The UK faces a crisis because UK business lacks the skills to deal with the challenge of sustainability. This is the message of a report issued today by the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (iema). At the same time, a poll of members of the Institute of Directors reveals that for 70% of respondents their sustainability priorities are affected by the economic climate.
The conclusion from this poll is that for many companies sustainability is just a “nice-to-have”, not a necessity. Maybe it’s because “sustainability” as an idea is still widely misunderstood. All too many people’s thoughts go - sustainability - environment - green - beards and sandals - protest - fluffy polar bears: leave me alone I’ve a business to run!
But the iema report makes it clear that sustainability is at the heart of any business. The headline message is that the UK has a sustainability skills shortage, and the underlying truth is that we need these skills to meet sustainability challenges and opportunities. Drawing on research by the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, the IPCC, the OECD and many others, the report shows how critical pressures are building up from population growth, climate change, water shortages, resource scarcity, unsustainable levels of waste and ballooning demand for energy. It shows too, that of some 1,000 companies polled by iema only 13% were very confident that they could compete in a sustainable economy. And of course that’s not a choice. The sustainable economy is rapidly becoming the only game in town: in the world!
In crudest terms a sustainable business is one that stays in business. In reality a sustainable business is an organisation that can adapt to these rapid and radical changes, can meet customers’ evolving expectations while relying on suppliers which may themselves be way behind the curve. Procurement is a sustainability issue, finance is a sustainability issue, product development is a sustainability issue, and so are training, sales and marketing. Many organisations do not realise there is an issue, and therefore have not taken any steps to react. It’s the business-as-usual syndrome.
It’s not all bad news. Major household names have taken sustainability on board. They include Jaguar Land Rover, Kepak Convenience Foods, (you may not know the name, but you’ll have eaten their products!), Network Rail, Rexam, Ricoh and Rolls-Royce. They recognise that there’s a sustainable business case. They save energy, they save materials, they cut waste. And it all saves them money. Not just manufacturing and construction companies are involved. The Innovation Group is in insurance claims management and software; HW Fisher is an accountancy firm; PHS provides hygiene services and we’ve all heard of the NHS. All these organisations have taken an active sustainability policy on board.
The challenge now is to spread the word to the vast number of organisations that are not yet on side or even aware that there’s an issue. We need to do it before the perfect storm engulfs us in a perfect disaster.
