Corporate Sustainability Planning Assessment Guide:
A Comprehensive Organizational Assessment
by Donald C. Fisher, Ph.D.

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The concept and scope of sustainability efforts as they relate to an organization entails the corporate integration of economic, environmental, and social issues that the organization impacts.  The most common definition of sustainability was created in 1987 by the Brundtland Commission, formally the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), which noted that sustainability does not focus solely on environmental issues, but on three foundations of economic growth which include economic, environmental, and social factors. 

Corporate sustainability planning has risen in prominence over the past few years among leading organizations as a tool to achieve strategic dominance within the global marketplace.  Organizational sustainability is being addressed in both the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Indexes and the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World Recognition initiative that was launched in 2005 and is given annually at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Dow Jones Sustainability Group Indexes were developed to meet the financial markets’ demands for an investment index to benchmark over 200 organizations who are committed to sustainable business practices.  The Index recognizes how organizations integrate economic, environmental, and social factors into their business strategies.  The Index places particular emphasis on innovative technology, corporate governance, stakeholder interests, industry leadership, and corporate responses to societal changes.  The Index is reviewed annually by an advisory committee which consists of experts from both the financial and corporate sustainability sectors.

The Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World project addresses corporate sustainability.   The Global 100 List of publicly-traded, world-listed companies are assessed on how they manage sustainability regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities.

Corporate sustainability planning for an organization builds on its core values and can provide direction and rationale for the integration of sustainability principles among employees, vendors, and customers. This comprehensive Baldrige-based manual will aid an organization in identifying strategic opportunities for improvement regarding their sustainability efforts.  The manual will be most valuable in developing and/or improving a corporate sustainability plan and will help an organization identify and strategically address sustainability opportunities that will:

• Increase revenue and reduce costs
• Enhance an organization’s reputation, brand, and market value
• Better attract and retain talented employees
• Mitigate regulatory and business risks
• Address key economic, environmental, and social issues within an organization
• Serve as a “Best-Practice” Benchmark for an organization through the utilization of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Index that appears in the Glossary of this book.