008). The Living Planet Report. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from World Wildlife Fund: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf 6 World Bank. (2008). PovertyNet Statistics. Retrieved February 26, 2009, from http://web.worldbank.org/poverty 7 Senge, P. et al. (2008). The Necessary Revolution. Doubleday. 8 Hails, C. (2008). The Living Planet Report. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from World Wildlife Fund: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf 9 Hails, C. (2008). The Living Planet Report. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from World Wildlife Fund: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/living_planet_report_2008.pdf 10 Adapted from Steingraber, S. (1997). Living Downstream: an Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the Environment. Addison Wesley. 11 Ekins, P. and Max-Neef, M. (1992). Real-life Economics: Understanding Wealth Creation. In M. Max-Neef, Development and Human Needs. Routledge. 12 Cook, D. (2004). The Natural Step Toward a Sustainable Society. J.W. Arrowsmith Ltd.

20 www.aref.ab.ca www.naturalstepusa.org/

The Natural Step - 2009

A Primer on The Natural Step System Conditions and Planning for Sustainability

Introduction The purpose of this document is to provide background information about The Natural Step system conditions to build understanding, inform our communications and help us to apply them as our sustainability principles in practice. To do so, we will cover the following:

Part 1 - Background on The Natural Step System Conditions: 1. A New Model of Human Development -Sustainable Development 2. The Need for a Clear Vision for Sustainable Development 3. Development of the System Conditions -A Definition of Sustainability 4. From Aspiration to Action – Guiding the Heart and Hand

Part 2 - Planning for Success using The Natural Step System Conditions as Sustainability Principles: 5. A Quick Comparison of Planning Approaches 6. The System Conditions as Organizational Sustainability Principles 7. Applying the Sustainability Principles

Summary of Key Points: 8. Five Take-home Messages

Part 1 - Background on The Natural Step System Conditions The Natural Step Framework and system conditions are closely related to the evolution of thinking on sustainable development, so we’ll begin there.

A New Model of Human Development – Sustainable Development We’ve known for many years that our current path of human development is resulting in global problems of alarming scale and consequence. In 1987, the United Nations Brundtland Commission released a report entitled Our Common Future, which brought the discussion about the way we live and plan for our future to a new level in international debate. It gave us what is now the most common definition of Sustainable Development: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future 1 generations to meet their own needs."

The Need for a Clear Vision for Sustainable Development The Brundtland definition prompted the question “where in fact are we heading as a global society and what needs to change in order for human development to be sustainable”? Solving the global development challenges that undermine our society is essentially what this means. It can perhaps be likened to JFK’s challenge to the nation of putting a man on the moon in under a decade. While this seemed an impossible task at the time, the starting point for realizing this lofty ambition was a clear, compelling and shared vision of the end goal -“getting a man on the moon.” This shared vision then galvanized the American people to figure out the means to make it happen. In terms of sustainable development if we don’t have collective understanding and agreement of what we are trying to achieve, how will we ever get there? What is needed is a clear vision that describes the end-goal of sustainable development – the sustainable society (i.e. a state of sustainability where human development can continue).

Development of the System Conditions -Sustainability Defined The whole world has dreamt about a solid definition of sustainability that would allow systematic step-by-step planning. When the definition arrived, delivered by The Natural Step, it was remarkable to see how simple it was. Why hadn’t anybody thought about it before? Paul Hawken, Author In the late 1980s, Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt, a Swedish oncologist who was to become the founder of The Natural Step organization, realized that to achieve sustainability we would need broad agreement about the end goal. A shared vision was needed that people could rally around, like the Apollo space mission’s clear mandate to “put a man on the moon”. Dr. Robèrt’s medical research led him to the question, “what if we could get agreement on a basic understanding of the requirements for the continuation of life?” If there could be agreement on the basics, we could build consensus among governments, business people and environmentalists about the definition of success, i.e. sustainability. In starting to explore this, he quickly concluded that no one person, product, organization, city, or nation can be sustainable on its own. Because of the inherent interdependencies of the world in which we live, to realize the end goal, means that everyone should be striving for sustainability.

1 Bruntland Commission for the United Nations, 1987

He also concluded that the earth, without human interference, is naturally able to sustain life. Therefore an understanding of those natural cycles and basic laws of nature that make the earth system work could help us to identify the basic mechanisms by which we undermine this system, and hence what we need to stop doing to meet the requirements for sustainability. This would require a whole systems perspective and systems thinking. With these considerations in mind, Dr. Robèrt set out to develop a framework outlining the conditions that are considered essential for sustainability. Once a draft was complete, he sent this to a broad cross-section of scientists, including over 50 ecologists, chemists, physicists and medical doctors to ask for their input. Twenty-one drafts later, there was at last consensus about what is needed to sustain life on earth (the bottom- line conditions for success) and that was the foundation for The Natural Step (TNS) Framework. Over the years, The Natural Step System Conditions as they came to be known, have been developed, tested and refined repeatedly through scientific processes and application around the world. For example conditions applicable to social sustainability have been redefined and the continuous exploration of the basic requirements for sustainability continues today. In 2000, Karl Henrik Robèrt was awarded the Blue Planet Prize in recognition of this significant achievement for scientifically formulating the principles and theoretical framework required to establish a sustainable society. From Aspiration to Action The Brundtland definition of sustainable development sets out an aspiration. Yet it is hard to understand exactly what that this means in practice without further guidance. By defining end-goals for sustainable development, The Natural Step System Conditions help to turn something we want into something we can plan for. For example, scientific reasoning helps us to see that in order to achieve sustainability we must avoid degrading both the ecological and social systems. We can then ask:

 What are the basic mechanisms of un-sustainability that result from our interactions within these interconnected systems?  How are we contributing to these problems?  What can we do today and tomorrow to stop contributing to these problems?

This thinking allows us to integrate sustainability challenges into our planning processes at individual, organizational, community, national and international levels. This link between the aspiration for a better world and a science-based planning approach to achieve it is shown in the image below.

A rigorous starting point for planning for sustainability

Part 2 - Planning for Success using The Natural Step System Conditions as Sustainability Principles With an understanding of our goal we can plan for success. However, we should understand the different ways of planning for the future that are in use today. The following text gives an overview of the difference between forecasting and backcasting and the distinction between scenario planning and backcasting from principles. It explains why backcasting from sustainability principles is preferred as a strategic planning approach for sustainability.

Planning Approaches Forecasting Forecasting starts from where we are today and projects forward from our present state. The challenge with forecasting is that it often perpetuates the current flawed thinking and approach that created the problems in the first place. Forecasting doesn’t help us to understand what is needed to be sustainable, nor does it encourage us to re-examine our current way of operating and to design new sustainable ways forward. For example, international energy outlooks often show that based on current growth rates we will need XX new base-load power plants in the next 20 years, that we will therefore need an additional YY tones of coal and that inevitably our greenhouse gas emissions will rise by ZZ%. This drives investment in approaches that are clearly part of the problem without prompting us to consider if that is what we want to plan for. Backcasting In contrast to forecasting, backcasting refers to the process of beginning with the end in mind (i.e. goal setting). Rather than planning for what we think is possible today, we plan for what we want and this in turn informs our choice of actions. We do this intuitively in our daily lives. For example, when going to the store to buy groceries, we do not look to see which way the prevailing traffic is moving and then follow it in that direction with our fingers crossed that we will reach the store. Rather, we know our destination and then decide on the appropriate route to reach it. It is somewhat alarming that we have not yet managed to practice backcasting collectively at a global scale when thinking about the future of our society! Scenario Planning Scenario planning is one method intended to help us plan for the future -we imagine a picture of the future, a scenario, and then to work towards this. Scenario planning is like creating a jig-saw puzzle where it is clear for all to see exactly what the end-state will look like. While scenario planning can be useful for inspiration, given the complexity of our system it would be almost impossible to get a group, never mind a global corporation or a country, to agree on a detailed picture of what the future will look like. Furthermore, our scenarios tend to be limited to what we can imagine is possible and without sustainability criteria we cannot determine if they are in fact sustainable. Backcasting from Principles While it is not possible to create a detailed shared picture (scenario) of sustainability, we can agree on some basic requirements to achieve a sustainable society. The Natural Step System Conditions establish basic principles within which we should then create our own vision of success as an organization. By starting with a shared understanding of the sustainable state we are trying to achieve, we can then assess where we are today and identify the best measures to reach our vision. While these conditions are at a high level, they allow for a lot of opportunities for innovation in terms of how to get there in our own context. Having such a shared understanding of the basics can unleash a lot of creativity and make group collaboration easier. Backcasting from principles is like a game of chess – we don’t know exactly what success will look like, but we know the principles of checkmate – and we go about playing the game in strategic ways, always keeping that vision of future success in mind.

The System Conditions as Organizational Sustainability Principles As we climb mount Sustainability, with the four The Natural Step system conditions at the top, we are doing better than ever on bottom line business. This is not at the cost of social or ecological systems, but at the cost of our competitors who still haven’t got it. Ray Anderson, President, Founder and CEO, Interface. Inc.

The Natural Step System Conditions outline the basic conditions for sustainability of the socio-ecological system at a global scale. When applied at the organizational level, they are called organizational sustainability principles. This in part helps to acknowledge that in order to work toward sustainability we must take account of our own impact and also work collectively towards creating the desired conditions in the global system. Applying backcasting from principles, our challenge is to eliminate our contribution to the basic mechanisms of un-sustainability and to help others to do the same. We use the term “Sustainability Principles” when referring to the system conditions and from this point they will be referred to as such, unless specifically referring to global conditions for sustainability.

Applying the Sustainability Principles

Sustainability Principle 1 (SP1) SP1 states that in a sustainable society, “nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the earth's crust.” What this means Since the industrial age, we have had a significant net input of substances from the below the earth’s surface (i.e., the ‘lithosphere’ or ‘earth’s crust) into the ecosphere (i.e. the realm of almost all life-forms). This is the result of mining of metals and the extraction of fossil fuels for use in society that are subsequently released into nature. These flows are often large compared to the natural flows (geological cycles are very slow: volcanic activity and weathering bring materials into the ecosphere and sedimentation, fossilization and mineralization return them to the lithosphere over millions of years). The ecosphere has a limited capacity for assimilating flows of mined elements life as we know it has evolved in the absence of many such materials and ecosystems are not designed to process many of them in large quantities. Even a small amount of a relatively scarce metal implies a great risk of a large increase in concentration. Due to the complexity and delay mechanisms in the ecosphere, it is often very difficult to foresee what concentrations will lead to unacceptable consequences. Therefore, what we must do is stop their systematic increase in concentrations through careful selection and management of the materials we mine. Sustainability Principle 1 does not say we cannot have mining – we always have, and we probably always will have mining in some form. It is about making smarter choices about what we dig up and managing what we need in ways that do not overload the natural cycles. Examples of problems related to Sustainability Principle 1: • Bioaccumulation of heavy metals (e.g. mercury, lead, zinc, copper) • Phosphates in lakes and waterways from release of fertilizers • Acid rain from sulphur emissions (resulting from burning of coal in particular) • CO2 emissions leading to climate change (the result of burning of fossil fuels2).

What you can do As for all cases, determine what real societal need your organization, product or service will fulfill in a sustainable society. Backcast from the sustainability principles to determine the best steps to meet this need. Ensure that each step taken is a flexible platform to realizing your aim while providing a positive overall ROI. Specifically, with regards to Sustainability Principle 1 (SP1): 1. Make better upstream choices regarding the selection of mined materials (i.e., select materials that are naturally more abundant). 2. Extract and use mined materials and fossil fuels efficiently 3. Use mined materials and fossil fuels in tight technical cycles so that they do not leak out into nature 4. Substitute the use of fossil fuels for renewable energy sources 5. Consider how you can take responsibility for the use of mined materials and fossil fuels from cradle to cradle (e.g. through materials recovery and recycling)

2 Technically speaking, CO2 emissions are the result of combustion within the eco-sphere. However, since the original source of our ‘excess’ carbon comes from the earth’s crust we are dealing with it under SP1 Copyright © 2010 The Natural Step Page 6

Additional Guidance on Scarcity vs. Relative Abundance of Mined Materials On the following page, the table presented gives an indication of natural flows from the lithosphere to the ecosphere and the societal flows we are creating through mining and extraction of fossil fuels. Referring to this information we can see in the end column that numbers greater than 1 show were the societal flow of mined materials already exceeds the entire natural flow rates! As a rule of thumb this can help to see that some element are therefore at higher risk of accumulating in nature faster than it can be naturally assimilated or redeposited back into the lithosphere. This indicator gives a forewarning of potential problems to come when substances start to bio-accumulate beyond natural flows. We should avoid using these substances (at a minimum we should manage them more carefully in closed technical cycles) and bear in mind societal vs. natural flow-rates when substituting for new substances. To provide an example, aluminum is naturally abundant (as indicated by the background concentration in soils and the large amount coming into the ecosphere through weathering and volcanic eruptions). It would therefore be very difficult for our societal flows to overwhelm nature. However, for those elements that are scarce in nature such as copper, even introducing a small amount through mining and dissipative usages in society can lead to accumulation and future problems that we cannot foresee.

Table: Natural Flows vs. Societal Flows for Selected Mined Materials

Ratio of Societal to Natural Flows Societal Flows Natural Flows Conc. in Fossil Weathering and Mining (M) Soils Fuels (F) Volcanic (W) (kton) Elements Name (mg/Kg) (kton) (M + F)/W Al Aluminum 72,000.00 1,100,000.00 18,000.00 34,000.00 0.048 Fe Iron 26,000.00 390,000.00 540,000.00 34,000.00 1.40 K Potassium 15000 230,000.00 24,000.00 340 0.11 Mg Magnesium 9000 140,000.00 3,100.00 690 0.028 Ti Titanium 2900 44,000.00 2,500.00 1700 0.096 Mn Manganese 550 8,300.00 8,600.00 170 1.1 Zr Zirconium 230 3,500.00 880.00 140 0.3 V Vanadium 80 1,200.00 32.00 350 0.32 Zn Zinc 60 910.00 7,300.00 260 8.3 Cr Chromium 54 830.00 3,800.00 34 4.6 Cu Copper 25 380.00 9,000.00 55 24 Li Lithium 24 360.00 9.90 230 0.64 Ni Nickel 19 300.00 880.00 570 4.8 Pb Lead 19 290.00 3,300.00 85 12 Ga Gallium 17 260.00 0.037 24 0.092 Nb Niobium 11 170.00 14.00 14 0.17 U Uranium 2.7 41.00 47.00 3.4 1.2 Sn Tin 1.3 20.00 210.00 5.7 11 Mo Molybdenum 0.97 15.00 110.00 17 8.5 Be Berkelium 0.92 14.00 0.34 10 0.76 Cd Cadmium 0.35 5.30 20.00 3.4 3.9 Hg Mercury 0.09 1.40 5.20 10 6.5 Ag Silver 0.05 0.75 15.00 1.7 22 Semi Metals Si Silicon 310000 4,700,000.00 4,600.00 9500 0.021 B Boron 33 500.00 0.37 250 0.52 As Arsenic 7.2 110.00 19.00 18 0.33 Ge Germanium 1.2 18.00 0.27 17 0.96 Sb Antimony 0.66 9.90 54.00 10 6 Non Metals C Carbon 25000 780,000.00 5400000 6.4 S Sulphur 1600 33,000.00 58000 100000 3.7 F Fluorine 950 14,000.00 2300 240 0.17 P Phosphorus 430 6,500.00 2100 1700 3.5 Se Selenium 0.39 5.90 2.1 12 2 Indicators for elements extracted from the lithosphere: Azar, C., John Holmberg, Kristian Lindgren, 1996 «Socioecological indicators for sustainability» Ecological Economics 18 (89-112), Institute of Physical Resource Theory, Chalmers University, of Technology a

Sustainability Principle 2 (SP2)

SP2 states that in a sustainable society, “nature is not subject to systematically increasing concentrations of substances produced by society.” What this means Currently, society produces chemical compounds that leak out or are deliberately released into natural systems. Substances not broken down and integrated into the natural cycles will build up in the environment, as will emissions of naturally occurring compounds emitted in quantities too great for the cycles to cope with. As it is difficult to foresee what concentrations will lead to unacceptable consequences, we need to stop our contribution to their systematic increase in concentrations in nature. In practice, we have very limited information about the direct and synergistic effects of man-made substances on eco-systems and we allow the release of substances without full knowledge of the consequences. Furthermore the way we regulate and manage chemicals in society creates a separation between impacts on humans and impacts on eco-systems. From a global systems perspective, cumulative and disruptive effects on ecosystems are just as much a problem for humans given our dependence on nature. Sustainability Principle 2 does not say we cannot use chemicals. It is impossible to think of a society that could function without chemicals and the products/services they make available. It is about being much more careful about what chemicals we produce and how we make them, how we control their release and also thinking about the consequences. Examples of problems related to Sustainability Principle 2:  Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) causing the hole in the ozone layer

 Industrial compounds such as Polychlorinated bi-phenols (PCBs), many pesticides, bromide anti- flammables and many additives in plastics such as chlorinated paraffin, dioxins as by-products of waste incineration – these are just some of those with known bioaccumulation, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and / or reproductive toxicity effects.

 Naturally occurring compounds produced by society in significant volumes. E.g. methane from agriculture production contributing to climate change.

What you can do As for all cases, determine what real societal need your organization, product or service will fulfil in a sustainable society. Back-cast from the sustainability principles to determine the best steps to meet this need. Ensure that each step taken is a flexible platform to realizing your aim while providing a positive overall ROI. Specifically, with regards to Sustainability Principle 2 (SP2): 1. Use man-made compounds / chemicals efficiently 2. Phase out reliance on persistent man-made substances, especially in dissipative use. 3. Use / develop compounds that are naturally abundant in the ecosphere and / or easily degrade in nature 4. Use man-made compounds in tight technical cycles so that they do not leak out into nature 5. Improve testing and assessment methodologies to understand the effect of man-made substances from the global perspective. 6. Consider how you can be responsible for chemicals produced from cradle to cradle

Sustainability Principle 3 (SP3) SP3 states that in a sustainable society, “nature is not subject to systematically increasing degradation by physical means.”

What this means Human activity currently creates physical impacts that deplete our natural capital. SP3 implies that natural systems must not be systematically deteriorated by over-harvesting, mismanagement, displacement or other forms of physical manipulation. In practical terms, this means changes in our practices within such areas as agriculture, forestry, fishing, urban planning and general resource management. SP3 does not say that we cannot change and harvest from nature. It is the systematic deterioration of nature and ecosystem services that is the problem.

Examples of problems related to Sustainability Principle 3:  Clear-cutting & burning of forests (resulting in loss of habitat, biodiversity, photosynthetic capacity and climate change)

 Poor land-management practices resulting in land degradation (e.g. erosion, dry-land salinity, desertification), loss of nutrients and soil quality

 Encroachment of society on nature (strip mining without site rehabilitation, construction of roads and buildings on fertile land, landfill sites)

 Over-fishing of seas and lakes; damming of rivers and aquifer depletion.

 Over-hunting of animals resulting in species extinction; mass tourism in sensitive areas; introduction of non-native species etc.

