Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency (2014) / Chapter Skim
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5 Private-Sector and PrivatePublic Partnership Sustainability Initiatives: Applicability to Environmental Protection Agency Decision-Making
5 Private-Sector and PrivatePublic Partnership Sustainability Initiatives: Applicability to Environmental Protection Agency Decision-Making
Pages 64-79
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From page 64... ...
But much work remains to be done. A select number of successful enterprises in specific business sectors have undertaken more transformational sustainability initiatives.
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From page 65... ...
Indeed, prominent business scholars and strategists tout the ability of sustainability initiatives to drive innovation and argue that companies that fail to incorporate the pursuit of sustainability concepts as a goal and core value will fail to achieve competitive advantage in their sectors (Nidumolu et al.
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From page 66... ...
to implement six performance codes as a condition of membership.2 The first decade of the 21st century witnessed a dramatic expansion in the number and kind of collaborative relationships created by NGOs and global companies. Examples of the collaborations include partnerships between EDF and other NGOs with Walmart to introduce sustainability strategies and practices into the company's global supply chain, between Coca-Cola and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
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From page 67... ...
3 TSC is a sustainability researching organization that was developed in a joint effort of the University of Arkansas and Arizona State University supported by membership fees from stakeholders that comprise mainly private companies, other sustainability nonprofits, and academic institutions. The mission is to develop a system -- called the Sustainable Measurement and Reporting Systems -- to evaluate a consumer product's sustainability performance for the entirety of its supply chain.
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From page 68... ...
SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES OUTSIDE THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY EPA has identified four cross-program priorities for sustainability-related activities in its FY 2014 action plan: sustainable products and purchasing, sustainable materials management, green infrastructure (or the private-sector analogue, green buildings) , and energy efficiency (EPA 2014b)
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From page 69... ...
and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) and the International Network of Product Sustainability Initiatives are collaborating on global principles and practices for analysis of hot spots (parts of the life cycle that can be especially important)
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From page 70... ...
As business strategies gradually shift to practices considered to be going "beyond regulation", EPA is positioned to be able to foster the incorporation of sustainability concepts in its internal decision-making and to influence the private sector with regard to products and purchasing. As EPA considers life-cycle approaches in a sustainability context, it should leverage ongoing work by such organizations as TSC and the UNEP–SETAC Life Cycle Initiative.
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From page 71... ...
BOX 5-3 Anvil Knitwear, Inc., Water Footprint Analysis Anvil Knitwear, Inc., an American apparel company, has taken an active approach to reporting its sustaina bility initiatives via the Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G3 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.
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From page 72... ...
houses a 1-mi2 campus for 28 federal agencies and nearly 7,000 employees. Drivers of sustainability initiatives on the campus include the GSA sustainability policy that sets a goal of zero environmental footprint for all GSA activities; Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance; and the DFC master plan and environmental-impact statement.
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From page 73... ...
After 2010, those trends continued. By the end of FY 2011, Siemens missed its goal to reduce electricity consumption by 8% but met its other resource goals, including reductions in common air-pollutant emission, GHG emission, primary energy consumption, energy consumption for district heating water consumption, and waste production.
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From page 74... ...
of the goals and progress of the sustainability program and various types of recognition for the program, such as Siemens's leadership in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, have enhanced awareness of the importance of the sustainability goals throughout the company. The tools that most contributed to Siemens's success included its centralized database with standardized reporting methods (such as the WRI–WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol)
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From page 75... ...
(Recommendation 5h) Application of an Internal Carbon Tax to Advance Business and Sustainability Objectives Given its size and prominence as a well-recognized consumer brand, Disney has measured a growing recognition of sustainability issues among its customers.
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From page 76... ...
Such transparency, in turn, has identified new options for improving business operations and research and development, stimulated further integration of sustainability factors into business strategy, and created new opportunities for innovation, value creation, and collaboration with external stakeholders. As such agencies as EPA develop their carbon-management policies further, they should strive to learn from an increasingly rich sample of experimentation on how well-designed economic incentives can enhance sustainability objectives.
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From page 77... ...
The data that a company collects to perform LCAs constitute a logical nexus point for EPA to propose collaborative projects. The data and analysis requisite for successful ISO 14001 environmental management systems and ISO 50001 energy management systems certification would make up an excellent dataset and basis for mutually beneficial collaborations between EPA and the regulated community.
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From page 78... ...
Conclusion 5.3: Learning how successful firms have used sustainability tools and approaches can be an important incentive for other companies to do the same. Recommendation 5.3: EPA should develop nonregulatory tools or guidance on sustainability topics to engage businesses that have not made as much progress in incorporating sustainability concepts into their business model as have generally larger firms that have high-visibility brands.
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From page 79... ...
EPA can learn about tools developed by stakeholders outside of the agency and provide expertise in the development of new tools. EPA should provide assistance in scaling up tools as it did in recognizing the WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol as an accepted methodology for use in compliance with the greenhouse gas inventory regulation.
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