Communicating Sustainability

Presented to

The Green Spider Network

By

John Harrington

Of

Sustainable Ireland

Rome, October 22, 2004

Agenda Context

Introduction to Sustainable Ireland Backdrop to this presentation

Background Marketing experience

The Challenge Successfully Launch Sustainability

Case Studies Discussion

Who we are

Sustainable Ireland - Workers cooperative formed in 1999 Five full time staff, five European interns and over 50

volunteers Official NGO status Excellent credentials within sustainability and NGO community Plugged in to Local / National agencies (Comhar, Enfo, DoELG) Links to an emerging business sector Growing Media Profile Five years of successful event experience International reputation

Our Mission

To promote a new cultural wisdom that recognizes the balanced, holistic and connected relationship between

society, the economy and our environment

What we do..

Cultivate - Irelands only Sustainable Living and Learning Centre, located in the heart of Dublin.

Publications – Source Book, Web site, e-newsletters, Magazine, quarterly programme of events, online directory of sustainable organizations, green map, guide to hosting low impact events, etc.

Consultation - Clients include DoELG, Comhar, Enfo, Dublin City Council, Feasta, Plan Expo

Events - Over 200 per year, the most important of which is Convergence

How we do it..

Educate - Workshops, courses and intern learning programme Showcase - demonstrate practical solutions Translate - Make sustainability easy to understand and

relevant Communicate - get the word out and the point across Inspire/Empower - Close the loop between our individual

actions and the quality of our society, the economy and our environment

Entertain - Use the arts to convey the wisdom of sustainable practice

Why we do it?

Sustainable Ireland - our name is our vision Smart money is on sustainable solutions

Competitive advantage for early entry to eco-economy

Increase in sustainability policy from the EU It’s fun, creative, and it just makes sense

BackgroundWhat I knew from Marketing

It’s hard to manage what you can’t measure You can change behaviour only when you understand what

motivates your target audience People are different but patterns exist (pyschographic,

demographic) Some drivers are better than others (fear, sex, association)

but certain characteristics must be met At the heart of every good brand is a good, simple story,

relevant to it’s target audience Creativity is the currency

The Challenge What if “Sustainability” was a new product that we were about to launch (for clarity

I’ll use italics wherever I refer to this new product) And what if non-sustainability or the current way of doing things was it’s main

competitor and the current market leader (We’ll call it NonSus)?

How should we position Sustainability (relative to NonSus) ?

What can we say about Sustainability, it’s features and benefits ?

What target audiences should we prioritise and how can we understand what motivates them?

Any Sustainability Superstars; Case Studies?

Is the name “Sustainability” negotiable ?

What has Sustainability have to offer ?

NonSus: A Competitive Profile

Resource Management - Natural Capital

Based on principles of Industrial Revolution - 252 years old Billions of pounds of toxic material into our ecosystem each year Requires complex laws to keep people from being poisoned too

quickly Results in gigantic amounts of waste Erodes the diversity of biological species and cultural practices

Based entirely on a Take, Make, Waste system

Reverse Evolution - toward a disorganised and toxic biosphere

Natural and social capital grossly undervalued

‘Cradle-to-Grave’ Design Paradigm

Make

Manufacturing,

production,

distribution, use6% Product

WasteLandfill,

incineration94% Waste

Take

Raw material

extraction and

synthesis

NonSus: A Competitive ProfileResource Management - Natural Capital continued..

5000 times more topsoil is lost than is replaced2 - A fourth of topsoil and a third of forest cover gone1

Forests shrinking at a rate of 9 million ha per year2

Will lose 70% of our coral reefs in our lifetime (host to 25% of marine life) at present rates of destruction1

Losing freshwater ecosystems by 6% per year1

Losing marine ecosystems by 4% per year1

In 25 years time, 50% of worlds population will suffer severe water shortages1

On the poorest continent on earth, soil erosion has reduced annual harvest by $1.9 billion2

Ref 1 : Natural Capitalism

Ref 2: Earth Policy Institute

Resource Management - Human Capital

10 million children die each year, mostly from preventable causes*

4.5 million children die each year due to lack of access to clean drinking water*

1 in 4 children lives in abject poverty*

1 in 3 children suffers from malnutrition*

19% of children have no access to clean drinking water*

It would take less than one cent paid per person to give clean drinking water to all children

NonSus: A Competitive Profile

*Source: UNICEF

NonSus: Target AudiencePrimary

Organisation leaders and executive decision makers

Characteristics

Competitive, confident, ambitious, decisive, practical, end-game focused, court power, respect strength/loyalty, like problem solving, belief in the current system, more is more, resourceful, out of touch? visionary?, male for the most part? fathers, mothers, grandfathers, traditionalists, White? Not necessarily evil!! Not particularly sentimental

Secondary

Consumers

NonSus: - Key Position NonSus is a tried and tested, well understood, market driven,

system of allocating resources in the most competitive and cost efficient way possible

Uses Market dynamics to reconcile any imbalances

Millions of satisfied customers for the last 252 years

Proven to improve living standards

Comes fully loaded with linear, disconnected, short term, mechanical thinking that works in the real world!