What you can do As for all cases, determine what real societal need your organization, product or service will fulfill in a sustainable society. Back-cast from the sustainability principles to determine the best steps to meet this need. Ensure that each step taken is a flexible platform to realizing your aim while providing a positive overall ROI. Specifically, with regards to Sustainability Principle 3 (SP3): 1. Use resources and land efficiently and recycle and re-use where possible 2. Use resources from well-managed ecosystems, e.g., wood from FSC certified forests 3. Consider how you can be responsible for your contribution to SP3 from cradle to cradle. For example, ensure that your end products and waste do not lead to the systematic deterioration of nature and ecosystem services, such as increases in landfill mass, to increased toxicity of ground water, etc.

Sustainability Principle 4 (SP4)

SP4 states that in a sustainable society, “people are not subject to conditions that systematically undermine their capacity to meet their needs”.

What this means To create a sustainable society, we need to start from first understanding the fundamental human needs we are trying to fulfil. Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef, together with other social scientists, has developed a theory of human needs that says that all the needs identified are important to be sustainable. So, even if for instance a person is unable to meet their needs for basic subsistence, it does not mean that they do not also still have a need for affection or freedom. When needs are not met, this leads to poverties which can lead to deep systemic problems in society (poverties exist in rich and poor countries and go well beyond material poverty to include social poverties). If the need for idleness / rest / work-life balance is not met this can lead to increases in stress and workplace accidents. If the need for understanding is not met, this can lead to increases in disputes and even violence. If we don’t have living wages our need for subsistence and protection (shelter) cannot be met. While all four principles relate to our ability to meet our needs today and in the future, SP4 relates to the conditions that systematically undermine people’s capacity to meet their needs. It is about how we relate to our stakeholders and the effect of our actions on others.

Max-Neef’s Theory of Human Needs Subsistence Protection Participation Idleness Creativity Affection Understanding Identity Freedom

Examples of problems related to Sustainability Principle 4: Abuses of power have been identified as means by which many of our needs are undermined.  Examples of political power: prohibiting people from organizing themselves in unions, discrimination, enforced labor, exploitive supply contracts, corruption, censorship etc.

 Examples of economic power: payment of non-livable wages, extraction of profits without any reinvestment in local communities, anti-competitive behavior etc. Related issues surround the fair and equitable use of available resources (e.g. use of drinking water for industrial production in areas of water scarcity).

 Examples of structural power: inadvertently supporting destructive activities through lack of knowledge or acceptance of norms that erode social stability; responsibility for pollution or community impacts, failure to ensure workplace health and safety standards, toxic waste for disposal in third world countries with lower environmental standards and regulations, not being accountable for carbon emissions, psychological effects on those over whom we exert influence through our relationships (e.g. etc.

What you can do As in all cases, determine what real societal need your organization, product or service will fulfill in a sustainable society. Backcast from the sustainability principles to determine the best steps to meet this need. Ensure that each step taken is a flexible platform to realizing your aim while providing a positive overall ROI.

Specifically, with regards to Sustainability Principle 4 (SP4): 1. Think of downstream consequences from all actions. 2. Practice participatory decision making, transparency, responsibility, accountability and integrity. Integrity defined as “doing the right thing when nobody is watching”. 3. Engage with stakeholders to understand the consequences of organizational decision-making

4. Other measures include, ensuring that your policies and actions:

a. Do not undermine people’s capacity to live and work safely and securely b. Do not undermine people’s access to sufficient resources and quality of life c. Respect human rights, international standards and norms etc. d. Apply equally and without discrimination

Five take-home messages: 1. Sustainability is the goal we are seeking – the end state. Sustainable development is the process we need to get there. We need to define the goal of sustainability / the sustainable society at the level of principles in order to get large-scale agreement, remain flexible to future possibilities and different approaches, and measure our progress against robust criteria that are simple and yet avoid reductionism.

2. The Natural Step system conditions define sustainability and reflect a science-based consensus on the minimum conditions for the sustainable society.

3. Backcasting from future success (i.e. sustainability principles and our organizational vision) ensures that we begin with the end in mind and have clear goals to direct our day to day actions.

4. The sustainability principles help us to think about the way we run our business and the consequences of every decision we make. As principles they help us to identify and address known and unknown problems. List of examples can only ever capture known problems and the principles help us to take a broader perspective on all our actions by thinking upstream.

5. The wording of the sustainability principles is precise and agreed upon through international peer- review in the scientific community. While we can use short-hand to make them easier to remember and communicate we should refer back to their exact wording when in doubt to ensure we capture their full meaning.

Exploring Human Needs 1.Individually,read,abriefdescriptionofManfredMaxNeefandtheninehumanneeds.Theninehuman needsarehowTheNaturalStepdefinesthemeaningofhumanneedsinthefourthsystemcondition,which saysthat, Inasustainablesocietypeoplearenotsubject toconditionsthatsystematicallyundermine theircapacitytomeettheirneeds. Whenyou’vefinishedreadingdiscussthepassageatyourtable,10minutes. Identifyinghumanneedsisimportantforhowweunderstandeachotherinthesocietal contextandhowweapproachproblemsofimpoverishmentinourcommunities.ManfredMax Neef,ChileaneconomistandauthorhasdevelopedamodelwhichhecallsHumanScale Development.Histheoryfordevelopmentworkstodefinebasichumanneedsinawaythat changeshowweapproachdevelopmentofoursocieties.Hisunderlyingpremiseisthat, “Developmentisaboutpeopleandnotaboutobjects.”

CurrentindicatorsofgrowthincludemetricssuchasGrossNationalProduct(GNP).This indicatorshowsthegrowthofobjects.MaxNeefsaysweneedanindicatortomeasurethe growthofpeople.Inordertodothatwehavetodefinequalityoflife,whichisdependant uponpeople’sabilitytomeettheirfundamentalhumanneeds.MaxNeef’sHumanScale Developmentaimstodefinethosehumanneedsanddistinguishthedifferencebetweenthem andthesatisfiersthatweusetomeetourneeds.

Subsistence Protection Participation Idleness Affection Understanding Creativity Identity Freedom Additional considerations:

o Human needs are finite few and classifiable o Fundamental human needs are the same in all cultures, and throughout time. What changes over time and culture, is the way needs are satisfied. o Any human need that is not adequately met creates human poverty

“A sense of responsibility for the future of humanity along with transdisciplinary action are crucial. This may be our only defense. If we do not take up the challenge, we will all be accomplices in the creating and maintaining of sick societies.”

What is the organizational responsibility to meeting human needs of their employees and

other stakeholders? It is necessary to both identify how people and groups meet their needs,

but also what policies, structures do to repress, tolerate or stimulate opportunities.

Most importantly, how much influence do individuals have over the structures that affect their opportunities?

Satisfiers

Human needs are few and classifiable, what changes is how people meet their needs. How do we meet our needs? We meet them by being, having, doing and interacting. We do not meet them through economic goods and products. Satisfiers could include political structures, social practices, values and norms, spaces, contexts, types of behavior.

Example: food is a satisfier of the need for protection, just like family structure can be.

It is industrial society that equates goods to satisfiers. Doing so limits us to the idea that we

meet our basic needs by acquiring things. The things are but one way to satisfy a need, they

are not the only way. We must learn to develop economy to follow an often overlooked

principle; “the purpose of the economy is to serve the people, and not the people to serve the

economy.”

(1991, Max‐Neef, et. Al. Human Scale Development)

Further explanation of Satisfiers: Violators or destroyers are elements of a paradoxical nature. When applied with the intention of satisfying a given need, not only do they annihilate the possibility of its satisfaction over time but they also impair the adequate satisfaction of other needs.

These satisfiers seem to be related to the need for PROTECTION Satisfier Needs, the satisfaction of which it impairs Arms race Subsistence, affection, participation, freedom. Exile Affection, participation, identity, freedom Censorship Subsistence, identity, affection, understanding, participation, freedom

Pseudo‐ Satisfiers are elements that generate a false sense of satisfaction of a given need. Although not endowed with the aggressiveness of violators and destroyers, they may on occasion annul the possibility of satisfying the need they were originally aimed at fulfilling. Satisfier Needs, which it seemingly satisfies Exploitation of natural resources Subsistence Formal democracy Participation Chauvinistic nationalism Identity Prostitution Affection Fashion and fads Identity

Inhibiting Satisfiers are those that generally over‐satisfy a given need, therefore seriously curtailing the possibility of satisfying other needs. Satisfier Need Needs, the satisfaction of which is inhibited Paternalism Protection Understanding, participation, freedom, identity Authoritarian classroom Understanding Participation, creation, identity freedom Unlimited permissiveness Freedom Protection, affection, identity, participation

Singular Satisfiers are those that satisfy one particular need. In regard to the satisfaction of other needs, they are neutral. Satisfier Need that it satisfies Programs to provide food and housing Subsistence Curative medicine Subsistence Ballot Participation Sport spectacles Leisure Gifts Affection

Synergistic Satisfiers are those which, by the way they satisfy a given need, simultaneously contribute to the satisfaction of other needs. Satisfier Need Needs, the satisfaction of which it stimulates Breast‐ feeding Subsistence Protection, affection, identity Preventive medicine Protection Understanding, participation, subsistence Direct democracy Participation Protection, understanding, identity, freedom Education Understanding Protection, participation, creation, identity, freedom

2. Sitting in your groups a) Select a facilitator. This person will be responsible for ensuring your group completes the steps in the rest of this task in the next 15 minutes. b) Select one human need that your group would be interested in exploring.

Selected need ______c) Consider your need in the context of the community you come from and identify at least three examples of satisfiers.

Examples are provided in the boxes in italics.

Basic Need Satisfier #1 Satisfier #2 Satisfier #3

Participation Voting Community engagement Community forums Centers

3. For ONE of the satisfiers, brainstorm ideas about how this satisfier could synergistically satisfy all human needs. Try to fill in all the blanks!

Need Potential Satisfier? (Examples below for “Community Center”) Subsistence Soup kitchen, support services for homeless and unemployed

Protection A safe and respectful space, free of weapons, violence and harsh words.

Affection Community events and gatherings, multigenerational activities with children and elderly

Understanding Dialogue circles, group agreements, mentoring programs

Participation Low cost and/or free events so that all can participate regardless of background. Public engagement and decision making processes, etc.

Idleness Recreational activities

Creation Arts classes & activities

Identity Respects, honors and offers activities for people from all different backgrounds, cultures, religious faiths, sexual orientation, etc.

Freedom Open to all cultures, religions, age, sex, sexual preference, etc. Freedom to freedom to participate or not.

4. Share ideas for how Human Needs are being met in your own organization. How might your organization currently inhibit the meeting of any of the needs? City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan

November 21, 2007

A sustainable Lake Oswego is a community that meets the vital human needs of the present without compromising our ability to meet future needs. This requires consideration of both long-term and short-term effects on ecological, economic, and community systems. Operating sustainably means that we are leaving a legacy for the community of Lake Oswego and the planet.

From Lake Oswego Sustainable City Vision and Guiding Principles Acknowledgements Lake Oswego City Council Mayor Judie Hammerstad Ellie McPeak Frank Groznik Roger Hennagin Kristin Johnson Donna Jordan John Turchi

City Sustainability Steering Committee Stephan Lashbrook, Community Development Director, co-chair Rachael Petersen, Facilities Manager, co-chair Doug Schmitz, City Manager Donna Ainslie, Circulation Manager, Library Deb Carline / Gary Abraha, Adult Community Center Russ Chevrette, Engineering Technician Kari Duncan, Water Treatment Plant Manager Ginny Haines, Sustainability Intern Mike Hammons, Captain, Police Department Jerry Knippel, Director, Special Projects Bryn Knowles, Parks Maintenance Susan Millhauser, Sustainability Planner, Community Development Elizabeth Papadopoulos, Director, Maintenance Services Julia Ratoza, Ofﬁ ce Manager, Fire Department Richard Seals, Finance Department Josh Thomas / Jane Heisler, Public Affairs

With Special Thanks To Members of the Sustainability Action Area Teams (listed on next page)

and

Dorothy Fisher Atwood, Sustainability Management Consultant/Zero Waste Alliance Duke Castle, Oregon Natural Step Network Darcy Hitchcock, AXIS Performance Advisors, Inc./Zero Waste Alliance Sustainability Action Area Team Members

Energy and Transportation Procurement Russ Chevrette, Engineering Gary Abraha, Adult Community Center Gail Dowler, Finance Barbara Dillinger, Community Development Bob Gilmore, Building Mike Hammons, Police Ginny Haines, Community Development Chip Larouche, IT Peggy Halley, Fire Stephan Lashbrook, Community Development Jerry Knippel, Special Projects Susan Millhauser, Community Development Scott J. Matthew, Human Resources Elizabeth Papadopoulos, Maintenance Services Susan Millhauser, Community Development Rachael Petersen, Facilities Dan Nicholson, Maintenance Bev Ross, Library Rachael Petersen, Facilities Richard Seals, Finance Julia Ratoza, Fire Patti Smith, Maintenance Services Massoud Saberian, Engineering Waste Reduction and Recycling Water Conservation Gary Abraha, Adult Community Center Kari Duncan, Water Treatment Plant Donna Ainslie, Library David Gabriel, Parks Maintenance Robyn Christie, Public Affairs Ginny Haines, Community Development Patrick Foiles, Human Resources Jerry Knippel, Special Projects Chip Larouche, IT Bryn Knowles, Parks Maintenance Pete Marfell, Parks Maintenance Joel Komarek, Engineering Mary Miller, Parks/Farmers Market Joel Kuhnke, Water Maintenance Susan Millhauser, Community Development Stephan Lashbrook, Community Development Rachael Petersen, Facilities Wendy Martin, Finance Susan Terry, Clackamas County Susan Millhauser, Community Development Colleen Wellnitz, Allied Waste Services Rachael Petersen and Marty Butts, Facilities Jake Snell, Parks Maintenance Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Context for Planning for Sustainability 2 Sustainable City Vision and Guiding Principles 3 Sustainability Action Areas 5 Energy and Transportation 8 Water Conservation 11 Procurement — Purchasing and Contracting 14 Waste Reduction and Recycling 16 Employee Involvement and Education 19 Water Management — Stormwater and Sanitary Sewer 21 Pollution Prevention / Toxics Reduction 22 Next Steps 23

Appendices (included in separate document): Appendix A - City of Lake Oswego Resource Flow Map, November 2006/February 2007 Appendix B - SCORE Report, January 2007 Appendix C - Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability, American Planning Association, April 2000 Appendix D - The Natural Step Framework Guidebook, 2000 Appendix E - U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, June 2005 Appendix F - ICLEI Cities for Climate Protection Campaign Resolution, July 2007 Appendix G - City of Lake Oswego Water Management and Conservation Plan, Final Draft, June 2007 Appendix H - Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations Executive Summary Lake Oswego’s City Council has adopted sustainability goals each year since 2002. While progress has been made toward meeting those goals, there has not been an organized program to improve the sustainability of City government. In September 2006, the City Council authorized the formation of the City Sustainability Steering Committee. The Steering Committee, comprised of staff people from various City departments, was charged with evaluating the current level of City sustainability policies, programs, and practices and making recommendations to keep the City moving forward in its efforts to operate in a more sustainable way.

The City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan is founded on ten Guiding Principles that provide the basis from which effective and sustainable decisions can be made. The Sustainable City Vision and Guiding Principles are intended to guide all City sustainability efforts by providing a common understanding of sustainability and a vision for the future. The Vision and Guiding Principles also help to ensure that wise business decisions are made regarding the investment of public funds while promoting the conservation and efﬁ cient use of energy, water, native habitats, and other natural resources, and considering the social and community implications of actions. It is hoped that improved processes will result in efﬁ ciencies that save time and money, enhance and restore the natural environment, and contribute to a healthy and vibrant workplace and community where all can thrive.

Action area teams, comprised of Steering Committee members and additional key staff, crafted the main components of this Plan — the Sustainability Action Areas. This section of the Plan includes recommendations for projects, sets goals and milestones, and establishes performance measures to track progress in four actions areas: • Energy and transportation • Water conservation • Procurement — purchasing and contracting • Waste reduction and recycling

The Plan concludes with recommendations for subsequent action areas in the coming year, the on-going role of the Steering Committee, and regular reporting to the City Council on progress. This Plan is intended to be a living document that guides the City’s work, with periodic updates to show progress, allow for milestones to be reﬁ ned, and for updates as needed, as illustrated in the graphic below.

Action Performance Vision Principles Areas Measures

Reporting & Adaptation

Graphic adapted from Multnomah County

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 1 November 21, 2007 Context for Planning for Sustainability The City of Lake Oswego recognizes that local government plays a vital role in fostering sustainability and is committed to adopting, implementing, and maintaining sustainable practices.

The City is part of a worldwide movement to create a more sustainable future. Key global mileposts include the creation of the World Commission of Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission), the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit of the United Nations, the U.S. President’s Council report on Sustainable Development, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, and establishment of the United Nations Division on Sustainable Development.

Closer to home, the State of Oregon, several Oregon cities and counties, business leaders, and non-proﬁ ts are advancing sustainability, with the concept gaining widespread support among many sectors. Here in Lake Oswego, the City Council has included sustainability in its adopted goals since 2002.

Due to the multifaceted nature of sustainability, the City’s sustainability planning efforts dovetail with several current or upcoming City projects, some of which are noted in this Plan. As the City moves forward with future planning projects, such as the Quality of Life Indicators program, neighborhood plan development, and future updates to the Comprehensive Plan, efforts will be made to integrate sustainability in a meaningful way.

Background People around the world have come to realize that humans cannot continue to use natural resources faster than they can regenerate. Doing so contributes to pollution and environmental degradation, social inequity and poverty, and a decline in human health and quality of life. This is true on the local level, just as it is true on the broader scale. Sustainability includes a program of actions for local and global reform to develop, test, and disseminate ways to change how development occurs and how services are delivered so Sustainability involves the economy, that ecosystems, community systems (cities, ecosystems, and society, which are neighborhoods, and families), and economic systems completely interdependent. that contribute to our quality of life are not lost.

Local governments are major players in the Environment sustainability movement. Cities build and maintain infrastructure; set policies, standards, and Society regulations; and manage programs to meet the needs of the community. Local governments provide a myriad of services to their communities, including Economy public safety, ﬁ scal management, environmental management (e.g., water, waste management, land use planning, natural resource protection), asset management (e.g., transportation infrastructure Adapted from The Good Company and facilities), and recreational, cultural, and

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 2 November 21, 2007 social programs, among others. Sustainability requires that local governments ensure that municipal services can be sustained and equitably distributed today and for future generations. Achieving this objective requires a strategic approach that equally factors long-term ecological, economic, and community concerns into the planning, development, and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Basic human provision of municipal services. needs must be met before individuals can strive to meet higher needs. Sustainability is a journey rather than a destination. A sustainable city is one that protects 3ELF ACTUALIZATION and enhances the immediate and long-term well- being of the community and its citizens, while %STEEM providing the highest quality of life possible. 3TATUS Sustainability requires systems-based decision- 3OCIAL making that takes into account economic, ,OVE"ELONGING ecological, and social impacts as a whole. The City 3AFETY3ECURITY of Lake Oswego recognizes that local government plays a vital role in fostering sustainability and 0HYSIOLOGICAL is committed to adopting, implementing, and maintaining sustainable practices.

