Tackling monumental issues such as climate change can’t be accomplished working alone. To make meaningful change we must work at scale. It will require strong guidance, a clear plan and motivated partners.

Unilever is one of the companies that understands this and has taken the steps necessary to overcome these challenges. Unilever’s goal is to decouple economic growth from the negative environmental impacts of their products. Already one of the world’s leaders in sustainable businesses, Unilever scrapped their corporate social responsibility plans and introduced a brand new, comprehensive initiative called their Sustainable Living Plan. Why did they do this? Well in Keith Weed’s (Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of Unilever) own words “sustainability must be mainstream” and it has to be permeated throughout the entire organization in order for it to make any meaningful changes. They didn’t want their corporate social responsibility centre to simply be an after thought. Instead they want to ensure that everything they do has a clear goal in mind. With this in mind, Unilever came up with a set of consistent global metrics to measure all of their environmental impacts against and they also outlined a clear goal: to be completely sustainable sourced by 2020.

But even a mega corporation like Unilever knows its limits and they understand that partnerships must be formed to achieve these lofty goals. So in 2011, they introduced their Partner to Win program and started to work closely with their 200 most important suppliers to ensure that they were employing the most sustainable practices. For example, to improve the strength of their tea value chain they worked directly with small local farmers to improve their farms. In essence, they are working to create shared value. Unilever even works with external corporations within their business ecosystem. Last year, under the Paragon Partnerships collaboration, Unilever is working with companies like Coco-Cola and Nielsen to achieve the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. While we would normally think these companies would view each as competitors and would avoid helping one another out, these corporations understand the weight of the challenges threatening the state of our global environment. They know that they share a common goal and that collaborating with one another will allow them to have bigger results.

It is fitting that Unilever has formed a joint coalition with these other businesses to accomplish the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as the last goal outlined by the UN is to Form Partnerships. Looking at Unilever’s actions is an eye opening experience. As we move on from university we will step into the world and face much more complex issues. We will have to be open to working with other people with different personalities, skill sets and expertise in order find viable solutions that can be implemented. If we are able to do this then we will be one step closer to making a significant difference in making our life more sustainable.

Believing that businesses and the environment go hand in hand, I wanted to look for an example of a company that has successfully bridged these two worlds together to find a competitive advantage. As we’ve learned in this class, sustainability is now a driver of innovation and there are many companies that follow this belief. Philips is one of these companies that perfectly embodies this and can serve as a crucial case study to learn from. Philips is a leading electronics company that has products ranging in the home furniture, appliances and medical technology segments. With annual revenues of over 20 billion euros, it is safe to say that Philips is in a position to fully embrace sustainability.

Closing the materials loop and emphasizing recyclable options throughout their history and operating their manufacturing plants on clean energy are just a few of the initiatives that Phillips Electronics are doubling down on. Additionally they are one of the few companies that follow the precautionary principle with regards to managing potentially harmful chemicals and are opting to remove as many hazardous chemicals from their products as possible. From top to bottom, almost all of the organization’s actions point towards a proactive approach towards sustainability. Their goal is to become carbon neutral by 2020 and to minimize their ecological footprint, water consumption and waste. It is clear that their philosophy as a business is to have a positive impact on the environment and the results are reinforcing this philosophy. In 2016, 58.8% of all their fourth quarter sales came from green products.

By taking an environmentally focused position and aligning their brand to embrace sustainable practices, Philips has wielded their environmental mandate as a powerful tool for innovation. Philips’ line of Hue light products aren’t just LED energy efficient lights. They also operate within a connected ecosystem with other Philips products that allows you to control the entire suite of technology using your own devices. You have complete control to adjust the colour and brightness settings. Throughout any industry this is a common trend, companies that have embraced environmental causes have been able to lead the market by constantly finding new ways to innovate their product lines and operation processes. When markets become saturated with fierce competition, companies often find themselves stagnating without little change. In this atmosphere, the businesses that are able to innovate are the ones that separate themselves from everyone else. You can look at Patagonia and their materials innovation or Unilever and their use of MuCell technology into their bottle packaging as examples of sustainability and business innovation going hand in hand. The evidence is clear that a successful business model lies in embracing sustainability in order for companies to thrive and stay one step ahead of the competition.

Back in 2016, my family and I went on vacation to Disney World and we took the Animal Kingdom Wilderness Safari Tour. The tour guides took us into the depths of the colossal hybrid theme park/zoo/nature reserve as we got to see some of the animals up close and personal. Our tour guides gave us a lot of great information about the different animals and theme park easter eggs but one of things that I found most memorable was something that he said about a wooden bamboo spoon.

He mentioned that Disney and its many subsidiaries are hoping to transition all of their utensils from plastics to bamboo materials. I thought that it was a great idea to help reduce plastics but I was a little bit shocked that they would view bamboo as their best alternative. When I asked him further, my guide told me about how they want to use bamboo because it grows at such a quick speed. Making it one of the easier biodegradable materials out there to acquire and one that will make economic sense.

As regenerative resources has come up more and more in class I began to recall this little memory. Intrigued by the possibilities of bamboo I decided to dig a little deeper and investigate how businesses are using it. From the few articles that I read through I was able to find that bamboo is generally though of as one the next best sustainable materials that will be used commercially. Bamboo has been found to be a relatively low energy intensive plant to grow, it is adaptable to many different climates and is rapidly regenerative. With the same structural integrity as modern building materials, businesses recognize the viability of integrating bamboo into their everyday operations.

Companies are now taking advantage of this sustainable resource. Movement Global is using bamboo fibres to make its own line of clothing. Many construction companies are also looking into concrete filled bamboo scaffolding to supplant their Eco friendly buildings. These initiatives are just the beginning and the use of bamboo in everyday products are growing everyday. Best of all is that the bamboo acts as a carbon sink, sequestering carbon emissions in the atmosphere before it is cut down. Even though it gets processed into whatever product gets made, the carbon remains in a much more stable form than being left in the atmosphere. When people dispose of the bamboo into the compost it will slowly release back into the environment at a much more manageable rate. Reduced waste to the landfill, a readily available source and better carbon management. Bamboo is the perfect regenerative resource that companies can adopt.