As the global climate crisis intensifies, companies around the world are seeking ways to make their operations more sustainable. As part of this shift, they are adopting new approaches that produce positive changes at scale - with real environmental and consumer benefits.
The Sustainability Consortium (TSC), a global nonprofit organization, assists companies in transforming their supply chains to produce more sustainable products. Utilizing science-based Key Performance Indicators, TSC can identify hotspots throughout the entire value chain and highlight improvement opportunities for improvement.
Driving Positive Change
The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) works at the interface between science and business to empower consumer goods companies to create, manufacture and sell more sustainable products. They create tools, strategies and services based on science that consider environmental, social and economic concerns throughout a product’s lifecycle.
TSC’s work helps companies understand their impact on the environment, consumers and communities while also giving them tools to measure performance. One of its initiatives is THESIS - a science-based performance assessment system that gives retailers, manufacturers and suppliers the capacity to benchmark, quantify and take action regarding critical sustainability issues within their global supply chains.
One of its initiatives is the Resilience Consortium, a global initiative to promote resilience across regions, economies and industries. This group brings together leaders from public and private sectors to explore solutions that can enhance people’s lives both now and in the future.
As the world grapples with climate change, many businesses are turning towards sustainability as a way of meeting their own needs while safeguarding future generations’ capacity for survival. While many firms have taken steps toward becoming more eco-friendly, much work remains to be done.
One of the biggest difficulties many businesses have experienced is communicating the benefits of their sustainability initiatives. To do this, organizations must find ways to involve and influence employees, customers and shareholders alike.
Thankfully, many organizations and individuals around the world are willing to make these sacrifices for a greater good. That is why some of the largest brands in existence are dedicating to becoming more sustainable.
These organizations are finding innovative solutions to environmental and social problems, such as recycling waste into building insulation, cushioning materials or even clothing fibers. By doing this, they hope to become more competitive in a marketplace where sustainability is becoming an increasingly significant issue for companies.
In this workshop, Jeremy Bean and Erik Foley will share their expertise in aiding professionals from higher education discover the connection between their mission and sustainability. This includes instructing students, faculty, administrative staff, academic leaders and others how to incorporate sustainability into their own departments’ strategic plans and objectives.
Measuring Sustainability
When it comes to sustainability, there are a variety of metrics and approaches available. The key is finding one that meets your business requirements and objectives.
For example, The Sustainability Consortium assists consumer goods companies in measuring and improving their environmental performance. They do this through a set of science-based tools and research insights into nearly 130 product categories.
The organization assists consumers and suppliers in understanding how their products affect environment, people and society in a holistic manner. The tools and research insights are designed to assist everyone along the supply chain identify areas for improvement as well as opportunities for innovation.
Business plans provide a way to monitor progress and identify areas of strength. They enable business leaders to make data-driven decisions and implement policy changes that will reduce their environmental footprint.
Before organizations can begin the measurement of sustainability, they must first select the correct metrics and integrate them into an internal business process. Careful selection of metrics provides real-time data which provides a necessary basis for strategizing and mitigating risks.
Tracking sustainability performance through metrics such as input-output analysis (IOA), life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental performance index (EPI) can be done at any level within an organization.
Many businesses are beginning to incorporate sustainability metrics into their reporting practice, which is beneficial as these figures can be used to communicate results to stakeholders. Sustainability metrics can be applied both internally and externally on reports, allowing you to track progress towards sustainability goals, enhance processes, and make informed decisions based on evidence.
These metrics are not perfect and may contain a large degree of variance. Therefore, using benchmarks as a reference point when selecting metrics to monitor sustainability performance helps guarantee they are comparable.
TSC has gained valuable insights through its work measuring sustainability, which it is applying to its work with supply chain partners across the US, China and beyond. The organization strives to develop more precise and robust measurement systems that will encourage retailers to innovate their product offerings while fostering sustainable supply chains globally.
Research and Development
Research and Development (R&D) are essential processes for businesses, as they enable companies to create products that satisfy both their own requirements and those of customers. Furthermore, R&D can enhance existing processes in order to boost efficiency and cut costs.
In addition to researching new products and innovations, businesses often utilize R&D to enhance their production processes as well as create more efficient ways of delivering goods to market. It can also assist companies in understanding where they stand within the market and how best to compete.