Sustainable City Vision and Guiding Principles To set a context for developing and implementing a more coordinated approach to becoming a sustainable Lake Oswego, the Sustainability Steering committee recommends that the following vision and sustainability principles guide the work of City elected ofﬁ cials, advisory board and commission members, and staff.

Vision of a Sustainable Lake Oswego A sustainable Lake Oswego is a community that meets the vital human needs of the present without compromising our ability to meet future needs. This requires consideration of both long-term and short-term effects on ecological, economic, and community systems. Operating sustainably means that we are leaving a legacy for the community of Lake Oswego and the planet.

A sustainable Lake Oswego is a place recognized nationally as a model of livability—a uniﬁ ed city with a vital downtown, a strong sense of neighborhoods, and a harmonious relationship with the natural environment. The lives of everyone who lives, works, and conducts business in Lake Oswego are enriched by a wide range of choices in transportation, housing, recreation, and culture. Our infrastructure is sound, our ﬁ nances stable, and our citizens and employees healthy and engaged.

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 3 November 21, 2007 Sustainable City Principles 1. Create a future where the community, commerce, and ecosystems thrive together in harmony.

2. Ensure a healthy and vibrant community by valuing cultural, economic, and ecological diversity and providing a safe, healthy, and viable setting for human interaction, education, employment, recreation, housing, commerce, and cultural development.

3. Consider long-term impacts and use integrated decision-making to take into account economic, ecological, and social impacts as a whole, with the understanding that economic health, environmental quality, and social equity are interdependent.

4. Protect and restore air, water, and land to preserve biological diversity, environmental health, and a natural resource base for future generations. Support policies and programs that ensure efﬁ cient use of, and reduced demand for, natural resources, while taking necessary precautions to prevent toxic pollution and waste and protect human health through proactive measures (e.g., the precautionary principle). Act locally to reduce adverse global impacts of rapid population growth and consumption, such as global warming and ozone depletion.

5. Make procurement decisions (e.g., purchasing and contracting) that minimize negative environmental and social impacts, maximize long-term value, and contribute to local and regional economic health. This includes supporting local businesses that promote sustainability.

6. Ensure that ecosystem impacts and the costs of protecting the environment do not unfairly burden any one geographic or socioeconomic sector of Lake Oswego.

7. Use community resources efﬁ ciently by recognizing the interconnections between livability, growth management, land use, transportation, energy, water, affordable housing, air quality, economic development, and the natural environment. Adopt a holistic long term view of our investments that includes social and environmental costs.

8. Operate in a fi scally responsible manner by selecting the most cost-effective programs and policies to meet community priorities. Use full cost accounting, a complete analysis of the associated costs and benefi ts including environmental and social costs and benefi ts.

9. Develop cross-sector partnerships necessary to achieve City sustainability goals. Partnerships among local, regional, and state government, businesses, residents, and all community stakeholders are necessary to achieve a sustainable community. A sustainable Lake Oswego contributes to regional, state, national, and global sustainability.

10. Build community awareness, responsibility, involvement, and education as key elements of successful policies, programs, and projects.

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 4 November 21, 2007 Sustainability Action Areas The Steering Committee was responsible for establishing sustainability goals, determining how to achieve these goals, and identifying the necessary actions to make progress towards the goals. To accomplish this the Steering Committee had to answer the following questions: 1. How sustainable are we now? 2. How sustainable do we want to be in the future? 3. How do we get there? 4. How do we measure progress?

Current State To gain a better understanding of the current level of sustainability within City operations, the Steering Committee mapped the ﬂ ow of resources coming into and going out of the City (see Appendix A, City of Lake Oswego Resource Flow Map) and conducted an Identifying core service areas and mapping resource assessment using a tool called SCORE ﬂ ows provides an overall view of an organization’s (Sustainability Competency & Opportunity use and disposal of resources Rating & Evaluation, AXIS Performance Advisors and Zero Waste Alliance/ International Sustainable Development Raw Material Products Foundation). SCORE helped to assess Energy Services the City’s core functional areas and identify areas for improvement. A report summarizing the results of the SCORE assessment is included in Appendix B. Waste - Visible and Invisible Graphic adapted from The Natural Step Based on the results of the SCORE assessment, which summarized assets to build on as well as areas for improvement, an understanding of the opportunities and threats facing the City, and in coordination with other City efforts underway, the Steering Committee chose four action areas to focus initial planning efforts: • Energy and transportation • Water conservation • Procurement (purchasing and contracting) • Waste reduction and recycling

Future State For a better understanding of what actions might be taken to ensure a sustainable future, the Steering Committee used a framework in the development of sustainable end points, goals, milestones, and performance measures for each of the action areas. Consideration of four objectives, adapted by the American Planning Association (See Appendix C, Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability) from the Natural Step (see Appendix D, The Natural Step Guidebook), provides a systematic, integrated approach for understanding ecological, economic, and social impacts.

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 5 November 21, 2007 The sustainability framework objectives include:

1. Reduce dependence upon fossil fuels, extracted underground metals and minerals.

Reason: Increased depletion and degradation of ﬁ nite natural resources from inside the Earth and associated increases of such substances in natural systems will eventually cause concentrations to reach limits – as yet unknown – at which irreversible changes for human health and the environment will occur and life as we know it may not be possible.

2. Reduce dependence on chemicals and other manufactured substances that can accumulate in Nature.

Reason: Unchecked increases of such substances in natural systems will eventually cause concentrations to reach limits – as yet unknown – at which irreversible changes for human health and the environment will occur and life as we know it may not be possible.

3. Reduce dependence on activities that harm life-sustaining ecosystems.

Reason: The health and prosperity of humans, communities, and the Earth depend upon the capacity of Nature and its ecosystems to reconcentrate and restructure wastes into new resources.

4. Meet the hierarchy of present and future human needs fairly and efﬁ ciently.

Reason: Fair and efﬁ cient use of resources in meeting human needs is necessary to achieve social stability and achieve cooperation for achieving the goals of the ﬁ rst three objectives.

Sustainability principles and objectives can guide planning and decision-making for complex systems, such as city government and the community it serves Graphic from The Natural Step for Communities, Sarah James and Torbjorn Lahti, 2004

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 6 November 21, 2007 Action Areas Teams Teams were formed for each of the identiﬁ ed action areas, including members of the Steering Committee and additional key staff, to develop goals, milestones, including targets and projects, and performance measures, summarized in detail below. Setting goals and targets helps to focus attention, determine priorities, manage resources and ensure that the activities of numerous people and units work in the same direction.

A variety of analytic tools and strategies are used to assist with making decisions and prioritizing projects. Additional action areas for future teams, including employee involvement and education, water management — surface water and sanitary sewer, and pollution prevention/toxics reduction, were also identiﬁ ed by the Steering Committee with the understanding that while all areas are important, it is not possible to address all of the areas simultaneously.

For each of the Action Areas, the Teams identiﬁ ed the following: • Sustainable End Points or Goals that illustrate what sustainability might look like for City operations. These represent the speciﬁ c issues or topics the City will focus on to achieve the vision.

• The Current State of operations within each area, summarized to recognize and categorize what the City has already accomplished as well highlight areas where future work is needed.

• Milestones, including Targets and Projects, which are explicit actions identiﬁ ed as necessary steps to take on the path toward meeting the goals. Both short-term projects, to be completed by the end of 2008, and longer-term projects and targets, to be completed or reached by 2012, are included.

• Performance Measures, or metrics, that identify data to be collected and monitored to track progress toward meeting the established milestones. In some cases where it was not possible to establish a target due to lack of information, a project was identifi ed to gather more information in order to establish a target at a later date. A management system provides many benefi ts at all stages of implementing sustainability, from As the Teams move forward with implementing supporting individual projects and providing elements to manage the overall process, to identifi ed projects, detailed plans are being integrating the process into core business systems. developed to establish timelines and identify specifi c tasks and responsible staff. The Teams will continue to meet to report fi ndings and review targets and progress towards goals. Identifying staff who are responsible for tracking and reporting metrics identifi ed in performance measures is a key component to ensure systematic progress towards the goals.

Graphic from Dorothy Atwood

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 7 November 21, 2007 Energy and Transportation The Energy and Transportation Action Area Team’s primary task is to examine and inventory the City’s energy consumption and look for opportunities to minimize use and reduce the City’s carbon footprint. The Team identiﬁ ed measures to increase energy and fuel efﬁ ciency, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and criterion air pollutants, and increase use of renewable energy within City operations.

Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • Zero net increase of carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) (climate neutral) • Energy sources are 100% renewable

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 7% below 2000 levels, in keeping with the US Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement (see Appendix E) • Decrease overall energy consumption by 10% from 2006 levels, in keeping with the national Energy Star challenge • 100% of energy used is from renewable sources (on-site and from electric utility) • 50% of City fl eet is fueled by alternative fuels / technology • Increase overall vehicle miles per gallon (MPG) by 10% across entire fl eet • New construction and major remodels of City-owned facilities meet or obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certifi cation • Increase the number of City employees commuting by alternative commute options (non-single occupancy vehicle modes) by 50%

Current State: • Signed Mayor’s Climate Protection • New water pump stations have high Agreement and joined Cities for Climate effi ciency pumps and motors to meet Protection Campaign (see Appendix F); future capacity in a more energy received software and tools to conduct effi cient manner greenhouse gas emissions and criterion • Traffi c signal bulbs have been replaced air pollutants inventory; data collection with energy conserving light emitting for City operations inventory is in diode (LED) bulbs (red and green) progress. • Lighting standards ordinance has been • Water Treatment Plant purchases drafted renewable, “Clean Wind” electricity • Heating and air conditioning controls from PGE equal to about half of the for the City Hall building have been annual power that is required to run upgraded to operate more effi ciently the Plant, and has made equipment • City fl eet includes eight (8) hybrid gas/ and lighting upgrades and operational electric vehicles changes to improve effi ciency. • City fl eet diesel vehicles and equipment • High-effi ciency pumps are specifi ed are fueled with 5% biodiesel (B5), when sewer lift station pumps are including Lake Oswego School District/ replaced Laidlaw bus fl eet

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 8 November 21, 2007 Energy and Transportation Current State (continued): • Some employees commuting by • City participates in annual Carefree alternative options (e.g. TriMet, Commuter Challenge and Bike Commute vanpool, carpool, bike, etc.); no Challenge centralized tracking system. Employee • Some automated City functions, e.g. Commute Options (ECO) survey data for electronic pay stubs, electronic billing, City Hall available from 2006 to 2002. on-line applications, etc. • City provides employee transit beneﬁ t • Waste reduction and recycling efforts equivalent to 100% of monthly bus pass. in place (see Waste Reduction section • City sponsors an employee vanpool below for details) program which has one route; contract with Flexcar as vanpool provider includes daytime use of carsharing vehicle by City staff

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Inventory greenhouse gas (GHG) and • Develop formal policy requiring criterion air pollutants emissions from deconstruction and construction debris City operations and develop emissions recycling for City building projects reduction action plan • Identify needed building upgrades and • Evaluate costs of switching additional associated costs to support alternate City facilities to PGE Clean Wind power, commute options, e.g. showers and and develop proposal covered, secure bike racks • Switch from B5 (5% biodiesel) to B20 • Set up a system for better tracking (20% biodiesel) for all vehicles and employee transit benefi t usage stationary equipment for summertime • Expand next Employee Commute use (continue to use petrodiesel for Options survey to include all City generators); coordinate with Laidlaw/ employees or conduct an independent Lake Oswego School District. Identify web-based survey to determine current older vehicles and establish off-site commuting patterns fueling location. Spot test B50 (50% • Adopt policy on compressed work week biodiesel) with select vehicles for and fl exible schedules to minimize summer-time use. employee commuting, encourage use • Conduct a fl eet needs assessment and of transportation options (e.g. transit, develop a green fl eets plan to increase carpooling, biking, walking), and allow vehicle MPG, reduce GHG and criterion shifts that minimize on-peak travel, air pollution emissions, improve overall where feasible maintenance effi ciency and vehicle • Conduct carsharing feasibility study in longevity, and establish systematic roll- downtown Lake Oswego down. Consider anti-idling issues and • Identify energy effi ciency standards diesel equipment/vehicle retrofi ts. for equipment, appliances, and • Develop green building policy and adopt vehicles and include in environmentally LEED as the standard for new City buildings preferable purchasing policy (EPP) (Gold) and major remodels (Silver) (coordinate with Procurement Team)

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 9 November 21, 2007 Energy and Transportation Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... (continued) • Adopt new lighting standards; • Rename Community Development to consider policy regarding street light become “Department of Sustainable decommissioning Community Development” • Develop a preferred list of appropriate • Continue to automate City functions, tree and landscaping species based on e.g. e-time, electronic paychecks, drought tolerance, appearance, solar electronic billing, on-line applications, friendliness (as appropriate), carbon digital recording of meetings, electronic dioxide (CO2) uptake, and other site packet distribution, etc., and look for speciﬁ c factors for street trees (in additional opportunities, e.g. electronic coordination with Urban and Community distribution of HelloLO Forestry program)

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... • Identify & budget for one (1) building • Coordinate with Urban and Community effi ciency project per budget cycle. Forestry program to promote Include evaluation of opportunities to stewardship and education, an achieve LEED for Existing Buildings and increased forest canopy, forest health associated costs. and diversity, maintenance and care, • Establish green building program (policy, policy updates, and identifi cation of incentives, outreach, recognition) funding sources, including ongoing for commercial and residential staffi ng development, and identify staff to • Explore opportunities for carbon offset support program market potential for protected urban • Adopt community-wide construction forests (in coordination with Urban and debris recycling ordinance and engage Community Forestry Program) stakeholders to evaluate feasibility of • Work with community stakeholders to requiring deconstruction for building develop anti-idling and vehicle retrofi t projects within the City limits policy for diesel vehicles operating • Revise Solar Access codes to be more within City limits, as appropriate, user-friendly and effi cient; include including use of biodiesel public conversation about inherent • Work with regional stakeholders to confl icts between tree protection and understand regional food systems solar access protection (as part of green and impacts on food security for building program) local residents (e.g. access to a wide • Promote the use of eco-roofs for run- variety of nutritious, affordable food, off management, energy effi ciency, grown locally and sustainably; land and appearance; modify Code to allow use planning issues; and local food anywhere in the community (as part of purchasing plans). Coordinate with green building program) on-going efforts, such as the Portland • Modify development standards to allow Multnomah Food Policy Council for vertical landscaping (as part of • On an annual basis, review progress green building program) toward goals, refi ne milestones, and develop or update action area work plans, as needed

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 10 November 21, 2007 Energy and Transportation Performance Measures: • Annual facility and infrastructure energy use: Total citywide use – buildings, facilities, and operations Report by facility, account number, & department; Quantify “renewable” energy use • Annual fl eet use: Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) or vehicle hours operated, as appropriate Gallons of fuel used Type of fuel Vehicle type and fuel effi ciency (MPG) ratings, and Cost (operation and maintenance) • Annual Employee commuting data • Annual waste tonnage to landfi ll (converted to GHG equivalents) • City building projects (new construction and major remodels) that meet or obtain LEED Gold/Silver certifi cation, as appropriate

Water Conservation The Water Conservation Action Area Team’s primary task is to identify and implement water conservation measures both within City operations and the greater community. Due to the timely issues facing the City and community related to water management and conservation, this Team’s focus includes looking at City operations as well as planning for the community at large. The Team’s efforts are closely integrated with the recommendations outlined in the City of Lake Oswego Water Management and Conservation Plan (see Appendix G).

Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • A sustainable water supply for City operations and to meet community demand using best conservation practices, with annual average consumption ﬂ attening • Zero loss of biodiversity and productive natural systems and habitat for forests and riparian areas

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • Internally, reduce overall annual water use – peak season average daily use by 10% over 5 years (reduce demand 2% per year) for all City facilities and City irrigation accounts • Reduce community-wide peak season 3-day demand by 5% over 5 years (reduce demand 1% per year; .8 million gallons/day)

Current State: • Participate in Regional Water Providers • Work actively with Lake Oswego School Consortium and related education District to increase outreach and and conservation opportunities (e.g. education opportunities in schools water conservation kits; education and outreach opportunities)

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 11 November 21, 2007 Water Conservation Current State (continued): • Provide water conservation information • All water customers are metered. through a variety of means (e.g. written Annually, water meters are tested information in Hello LO and on City system-wide and replaced or repaired web site, sponsorship of Where’s Rosie as necessary, with approximately 400 performances, outreach at events, to 500 meters (1.5 inch and smaller) etc.). replaced and 50% of meters 2-inches • Install water-effi cient irrigation and larger tested annually, and repaired systems for parklands and turf areas, or replaced as necessary. and landscape and City beautifi cation • Conduct leak detection and repair sites, when possible, and use practices, of mainline pipe system. Identify such as retrofi ts, to improve irrigation and repair/replace residential and effi ciency of older systems. For commercial lines and meters through example, 10th Street green street coordinated efforts of utility billing project will use water-conserving department and maintenance services. irrigation system. • Assessing City Hall and the West End • Use turf area maintenance practices to Building to determine potential water reduce irrigation needs, e.g. wetting savings by replacing plumbing fi xtures agents with more water effi cient models, and • Assess City park turf area water associated costs use and collect baseline data to • New water pump stations have high plan for effi ciency upgrades, e.g. effi ciency pumps and motors to meet evapotranspiration (ET) weather future capacity in a more energy stations. Inventory irrigation meter effi cient manner locations and condition. • Review utility billing system to ensure compatibility with other City systems Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Begin implementing Water Management • Continue annual testing and repair or and Conservation Plan in coordination replacement of 2-inch and larger meters with new water conservation staff, • Coordinate with Lake Oswego School including water rate structure review District to implement meter installation • Inventory number and types of plumbing to better track usage and identify and fi xtures in all City facilities; review data implement conservation measures on water use • Use water billings as an opportunity • Identify and prioritize water to educate and inform users conservation measures and costs, about conservation, e.g. graph of including plumbing retrofi ts and consumption, bill stuffers, online access weather stations for ET systems, to consumption information, etc. Begin and opportunities to maximize use using new water bills (continue bi- of non-potable water. Use summer monthly billing). 2007 baseline irrigation data, meter • Develop protocol/system for reporting inventory, and facility inventory on water use and conservation activities information. throughout the City. Include reservoir • Continue to identify system leaks, hourly demand by pressure zone data. conduct audits, and make repairs City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 12 November 21, 2007 Water Conservation Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... • Identify and implement water • Update policy and codes to encourage conservation programs and fi nancial water conservation and allow maximum incentives, e.g. water audits, use/reuse of non-potable water, e.g. water effi cient appliance rebates, rainwater harvesting, grey water for information about drought tolerant irrigation and toilet fl ushing (as part of plants and natural gardening/ green building program) landscaping techniques, for residents • Coordinate with Urban and Community and businesses (in coordination with Forestry program to promote Water Management and Conservation stewardship and education, an Plan). Develop waterwise demonstration increased forest canopy, forest health garden to test and highlight drought and diversity, maintenance and care, tolerant landscaping plants. policy updates, and identifi cation of • Increase the number of meters funding sources, including ongoing replaced annually to achieve a 25-year staffi ng replacement cycle. Consider phasing in • On an annual basis, review progress meter replacement to allow automated toward goals, refi ne milestones, and meter reading develop or update action area work plans, as needed Performance Measures: • Annual average water consumption, including peak season daily use: City facilities and irrigation Community-wide use Track consumption by user class • Number of interior plumbing fi xtures replaced with water-effi cient models on an annual basis (include facility, type of retrofi t, and estimated water savings) • Number of meters replaced annually (include size and location and estimated water savings) • Number of turf area and City beautifi cation irrigation system zones upgraded or retrofi tted on an annual basis (include location, type of retrofi t, and estimated water savings). • Number of water audits conducted annually • Annual number and type of education and outreach activities

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 13 November 21, 2007 Procurement — Purchasing and Contracting The Procurement Action Area Team’s primary task is to develop an environmentally preferable purchasing policy (EPP) to guide purchasing and contracting decisions and identify tools to simplify purchasing and contracting processes and track purchases.

