More and more companies are showing their interest in the benefits that sustainability can allot. By way of demonstrating the company as being more socially responsible, reduce costs or to contribute to the common good, sustainability is beginning to become a serious issue in office meetings. And in some cases, not only do they form part of the isolated actions in the areas of communication and public relations, but are also gaining territory in a way that is fundamental to the vision, mission and growth strategies of companies that are pushing a sustainable business plan.

So explains Andrew Winston, expert in sustainable strategy and innovation as well as speaker at this year’s World Innovation Forum New York. On-stage he assured that incorporating sustainability into the DNA of a company allows them to save money as well as is an excellent way drive innovation and a creative business culture. “We need to systemize sustainability as a part of innovation,” Winston claims. How? Discover in the following the points of views of experts in sustainability Michael Porter and Adam Werbach and some case studies of companies that seem to be listening to what they have to say, and making big changes as a result. 

Considering business through a sustainability lens is the new way to do business, and although some consider it to have an extra cost, Winston affirms that the total opposite is true: it reduces cost and drives innovation. The key to achieve the ample benefits of a sustainability strategy is born from the systemization of innovation. What’s that all about? It sounds so obvious that to be sustainable it is also necessary to be innovative, but it is indispensable to also know how to do so in a way that achieves results.

According to Winston, innovation based on a sustainable vision must be systematized having the following traits:

-Gathering information and understanding where your business could be more sustainable: distribution, packaging and production

-Constructing platforms and telling stories: thinking about the possibilities of the future and how our businesses can fit them

-Pushing success towards a logical conclusion or beyond: ask disruptive questions. Can we wash clothes in cold water? Or even more so, is it necessary to wash them at all?

-Building a green business starts with R&D: systemizing so that someone in the company can dedicate sufficient time towards innovating through sustainability, such as Google does to simply innovate.

Learn more about what Andrew Winston has to say on sustainability as a WOBI blogger, or in the following video

And if strategy with a sustainable foundation is your goal, Michael Porter, an icon in strategic thinking and a speaker at this year’s World Business Forum New York, had as his message at the event “if it’s good for business, it’s good for society.” Porter assures that the central question we face today is how businesses can relate back to society. He argues that businesses are the only institutions that can create profits, and so it should be their responsibility to resolve the big problems society has ultimately come back to affect them as well.

And from this train of thought comes his concept “creating shared value”, that relies on the power of capitalism, based on integrating the interests of business and society to make products that serve customers in need, potentially different from the ones businesses recognize today, and requires a fundamental change in business operations. Porter invites companies to ask the question: How can we serve clients that have been left behind? Asking this question creates a great opportunity to expand business. This as well as more keys to a sustainable strategy from Porter we discuss in our blog.

Adam Werbach, the Chief Sustainability Officer of Saatchi & Saatchi as well as speaker at this year’s World Business Forum Mexico, shared his diverse point of view on going green and what will be driving what he calls “the blue movement” in the coming years. It’s about a vision that goes beyond the environment, and proposes a lifestyle that holistically adopts sustainability. As a matter of fact, Saatchi & Saatchi S is branded by the color blue, and their sustainability strategy is called True Blue and based on the following central views:

Who are the companies that are already adopting these ideas?

You more than likely already know these companies that are putting distinct actions into the day-to-day in order to reduce their footprint, but you might now know what they are doing to achieve it. 

Dupont. This company has become profitable as a result of their eco-efficient efforts. The company saves between $US 2 and 3 million a year through waste and energy reduction.

Dow. It has cut back $9 million in energy use in the last decade.

 3M. The company has made millions in savings over the past three decades thanks to their constant search for new ways to save money, energy, reduce waste and protect water. 

GM. Almost all of their products have zero residues in contaminative waste, and as a result have taken something that was a cost (transporting residues) and has transformed it into a benefit. They have saved $2.5 million in the past year in selling waste to reuse.

UPS. By changing processes as simple as no longer taking left hand turns in trucks, the business has saved 28 million kilometers and three million gallons of gas. It turns out that by waiting at a stoplight in order to cross traffic you lose time, energy and money. Using GPS software they simply send their trucks in concentric circles to the right.

Puma. Do we need packaging? In some cases yes, but certainly not always. Puma has reduced their footprint in packaging 60% by making the shoebox turn into a bag.

“Saving a little everyday serves the community and spreads,” says Adam Werbach. Making sustainability a pillar of your company, including in all the decisions and actions taken will naturally bring profitability and achieve benefits for the company, countries, and the planet.