- For immediate release -
Leading companies and public sector organisations now see sustainability concerns as a key source of both risk and opportunity, but many are not sure how best to respond. A new report from Forum for the Future offers a six-step plan for sustainable success.
Sustainable wealth creation within environmental limits shows how tools, including back-casting and streamlined lifecycle assessment, can be combined - enabling organisations to meet their environmental responsibilities. The report also outlines how sustainability thinking can benefit as a source of innovation, differentiation and in accessing new markets.
At the heart of the report is The Natural Step (TNS) Framework - a unique, science-based approach to sustainable development, which combines a rigorous understanding of natural systems with practical management techniques. The TNS Framework has been used by leading brands and public sector organisations around the world, most recently by ICI Paints with Forum for the Future in the development of its new paint - Ecosure.
Sustainable wealth creation within environmental limits also shows how social concerns and environmental limits can be addressed using the same framework.
Jonathon Porritt, co-author of the report and Founder Director of Forum for the Future, said:
“All wealth is entirely dependent on natural capital to provide resources, deal with wastes, and make our planet habitable. So we have to live within environmental limits or we cannot live at all. On that basis, this paper provides essential learning on the way forward for business.”
The report has been sponsored by Defra, as part of the ‘Sustainable Development Dialogues’, which took place following the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.
For more information contact Alex Johnson at a.johnson@forumforthefuture.org.uk or on 07765253231. The report can be downloaded from www.forumforthefuture.org.uk or directly here.
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Notes to editors
Forum for the Future - the sustainable development charity - works in partnership with leading organisations in business and the public sector. Our vision is of business and communities thriving in a future that is environmentally sustainable and socially just. We believe that a sustainable future can be achieved, that it is the only way business and communities will prosper, but that we need bold action now to make it happen. We play our part by inspiring and challenging organisations with positive visions of a sustainable future; finding innovative, practical ways to help realise those visions; training leaders to bring about change; and sharing success through our communications.
The Natural Step (TNS) is an international sustainable development charity for which Forum for the Future holds the UK license.
Using the internationally endorsed and tested TNS Framework, businesses, government agencies, policy-makers, individuals and communities are engaged in training and partnerships, research and development, and community involvement to lead the transition to an ecologically, socially and economically sustainable future.
The Natural Step Framework is a methodology for successful organisational planning. It is based on systems thinking, recognising that what happens in one part of a system affects every other part.
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