Procurement — Purchasing and Contracting Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • Zero harm to the ecosphere - habitat, atmosphere, water • Products purchased are made from 100% recycled materials or come from certiﬁ ed sustainable sources, are designed for ease of reuse / vendor take-back / recycling, and come from local vendors and manufacturers who provide living wage jobs and good working conditions (e.g. no sweatshops) • Only non-toxic chemicals and materials are purchased and/or used by the City and its contractors • Products and materials that provide a net restorative value are prioritized • Zero waste disposed from City operations, facilities, and events

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • Increase the value of products and contracts purchased that meet environmentally preferable purchasing policy, as a percentage of total materials and services purchased • See Waste Reduction and Recycling section for related targets

Current State: • Green Seal cleaning products used in • Printer and photocopier stock paper all City facilities; primarily purchased meets EPA 30% minimum post-consumer through Coastwide Labs, a local vendor waste (PCW) recycled content standard. • Low- or no-VOC (non-toxic) paints are • Print HelloLO, monthly City newsletter, used and are purchased from Miller on 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) Paint, a local company recycled content paper. • Vacuums, leaf blowers, recycling bins, • Recycle used toner cartridges through etc. purchased from and repaired by Toner Inx, a school fundraiser (collect Coastwide Labs, a local vendor through City mail system) • Some bathroom paper products have • Have an informal reuse program for recycled content; strive for highest offi ce furniture. Staff often purchase post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled furniture with sustainability in mind, content within price differential. but there is no formal policy or • Most offi ce supplies purchased through uniformity Offi ce Max using p-card (decentralized), • Purchase Energy Star compliant on State contract. Toner and printer/ computers, peripherals, and appliances copier paper make up bulk of offi ce • Fleet purchasing decisions are supply expenditures. decentralized; some departments have purchased hybrid gas/electric vehicles (currently 8 in City fl eet)

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 14 November 21, 2007 Procurement — Purchasing and Contracting Current State (continued): • For infrastructure materials purchased • Police uniforms sent to dry cleaner– / speciﬁ ed through Maintenance and unsure if environmentally-friendly Engineering, some staff consider processes used sustainability / environmental impacts; • Meals for special meetings often vendors are not so aware provided by local caterers / restaurants; • Streetlights owned by PGE; trafﬁ c encourage service to be “family-style” signals owned by City – have replaced to reduce packaging red and green bulbs with light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Evaluate feasibility of modifying (light duty – sedans and pickups), ﬁ nancial systems to track and engineering consultants. Include environmentally preferable purchasing discussion of vendor shipping and to better determine how and what can packaging. be measured • Develop purchasing and contracting • Develop and implement an tools to ensure EPP success, e.g. environmentally preferable purchasing guidelines and resources about where (EPP) policy with consideration of 10% and what to buy/not to buy, purchasing price differential and stafﬁ ng. Explore checklists, and process for public potential budget issues and possible contracting to allow “green” quotes development of “green” fund for larger • Consider prohibiting City purchase of EPP purchases. Develop screening beverages in plastic bottles and food process for paper – janitorial, vehicles packaged in Styrofoam for meetings

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... • On an annual basis, review progress toward goals, reﬁ ne milestones, and develop or update action area work plans, as needed

Performance Measures: • Annual dollar value of goods and services purchased that meet environmentally preferable purchasing policy, tracked as a percentage of total materials and services purchased.

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 15 November 21, 2007 Waste Reduction and Recycling The Waste Reduction and Recycling Action Area Team’s primary task is to identify and implement measures to reduce waste and increase recycling within City operations.

Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • Zero harm to the ecosphere - habitat, atmosphere, water • Zero waste disposed from City operations, facilities, and events • Products purchased are made from 100% recycled materials, are designed for ease of reuse / vendor take-back / recycling, and come from local vendors and manufacturers who provide living wage jobs and good working conditions (e.g. no sweatshops)

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • For City operations, decrease overall solid waste stream by 25% by weight by 2012 • Meet the State adopted Portland metro area recycling recovery rate of 64% by 2009 by increasing the City’s recycling recovery rate. (Recycling Recovery Rate: the percentage of discards that are recycled, as compared to overall amount of waste generated)

Current State: • Work with local hauler and Clackamas • Printer and photocopier stock paper County staff to provide recycling meets EPA 30% minimum post-consumer containers and up-to-date information waste (PCW) recycled content standard. for all City facilities, including Moving to printing of HelloLO on 100% conducting waste audits PCW recycled content paper. • Worm composter in use at the Adult • Printing – default printer driver is one- Community Center for food waste sided; currently testing two-sided • Collect items that cannot be recycled default setting on one group printer at the curbside to take to specialty (individual users can set default to two- recycling facilities, e.g. fl uorescent sided) light bulbs, batteries, Styrofoam, media • Evaluating specialty software cases, etc., or donate for reuse, e.g. (GreenPrint) intended to reduce printing electronic media. of extra sheets of paper • Recycle cleaning solvents, oil, • Computers, other offi ce equipment, and antifreeze, and oil fi lters as part offi ce furniture are reused within the of overall vehicle and equipment City until they can no longer be used, maintenance practices that eliminate then sell or donate. Sale of outdated potential discharge of hazardous or computers and peripherals through eBay toxic materials into the environment earned $45,000 over the past 4½ years. • Recycle used toner; collect from various More the 90% of computers have been City facilities by mailroom staff and reused in this way, with 75% purchased donated for fundraiser for local school. by employees and Lake Oswego citizens. • Collect and reuse large boxes – “box • Bottled water is not for sale at the corner” at City Hall Farmer’s Market, provide water stations instead

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 16 November 21, 2007 Waste Reduction and Recycling Current State (continued): • Reusable shopping bags are for sale at distribution, etc. the Farmers’ Market and the Library, • Deconstruction of two homes on and reusable water bottles also for sale properties purchased by the City for at the Farmers’ Market open space/parks took place • Many City functions are automated • Meals for special meetings are often or electronic, e.g. e-time, electronic provided by local caterers/restaurants; paychecks, electronic billing, on- encourage service to be “family-style” line applications, digital recording to reduce packaging of meetings, electronic packet Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Collect baseline information and • Create position (existing or new staff/ establish systems to monitor what types intern) to expand City waste reduction of materials and quantities are recycled and recycling program; consider hauler and landfi lled to determine current franchise fee for potential funding recovery rate and set future targets: stream, if necessary. Establish schedule for waste audit • Continue to automate City functions, of City facilities e.g. e-time, electronic paychecks, Determine numbers and sizes of electronic billing, on-line applications, containers at City facilities and digital recording of meetings, electronic frequency and cost to dump packet distribution, etc., and look for Track what goes into the additional opportunities, e.g. electronic compactor and to Maintenance and distribution of HelloLO where it comes from • Evaluate feasibility of implementing an Collect data on recycling not employee recycling benefi t, e.g. battery collected by hauler and compact fl uorescent light bulb • Formalize recycling program and (CFL) recycling systems for tracking items that are not • Look at City facilities for opportunities collected by hauler, e.g. fl uorescent to install dishwashers and provide light bulbs, batteries, Styrofoam, etc. durable dinnerware in break rooms, e.g. • Set up system for sharing information cutlery, plates, cups, etc. about availability of used offi ce • Plan for and hold future employee furnishings and equipment for reuse at events in facility that allows for use the City of durable dinnerware, e.g. holiday • Work with partners to evaluate employee luncheon at ACC opportunities to increase recycling rates • Consider prohibiting City purchase of and reduce waste going to landfi lls, beverages in plastic bottles and food with focus on special events, parks, packaged in Styrofoam for meetings ballfi elds, etc. When specifying outdoor • Develop formal policy requiring recycling containers consider ease of deconstruction and construction debris use (by user and maintenance staff) and recycling for City building projects placement • Conduct employee education and outreach on waste reduction and recycling. Consider staff training through Master Recycler Program.

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 17 November 21, 2007 Waste Reduction and Recycling Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... • Explore and evaluate opportunities • Adopt community-wide construction and partnerships for south metro area debris recycling ordinance and engage composting operations for vegetative stakeholders to evaluate feasibility of matter (leaves, tree trimmings) and requiring deconstruction for building organics (food waste) and infrastructure projects within the City limits materials recycling, e.g. rock and • Consider Code updates to require design asphalt. Identify opportunities for reuse review for garbage enclosures to ensure of Water Treatment Plant lagoon sludge adequate space for recycling containers and waste water treatment biosolids and ease of access for hauler trucks • Engage stakeholders in discussion on • On an annual basis, review progress city-wide program (e.g. outreach, toward goals, reﬁ ne milestones, and incentives, etc.) to eliminate use develop or update action area work of Styrofoam take-out packaging, plans, as needed non-durable dinnerware, and plastic shopping bags • Work with stakeholders to assure that adequate locations for recycling continue to remain accessible to the community as redevelopment occurs in the City, e.g. in the Foothills area

Performance Measures: • Overall waste generated annually, including waste tonnage to landfi ll and materials diverted from landfi ll by type and weight: Commingled paper & containers E-waste Shredded paper Fluorescent lamp tubes Metals Batteries Plastics Toner cartridges Landscape waste Furniture - resale or recycling Food waste Wood waste Rock, gravel, steel, etc. Block foam Electronics – resale, vendor take Other items, as identifi ed back • Sheets of paper purchased per staff full-time equivalent (FTE), as a measure of effectiveness of waste reduction activities

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 18 November 21, 2007 Additional Action Areas Several additional action areas, including employee involvement and education, water management — stormwater and sanitary sewer, and pollution prevention/toxics reduction, were identiﬁ ed by the Steering Committee for focused attention upon Plan adoption or starting in 2008. For each of these action areas, sustainable end points, or goals, as well as some milestones were developed. These end points and milestones will serve to provide direction for future action area teams, with the understanding that the team members may modify or update, as appropriate.

Employee Involvement and Education The Steering Committee discussed opportunities for employee involvement, education, and outreach and recommends the formation of an action area team upon Plan adoption to assist with the development and implementation of an employee involvement and education strategy.

Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • All City staff understand the City’s commitment to sustainable practices and have equal access to information, tools, training, professional development opportunities, and other resources needed to accomplish job duties in keeping with City sustainability principles and for overall professional growth • The City delivers high-quality services at a reasonable cost to citizens by providing a healthy, safe, supportive, and happy workplace that in turn lowers employee turnover and absenteeism and reduces associated costs • The City provides a workplace where diversity, innovation, and efﬁ ciency are respected and encouraged

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • To be developed by Action Area Team

Current State: • City sustainability web site provides a • Encourage employee participation “one stop” resource for information on in commute option challenges, e.g. City projects and information related to Carefree Commuter Challenge and sustainability Bike Commute Challenge. Have hosted • Periodic articles in the Hello LO commute options workshops, e.g. and LODown Weekly News cover Flexcar membership orientation and sustainability topics bicycle commuting basics. • Make presentations about City • Hold lunch time brown bag sessions sustainability efforts at various events on sustainability topics, including a and conferences; recent presentations presentation on global warming by Jean were for the Oregon Natural Step Bauman, a local resident trained by Al Network and at the City’s Celebrating Gore Community event

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 19 November 21, 2007 Employee Involvement and Education Current State (continued): • Staff participated in the NW Earth • Attend workshops and professional Institute’s Global Warming and Choices development opportunities for Sustainable Living discussion courses • Worked with the Lake Oswego Chamber • Meet with other local government staff of Commerce and Clackamas County to network and share information to develop a video and plan a business • Participate in the Regional Partners breakfast to highlight and recognize for Economic Development sustainable businesses in the community who have business planning efforts as well as adopted sustainable practices the Clackamas County Coordinating Committee’s (C4) sustainability sub- committee

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Develop and implement employee etc.), to assist with development and education and outreach strategy to implementation of employee education inform and excite City staff about and outreach strategy, to develop Sustainability Plan and how they can sustainability orientation for new contribute; include all staff meeting/ hires, and to evaluate opportunities open house and presentations at to integrate sustainability criteria regularly scheduled staff meetings, city- and performance measures into job wide emails, contests, recognition, etc. descriptions and annual performance • Form action area team to establish reviews goals and milestones (including targets • Identify funding and purchase City and proposed actions) for employee reusable cup or water bottle for outreach and education efforts (e.g. employees as part of employee number of brown bags, number of awareness campaign employees participating in programs, Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... and Performance Measures: • To be developed by Action Area Team

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 20 November 21, 2007 Water Management — Stormwater and Sanitary Sewer An Action Area Team will be formed in 2008 to evaluate current practices, identify opportunities, and develop an action plan. Additionally, the Team could review and assist with implementation of Clean Streams Plan and the development of Sewer Collection Master Plan.

Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • Zero loss of biodiversity and productive natural systems and habitat for forests and riparian areas • Only non-toxic chemicals and materials are purchased and/or used by the City and its contractors • All stormwater diverted from system through use of performance standards and on-site stormwater solutions

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • To be developed by Action Area Team

Current State: • City Code, policies, and programs • 10th Street greenstreet demonstration regulate surface water and sanitary project is under construction, and Ladd sewer management. City works Street greenstreet is in the design phase actively to improve water quality • Manually remove invasive species through enforcement of pollution and from natural areas and parks using erosion control regulations, monitoring volunteers; program is coordinated sediment and pollutants, and educating through the City’s Natural Area the public. program. Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Form Action Area Team and identify tasks. May include: Establish timeline for preparation Review and implement measures of new Sewer Collection Master identiﬁ ed in Clean Streams Plan Plan

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... • To be developed by Action Area Team. • Propose stricter standards for septic May include goals and milestones for systems in City planning area and quantity and quality of run-off (in encourage development of public sewer conjunction with Clean Streams Plan) • Increase enforcement efforts and • Promote the use of performance encourage proper decommissioning of standards and pre-designed systems dysfunctional septic systems and repair (retention/detention) to streamline of faulty sewer laterals that contribute process for small development projects to inﬂ ow/inﬁ ltration Performance Measures: • To be developed by Action Area Team

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 21 November 21, 2007 Pollution Prevention / Toxics Reduction An Action Area Team will be formed in 2008 team to evaluate current practices, identify opportunities, and develop an action plan to minimize and eliminate use of toxic substances of concern in City operations.

Sustainable End Points/Goals — By 2027... • Zero discharge of persistent bio-accumulative toxins (PBTs) • Zero emissions of toxic materials to air, soil or water • Only non-toxic chemicals and materials are purchased and/or used by the City and its contractors • Zero waste disposed from City operations, facilities, and events

Milestones (Targets) — By 2012... • To be developed by Action Area Team

Current State: • Protection of fi sh and wildlife habitat, • Streets and roadways maintenance open space, stream corridors, wetlands, practices help keep pollutants from and tree groves within the City entering waterways addressed by City Code • There is no comprehensive inventory of • Vehicle and equipment maintenance toxics use / storage. Individual facilities practices eliminate the potential follow environmental and fi re safety discharge of hazardous or toxic tracking procedures for hazardous materials into the environment materials, as required • Use Parks maintenance practices that • Use Green Seal cleaning products for lessen the need for toxic pesticides, interior building maintenance fertilizers, and herbicides; use these • Use no/low-VOC interior paints in many maintenance practices at City buildings facilities and City beautifi cation projects, where • Electronic waste, such as computers, feasible cell phones, sold or donated for reuse • At the Golf Course, additional maintenance practices in place to protect habitat and reduce impacts

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2008... • Form Action Area Team and identify Logical Business Program’s Automotive tasks. May include toxics inventory Services Program, a joint recognition • Evaluate membership for City ﬂ eet and certiﬁ cation program of regional maintenance facility in the Eco- pollution prevention agencies

Milestones (Proposed Actions) — By 2012... and Performance Measures: • To be developed by Action Area Team. May include goals, milestones, and performance measures for minimizing and eliminating use of toxic substances of concern in City operations by following the precautionary principle

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 22 November 21, 2007 Next Steps Steering Committee To provide an on-going, systematic approach for moving the City towards achieving the vision of a sustainability city, it is recommended that the Steering Committee continue to meet on a quarterly basis. To ensure that identiﬁ ed milestones are accomplished, it is recommended that additional staff from Human Resources, Parks and Recreation, and Information Technology be appointed to the Steering Committee. Additionally, the Steering Committee will take a closer look at existing City long-term strategic planning processes, such as the development of the budget and capital improvement plan updates, to identify opportunities to incorporate sustainability across core City functions.

The Action Area Teams will continue to meet on a monthly basis to continue with the current momentum, then less frequently as projects progress. New teams identiﬁ ed in the Plan will be convened in the coming year and will develop action area plans. Teams will continue to monitor and report on progress, and identify new milestones, as appropriate. The Teams will report progress to the Steering Committee at the quarterly meetings.

The Steering Committee recommends that an updated City Sustainability Action Area report be presented to the City Council on an annual basis for review and direction. The report will also be posted on the City sustainability web site and shared with community members and other interested stakeholders.

Community Sustainability Several 2012 milestones identiﬁ ed in the Plan go beyond City operations. Steering Committee members felt it was important to identify these proposed actions in the Plan to ensure that they are addressed in any future planning efforts that extend to the community at-large. These milestones focus on areas where the City has regulatory or other inﬂ uence. Additionally, it is hoped that the City will continue to work with regional partners to provide and expand outreach and support to local businesses to assist with their sustainability efforts.

