Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability

Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability PDF Author: Annik Magerholm Fet
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031222458
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
This open access book represents a journey documenting the development of tools and methodologies over 3 decades and asks where the future lies. It further develops seminal work carried out under the auspices of the Capacity building in Sustainability and Environmental Management (CapSEM) project co-funded by the EU Erasmus programme from 2016-2019 as well as research projects such as IGLO-MP2020, SUSPRO, and SISVI. It gathers existing paradigms of environmental management within the relevant frameworks which have driven the way in which this discipline has developed. It seeks to both challenge and support the way in which business sectors have approached this previously, with a more holistic and overarching model being provided, moving through four very distinct levels. It therefore provides not only a different approach, but a different way of thinking. Systems thinking is characterized by four levels: Process, Product Value Chain, Organisational and Systemic which combines Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Industrial Ecology (IE) principles. In its practical application, Corporate Social Responsibility, for example, thus becomes an integral part of a much wider business strategy and impacts on all business activity, not added value for its own sake, but a valuable component in a wider toolbox as a fundamental part of any business strategy and plan, changing, flexing and developing over the years. The book is divided into 4 parts: moving from context and background, to the theoretical model or toolbox, onto its practical application in case studies and culminates in looking at the future and potential developments. It represents the multi-disciplined collaboration at NTNU and beyond, exemplifying its use in a wealth of business sectors and a range of stakeholders from construction to textiles to wind power as outlined in the European Circular Action Plan.

Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability

Business Transitions: A Path to Sustainability PDF Author: Annik Magerholm Fet
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031222458
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Get Book Here

Book Description
This open access book represents a journey documenting the development of tools and methodologies over 3 decades and asks where the future lies. It further develops seminal work carried out under the auspices of the Capacity building in Sustainability and Environmental Management (CapSEM) project co-funded by the EU Erasmus programme from 2016-2019 as well as research projects such as IGLO-MP2020, SUSPRO, and SISVI. It gathers existing paradigms of environmental management within the relevant frameworks which have driven the way in which this discipline has developed. It seeks to both challenge and support the way in which business sectors have approached this previously, with a more holistic and overarching model being provided, moving through four very distinct levels. It therefore provides not only a different approach, but a different way of thinking. Systems thinking is characterized by four levels: Process, Product Value Chain, Organisational and Systemic which combines Material Flow Analysis (MFA), Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Industrial Ecology (IE) principles. In its practical application, Corporate Social Responsibility, for example, thus becomes an integral part of a much wider business strategy and impacts on all business activity, not added value for its own sake, but a valuable component in a wider toolbox as a fundamental part of any business strategy and plan, changing, flexing and developing over the years. The book is divided into 4 parts: moving from context and background, to the theoretical model or toolbox, onto its practical application in case studies and culminates in looking at the future and potential developments. It represents the multi-disciplined collaboration at NTNU and beyond, exemplifying its use in a wealth of business sectors and a range of stakeholders from construction to textiles to wind power as outlined in the European Circular Action Plan.

Sustainability Transitions in South Africa

Sustainability Transitions in South Africa PDF Author: Najma Mohamed
Publisher: Routledge Studies in Sustainability
ISBN: 9781138727991
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
South Africa's transition to sustainability : an overview / Najma Mohamed -- Reaping the socio-economic benefits of an inclusive transition to sustainability / Brent Cloete, Samantha Munro and Nolwazi Sokhulu -- Climate change and vulnerability in South Africa : sustainability transitions in a changing climate? / Coleen Vogel and Mark Swilling -- Sustainability transitions and employment in South Africa : a multi-dimensional approach / Gaylor Montmasson-Clair -- Policies for sustainability transformations in South Africa : a critical review / Najma Mohamed and Gaylor Montmasson-Clair -- Transitioning South Africa's finance system towards sustainability / Chantal Naidoo -- The role of national systems of innovation in South Africa's sustainability transition / Shanna Nienaber -- Green skills : transformative niches for greening work / Presha Ramsarup, Eureta Rosenberg, Heila Lotz-Sisitka and Nicola Jenkin -- Creating partnerships to sustain value / Chantal Ramcharan-Kotze and Johan Olivier -- Inclusive sustainability transitions / Najma Mohamed