Now with more power to keep you on top

Constantly strives to reduce internal costs - NonSus is not programmed to calculate external costs

Uses the latest Technology

Complies with all legal requirements

Not compatible with “Sustainability”

• Life is short

• They should be made feel guilty for their disgraceful mismanagement of Earth Inc and all of it’s resources

NonSus - PositioningCompetitive

Not Competitive

NonSus

SustainableNon Sustainable

Climate Change Levy

LCA

Factor 4

EMS

CSRCSR

New Regulation

Eco-Efficiency

Product Stewardship

Social Reporting

ISO 14000

Environmental Audit

Triple Bottom Line

Green Accounting

Post-Kyoto Agenda

Environmental Reporting

Efforts to upgrade NonSus All rooted in being less Non-sustainable or less “Bad”

Make

Waste Take

Environment

‘Cradle-to-Grave’

Make

Waste Take

Still ‘Cradle-to-Grave’

EnvironmentEnvironmentEnvironment

Efforts to Reposition NonSusCompetitive

Non Competitive

NonSus 1.0

Sustainable (Good)

Non Sustainable (Bad)

• Measures success by less activity

• May be a risk to competitiveness

• More regulation, more hassle

• Releases fewer pounds of toxic material

• Results in smaller amounts of waste

• Less Bad is not Good• Restricts creativity• Still a non-sustainable

position

NonSus 2.0

you can't solve problemsusing the same thinkingthat caused them

We need some New Thinking A Radical new communication position for “Sustainability” Not “less bad” Not Eco-Efficient Must understand what motivates target audience to

subscribe to NonSus Must use creativity and innovation of current system Preferably not “reduced activity” based No guilt please!! We need a new Cultural Wisdom

organisation Common view of the

organisation's relationship with the outside world:

separate… self-containedmechanical… tangential…with needs… environment

society

The true relationship between the organisation and the outside world:

nested… dependent… with needs and responsibilities..

…. wholly owned subsidiarysociety

environment

organisation

organisation

How should we spendour money?

What kind of social or environmental initiatives should we support? How can we clean up our mess?

environment

society

How should we make our money?

How can we make our money in a way that also serves the needs of the wider system?

How can we do business without making a mess?

society

environment

organisation

A radical shift in consciousness and perception

FROM

separateness

management

self-interest

profit-driven

FROM

separateness

management

self-interest

profit-driven

TO

nestedness

leadership

common good

values-led

TO

nestedness

leadership

common good

values-led

A radical shift in consciousness and perception

FROM

Cradle to Grave

Waste = Waste

Eco-efficiency

Bad

FROM

Cradle to Grave

Waste = Waste

Eco-efficiency

Bad

TO

Cradle to Cradle

Waste = Food

Eco-effectiveness

Good

TO

Cradle to Cradle

Waste = Food

Eco-effectiveness

Good

NonSus / SustainabilityCompetitive Positioning

Competitive

Non Competitive

NonSus

GOODBAD

• A “good” position, not less bad

• A true point of differentiation

• Sell Intelligence, not poison

• More Competitive, Smarter, Clean, Creative etc..

• More profitable

• Introduces positive materials into the ecosystem

• No preventative regulations = less hassle, less cost

• Produces assets that benefit future generations

• Celebrates abundance, does not limit activity

• Better by design

Sustainability

Smart

Future

Hi-tech

Dumb

Dirty

Past Obsolete

Clean

Sustainability Positioning Statement

• Sustainability is simply the most intelligent, competitive and cost effective system to allocate your organisations resources because only Sustainability uses cradle to cradle technology to eliminate waste and optimise energy at the design stage, saving you time, money and hassle

• However, I recommend we do some research to test the name “sustainability”. Static, traditionalist implications at odds with the dynamic and inspirational nature of the product

Just some of Sustainability’s Satisfied Customers

Biological NutrientClimatex®Lifecycle™a healthy, safely compostable, environmentally intelligent fabric

Climatex Lifecycle

Before:• Workers handled

hazardous materials

• Mill trimmings declared hazardous waste

• Upholstery unhealthy for humans

After:• Made from wool and

ramie, both renewable fiber resources

• Biological nutrient dyes

• Completely compostable

Climatex®Lifecycle™Biological Metabolism

Technical NutrientShaw EcoWorx:a completely recyclable, environmentally- intelligent carpet!

Shaw EcoWorx

Before:

• Carpet backing made from PVC and polyurethane

• Carpet backing was not recyclable and interfered with the recycling of the Nylon 6 fibers

After:• Carpet backing & fibers

are separable and can be recycled individually

• Carpet backing: Combination of polyolefin resins

• Fibers: Nylon 6

BASF Savant™Technical Metabolism

Herman Miller Mirra Chair Technical Nutrient

Quelle: Herman Miller Inc.

Herman Miller Mirra Chair Technical Nutrient

More Information

www.sustainable.ie/convergence

www.mbdc.com

www.thenaturalstep.org

John Harrington - Tel: 00-353-87-753-3039