City of Lake Oswego Sustainability Plan Page 23 November 21, 2007

A Natural Step Case Study the Whistler story

On the road to sustainability

Unlike many Canadian communities, Whistler, British Whistler’s development dates to the early 1960s, when a group Columbia has never had to deal with the question of its of businessmen joined forces with members of the Canadian identity. Located in the Coast Mountains, a two hour drive Olympic Committee to find a site they could develop for a north of Vancouver, Whistler was conceived as a mountain future Olympic Winter Games. Although the Whistler Valley was resort in the 1960s, built as a mountain resort in the 1970s still wilderness then – there was not even a road into the area and, to no one’s surprise, thrives today as a world-famous, – members of the group believed in its potential, rolled up their four-season destination mountain resort. What might sleeves and got to work. By the mid 1960s a road had been built come as a surprise is that Whistler is arguably one of the into the Valley and the first ski lifts were operating on Whistler most committed of all Canadian communities to becoming Mountain. In a “build-it-and-they-will-come” scenario, people truly sustainable. began to move to the Valley, and schools, water and sewage treatment, building codes, medical services, fire protection, In the late 1960s, about 500 people lived in a scattering recreation complexes, library and postal services followed. of houses up and down Whistler Valley. Today, this town of 10,000 permanent residents hosts a seasonal population In 1975, the community became Canada’s first incorporated of about 4,500, another 9,100 second-home owners from Resort Municipality, a legislative designation that grants the around the world, and over two million tourists who flock to local government special consideration to promote, build Whistler each year to enjoy recreational activities as diverse and maintain infrastructure and services for a large influx of as skiing, snowboarding, hiking, fishing, mountain biking visitors. Three years later work commenced on the building a and golf. Residents – largely comprising people who have new town centre, Whistler Village. In 2010, 50 years following made a conscious decision to move to Whistler – share a its founding vision, Whistler will host the 21st Olympic and strong sense of community and a passion for protecting the Paralympic Winter Games. natural environment. the Whistler story

Focus Sustainability on Whistler is generally recognized as one of Canada’s leaders in community sustainability planning, engagement and implementation, and it was one of the very first communities to begin developing a sophisticated sustainability agenda. This reputation is deserved, and for a number of reasons.

The first is in the nature of the people who live, work and play there. British Columbia’s Coast Mountains, graced with soaring granite spires, tumbling glaciers and wide-ranging wildlife, are nothing short of spectacular, and the Whistler Valley constitutes a particularly attractive setting in a spectacular corner of the range. It seems that all those who have had contact with the Valley – from the indigenous First Nations people, to the early settlers, to the business people who built the resort, to the Whistler will host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games current residents – have felt a special affinity for the place. Throughout, the natural environment has been acknowledged as the area’s greatest asset and its number one amenity. Almost Many communities have developed a without exception, the residents of Whistler have chosen to live variety of strategies and policies relating there because it offers a quality of life that exists in few other to planning for the future. Planning places – and they are very protective of the mountains, their community and their way of life. should not be totally centralized but be a balance between various components of Accordingly, most of the important economic and development the community and embrace all aspects decisions over the past 50 years have been made with both environmental and social considerations in mind. Whistler Village of a liveable community. The judges are itself was designed to mimic a mountain stream flowing through agreed that one community displayed a valley. Featuring a long pedestrian-only thoroughfare, the that it has achieved this balance and has architecture strives to frame the best mountain views and ensures embraced all the aspects of interest to that sunlight floods as many corners as possible.

the judges. This community has been The community’s general concern for the environment was successful in te excellent organization heightened by a surge in growth that began in the late 1980s of comprehensive sustainable plan and and continued through much of the 1990s. Double-digit growth partnership agreement strategies. became the norm, and for a number of years Whistler held the dubious distinction of being the fastest growing community in This community is Whistler, Canada. Canada. Between 1990 and 2000, Whistler’s developed housing stock increased over 50 percent (from about 28,000 bed units to Judges statement International Awards for Liveable 46,000 in 2000). Communities, 2005 Such rapid growth in a valley with physical limits to growth and

the Whistler story

an amenity-protective population spurred a number of critical questions. Is continued rapid growth in the best long-term interests Whistler 2002 of the resort community? How does Whistler manage escalating and the Whistler living, housing and business costs? What are the environmental and visitor experience impacts of an expanding infrastructure and Environmental an ever-increasing number of people traveling up and down the Valley? How will global trends like climate change and shifting Strategy travel patterns affect a resort community whose lifeblood is deep Although Whistler’s Official Community Plans1 of 1976, 1982 snow and tourists? and 1989 included a number of growth management strategies, ongoing questions surrounding the runaway growth led to a call for a community visioning process in 1997. The resulting “Whistler 2002” vision articulated the community’s social, economic and environmental priorities, based on sustainability In the year 2000, the Municipality concepts. Among the five priorities were “building a stronger of Whistler made some significant resort community” (based on ideas related to social sustainability) progress in setting out a direction and “moving toward environmental sustainability.”

of sustainability with a new vision and The process led to the creation of the Whistler Environmental environmental strategy. It had begun Strategy, which provided a policy framework for moving toward to build community partnerships but environmental sustainability. Key elements of the WES included: was looking for a clear way replacement of past municipal references to “environmental of communicating this new stewardship” of the local landscape with “moving toward environmental sustainability” which also included values priority with the broader community dedicated to global and regional responsibility and the rights of and, in particular, with local future generations. In collaboration with a number of community businesses. As with most communities, stakeholders, new environmental directions were established there were so many interests, so many such as a protected areas network, community energy and diverging wants and needs – it was air quality planning, and an environmental sustainability hard to develop a common approach management system. However, the WES was not well for sustainability. understood throughout the community, especially within the business community. Further communication and engagement David Waldron were recognized as essential. Former Coordinator of Whistler’s The Natural Step Early Adopters and Whistler. It’s Our Nature programs, and contributor to Whistler 2002.

1Official Community Plans (OCPs) are the primary land use and development policy documents of British Columbia municipalities.

the Whistler story

The Natural Step and Whistler’s Early Adopters The Natural Step Framework was consistent with directions set by the Whistler 2002 vision and the Whistler Environmental It was at this point, in March 2000, with Whistler 2002 in Strategy, and it provided the means for effective sustainability place and the WES drafted and being implemented, that education and communication. Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt first visited Whistler. Although he was on holidays with his sons, Dr. Robèrt agreed to give Among those taking note of the opportunities opened by the three community presentations on The Natural Step. What Framework were the leaders of a number of high-profile Whistler he had to say resonated extremely well in a community organizations, six of whom decided to band together to become that was wrestling with its long-term sustainability. Other the Whistler’s Early Adopters of The Natural Step Framework, community and business leaders were similarly impressed. which later became known as “Whistler. It’s Our Nature.” Their While Whistler had been proactive about the environment broad objective was to jointly increase their own knowledge of and a variety of social issues, it had never defined its The Natural Step and share that new knowledge with the rest of efforts in terms of an overarching sustainability framework. the community. The participating organizations were: • The RMOW The timing of Dr. Robèrt’s visit to (the municipal government) Whistler was ideal. Whistler 2002 had • Whistler Blackcomb (the ski resort operator and largest employer in Whistler) laid the groundwork for introducing sustainability to the community and • The Fairmont Chateau Whistler (a premier Whistler hotel) the Whistler Environmental Strategy • Tourism Whistler provided a comprehensive plan for (the resort marketing organization) environmental stewardship, but • The Association of Whistler Area Residents for the there was no clear and compelling Environment (or AWARE, a local environmental message to the community about the advocacy non-profit) fundamentals of sustainability. The • Whistler Foto Source (a camera and photo Natural Step provided the simple, finishing business that represented Whistler’s common language necessary to small business sector). communicate sustainability while still providing the necessary intellectual and scientific rigor.2

Shannon Gordon Whistler2020 Community Initiatives Manager

2 Shannon Gordon (2003). Whistler’s Journey toward Sustainability, p.2, Paper presented at the Sustainable Mountain Communities Conference in Banff, Alberta

the Whistler story

Working together, the Early Adopters designed and implemented Whistler2020 is our vision, our a number of community awareness and learning initiatives strategies and our ongoing process for between 2000 and 2002. They included: achieving a successful and sustainable • A two-day “train the trainers” workshop at which teams from each Early Adopter organization future. Our vision is what we aspire learned how to develop and deliver sustainability to be, and helps inspire and guide awareness presentations to others in their our strategic planning and actions respective organizations over time. Our strategies set out how • An intensive ten-week advanced training for Whistler will achieve this vision, Early Adopter members designed to deepen participants’ knowledge of The Natural Step through sixteen strategies and ongoing and give them the skills to act as community community-wide actions. Our process resources for other organizations interested in ensures that Whistler2020 is a ‘living’ joining the journey to a more sustainable future plan, that it drives ongoing progress, • A Whistler Sustainability Symposium which and that it is continually informed by featured North American and European businesses who were using The Natural Step approach interested community members. • A community speaker series that included Karl-Henrik Robèrt, David Suzuki and Ray Anderson www.whistler2020.ca • A community engagement program called Whistler. It’s Our Nature. In addition to the speaker series noted above, the program included workshops, sustainability toolkits (booklets) and other resources meant to encourage Whistler individuals, households, businesses and schools to join the growing sustainability movement.

Whistler Edmonton

Vancouver Calgary Winnipeg Montreal

Ottawa Toronto

3 In 2005, the RMOW was awarded the FCM-CH2M HILL Sustainable Community Award for its “Integrated Sustainability Initiative,” for its efforts as part of Whistler. It’s Our Nature.

the Whistler story

In 2002, four factors converged to further advance sustainability Whistler2020: The 17 strategies5 in Whistler: the five-year Whistler 2002 vision (created in 1997) had expired; the understanding and efforts of the Early Adopters and others had substantially increased; there was an increased community awareness of sustainability and its advantages within the community; and Vancouver’s and Whistler’s partnership bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. In particular, the Olympic bid galvanized the community into thinking about what could happen to Whistler if the bid was accepted. Esther Speck, who had helped the Fairmont Chateau Whistler develop a Natural Step sustainability action plan and later joined the RMOW team leading the Whistler2020 development process, recalls that, “It became very important for the community to have a strong direction in place, so the Olympics wouldn’t just happen to the community. We wanted to be in charge, to direct the Olympics Given all that was happening, it was becoming increasingly to leave the legacy we wanted as a community.”4 evident that the community needed a new planning framework to guide it into the future. The municipality and community leaders committed to creating a comprehensive sustainability plan (CSP), now more commonly referred to as an integrated community sustainability plan (ICSP). Initiated under the Whistler2020 is a community plan, not Whistler: Its our Future banner, the vision for the community a consultants’ plan or a municipal plan. was officially adopted by council in December 2004 witha The process can be compared to having new title: Whistler2020 – Moving Toward a Sustainable Future. a community build a barn rather than The 16 initial strategies for achieving the vision were adopted the barn being built by a construction by Council in August 2005. It was the first CSP/ICSP in North America to use the The Natural Step Framework throughout company. Only in that way is the its development and implementation, and embed The Natural community going to like it, be proud of it, Step and sustainability into the municipality’s highest level and take care of it. policy statements.

Tim Wake, RMOW Councilor, 2007

4 Esther Speck (2006) personal conversation with TNS. 5 The Whistler2020 Food Strategy was developed as the 17th strategy through a task force engagement process during the fall of 2007. It was initially thought that food would be adequately covered within the Health & Social and Resident Affordability strategies. However, it soon became clear after their development that food should be a separate strategy. the Whistler story

Whistler2020 performance results on an annual basis and recommend the “next step” actions that will move Whistler closer to its vision. Whistler2020 is a community-created sustainability plan, developed and committed to by approximately 30 formal The strategies give the vision its legs; the actions that are partner organizations and businesses, 160 task force members recommended and implemented in each strategy area move the who annually meet to review and improve the plan, and roughly community towards its vision of success and sustainability. 40 organizations implementing the task force actions. Further actions are created and implemented by every As a planning document, Whistler2020 comprises the Whistler2020 partner. The partners use Whistler2020 to guide community’s shared vision of success to the year 2020 and the and direct all of their actions as an organization - not just the strategies needed to achieve that success. Although the plan ones that the task forces recommend. targets the year 2020 for the vision and strategies, achieving For each strategy there is a task force composed of a) local all of the community’s sustainability objectives is a longer-term experts in the strategy area, b) the organizations and businesses goal set for sometime before 2060. most likely to be responsible for implementation of the task Whistler2020’s vision foresees Whistler as “The premier force recommendations, and c) other stakeholders who are mountain resort community – as we move toward sustainability.” most affected by the strategy area and recommended actions The vision also articulates five priorities – enriching community (e.g., seniors, businesses, young families, etc.). A municipal staff life, enhancing the resort experience, protecting the environment, team facilitates the process but does not determine the content. ensuring economic viability, and partnering for success – and 17 strategy areas. The community task forces review progress and

the Whistler story

The Natural Step’s methodology was used in the initial A few examples of actions directly and indirectly resulting from development of the strategies. Task force members were first Whistler2020 are:6 introduced to The Natural Step’s key concepts, guided through 1. Establishment of in-fill housing guidelines to the action plan process and given access to the TNS eLearning concentrate future developments in existing course. Each task force developed a description of success for neighbourhoods to increase density and reduce each strategy, ensuring that those descriptions aligned with the distance that residents need to commute. Whistler’s long-term sustainability objectives. Task force 2. Powering all municipal diesel vehicles with bio- members then assessed aspects of the current community reality diesel blended fuels (resulting in a 17% reduction supported or contravened long-term goals, developed lists of in GHG in the summer and 4% in the winter). recommended actions and defined indicators that could be used 3. Installation of geothermal heat exchange system to track progress. for heating and cooling at a community fire hall and a housing project. Creating the Whistler2020 strategies required the task forces to 4. Landfill methane capture that resulted in lowering meet several times over many months. Today, with the plan in emissions by 5% (estimated that 21,000 tonnes of place, the task forces meet every year to assess progress and to CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) emissions will be avoided in recommend new actions. 2007, with a total of approximately 450,000 tCO2e In 2006, more than 150 members participated in the task force reductions over the next 25 years.). process and generated 142 recommended actions for potential 5. Piloting of solar powered garbage compactors in lead organizations. Of these, 103 were accepted by the lead Whistler village (these compactors are expected organizations – a 73% acceptance ratio. Once accepted, it is the to reduce pickup and transfer frequencies by more than 500%). responsibility of the lead organizations to ensure that the necessary plans and resources exist to successfully implement the actions. 6. Development of a master calendar of all arts, To provide transparency and build trust within the community and culture and heritage events happening in Whistler to provide residents and visitors easier access to the task forces, lead organizations that choose not to implement information and build community. their assigned actions are asked to provide rationale for declining the action and their statement is published on the Whistler2020 7. Creation of a needs assessment of Whistler’s housing in recognition of changing demographics website and reported back to the recommending task force. and need for long-term and diverse housing prices and types. 8. Expansion of the Adopt-a-Youth program. This program pairs first-year seasonal employees with Whistler residents to embed a sense of community for new residents.

Task force recommended actions are evaluated by the leading organization and then reported on www.whistler2020.ca.

Whistler measures various indicators to see whether they are helping Whistler move towards or away from its vision and what sustainability principles are affected. Here, we see that Whistler’s waste diversion rate is increasing, bringing Whistler closer toward its vision.

6 For information on actions taken by specific Whistler Early Adopter organizations see Natural Step at www.naturalstep.ca. For a full list of the 17 strategies, priorities, indicators and actions taken by the community, see www.whistler2020.ca. the Whistler story

Throughout the process, and on an ongoing basis, the wider community is kept abreast of Whistler2020’s progress The Whistler2020 sustainability plan and and performance through columns in the local papers and implementation process was activated by presentations to various groups in the resort community. A the visionary leadership of community website that supplies important information also helps to ensure stakeholders, delivered through an process transparency and accountability. Among other features, the website gives detailed information on each recommended excellent framework for engagement, action and its acceptance and implementation status (see bottom coupled with a strong belief in the ability right on page 8) and provides a “report card” on the community’s of the community to respond. These key recent performance at moving toward – or away from – its vision factors, as well as a strong prior network of success and its sustainability objectives (see bottom left on page formation upon which to build the task 8). The report card contains 23 core indicators that give an overall force process, and a commitment to performance snapshot and 80 strategy indicators that provide inclusion and diversity, created a very specific results related to the 17 Whistler2020 strategies.8 strong engagement process from which to The results that Whistler has achieved are a testatment drive the sustainability plan. to the ambition, patience and long-term commitment of all the organizations and community members involved. Whistler’s Victoria Smith process has also been hailed by others as a model of Author of The Heart of Change sustainability planning.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities and CH2M HILL, for example, awarded Whistler a national award for sustainability Last words community planning in 2005. Whistler also took top honours Whistler’s experience with sustainability planning and The Natural among 53 competing cities in 2005 in the Planning for the Future Step holds a number of lessons for other communities embarking category of the International Awards for Liveable Communities on their own journey to sustainability. It also demonstrates the and was named as one of the most liveable communities in the advantages of using The Natural Step Framework. world. Not be left out, the Whistler2020 website, as a key piece of the program’s infrastructure, won an innovation award in 2006 Firstly, sustainability planning requires patience and a from the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators. long-term commitment. Whistler’s planning process developed over the course of several years and involved exploring possible futures for the community, creating a shared vision, making well-grounded assessments about the current sustainability of the operations, practices and behaviours associated with many areas of community life, creating actions to move the community towards its vision, and then monitoring the implementation of those actions. On paper, the steps sound clear-cut; in practice, they require perseverance and a great deal of skill in terms of strategic thinking, process facilitation and community engagement.

8 Indicators for the 17th strategy (the Food Strategy) will be added in 2008. the Whistler story

Secondly, genuine community engagement is a necessity. Victoria Whistler’s commitment to community engagement dates to Smith, in her Master’s thesis written about the Whistler process, at least the late 1990s and the Whistler 2002 process. The identified “the imperatives for leveraging a community of people to commitment to community engagement exhibited in that process work toward a vision of sustainability.”9 The imperatives include: was carried unbroken into Whistler2020, with citizens participating • Exceptionally strong leadership from government in multiple formats that included open houses, workshops, kids’ and community leaders forums, surveys and the internet. The task forces continue to • Excellent facilitation and a framework be a tremendous tool for engagement, leading to the creation for engagement of ‘democratic space’ and genuine communication among the stakeholders. • The recognition that broad community engagement is crucial for success The Natural Step Framework is also given much of the credit • A shared and genuine desire for inclusive and for the program’s success. It has provided a common language diverse participation and a common mental framework for people to use, allowing • An action-oriented process the community to identify shared goals and ways to work towards them. • Shared organizational responsibility for implementation • Mobilizing leaders to work together during a critical stage of development in the community

Describing what success would look like and using backcasting eliminates unnecessary negativity and discussion. It allows more innovation and inspiration. We have hosted numerous conferences and meetings with a lot of participants A common framework and definition - one with 60 people in the room from of sustainability is critical: without it, 19 communities, along with other parties meaningful dialogue that leads to a - and without failure backcasting has common vision and progress toward the been successful.11 vision is much more difficult.10 Mike Vance Shannon Gordon RMOW General Manager of Policy and Program Whistler2020 Community Initiatives Manager Development and member of Whistler2020 team

9 Victoria Smith (2002) The Heart of Change, p. 48, University of Toronto. 10 Shannon Gordon (2003). Whistler’s Journey toward Sustainability. p. 6. Paper presented at the Sustainable Mountain Communities Conference in Banff, Alberta. 11 Mike Vance (2007) Personal conversation.

10 the Whistler story

The final lesson is a simple one: even with a great framework and an inclusive process, nothing happens without action, and the cardinal rule regarding sustainability is to take action today For us in Whistler, we have found with the resources at hand. Even the simplest action, with the The Natural Step Framework to be most meager of resources, gets people into the game. Esther broadly applicable across all areas of the Speck, another long-time participant in Whistler’s journey community (from energy systems to arts and a former Whistler2020 team member, advises all those and culture) and to all levels of decisions starting the journey, to “Pick something and do it! Don’t be (from purchasing paper to developing paralyzed by complexities. Acknowledge where you are, but a tourism strategy). It also provides the get started!”12 critical shared language and ultimate end goals that have allowed the community to move beyond discussions about what sustainability is to action planning for how to get there.