Sustainability Is the New Advantage

Sustainability Is the New Advantage PDF Author: Peter McAteer
Publisher: Anthem Press
ISBN: 1783089482
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
During the last 150 years, we have stressed the oceans, warmed the planet and overextended almost every natural resource. To create real change will require a generation of leaders and businesses that think and act differently. "Sustainability Is the New Advantage" identifies the skill sets, best practices, and new ideas needed to teach a new generation to start, grow, and manage sustainable organizations.

Business Models for Sustainability

Business Models for Sustainability PDF Author: Peter E. Wells
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1781001537
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
Business Models for Sustainability breaks new ground by combining three important insights. First, achieving sustainability requires socio-technical transitions that entail new technologies, production processes, lifestyles, and consumption patterns. Second, firms play crucial roles in mediating between sustainable production and consumption. Third, radical innovations require organizational innovations and new business models. Peter Wells successfully combines these big picture ideas with rich in-depth case studies drawing on years of accumulated expertise. Highly recommended. Frank W. Geels, University of Manchester, UK and Chairman of the Sustainability Transitions Research Network With increasing awareness that innovative technology alone is insufficient to make sustainable lifestyles a reality, this book brings into sharp focus the need to create radical new business models. This insightful book provides a theoretically grounded but also realistic account of how the design of business models can be a critical component in the overall transition to sustainability, and one that transcends the usual focus on innovative technology. Weaving together key principles and components for business sustainability, the book highlights five very different pathways to the future for sectors ranging from microbreweries and printing through to clothing, mobility and plastics. Business has only just started the first few tentative steps towards a very different approach to creating and sustaining value, but this book concludes that enormous opportunities will emerge alongside new ways of creating and capturing value. Academics and postgraduate students in the fields of sustainable business, business organisations and industrial ecology will find this book brings a greater understanding of business strategy and structure to the discipline. While traditionally referenced and structured, this academic book is accessibly written with key principles that may also appeal to the consultant community.

Our Common Journey

Our Common Journey PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309086388
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
World human population is expected to reach upwards of 9 billion by 2050 and then level off over the next half-century. How can the transition to a stabilizing population also be a transition to sustainability? How can science and technology help to ensure that human needs are met while the planet's environment is nurtured and restored? Our Common Journey examines these momentous questions to draw strategic connections between scientific research, technological development, and societies' efforts to achieve environmentally sustainable improvements in human well being. The book argues that societies should approach sustainable development not as a destination but as an ongoing, adaptive learning process. Speaking to the next two generations, it proposes a strategy for using scientific and technical knowledge to better inform future action in the areas of fertility reduction, urban systems, agricultural production, energy and materials use, ecosystem restoration and biodiversity conservation, and suggests an approach for building a new research agenda for sustainability science. Our Common Journey documents large-scale historical currents of social and environmental change and reviews methods for "what if" analysis of possible future development pathways and their implications for sustainability. The book also identifies the greatest threats to sustainabilityâ€"in areas such as human settlements, agriculture, industry, and energyâ€"and explores the most promising opportunities for circumventing or mitigating these threats. It goes on to discuss what indicators of change, from children's birth-weights to atmosphere chemistry, will be most useful in monitoring a transition to sustainability.

Just Transitions

Just Transitions PDF Author: Edouard Morena
Publisher: Pluto Press (UK)
ISBN: 9780745339924
Category : Employee rights
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How can we secure jobs in the shift towards sustainable production?

Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Sustainable Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Christina Weidinger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642387535
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
Sustainable Entrepreneurship stands for a business driven concept of sustainability which focusses on increasing both social as well as business value - so called Shared Value. This book shows why and how this unique concept has the potential to become the most recognised strategic management approach in our times. It aims to point out the opportunities that arise from putting sustainable entrepreneurship into practice. At the same time, this book is a wake-up call for all those companies and decision makers who underestimated Sustainable Entrepreneurship before or who are simply not aware of its greater dimension. Well structured chapters from different academic and business perspectives clearly outline how Sustainable Entrepreneurship contributes to solving the world's most challenging problems, such as Climate Change, Finance Crisis and Political Uncertainty, as well as to ensuring business success. The book provides a framework of orientation where the journey might go: What can a successful concept of SE look like? What are the key drivers for its realisation? What is the role of business in shaping the future of our society? The book also presents best practices and provides unique learnings as well as business insights from the international Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award (www.se-award.org). The Sustainable Entrepreneurship Award (short SEA) is an award for companies today who are thinking about tomorrow by making sustainable business practices an integral part of their corporate culture. Companies that receive the SEA are being recognised for the vision they have shown in combining economic and sustainable responsibility.

Transitions to Sustainable Development

Transitions to Sustainable Development PDF Author: John Grin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135151172
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 578

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Book Description
Over the past few decades, there has been a growing concern about the social and environmental risks which have come along with the progress achieved through a variety of mutually intertwined modernization processes. In recent years these concerns are transformed into a widely-shared sense of urgency, partly due to events such as the various pandemics threatening livestock, and increasing awareness of the risks and realities of climate change, and the energy and food crises. This sense of urgency includes an awareness that our entire social system is in need of fundamental transformation. But like the earlier transition between the 1750's and 1890's from a pre-modern to a modern industrial society, this second transition is also a contested one. Sustainable development is only one of many options. This book addresses the issue on how to understand the dynamics and governance of the second transition dynamics in order to ensure sustainable development. It will be necessary reading for students and scholars with an interest in sustainable development and long-term transformative change.

Business Models for Sustainability Transitions

Business Models for Sustainability Transitions PDF Author: Annabeth Aagaard
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030775801
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Can innovations in business change society? Can innovations in society change business? These two questions have become critically urgent in recent years, but are rarely considered together. ‘Business Models for Sustainability Transitions’ therefore asks, can contemplating both concepts together result in a flourishing, sustainable future? Technology alone cannot save us. We cannot consciously consume our way out of trouble. This book represents a start at bridging the dynamic world of business model innovation with the constant and unprecedented transitions underway in the world around us. For researchers, practitioners, and policy makers, the coupling of the two questions has the potential to unlock answers to our grand global challenges with responses that are at the same time rapid and enduring. This work offers unique and considered glimpses into what it may take to harness wide-ranging innovations for the collective good.

Empowering the Great Energy Transition

Empowering the Great Energy Transition PDF Author: Scott Valentine
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231546424
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
At a time when climate-change deniers hold the reins of power in the United States and international greenhouse gas negotiations continue at a slow crawl, what options are available to cities, companies, and consumers around the world who seek a cleaner future? Scott Victor Valentine, Marilyn A. Brown, and Benjamin K. Sovacool explore developments and strategies that will help fast-track the transition to renewable energy. They provide an expert analysis of the achievable steps that citizens, organizational leaders, and policy makers can take to put their commitments to sustainability into practice. Empowering the Great Energy Transition examines trends that suggest a transition away from carbon-intensive energy sources is inevitable—there are too many forces for change at work to stop a shift to clean energy. Yet under the status quo, change will be too slow to avert the worst consequences of climate change. Humanity is on a path to incur avoidable social, environmental, and economic costs. Valentine, Brown, and Sovacool argue that new policies and business models are needed to surmount the hurdles separating the current consumption model from a sustainable energy future. Empowering the Great Energy Transition shows that with well-placed efforts, we can set humanity on a course that supports entrepreneurs and communities in mitigating the environmental harm caused by technologies whose time has come and gone.