The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Projects and Capstones Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Fall 12-15-2017 Environmental NGO-Private Sector Partnerships: A Tool to Generate Business Value and Protect the Natural World Carolyn Nogy Nogy [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone Part of the Natural Resource Economics Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, and the Other Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Nogy, Carolyn Nogy, "Environmental NGO-Private Sector Partnerships: A Tool to Generate Business Value and Protect the Natural World" (2017). Master's Projects and Capstones. 722. https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/722 This Project/Capstone is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Projects and Capstones by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This Master's Project Environmental NGO-Private Sector Partnerships: A Tool to Generate Business Value and Protect the Natural World by Carolyn Nogy is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Science in Environmental Management at the University of San Francisco Submitted: Received: ...................................……….. …………………………….. Carolyn Nogy Date Jim Williams, Ph.D. Date Abstract Many environmental challenges are complicated by a variety of complex and social, cultural, economic and political interactions that are difficult to address by a single entity. However, partnerships can offer the necessary breadth and versatility to address them more effectively. By working together, cross sector partners can leverage their individual expertise, while sharing resources to achieve more comprehensive and sustainable solutions to existing environmental problems. This report examines the role of partnerships between environmental NGOs and the private sector in managing complex environmental problems, and provides a critical assessment of the partnership attributes that generate the most mutual benefit. The research starts with a literature review, evaluating advantages and disadvantages of environmental NGO-private sector partnerships and describing beneficial outcome possibilities for each partner. This is used to build an assessment framework, which is applied.to the analysis of four partnerships: Environmental Defense Fund + McDonalds, Greenpeace + Kimberly Clark, The Nature Conservancy + PepsiCo, and World Wildlife Fund + Natural Habitat Adventures. The analysis identifies the attributes that are associated with the most beneficial partnership outcomes. A key finding is that the success of these partnerships is strongly influenced by the degree to which the missions of the individual partners are aligned and the extent to which the partnership has a formal structure to manage and achieve objectives. Recommendations for effective environmental NGO-private sector partnerships are offered based on the attributes that correlate with the greatest mutual benefits. ii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Figures............................................................................................................................ iv Table of Tables .............................................................................................................................. v List of Acronyms .......................................................................................................................... vi 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Virtues of Partnership ............................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Partnering as an environmental tool ................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Approach .......................................................................................................................................... 3 2 The Collaborative Spectrum ................................................................................................ 3 2.1 Partnership Advantages ................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Partnership Disadvantages ............................................................................................................... 6 3 Potential Individual Partner Benefits ................................................................................. 7 3.1 Business Value ................................................................................................................................. 7 3.2 Environmental Value ..................................................................................................................... 10 4 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 11 5 Case Studies ......................................................................................................................... 14 5.1 Environmental Defense Fund + McDonalds: the greening of the Golden Arches. ....................... 14 5.1.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 14 5.1.2 Key Players ................................................................................................................................ 15 5.1.3 Environmental Concerns ........................................................................................................... 16 5.1.4 Formation of the Partnership .................................................................................................... 16 5.1.5 Partnership Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 18 5.1.6 Key Attributes ............................................................................................................................ 20 5.2 Greenpeace + Kimberly Clark: forest sourcing lessons learned the hard way ............................. 21 5.2.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 21 5.2.2 Key Players ................................................................................................................................ 22 5.2.3 Environmental Concerns ........................................................................................................... 23 5.2.4 Formation of the Partnership .................................................................................................... 24 5.2.5 Partnership Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 25 5.2.6 Key Attributes ............................................................................................................................ 27 5.3 The Nature Conservancy + PepsiCo: partnering to mitigate global freshwater risk.................... 29 5.3.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 29 iii 5.3.2 Key Players ................................................................................................................................ 29 5.3.3 Environmental Concerns ........................................................................................................... 30 5.3.4 Formation of the Partnership .................................................................................................... 31 5.3.5 Partnership Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 33 5.3.6 Key Attributes ............................................................................................................................ 35 5.4 World Wildlife Fund + Natural Habitat Adventures: redefining sustainable travel..................... 37 5.4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................... 37 5.4.2 Key Players ................................................................................................................................ 37 5.4.3 Environmental Concerns ........................................................................................................... 38 5.4.4 Formation of the Partnership .................................................................................................... 39 5.4.5 Partnership Outcomes ............................................................................................................... 39 5.4.6