Ken Melamed Mayor of Whistler

Additional Information www.whistler2020.ca

Thank you to Esther Speck, Mike Vance, Shannon Gordon, Ted Battiston, Tim Wake for granting The Natural Step interviews. This case study was written and researched by Magdalena Szpala and edited by Bart Robinson for The Natural Step Canada. Creative Commons Copyright 2008 Some rights reserved

12 Esther Speck (2007). Personal conversation.

Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 www.cleanerproduction.net

Strategic sustainable development — selection, design and synergies of applied tools K.-H. Robe`rt a,b,*, B. Schmidt-Bleek h, J. Aloisi de Larderel c, G. Basile d,e, J.L. Jansen f, R. Kuehr g, P. Price Thomas e, M. Suzuki g, P. Hawken j, M. Wackernagel j

a Physical Resource Theory, Chalmers University of Technology and Go¨teborg University, S-41296, Go¨teborg, Sweden b The Natural Step Foundation, Wallingatan 22, Stockholm, Sweden c UNEP/Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, Paris, France d Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA e The Natural Step, Thoreau Center for Sustainability, PO Box 29372, San Francisco, CA, USA f Sustainable Technology Development, PO Box 6063, 2600 JA Delft, Netherlands g United Nations University, Zero Emissions Forum (UNU/ZEF), 53-70 Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925, Japan h Factor Ten Institute, La Rabassie`re, 83660 Carnoules, France i Natural Capital Institute, PO Box 2938, Sausalito, CA, 94965 USA j Redeﬁning Progress, 1904 Franklin Street, Oakland, CA, 94612,USA

Received 12 June 2001; accepted 8 October 2001

Abstract

The number of tools and approaches to develop sustainability is growing rapidly. Sometimes they are presented as if they are contradictory or in competition. However, a systems approach consistent with basic principles and the requirements of sustainability shows that these tools are complementary and can be used in parallel for strategic sustainable development. In fact, it is only when using these approaches outside of the systemic context of sustainability that they become contradictory. This paper is a collective effort of scientists who have pioneered some of these tools and approaches. The paper maps essential elements for developing sustainability and documents how these elements relate to the application of the respective tools. The objective is to show how these tools and approaches relate to each other and build on each other when used for planning for sustainability.  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sustainable development; Sustainability; Systems thinking; Backcasting; Upstream thinking; Strategic planning; Factor X; Factor 10; Ecological footprinting; ISO 14001; EMAS; EMS; System conditions; Life cycle assessment (LCA); The natural step (TNS); Zero emissions (ZE); Cleaner production (CP); Sustainable technological development (STD); Natural capitalism

1. Introduction the qualities, differences and linkages between various tools, and, consequently, questions on how best to A growing number of tools for management and apply them. monitoring of sustainable development have gained The intent of this study is to develop a systems per- worldwide acceptance in the last decade, like ISO 14001, spective to investigate: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) [1,2], Ecological Foot- printing [3], Factor 4 [4,5], Factor 10 [6,7], Sustainable (i) the relationships between various tools and organi- Technology Development [8], Natural Capitalism [9], zational perspectives for advancing strategic sus- and The Natural Step Framework [10,11,30]. They have tainable development and to that end been supported by a number of organizations and pro- (ii) the utility of having access to a diversity of tools grams. This variety has led to some confusion regarding and programs.

For comprehensive planning in any complex system, * Corresponding author. we have previously described the value of delineating E-mail address: [email protected] (K.-H. Robe`rt). ﬁve hierarchically different system-levels and in main-

0959-6526/02/$ - see front matter  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0959-6526(01)00061-0 198 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 taining the distinction between the levels when planning. societal exchange with, and dependency on, the Their interrelatedness can then be utilized in a deliberate ecosphere) [for references, see 10]. and methodical fashion [11]. The five levels are: 2.2. Principles for sustainability 1. Principles for the constitution of the system (e.g. eco- Level 2 defines the goal, i.e. the state sustainability logical and social principles). within the ecosphere. The Brundtland commission pro- 2. Principles for a favorable outcome of planning within vided a philosophical definition: “To meet the needs of the system (e.g. principles for sustainability). the present without compromising the ability of future 3. Principles for the process to reach this outcome (e.g. generations to meet their own needs” [12]. Claims to principles for sustainable development). maintain biodiversity not only for the productivity of the 4. Actions, i.e. concrete measures that comply with the ecosystems but also for its own sake, belong to this level. principles for the process to reach a favorable out- 2.2.1. The Four System Conditions come in the system (e.g. recycling and switching to This philosophical overall goal can be spelled out in renewable energy). more specific terms. For example, The Natural Step 5. Tools to monitor and audit (i) the relevance of actions developed such a framework of complementary, non- with reference to principles for the process (e.g. indi- overlapping conditions for social and ecological sus- cators of flows and key-figures to comply with prin- tainability — the Four System Conditions [for refer- ciples for sustainability), and/or monitoring (ii) the ences, see 10,11]. status of the system itself, and impacts (e.g. ecotoxic- The System Conditions for ecological sustainability ity and employment), or reduced impacts, as a conse- are derived from the three basic mechanisms by which quence of strategically planned societal actions. natural life sustaining systems can be destroyed, followed by inserting a ”not” to create the converse of those In the present study, we have further elaborated the mechanisms. The System Condition for social sus- levels of this hierarchy and better defined the interdepen- tainability is simply stated as the requirement to meet dencies of the essential components in a systems model. human needs (within the frame set by the three System The model has been applied to study various concepts Conditions for ecological sustainability): and programs, thereby presenting a unified whole. In the sustainable society, nature is not subject to sys- In section 2, the model is developed. tematically increasing… In section 3, the model is applied to demonstrate the primary focus of the following Tools and Initiatives: The 1. Concentrations of substances extracted from the Natural Step Framework (TNSF); Factor 10; Ecological Earth’s crust.1 Footprinting (EF); Sustainable Technological Develop- 2. Concentrations of substances produced by society.2 ment (STD); UNEP/Cleaner Production; Zero Emission; and Natural Capitalism. 1 The societal influence on the ecosphere due to accumulation of In section 4, the result is discussed. lithospheric material is covered by this principle. The balance of flows between the ecosphere and the lithosphere must be such that concentrations of substances from the lithosphere do not systematically 2. A systems model of essential elements for increase in the whole ecosphere, or in parts of it. Besides the upstream sustainable development influence on this balance through the amounts of mining and choices of mined minerals, the balance can be influenced by the quality of final deposits, and the societal competence to technically safeguard the The previously described hierarchical 5-level model flows through recycling and other measures. Due to the complexity for planning in complex systems [11] is further elabor- and delay mechanisms in the ecosphere, it is often very difficult to ated and displayed in Fig. 1. foresee what concentration will lead to unacceptable consequences. A general rule is not to allow societal-caused deviations from the natural state that are large in comparison to natural fluctuations. In particular, 2.1. The overall system — the ecosphere such deviations should not be allowed to increase systematically. Therefore, what must at least be achieved is a stop to systematic Level 1 represents the overarching system that we are increases in concentration. focusing on, i.e. the societies and the surrounding eco- 2 This principle implies that the flows of societally produced mol- systems. This system, also referred to as the ecosphere, ecules and nuclides to the ecosphere must not be so large that they can neither be integrated into the natural cycles within the ecosphere occupies the full space above the lithosphere (earth’s nor be deposited into the lithosphere. The balance of flows must be crust) to the outer limits of the atmosphere. Hier- such that concentrations of substances produced in the society do not archically different levels of principles for planning systematically increase in the whole ecosphere or in parts of it. Besides within this system must be based on an understanding the upstream influence on this balance through production volumes of the constitutional principles of the functioning of this and characteristics of what is produced, such as degradability of the produced substances, the balance can be influenced by the quality of system (e.g. thermodynamics; the biogeochemical final deposits, and the societal competence to technically safeguard the cycles; the ecological interdependencies of species; the flows through measures such as recycling and incineration. K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 199

Fig. 1.

3. Degradation by physical means.3 using all mined materials efficiently, and systemati- 4. And, in that society human needs are met worldwide.4 cally reducing dependence on fossil fuels. 2. Eliminate our contribution to systematic increases in By utilizing a successful outcome in the future as the concentrations of substances produced by society. starting point for planning (backcasting — see below, This means systematically substituting certain persist- section 2.3.1.1), objectives in relation to the system con- ent and unnatural compounds with ones that are nor- ditions can be formulated: mally abundant or break down more easily in nature, Our ultimate sustainability objectives are to: and using all substances produced by society efficiently. 1. Eliminate our contribution to systematic increases in 3. Eliminate our contribution to the systematic physical concentrations of substances from the Earth’s crust. degradation of nature through over-harvesting, intro- This means substituting certain minerals that are ductions and other forms of modification. This means scarce in nature with others that are more abundant, drawing resources only from well-managed eco-systems, systematically pursuing the most productive and efficient use both of those resources and land, and exercising caution in all kinds of modification of natu- 3 The societal influence on the ecosphere due to manipulation and re. harvesting of funds and flows within the ecosphere is covered by the third principle. It implies that the resource basis for: (i) productivity 4. Contribute as much as we can to the meeting of in the ecosphere such as fertile areas, thickness and quality of soils, human needs in our society and worldwide, over and availability of fresh water, and (ii) biodiversity is not systematically above all the substitution and dematerialization meas- deteriorated by over-harvesting, introductions, mismanagement or dis- ures taken in meeting the first three objectives. This placement. means using all of our resources efficiently, fairly and 4 Human needs refer to not only the basic needs to sustain life, but all needs to maintain health — including emotional and social needs responsibly so that the needs of all people on whom [13]. These needs should not be confused with the cultural means by we have an impact, and the future needs of people which we satisfy them — this will be further discussed as a need to who are not yet born, stand the best chance of change societal focus from commodities to services — see below. being met. 200 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

2.2.2. Dematerialization and substitution exchanging certain management routines for others that Each of the sustainability objectives described by the are more cognizant of ecosystem impacts and utilization System Conditions can be further divided into two basic (e.g. recycling of micro-nutrients to soils, or reducing mechanisms: dematerialization, i.e. reduction of material the weight of tractors in agriculture and forestry to flows, and substitution, i.e. exchange of type/quality of reduce the compression of soils). flows and/or activities. These two aspects of sustainability can be used in parallel and on different scales, e.g from changing amounts and types of fuel in the same 2.2.2.3. System condition 4. Dematerializations and process (e.g. from petroleum fueled to more efficient substitutions must not only be regarded from an ecologi- bio-fueled vehicles), through a more radical change of cal perspective (the first three system conditions), but the whole process (e.g. from combustion engines to more also from a social perspective (the fourth system efficient and cleaner fuel cells), to completely new and condition). This includes a number of health aspects that less resource demanding and more ecologically and soci- are related to ecological pollution. In this respect humans ally sound ways of satisfying the same human need (e.g. are part of ecosystems and run risks just like all other from a road-transport dependent business model that species when the first three system conditions are viol- does not integrate social costs in developing countries, ated. Understanding the health aspects of pollution is an to licensing and fair trade utilizing information increasingly demanding scientific field, particularly since technologies). traditional “toxicology” will not be sufficient when it Both dematerializations and substitutions can be comes to elucidating the epidemiology of long-term further subdivided. Dematerialization can be further sub- exposure to very low concentrations of compounds that divided into various means of increased resource pro- interact with biological systems. Examples include endo- ductivity, e.g. more efficient engines, and less waste, e.g. crine disruption, chemical sensitization and increased recycling, or to allow waste from one process to be raw autoimmune diseases. material for another. The subdivision of substitutions Another social aspect is the availability and distri- differs from system condition to system condition. bution of resources. In this respect, industrialized and newly industrializing societies are challenged on three 2.2.2.1. System conditions 1 and 2. Dematerialization fronts. First, we must reduce the total material resource of certain flows, i.e. reduced resource-throughputs per flows to within ecologically sustainable levels (System utility unit may be enough to avoid increased concen- Conditions 1–3), second, we must cooperate to increase trations of certain compounds in nature, e.g. NOx. How- the affluence of poor people on Earth, and third, we have ever, this will most likely not be enough for others that an increasing number of people on the planet. A culture are either so scarce in nature that even relatively small recognizing the role and need for dematerialization is societal flows pose substantial risks for increased con- necessary so that supplies — after the dematerializations centrations due to leakage from society, e.g. Cadmium and substitutions required by ecological realities have and CFCs. Such flows need to be phased out, i.e. substi- been performed — will be enough for the people on tuted:5 for by: Earth. Cultural substitutions will also play an essential role, e.g. by changing focus from commodity to services ț Other materials from the earth’s crust that are more in order to find completely new ways of meeting the abundant — or renewables (System Condition 1). same human need. Surpluses that can be generated by ț Other compounds that are either naturally occurring, the combined dematerializations and service oriented or easily degradable into such compounds (System substitutions, must then be used to take responsibility for Condition 2). all people on earth, i.e. a global culture where equity is the norm. From a global perspective, there are alterna- 2.2.2.2. System condition 3. In the same way, the sus- tives to slash and burn agriculture of rain forests for tainable society must meet the third System Condition feeding people in the developing world. “Fare trade,” partially by dematerialization to phase out destructive i.e. fair ways of recruiting the developing world into the interference with functions and evolution of ecosystems world’s economy, such as paying social costs for raw from over-harvesting of forests, croplands and fisheries materials goods and services, is one example. to sustainable levels. However, this will not be sufficient The possibility cannot be excluded that a successful since certain activities should be substituted for by transition to a more equal global economy would sub- others, some by moving to less area-consuming activities stantially improve the psychological life quality in the (e.g. exchanging road transports for boat traffic), or by affluent world as well. This could be true before the indirect effects from such a transition would be a fact. The indirect ecological and social costs from inequity 5 An alternative is to find a completely new way of providing the will continue to grow in the affluent world until the situ- same service, see below, system condition 4. ation is resolved [12]. K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 201

2.3. Principles for sustainable development system conditions), the public debate often focuses on the short term consequences and problems from alterna- Level 3 focuses the process to reach the goal. To move tive energy sources, and then projects those full scale society in the direction of sustainability, i.e. towards all into the future, without consideration of the goals or the the dematerializations and substitutions needed to com- full potential for the alternatives. This also ignores the ply with the four system conditions, the actions should “learning curve,” i.e. the positive aspects that will follow be fostered through a set of principles for the process. from development of the sustainable energy sector such as societal and technical development, growth of scale, 2.3.1. Principles for strategic investments and more efficient end-uses of energy. This more limited Investments should be planned strategically. Here a perspective leads to assessments such as: “We would step-by-step approach can be used to bring operations have to cover the whole country with windmills, at enor- closer to principles for ecological sustainability (see mous costs, if we turn to wind-power, and if we turn to “reinvestment in natural capital”, section 3.7) in parallel bio-fuels, all forests will be over-harvested and with improvements in social and economic performance, destroyed”. Moreover, a tenfold dematerialization of the thereby empowering the extension of the process. Invest- present western wealth producing machine would in ments should be selected by four principles [10,11]: itself lead to roughly a fivefold decrease in energy needs [7]. 2.3.1.1. Backcasting. Without first defining a future In fact, the word “strategy” implies backcasting, that “landing place” on the systems level, reaching sus- is to have a sufficiently well defined outcome, the “future tainability is an unlikely outcome of any effort. Each landing place”. This means that today’s trends (i.e. cus- investment should bring practices closer to the overall tomer’s preferences) should only influence the pace and objective of complying with the system conditions. This the initial scale of the transition, not its direction. That requires backcasting [10,11,14,15], which means that the is the essence of backcasting, which should be followed starting point of the planning is an envisioned successful and complemented by the more commonly applied meth- future outcome of the planning. Based on this outcome odology of forecasting. Forecasting is based upon the the strategic paths are designed. This is an essential plan- recognition of current problems and trends for planning. ning methodology when the system is complex, and Thereafter, “getting rid of the problems” in combination when current trends, actions and planning are part of the with estimates of what is considered “realistic” deter- problem [16]. mines the planning process. If forecasting is the sole An example of the need to apply backcasting is that planning strategy, there are substantial risks that “fixing dematerializations and substitutions do not always walk the problems” will retain the principle mechanisms from hand in hand towards sustainability. Certain important which the problems arose. This will create additional substitutions may actually lead to an increased material problems in the future [10,17]. intensity and/or costs, particularly in the early stages of development. Examples of such trade-offs include the 2.3.1.2. Flexible platforms. It is not sufficient to relatively poor energy-output per resource input (and undertake investments that approach compliance with concurrent pay-back times) in wind-power only a couple the system conditions in the short term. A neglected of decades ago and that the first generations of low- principle is that the steps taken must also avoid dead energy light bulbs had relatively higher concentrations ends in the future. This means that each investment of mercury. should provide technically feasible stepping-stones, or In general, it is important to have an informed vision “flexible platforms,” to link to future investments in the of one’s goal in order to strategically deal with potential same direction. An example is to produce a new car trade-offs from different decisions. However, this is engine that is not only more fuel efficient (a dema- often omitted in sustainability efforts. Today’s short term terialization aspect of system condition 1), but that has and acute effects arising from various alternative pro- future potential to run on other fuels (substitution aspect ducts and processes are generally given greater weight of system condition 1). This is particularly important in decision making than determinations of which of the when investments are large, and consequently tie up alternatives best serves as a stepping stone on a strategic money and resources for extended periods of time path to a future where the trade-off is no longer needed. [10,11]. That strategic thinking is not always the case can be highlighted by many examples from the current 2.3.1.3. Good return on investment. Of all “flexible debate — for instance, regarding “traditional vs. sus- platforms” that can be considered, priority should be tainable energy systems”. Rather than discussing various given to those that stand a relatively good chance of options (nuclear power, fossil fuels, wind power, bio- yielding a good return on investment (i.e. relatively inex- fuels, solar energy, hydro power, etc.) from a sus- pensive, and/or meeting a growing market demand, tainability perspective (such as compliance with the four and/or foreseeing coming regulatory changes, etc.). 202 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

