The Natural Step Step-by-Step Sustainable The Natural Step (TNS) is a set of simple guidelines for judging whether human activities are “sustainable” or not. It helps organisations and communities of any size to navigate themselves step-by-step onto a sustainable path. The simple guidelines are written as four principles. They differ from other approaches by providing a systemic and scientifically robust framework that can be easily followed. Organisations that implement these principles can start small (with easy wins) and build very rapidly to obtain a strategic and organisation-wide set of actions and measures to fast track a winning sustainability agenda. How it came about The Natural Step approach was created in Sweden in the 1980s when oncologist Karl Henrik Robert became frustrated with incidences of childhood cancer. At the start of his quest to discover why, he was drawn to the question – What are the conditions for a healthy life? This exploration led him into a dialogue with a wide scientific family and the results of their findings expressed very eloquently what is at the heart of sustainability. In their journey they articulated the fundamental principles of how the world, in particular the biosphere or nature, operates. This was profound because with it came the realisation that above everything else, we rely on nature to provide all of our life-giving services – fresh air, water, fibre, soil for food, sequestration of pollution. During their research they also came to understand that at a global level, all of our life- supporting systems – from virgin forest, to soil fertility, and fresh water – are in decline. Added to this is the accumulation of pollution in nature. All this threatens our way of life and this process is accelerating ever more rapidly as impacts become greater and nature becomes less resilient. The cause of the decline was identified as four ways of human behaviour – each of which is built into the systems, processes and organisations we have created: our economic system, our social organisation, and even education systems. We can reorganise our activities by taking account of this reality. The Natural Step reorients these ways of behaving, placing limitations, or conditions on our actions. They can be described as principles. perspectivity.org | [email protected] The four principles: System condition #1: In order for a society to be sustainable, nature’s functions and diversity will not be systematically subject to increasing concentrations of substances extracted from the Earth’s crust. In a sustainable society, human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and the mining of metals and minerals must not occur at a rate that causes them to systematically increase in the ecosphere. There are thresholds beyond which living organisms and ecosystems are adversely affected by increases in substances from the Earth’s crust. Problems may include an increase in greenhouse gases leading to global warming, contamination of surface and ground water, and metal toxicity which can cause functional disturbances in animals. System condition #2: In order for a society to be sustainable, nature’s functions and diversity will not be systematically subject to increasing concentrations of substances produced by society. In a sustainable society, humans will avoid generating systematic increases in persistent substances such as DDT, PCBs, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), such as Freon. Synthetic organic compounds such as DDT and PCBs can remain in the environment for many years, accumulating in the tissues of plants and animals, causing profound deleterious effects on creatures in the upper levels of the food chain. System condition #3: In order for a society to be sustainable, nature’s functions and diversity must not be systematically impoverished by physical displacement, over-harvesting, or other forms of ecosystem manipulation. In a sustainable society, humans will avoid taking more from the biosphere than can be replenished by natural systems. In addition, people will avoid systematically encroaching upon nature by destroying the habitat of other species. Biodiversity, which includes the great variety of animals and plants found in nature, provides the foundation for ecosystem services, which are necessary to sustain life on this planet. Society’s health and prosperity depends on the enduring capacity of nature to renew itself and rebuild waste into resources. System condition #4: In a sustainable society, resources are used fairly and efficiently in order to meet basic human needs globally. Meeting the fourth system condition is a way to avoid violating the first three system conditions for sustainability. Considering the human enterprise as a whole, we need to be efficient with regard to resource use and waste generation in order to be sustainable. If one billion people lack adequate nutrition while another billion have more than they need, there is a lack of fairness with regard to meeting basic human needs. Achieving greater fairness is essential for social stability and the 2/3 cooperation needed for making large-scale changes within the framework laid out by the first three conditions. To achieve this fourth condition, humanity must strive to improve technical and organisational efficiency around the world, and to live using fewer resources, especially in affluent areas. The Business Case for Sustainability Many household names have adopted this simple framework to reinvent the way they work, starting small and building rapidly. They don’t do it because it is right – but because it delivers key economic benefits. Communities do it because it delivers a better quality of life, a more engaged population, and resilience in the face of shocks. Major companies like Nike, Panasonic, Ikea, and Interface have all seen the benefit of thinking at this level. A former IBM executive, Bob Willard, has spent the past several years outlining the business case for sustainability – demonstrating how integrating sustainability at the business-making core of the organisation leads to significant profitability on the major value drivers in a business. Eco- efficiency, productivity, risk abatement, and retention of top talent are all contributors to success. Implementation of a successful sustainability framework relies on mobilising key players and stakeholders. You learn about how the world works, what the system conditions mean in practice and then you begin to analyse the work of your organisation or community in the light of these system conditions. Once a baseline understanding exists, participants are taken through a scenario planning exercise to identify what preferred future you envision with the principles fully realised – i.e. what are we doing if our products and services are fully sustainable. Once a vision is in place you can work backwards to today to see the actions and strategies that will lead you to that path to sustainability, first by choosing low hanging fruit and then by involving more people in the work over time and expanding the original ambition. More info? Contact Michael Donnelly? E: [email protected] M: +44 7739 518998 3/3 .