Walking the Talk: The Business Case for Sustainable Development (Hardcover)

The underlying concepts and ideas are well spelled out. But what makes this book truly special is the abundance of case studies and examples of companies' practices that illustrate how these concepts are translated into practice. CEO's interviews provide a lively account on the private sector's perspectives on sustainable development.

One of the great advantages of this book is that each chapter can be read in isolation. An enjoyable read for conventional back-to-back readers, it is also easy for those interested in specific issues to navigate back and forth between chapters. Each contains a wealth of information on individual themes (ranging from innovation and eco-efficiency to corporate social responsibility). The book is structured around ten chapters, which represent the ten building blocks that pave the corporate journey towards sustainable development.

Each chapter investigates a different component of a sustainability-driven strategy. Overall, the book argues that companies need to embrace innovations to devise new ways of producing more with less natural resources; move from dialogue to partnerships; orient patterns of consumption by informing consumers about the environmental impact of their choices and by reflecting the value of the planet in products and services they deliver.

Co-authored by big corporate leaders, this book is a timely contribution to the debate surrounding sustainable development. Although there is unquestionably still room for work and improvement on the part of the private sector, Walking the Talk builds a convincing argument that business should get involved (and sometimes even take the lead) in sustainability issues.

As the market is good at reflecting short-term economic realities but poor at reflecting long-term economic realities and environmental realities the WBCSD prepared a report for the 1992 Summit calling for full-cost pricing, taxes and tradable permits rather than regulation, phasing out of subsidies, and accounting changes to reflect environmental scarcity. However, adoption of these measures would result in higher prices and the other two pillars of society - civil society and government - needed to accept such a change. Each sector tends to wait on the other; politicians do not want to become unpopular by pushing for higher prices nor do consumers want to spend more. "There will not be real progress until business, government, and civil society team up in new and dynamic partnerships."

Adoption of the phrase 'eco-efficiency' was a conceptual breakthrough that allowed moral and ethical practice to be linked to good business practice and set an agenda of producing more with less - a package that would make companies more competitive. Companies could be more profitable while keeping a human face and as few companies were prepared for consumer's ability to get their concerns into board rooms, managing a company's reputation became a central element in managing a corporation. This led to companies adding an environmental section to their annual financial report and reporting on the triple bottom line - financial, environmental and social. This has already brought about some radical changes. "Companies that once sold paint to car companies now sell the service of painting cars. So where once they improved their bottom line by maximizing cans of paint sold, they now improve the bottom line by minimizing the use of paint per car." DuPont decided that if it wanted its business to be sustainable it had to improve earnings by using fewer raw materials. This lead to the concept of shareholder value added (SVA) per pound of production and the goal of doubling the SVA of Kevlar fiber over the next five years. "Dupont Flooring Services has developed a system to offer certified installation, patented maintenance and end-of-life recycling to the already world-class carpet offering of DuPont Antron." At DuPont the question of whether sustainability improves the bottom line is not asked any more: "That is how we will get our bottom line, and that is how we will create value for our shareholders and for society."

By devoting 2% of its annual capital investment to environmental performance, a Swiss-based company has a vision of being a 'zero-equivalent carbon dioxide emission company' through a 5% pa annual reduction of energy per unit, increased use of alternative and renewable energy and by planting 35,000 hectares of land with trees to compensate for the remaining emissions, with a projected saving of $1 billion between 1994 and 2010. "Thanks to these measures, the planet has been spared the burden of another 100-megawatt power plant; the water we have saved could quench the thirst of 50 million people a year. We are using 28% less electricity and 45% less water than in 1994 for the same output. This translates, with a large increase in volume today, into a saving of $50 million in 2000 alone."

This book has 67 case studies that present current leading edge thinking. For a company that believes that it will remain competitive by neglecting environmental issues, this book will be an eye-opener. For others it is impossible to read this book without coming away with ideas for improving performance and the bottom line.