Good return on investment can seed the subsequent decisions of inaction to be lower than the burden of “flexible platforms” with money. The combination of proof to justify proactive decisions [10]. Or in other these three re-investment principles, backcasting, flex- words — the precautionary principle should be applied ible platforms and good return on investment provides also on inactive attitudes. the overall strategy for sound investments [10,11]. Due to society’s systematic violation of the system 2.3.2. Social principles conditions for sustainability, the resource-potential for Other principles for the process may be more obvious, health and economy is systematically decreasing. At the though sometimes not taken into account. same time, Earth’s population is increasing and since the efficiency of fulfilling human needs is relatively low the 2.3.2.1. Dialogue and encouragement. The principle average demand for resources are increasing. Non-sus- of dialogue and encouragement is essential for team- tainable development could be visualized as entering work and community building. For instance, manage- deeper and deeper into a funnel, in which the space ment teams taking a clear stand, implementation of a becomes narrower and narrower. To the individual com- listening and respectful working environment, cel- pany, municipality, or country — wanting to make intel- ebration of steps forward, and using effective means for ligent investments, the crucial thing must then be to communicating and reporting are all characteristics of an direct its investments towards the opening of the funnel, encouraging leadership for sustainable development 18. rather than into the wall. In reality this means that the It must also be pointed out that an elegant application smart investors make themselves less and less economi- of the previously described aspects of strategic prin- cally dependent on being a relatively large contributor ciples — principles for reinvestments — also serves the to the violation of the system conditions as best they social aspects. Backcasting from a starting point that is may, even given short-term incentives to do otherwise. sufficiently large in time and space, is a way of avoiding The wall of the funnel will increasingly superimpose frustrating moral conflicts in the economy between the itself into daily economic reality in the following ways: benefit of the relatively few, at the expense of the secure increasing numbers of environmentally concerned cus- future of all stakeholders. tomers, tightening legislation, ever increasing costs and fees for resources and pollution, and tougher competition from competitors who invest skillfully towards the open- 2.3.2.2. Transparency. In addition to being an indirect ing of the funnel. To take a step-by-step approach aspect of dialogue and encouragement, the democratic towards compliance with principles for success, rather principle of transparency allows peers to see, understand than simply “fixing problems”, creates a relatively lower and correct mistakes. Sometimes intelligent moves risk of being hit by such foreseeable, but highly unpre- towards future market opportunities are considered busi- dictable, consequences of non-sustainable operations. ness secrets. This may be perceived as being in conflict with the transparency principle, and, indeed, this may be 2.3.1.4. Precautionary principle. Being cautious is true, particularly in the short run. Counter balancing this another way of avoiding mistakes and their often costly in the long run, transparency opens up avenues of possi- consequences. The precautionary principle is mostly bilities that would be difficult to achieve without it. applied when there is uncertainty regarding the ecologi- Transparency creates trust, helps in recruiting the entire cal consequences of a specific activity. However, since supply chain and all stakeholders onto the same playing good return on investment is another strategically essen- field, and opens up possibilities for business agreements tial element of sustainable development, the precaution- and cooperation — sometimes even with competitors — ary principle should also be applied when there are seri- in creating new market opportunities. ous economic doubts. Sometimes a hitherto unexplored “proactive” path may turn out to be a dead end, or may 2.3.3. Political means be more costly than another option. Political action can be the leading and cutting edge. A rational application of the precautionary principle This may be needed when role models in society have requires a strategic approach. However, “greening exhausted the full potential of their individual strategies, initiatives” in industry are not always based on backcast- and when the pace of their joint leaps forward turns out ing, where a successful outcome and the self-benefit to be insufficient from the whole society’s point of view. from a successful outcome, as well as the consequences Political means are then designed to protect our com- of failing, are made explicit upfront in the planning pro- mons. cedure. Hence short-term economic arguments are often used to justify an unwillingness to change established 2.3.3.1. “Differentiated taxes”. In order to stimulate routines. In this context, it is important to point out that reduction of material flows into the economy — such as to not do anything is also, in reality, a decision. There fresh water, copper, cadmium, or fossils —“material is no rational reason to allow the burden of proof for added taxes” or other tax forms on inputs can be effec- K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 203 tive. Input factors can be considered as a base for tax on a balanced full-cost accounting system, taking the rates. necessity of long-term future investments into account, Moreover, those output flows we may wish to remove no subsidies should be needed. Therefore, to implement or replace, for instance net technology-based emissions them even for temporary periods has a tendency to of CO2 into the atmosphere (from fossil fuels, system cement the problems they are there to compensate for. condition 1), can be taxed at relatively higher rates than Over time, they may even run in the face of new, and flows that are aligned with sustainability principles, for even more demanding objectives of the current econ- example CO2 from carbon neutral energy sources. At omy. Thus many complicated and incomprehensible sub- the present time, this is perhaps the most debated of all sidies are supporting activities that don’t have to apply governmental options to support sustainable develop- a full-cost accounting system in the ecosphere. Examples ment. Four aspects of this debate are essential: (i) are the agricultural system, where politically decided Increasing public demands on the “polluter pays prin- subsidies divert farmers away from the sound objective ciple”, and increasing demands from the market on of providing clean and healthy foods by sustainable prac- resources as such due to the material development of tices, and today’s non-sustainable energy systems, that presently lesser industrialized countries like China, India don’t have to pay for the steps needed to make them and Indonesia, will very likely cause a shift to higher comply with the system conditions. Not even insurance costs of the resources. From this perspective, taxes can is paid for by sound market incentives. Getting rid of be perceived as an attempt at early correction of the “perverse” subsidies is probably more important than to course and to avoid “hitting the wall” in the future. (ii) bring in new subsidies [19]. If higher taxes are successful at decreasing ecologically However, subsidies probably have to play a certain deleterious flows, economic benefits will follow role — for instance in case of investments in long lasting indirectly from the ecological benefits. (iii) Taxes on sustainable production oriented research and develop- unwanted flows being relatively higher than other flows, ment. These fields comprise too many uncertainties and say nothing about the total tax. It may be higher or risks to be fully covered in the private sector. lower, and other areas of the tax system, such as tax on labor, can be changed in a compensatory way, or not. 2.3.3.3. Traditional privileges. Traditionally, there Thus taxes on more sustainable flows can be increased or are little or no public charges on the extraction and use decreased, the important aspect is that they are relatively of natural materials and soils by owners of land or water- lower than unwanted flows. “Differentiated taxes” is a ways. Authorities also continue to grant rights to extract more constructive term for this way of taxation, than or harvest at relatively low rates on public land (with “green taxes”. It is also unloaded in the public debate. the exception of hunting rights which tend to be costly (iv) Any changes of the tax system to induce substantial in industrialized countries). Fishing and mining in inter- societal changes, should be designed in dialogue with national waters, while restricted in some cases by inter- those who are going to be called upon to act and pay — national agreements, are nevertheless cost free with the firms within the energy and transport sectors for exception of the cost of harvesting. As a consequence, instance, and people whose expense structure may be the extent of water withdrawal, the use of commons for particularly affected by changes. economic activities, the mining of minerals, the har- One option is to have an escalating scale of the tax vesting of timber, the fishing in open waters and many over a time period that is realistic for the technical tran- other activities for profits bears little or no relation to sition, and that can be foreseen. The latter aspect is prob- the three first system conditions outlined above. ably the most difficult, but still essential, aspect to consider. For industry to take future tax changes into serious 2.3.3.4. Norms and standards. For many good economic account in their business strategies, it is reasons, industrialization has spawned a host of stan- important to be able to trust the decisive power, and the dards and norms. Standards and norms often also con- political endurance, behind the tax agreements. To that tribute to the preservation of natural resources. However, end dialogue — based on backcasting from success — standards, norms and building codes can — and fre- should be a key element, possibly the most essential. quently do — require excessive energy, material and space for their implementation. Reviewing this situation, 2.3.3.2. Subsidies. It could be argued that subsidies of particularly as regards developing countries, may help proactive measures should be applied much more often. to reduce the distance from the overall objective of com- However, subsidies in general, particularly if they are plying with the system conditions for sustainability. long lasting, create many problems. Besides the problems of designing them in a way that is perceived as 2.3.3.5. International agreements. Examples of “fair” to the market, and building up bureaucracies to intergovernmental agreements include the Rio confer- control how they are applied and utilized, they often ence’s generation and description of an overall political miss the target. In an ideal sound market economy, built framework for sustainable development — the Agenda 204 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

21 Protocol— the protocols covering reduction of CFC’s approach compliance with the system conditions. How- (Montreal, Copenhagen and Vienna) and the Kyoto pro- ever, since renewable energy, for example, may lead to tocol addressing reduction of greenhouse gases. The destruction of forests through over-harvesting (thereby scale of such work is enormous. However, the results violating system condition 3), since recycling of cad- are often criticized for not being proactive enough or mium as an alternative to phasing it out (e.g. large flows concrete enough at the operational level. Yet, such of cadmium in batteries between industry and agreements have had great enough impact to justify this households) may lead to increased concentrations of this strategy — if only from the perspective that international metal in ecosystems (thereby violation of system con- cooperation of this magnitude helps to put the various dition 1), and since more efficient car-engines may lead objectives on the global business agenda. The CFC to increased use of fossil fuels through rebound effects, agreements, for instance, have been helpful in stimulat- rather than to savings which — within the same or even ing voluntary market changes. These, in turn, have reduced global use of fossil fuels — would allow a more further accelerated the pace of CFC-phase-outs. equitable distribution to the developing world (thereby violating system conditions 1 and 4) [10,20], it is 2.3.3.6. International trade and economic development. important that activities are chosen and examined from Freeing the international flow of goods from barriers a complete sustainability perspective. Compliance with such as tariffs is rightfully considered one important all system conditions is the strategic starting point for means to increase the prosperity of people around the planning. To that end, tools and metrics should be selec- world. However, as current processes, transports, pro- ted and designed from the same perspective [11]. ducts and services are excessively resource intensive and frequently subsidized without full cost accounting 2.5. Tools including ecological concerns, increasing the availability and use of these technical artifacts worldwide increases It follows from the above, that the next level to be continuously the distance from the overall objective of described (level 5), i.e. the monitoring of the process, complying with the system conditions for sustainability. should utilize tools and metrics that are designed from For this reason the GATT agreements must be urgently a total systems perspective to indicate and audit progress reviewed and adjusted to reflect conditions for reaching towards sustainability. There are two levels to consider economic and ecological stability. [11]. It has been widely acknowledged that the wealth of all nations cannot be based upon the western model of (i) The first focuses on evaluating how the actions com- resource intensity. This being the case, exports to and ply with the overall plan and objectives, i.e. to moni- the internal development strategies for some 5 to 8 tor if the selected path of transition is actually bring- billion people will necessarily shift towards favoring ing societies and the manufacturing sector closer to dematerialized processes, infrastructures, goods and ser- the objectives (compliance with the system vices. Long term trade and economic aid policies of conditions). Were specified flows actually reduced western countries may soon begin to reflect this situ- or phased out, and were the planned substitutions ation. actually put into place? This is the crucial level to monitor from a strategic point of view, also for the 2.3.3.7. Legislation. Law enforcement to protect our individual firm, since the monitoring of steps global commons should be applied when all other possi- towards compliance with basic principles of success bilities are exhausted. Since many sustainability prob- allows one to not only “fix” problems, but to avoid lems are international, this requires a further develop- them. This includes problems that we are not yet ment of the international agreements from their current aware of. For instance, products and services can be status as recommendations to constituting law in the par- systematically dematerialized, and persistent com- ticipating countries. pounds that are foreign to nature can be phased out without knowing their critical thresholds in nature, 2.4. Actions or even what specific harm they will do once such thresholds have been exceeded. The process principles described in the previous para- (ii) The second level to monitor is the actual impacts in graph (level 3), are applied to foster concrete actions the system we want to protect. This focus is essen- (level 4) to eventually comply with the system con- tial, since it is the direct target of the planning. In ditions for sustainability (level 2) within the ecosphere the end, society as a whole needs to see success on (level 1). It is important not to confuse actions with the this level — i.e. was unemployment reduced or not? principles that underpin them. Actions such as turning Did the birds of prey, and the otters, make it or not? to renewable energy, recycling, and turning to more Have the forested areas, topsoil levels, and fish resource-efficient engines can sometimes be of value to stocks, been maintained, or not? K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 205

While it is important not to confuse the levels of the as a minimum in order to stay within the capacity of hierarchical model with each other, a clear understanding the eco-cycles? and synergistic application of the differences is not — Any answer found to this question should be con- always the case in concrete planning. In their strategic sidered preliminary, to be improved as experience planning, firms need to take into account the current with dematerialization grows. acute problems from violations of the system conditions — Taking equity aspects into account, by what factor (sub-level ii), since the market reflects these problems should material flows in the affluent parts of the world right now. However, firms often focus on specific and be reduced in order to allow sufficient ecological known effects in nature from various compounds and space for decent living conditions for the poor activities — looking myopically downstream along (system condition 4)? cause–effect chains — so that they lose sight of (sub- — The Factor X concept should encourage engineers, level i) the principle levels for long term solutions — managers, politicians and NGOs to “think big” from based on upstream thinking and prevention [10,11]. the beginning. When paradigmatic changes are in the The focus on specific impacts (sub-level ii) is often making, timid steps without an envisioned overall so dramatic and generates so much turbulence in the “landing place” can be frustrating, expensive, and market, that the urge to “fix” all the detailed problems even lead in the wrong direction. Moreover, can disguise temporarily the underlying systems-errors — Once new signals are given to the market that encour- creating them. There are numerous examples of how the age increasing resource productivity, dematerializ- same mistakes are repeated over and over again, ignor- ation becomes a strategy for gaining market shares; ing principles of sustainability and sustainable develop- — One-dimensional technological solutions are rarely ment. CFCs were believed — at the time of introduc- appropriate. Technical options for reducing flows tion — to be harmless since they were “non-toxic and must be systematically related to social, economic as non-bioaccumulative”. Today, persistent compounds well as ecological aspects of economic/ecological sus- foreign to nature are still introduced, and accumulate tainability (system conditions I–IV). towards their unknown eco-toxic thresholds since the — If back-casting (looking back at the present situation public debate, and our authorities, have not drawn the from the desired “landing place”, the explicit ultimate principle conclusions from previous mistakes. Thus, to sustainability objectives) is employed, then the design avoid incomplete solutions all activities that will directly of transition steps linked to the goal of achieving sus- or indirectly contribute to the violation of the system tainability follows naturally. conditions should be phased out — whether the impacts from those problems are as yet known or not [10,21]. In 2.5.1.1.1. Qualitative aspects conclusion, strategic tools should not only focus on current downstream problems (sub-level ii), but also apply — The factors by which certain flows need to be reduced a sustainability perspective so that the long-term course in order to stay within the assimilation capacity of the will not culminate in unsustainable activities (sub-level ecosystems may differ widely due to differences in i). their respective ecological functions before their eradication, extraction or displacement from their natural places, e.g. water, soil or forests (system con- 2.5.1. Applying the model to some selected tools and dition 3). metrics — The persistence, abundance, and eco-toxicity of met- 2.5.1.1. Factor X. The Factor X concept is a direct als and compounds are important considerations way of utilizing metrics on various activities that can (system conditions 1 and 2). reduce the throughput of resources and energy in a given — Certain aspects are not quantitative at all. In line with process: “By what factor can — or should — certain the discussion in section 2, there is a need to phase flows, or material flows in general, be reduced?” This out certain flows altogether (system conditions 1 and makes the Factor X concept a very useful and flexible 2), or to introduce more balanced management rou- approach for monitoring activities aimed at meeting the tines in forestry, agriculture or fisheries (system con- dematerialization aspect of each system condition. dition 3). From the presentation in section 1.3 it can be deduced that the following aspects should be considered when the 2.5.1.1.2. Dynamic aspects Factor X concept is applied under systems conditions [22]: — Various flows can influence one another. In order to reduce certain flows, other flows may need to be — The best possible answer to the following question (temporarily) increased. For instance the mining of must be found: By what factors should present tech- certain materials will need to be increased in order to nology-induced flows of natural materials be reduced build up a societal pool of products that are helpful 206 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