TSC’s signature initiative is The Sustainability Insight System, an innovative tool that rates products according to various social and environmental “hotspots,” such as packaging, animal welfare, deforestation and water use. This provides suppliers and buyers with valuable insight into how they can work together more sustainably to reach their corporate sustainability objectives.
TSC has also developed a series of resources to educate students about sustainability issues and their effects. These include sustainability curriculums and co-curricular opportunities on campus like student-run groups or dorm-based sustainability programs.
University-based sustainability initiatives can range from encouraging students to engage in relevant volunteer activities to more complex initiatives like encouraging them to build on-campus gardens and source local foods. These actions have a significant effect on both the university and surrounding community.
Universities can promote sustainability in everyday tasks such as building construction, transportation, waste management and procurement of goods. This involves reducing the use of single-use plastics, encouraging students to reuse and recycle items they own, and improving energy and water conservation practices.
However, there are several challenges that universities can face in regards to incorporating sustainability into their operations and education. For instance, students may not always have the financial means to purchase materials or services necessary for implementing sustainable practices, leading them to be less motivated to adopt more eco-friendly behaviors.
For instance, universities may find it challenging to remove vending machines selling bottled water from campus because this takes money away from the institution and puts a strain on budgets. On the other hand, universities can promote recycling paper and compostable bags as more cost-effective alternatives than single-use plastics.
Opportunities and Challenges
The Sustainability Consortium offers a range of initiatives that are helping usher in an era of greater sustainability. TSC also provides companies with support to develop their own solutions and strategies for improving planet’s wellbeing.
TSC boasts a global network of over 90 members, representing many of the world’s leading consumer goods companies as well as non-profit and government organizations. Together these stakeholders are creating science-based and integrated tools for product sustainability that are being utilized around the world.
TSC has identified more than 110 sustainability hotspots in consumer products and created a set of performance indicators to help companies measure their environmental impact. These metrics enable companies to monitor progress towards meeting their sustainability targets and give investors useful data regarding corporate sustainability performance across the value chain.
TSC’s Innovation Program, established in 2017, allows diverse stakeholders to collaborate on challenges too large and complex for any one organization or individual to address alone. Drawing upon THESIS data and TSC’s expansive membership and stakeholder network, this initiative seeks to make progress on sustainability hotspots within consumer goods manufacturing.
The Innovation Program has provided TSC members with a platform to contribute their ideas and expertise towards accelerating sustainability. As a result, more than 60 projects have been launched in 2022 across various sustainability topics and sectors.
TSC has also launched several projects to aid its members’ business objectives. One such initiative, the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC), launched in January 2021 with 13 company members, brings together similarly driven, creative, and influential companies to collaborate on climate and sustainability innovation.
As a result of their work, the MCSC has funded 20 seed projects with an aggregate value of $5 million over two years. The 20 winners were selected based on their potential to link economy-wide climate and sustainability initiatives with ongoing or emerging initiatives at MIT’s schools of Science and Technology.
The MCSC will continue to offer awardees the chance to connect with the MIT Industry Advisory Board and technical teams from MCSC member companies to gain insight into how their work can help accelerate climate and sustainability goals. Furthermore, the MCSC is building networks among awardees so that the combined impact of their contributions exceeds that of individual efforts.
In Conclusion
As the world grapples with the global climate crisis, organizations around the world are increasingly seeking ways to make their operations more sustainable. The Sustainability Consortium offers valuable insights for businesses looking to reduce their environmental footprint and create more sustainable products. Through its research and development efforts, The Sustainability Consortium has developed a range of science-based tools and metrics that help companies to measure their environmental impact and identify areas for improvement. Its initiatives, such as THESIS and the Resilience Consortium, provide retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers with the capacity to benchmark, quantify and take action regarding critical sustainability issues within their global supply chains.
By incorporating sustainability metrics into their reporting practice, businesses can track progress towards sustainability goals, enhance their processes, and make informed decisions based on evidence. However, there are several challenges that universities and businesses may face in regards to incorporating sustainability into their operations and education. Despite these challenges, The Sustainability Consortium is helping to usher in an era of greater sustainability, with a global network of over 90 members, representing many of the world’s leading consumer goods companies as well as non-profit and government organizations. Together, these stakeholders are creating science-based tools for product sustainability that are being utilized around the world, and they are working towards a more sustainable future for all.
To learn more, visit their website.