for dematerialization, e.g. recyclable IT equipment or As indicated already, the total (life-cycle-wide) weight recyclable photo-voltaic cells; of material inputs into a product minus the weight of the — Rebound effects create a similar problem. A certain product itself can be called its “rucksack”. Typically, the flow within a system may increase as a rebound rucksack of current technical products in terms of non- effect, or in reaction to reduced flows within a subsys- renewable materials is about 30 tons per ton and can tem. For example, our relatively more efficient car reach much higher values, as for instance about 300 for engines have contributed to a higher use of petroleum, such products as PCs or catalytic converters. not the other way around 20. Individual raw materials extracted from nature can differ vastly with respect to their resource intensities, 2.5.1.2. Life cycle assessment, rucksacks and MIPS. depending upon ecological, geographic, technical and When we look at a specific product, we only see a other conditions. Gold for instance requires the extrac- small part of the total material flows that have been mob- tion and displacement of 540 000 kg of nature per kg of ilized for its production. The “hidden”flows, e.g. gold, copper 500, aluminum 85, paper 15, and round material flows like fossil fuels in mining and transports, wood only 1.2. With these factors, the rucksacks of pro- can be regarded as the product’s “rucksack” [23]. ducts can be assessed rapidly [25]. In consideration of It has therefore been generally acknowledged that life- the differences in ecological impacts from various kinds cycle-assessment (LCA) methods must be applied if of flows, it should be noted again that rucksacks give a errors of unknown magnitude are to be avoided in the rough estimate of the resource intensity, whereas a full assessment of the ecological stress potential of human sustainability analysis also requires qualitative assess- activities, products and services. The term LCA [1,2] ments of the respective flows. refers to the evaluation of the total life cycle of a product, “from the cradle to the grave”, i.e. from extracting 2.5.1.3. Total material flow — TMF. On the macro- basic resources, through production, transportation, to economic level, knowledge of total material flows use and disposal of the product itself. LCA is often used (TMF) within a specified period of time and for defined to compare products with equivalent functions, or to economic areas (e.g. country or region) can be used for determine “hot spots”, i.e. aspects of the life cycle that monitoring of certain aspects of sustainability are critical to the overall environmental impact. (dematerialization) and spot rebound effects before it The perspective of this evaluation can differ with may be too late. regard to the objective of the LCA. This means, the term Imports, losses to the environment, inputs harvested “LCA” refers to the overall objective of evaluating all or extracted within the economic area and exports must parts of the life cycle of a product. It does not explicitly be considered, as must be the rucksacks of each material say how this is done, what is the overall scope, or for flow. For equity reasons, per capita flows should be con- what purpose. sidered when comparing different countries and regions LCA can be based on backcasting from the system as regards there distance from the overall objective of conditions, to cover the qualitatively important aspects complying with the system conditions for sustainability. of a production process from a sustainability perspective Currently, Vietnamese consume annually about 2 tons [24]. The qualitative perspective can then be comp- of non-renewable resources, Japanese about 40 tons, and lemented with quantitative aspects, for instance aiming Americans some 90 tons [26,27]. at reaching a total reduction of material flows by a Factor of 10 (section 3.2). To move beyond being an ecological 2.5.1.4. Ecological management systems (EMS, e.g. ISO assessment tool and become a sustainability assessment 14001 and EMAS). These tools are administrative tool, the substitution aspects of the first three system tools for managing environmental work within busi- conditions, as well as the fourth system condition, must nesses. When an EMS is applied as a business tool in a also be taken into account. It is therefore essential to strategic way to avoid draconian measures in the future, relate the flows, as well as the aspects and impacts of the previously described principles, and planned actions the LCA, to the utility unit of service. This is the ration- and tools/metrics in line with those principles, make up ale behind the concept Material Input Per unit Service the contents of the plan, while the EMS can be said to (MIPS) [23,25]. Similarly, the specific area need per unit be its vehicle. The principles and activities must be put of service (per unit utility or per unit extracted value) into a relevant administrative context. This allows the can be given in FIPS, where the “F” stands for the Ger- principles to guide the planned activities, which in turn man word Flaeche for area. [23, English translation are monitored, audited, and, finally, evaluated in order availble under the title “The Fossil Makers” under to direct and manage the next iterative cycle of activities Ͻwww.factor 10.de Ͼ]. captured by the EMS. This means that for an EMS to Alternatively, LCA can be focused on an ecological be useful for sustainable development and for business, impact perspective to deal with some of the most acute the objectives for the planning (i.e. complying with the problems of today’s industrial activities [1,2,17]. system conditions) and specific activities and associated K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 207 metrics to meet these objectives need be incorporated 3.1. The Natural Step (TNS) and The Natural Step into the structure of the EMS [28,29]. ISO 14001 and Framework (TNSF) EMAS are the most commonly described EMS. A framework based on basic principles for sustainability The Natural Step (TNS) is an international non-for and sustainable development, provides the EMS with profit NGO, instituted to facilitate an ongoing dialogue direction, and helps firms to align business with the between scientists on the one hand, and decision makers larger context of sustainable development and changes in business and public policy on the other. The objec- in the market. Conversely, without such an administrat- tives of TNS are to (i) identify such overarching prin- ive tool, it is difficult, possibly impossible, to implement ciple levels of strategic planning towards sustainable comprehensive principles in an effective operational way development that can be agreed upon, (ii) based on such such that transition can occur. principles develop a framework for planning that can serve as a shared mental model — or language — for sustainable development, (iii) support the implementation of the framework in various kinds of firms and 3. Some organizational initiatives studied in organizations and (iv) to study the actual results from relation to the model this implementation. This process has led to the development of The Natu- In the following section, a number of concepts and ral Step Framework TNSF [for references, see 10] for associated institutions will be related to the model decision-making. It is designed for qualitative problem presented in section 1. All of those institutions are work- analysis, community building, and for the development ing with sustainability as the ultimate goal, and have of investment-programs in business corporations and elaborated working programs that take a systems per- municipalities. Its primary focus is on a comprehensive spective of the kind presented in the model into account. definition of level 2 in the presented model, resulting in However, their “entry points” into the model vary. This the development of the system conditions, and on back- means that each has its distinct primary focus casting and other essential elements for strategic plan- (highlighted in the respective figures, see below) from ning in level 3 to comply with level 2 (see figure below). which other aspects of sustainability have been elabor- This intellectual approach is dependent on tools ated as secondary consequences to the primary focus. developed by others to cover the other aspects of the This is important to recognize in order to avoid misun- model. This includes more quantitative assessments of derstandings of the presentation. Differences in primary the objective of meeting the system conditions (as pro- focus should lead, almost per definition, to some vided by other institutions like the Factor 10 Institute, important differences in perspectives and experiences. see below), and various tools to monitor the transition, When the different tools are considered, this potential for instance tools for management like ISO 14001 and synergy ought to be utilized in conscientious and deliber- for indication of progress such as LCA and the Factor ate ways, rather than being perceived solely as alterna- concept (level 5). Furthermore, since the whole idea of tives, or even “competitive” alternatives. TNS is to develop and disseminate a framework to guide 208 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 concrete actions, the documentation of actions from vari- per service unit) as well as relating units of service to ous role models that are applying the framework is an the respective land use (FIPS) and total material flow essential element of TNS (level 4). per unit time through an economic unit (TMF) (23). These tools are naturally mapped under level 5 in the 3.2. Factor 10 and the Factor 10 Institute model presented in this paper, (see Fig. 1). The Factor 10 concept — like all concepts for sus- Schmidt-Bleek has cast the Factor X concept (see sec- tainable development — needs be applied in the overall tion 2.5) into concrete and practical policy and manage- context of the model presented in section 1. Dema- ment tools for the macro- and micro-economic levels. terializations should be combined with very deliberate He estimated that it would take at least a two-fold substitutions. The material intensity that can be assimi- reduction of world-wide use of natural materials in order lated in natural cycles is highly different for different to avoid continuing systematic degradation of the bios- materials. Certain material flows — persistent com- phere. Since the average per capita consumption in pounds foreign to nature for instance — should not only OECD countries is at least five times that of developing be lowered but phased out altogether, whereas the flow countries, and further increases in world population are of certain substitutes — such as new materials that are unavoidable, sustainable levels of material flows on a easier to assimilate in nature’s eco-cycles or those that global level will not be reached unless the material inten- carry lesser “rucksacks”—may need to be increased, sity of the industrialized countries is reduced by at least at least temporarily, to comply with the system con- a factor of 10. In this way, the Factor X concept (level ditions. The need to make subtle distinctions between 5 in the presented model) is turned into a direct “bench- various materials does in no way contradict the applica- mark” for the dematerialization of industrialized coun- bility of a rough estimate of the overall need to dema- tries needed to achieve sustainability (23), i.e. belongs terialize modern society. to level 2 in the model presented in this paper. The “Fac- tor Ten Club” of prominent environmentalists was 3.3. Ecological Footprinting founded in 1994, subscribing to this goal, and the Factor 10 Institute was founded in Carnoules, Provence, 1997. Ecological Footprinting (EF) [3] is a way of “bench- The Factor 10 Institute has also elaborated a number marking” all dematerializations under the system con- of other concepts that are designed to monitor Society’s ditions (level 2 in the model). One of the major differ- material intensity. The “Rucksack” factors are assigned ences to Factor 10 is that, with Ecological Footprinting, to determine the resource productivity of natural the outcomes of various activities in society are not materials. In the case of copper for instance, 500 tons determined by factors (i.e. incremental units related of non-renewable nature are used to gain 1 ton of the directly to the specific materials or material flows). The refined metal. Its “rucksack factor” is therefore said to outcomes are instead measured and aggregated into units be 500. For steel, the corresponding figure is about 7. of area, i.e. as a reduction or an increase in the ecological Efforts have also been done to relate the material area needed to support the activities. This is then related intensity to the desired utility, MIPS (material intensity to an estimation of the total life sustaining area of the K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 209 biosphere, i.e. the accumulated “footprints” from all purposes, and can be successfully applied in a comp- activities are related to the total carrying capacity of the lementary manner. ecosphere. Ecological Footprinting provides a tangible way of describing the relevance of improved techno- 3.4. Zero Emissions logies and less resource intensive lifestyles as means to reduce “footprints” of affluent societies in line with the dematerializations under each system condition. EF also Zero Emissions refers to a combined research and highlights some aspects of the required substitutions action-based program, launched by the United Nations under system conditions I–III [30] because qualitative University (UNU) in 1994 [31]. Following the Zero differences in various materials, or crops in agriculture, Emissions Concept total material cycles from intake to influence the size of the footprint. For example, the area emissions should be clarified as a holistic system [32]. needed to assimilate CO2 emissions from fossil fuels can Thus, its primary focus is the intake of natural resources be added to the “footprint”. As with the Factor X con- within renewable limits and final emissions within cept, there are some qualitative aspects of the system acceptable limits. This implies the optimisation through conditions that cannot be described in terms of foot- an integrated system of processes and consequently the prints. For instance, contamination of nature from the mimic of the hierarchy of natural ecosystems in the use of scarce elements or persistent compounds foreign anthropogenic sphere. Thus the concept focused orig- to nature (system conditions I and II, respectively), can- inally on reducing sharply the waste streams generated not be related to an ecological area in a meaningful way. by industrial and especially agricultural activities These are aspects that need to be phased out in a sus- through supplementary processes that would turn them tainable world. The Footprint only includes those activi- into useful products [33,34]. A network on industries ties that are potentially sustainable if not done in excess through clustering builds integrated systems, in which of the biosphere’s regenerative capacity. The same goes everything has its use. for changes in certain management routines in, for In the anticipated “Zero Emissions Society” con- instance, agriculture or forestry (system condition III). sumers would preferentially purchase functions instead EF is an overall measuring tool to get a tangible over- of material goods and thus be actively involved in the view of our performance with regard to sustainability, creation of a new service economy, where all materials and is unique in its capacity to communicate very are automatically sent back to the producers after they directly how life style and technical competence relate lose their functions. The maximization of the residence to such a perspective. EF inherently contains aggregated time of materials/resources in the human activity sphere data concerning dematerializations and certain substi- is another target, since an increased resource pro- tutions under all system conditions. Consequently, it has ductivity is an indirect way of producing less waste. certain limitations when we are studying isolated flows Additionally the design of goods should lead to eradi- of society, for instance when various sub-systems are cation of the concept of waste [35,36]. going to be evaluated and compared to each other in a In order to avoid misleading conclusions, ZEF seeks planning procedure. Here, the more flexible Factor con- to develop Life-Cycle-Analysis (LCA) techniques so cept can be used. Both concepts are relevant for their that this tool can cover the full aspects of sustainability 210 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

and not just arbitrarily chosen data on emissions and sustainable technology up to a viable product in the mar- energy use [37]. ket is an essential consideration in the approach of SDT. The UNU Zero Emissions Forum — through net- STD focuses on some well known aspects of sus- working with universities, industry and politics — pro- tainability as the primary objectives of planning, and like motes international multidisciplinary research efforts to TNSF, it also puts primary focus on the relation between analyse trends in society and technology [38]. Thus, the objective of planning on one hand (sustainability), Zero Emissions Forum has gathered concrete experience and principles for the process to reaching the objectives through a number of case studies all over the world on the other. More specifically [41]: [31,34,35,39,40]. ț Based on cooperation between public policymakers, 3.5. Sustainable Technology Development (STD) business and knowledge institutes ț Bridging the (economic development) gap between Sustainable Technology Development describes the business need for “short” term profits and the societal Dutch National Research programme of the same name, need for research and development on sustainable which has sought ways to influence innovative processes options for the long term and outcomes in favour of accelerating the development of technologies and maximising the contribution that Thus STD, like TNS, applies backcasting and inte- technology can make toward sustainable development. grates social tools and objectives as essential elements The fact that it takes decades to develop an option for for planning, and acts as facilitators K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 211

ț for firms solving their own problems with tools pro- ties, and to promote the use of similar concepts such as vided by STD and eco efficiency, waste minimization, and pollution pre- ț for policy makers designing sustainability oriented vention. It also aims at facilitating exchanges between policies and connected policy oriented research and cleaner production activities undertaken in the world, development programs in cooperation with business and reporting about progress. Every two years an inter- and knowledge institutes [42]. national high level seminar brings together about 150 experts from industry, government, academia from all The focus of STD has allowed the organization to parts of the world to exchange best practices, and discuss gather experience as a facilitator and negotiator in many tools and programmes: Those global events are building sensitive issues in Dutch industry and environmental on the “Regional Cleaner Production Roundtables”. Cle- policy. Additionally, STD has gathered profound experi- aner Production is more closely tied to policy making at ence regarding technologies in general and also in other the governmental level than any of the other institutions aspects of sustainability, for instance higher efficiency presented in this survey. and ecologically sensitive land use. 3.7. Natural Capitalism 3.6. Cleaner Production Natural Capitalism [9] attempts to define and describe UNEP has promoted, through the Division of Tech- means to connect human institutions including business nology, Industry and Economics, a “Cleaner Production” within the flow of natural cycles including ecosystem programme. For UNEP, Cleaner Production, is the con- services. To do so it is necessary to integrate all relevant tinuous application of an integrated preventive strategy aspects of society into an economic framework used for to process products and services and or to make efficient decision-making, particularly those aspects that are use of raw materials, including energy and water, to becoming increasingly scarce, or are at increasing risk. reduce emissions and wastes, and to reduce risks for Hence, our “global commons”—the well-being of glo- humans and the environment [43]. “Cleaner Production” bal ecosystems and the long term quality of life of all leads to the same entry point into the model, and the people — must be integrated into any comprehensive subsequent intellectual consequences from this, as Zero economic model. Such an economic model recognizes Emissions Forum. Besides the qualitative focus on the critical relationship between the pursuit of human dematerialization as such, and substitutions of materials productivity, and thus higher income, and the greater use that should be phased out, Cleaner Production has of natural capital. Natural capital includes not only the endorsed Factor 10 as a quantitative benchmark for sus- resources demanded by business and society, but also tainability within the industrialized world. includes the flow of services that flow from ecosystems Because of UNEP’s central position in Society’s inter- that are not monetized or valued. Natural Capitalism national policy making, there are some major differences describes a set of fundamental assumptions necessary for between Cleaner Production, and the other institutions this integration of economy, ecology and societal presented in this survey. As demonstrated by the launch demands. These include viewing the economy as a sub- of the International Cleaner Production Declaration [44], set of the global environment; future economic growth the Cleaner Production Programme objective is to cata- will be limited by natural capital rather than human- lyse, in all parts of the world, Cleaner Production activi- made capital; radical increases in resource productivity 212 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

will be necessary to eliminate pressure on natural capital, 4. Discussion requiring a full valuation of all forms of capital in market systems, and a shift in focus on services that meet human To have a clear view of the goal is a prerequisite for needs rather than goods per se as a means to address applying the term “strategy”. In very complex systems, inequalities in income and well-being and reinforce like the ecosphere with its societies, this can be a diffi- resource productivity. The base assumptions are then cult task. For complex objectives, like achieving sus- applied directly to both short and long term business and tainability, it is even more difficult. However, if the goal governmental decisions as part of an overall societal is not described on the detailed level, but more generally, strategy. albeit completely, by a framework of principles, it is Hawken et al. have introduced four central strategies possible and highly advisable to achieve overall compre- of natural capitalism for businesses that are located hension of the objectives, and to generate a strategically under level two and level three of the model for sus- defined direction to the planning process. Given that tainable development presented in section one (see Fig there is often a lack of clarification regarding the ulti- 1). They aim to move commercial and governmental mate objectives of “green work”, the indicators of the institutions towards a more integrated and environmen- work are often selected and designed in an equally tally inclusive approach to economic decision-making. unclear way [45,46]. A recent study has shown that the Increased resource productivity extends across the sys- indicators decided on in creating an EMS, such as LCA, tem conditions as a method for dematerialization (level rarely influence final business decisions [47]. This is in 2). This also fits with today’s business needs to eliminate spite of the growing intellectual awareness that proac- waste and improve efficiency. Similarly, moving to stra- tivity is likely to improve bottom line. It is our belief tegies of a “service and flow” economy where the func- that one reason for this discrepancy is that the systems tion of business is defined by the delivery of services perspective proposed in this study, and the integrated rather than goods further eliminates the concept of waste and comprehensive strategic planning it allows, is on a system wide scale. Focusing on economic services, often lacking. as opposed to the production of goods, as an end goal As one step in creating a rigorous and structured over- will lead directly to substitutions that better and more view of the pursuit of sustainability, we have presented directly meet human need and in more resource efficient a general model of interrelated and essential elements manners. As a subset of system condition four, this for sustainable development. It has been demonstrated change in focus will catalyze resource productivity in to be helpful in: line with the other system conditions. Changing the very nature of the materials that flow through the economic ț Creating a comprehensive view of sustainable devel- system reduces toxicity and ecological damage while opment, so that the neglect of essential elements and increasing the possibility of materials for re-use. Finally, underlying principles can be avoided (global perspec- reinvestment in natural capital is pointed out as a key tive on sustainability, ecological and social aspects, strategic principle (level 3) that businesses must follow dematerialization as well as substitutions — including as a means to increase the pool of capital that will either the cultural level), enhance or limit future economic growth. ț Designing action programs that are strategic from a K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214 213

sustainability perspective and allow a conscious and ones. Furthermore, these reflections were essential to strategic management of trade offs (based on back- develop business models that can help the developing casting from a successful outcome based on underly- world to avoid previous mistakes by the industrialized ing principles), world in this business sector. ț Selecting and designing tools that are relevant for the Through a lens of the system conditions the critical strategic approach (not only monitoring activities that flows of today’s activities were listed by the imagined are relevant from the current status of the market, but firm, as well as the alternative ways of meeting the needs to avoid “dead ends” in the future), on the market without those critical flows. Quantitative ț Shaping tax structures, charges, certificates, labeling, benchmarking follows from this qualitative analysis. The subsidies, custom duties and R&D priorities that can firm then decides to be bold and to apply Factor 10 as support approaches toward sustainability, the overall guiding principle for dematerialization under ț Planning future export and economic aid policies each system condition, and as a means to be able to designed to help avoid the ecological collapse. afford some of the essential substitutions with respect to materials and management routines. This, in turn, Applying the model to a variety of organizations and requires the selection and design of tools to monitor initiatives has shown that, regardless of the primary the process. focus of the respective organizations studied, other It follows, that the tools must not only measure the essential aspects of sustainability are generally addressed society’sorfirm’s responses to questions like “do we as a consequence of exploring the primary focus and by emit compounds that have a very high index regarding integrating a systems perspective of the type presented destruction of this and that?” but also to questions on in the model. While each organization studied may not the principle level like “do we contribute to decreased explicitly address or describe all aspects of sus- concentrations of compounds in nature, decreased degra- tainability, the convergent evolution observed indicates dation of nature by physical means, and do we always the need to directly and explicitly integrate principles contribute as much as we can to the meeting of human for sustainability and for sustainable development into needs in our society and worldwide, and with a respon- ongoing and future sustainability initiatives. Two sible attitude to all people on whom we have an impact?” additional conclusions can be drawn from this: The qualitative analysis of the current critical flows of the firm speaks in favor of applying some form of Firstly, that there are no major obstacles stemming LCA to get a concise and quantitative estimate of the from the philosophical standpoint or strategic origins flows. Depending on the result of the qualitative assess- of the different various initiatives studied. This cre- ment, the conclusion may be to allow the LCA to keep ates opportunity for presumptive cooperation. Sec- its qualitative perspective remaining in line with the ondly, since the primary foci are different, perspec- TNSF model, or to aggregate the dematerialization tives and experiences should be different enough to aspects and relate the result to utility in line with the allow synergies if greater cooperation was established and emphasized. MIPS perspective, or to develop this tool in line with the Zero Emission concept. To make this choice, all An experiment of thought: Synergies from alternatives are first considered. cooperation can be exemplified by an imagined To stimulate the creative process to come up with enterprise, with the primary objective of approaching a attractive business options, triggered by the sus- sustainable business model in a strategic way. This tainability analysis, it is decided to make an inventory entails designing how the enterprise will meet human of successful case studies collected by the various insti- needs —“service orientation”—within the market and tutions presented in this survey. in compliance with the system conditions, i.e. not to con- Finally, the overall business plan is integrated into a tribute to the violation of any of those, and in a way that management tool (EMS) like ISO 14001 or EMAS. In allows money to flow in even during the early stages of this, the backcasting perspective is brought in by making the transition. An example of how these perspectives can explicit the ultimate sustainability objectives of the firm. be combined in a deliberate backcasting strategy comes These objectives provide the context for the subsequent from Electrolux’s high priority on phasing out CFCs — detailed plan. This implies that the EMS should be made based on their deleterious impacts on the ozone layer. an integral and strategic part of all business decisions, In doing so, they simultaneously abandoned plans to partly by focusing restrictions to avoid future dead ends, change to other relatively persistent compounds foreign partly by focusing business on opportunities future mar- to nature, like HCFCs. These compounds did not fit kets will offer. Finally, by integrating a systems perspec- Electrolux’s backcasting perspective with regard to sys- tive with clear objectives based on sound principles, spe- tem condition II [10,21], and, thereby, Electrolux avo- cific decisions, actions and outcomes have been linked ided a simplistic trade of known problems for unknown to the overall goal of sustainability. 214 K.-H. Robe`rt et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 10 (2002) 197–214

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