May 28, 2008 by Brian Butler | Filed under: 1, 2-Sustainability Labeling and Consumer Education, Overview

There is a need to inform consumers on sustainability of products to enable them to make informed purchasing decisions, and subsequently there is much need for identifying and effectively assessing methods to inform consumers.
This workshop produced a few consensus thoughts on sustainability labeling & consumer education; such as on the topic of what makes a [...]

by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-In the industry and in the workplace, Overview

There was consensus that environmental managers in the workplace are change agents who lead the workplace beyond compliance and ultimately towards sustainability.
Definition: A Change agent is a person whose presence or thought processes cause a change from the traditional way of handling or thinking about a problem.
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 [...]

by Brian Butler | Filed under: 1, 3-What Should Be Measured and Why?, Overview

For this workshop, the underlying assumption was that as a society we need to measure the environmental performance of every company, due in part to the concept that we cannot manage what we cannot measure properly. There were multiple examples of “what to measure” discussed during this workshop; for example, outcomes vs. drivers, absolute vs. [...]

by Brian Butler | Filed under: 1-Life-Cycle-Analysis (LCA), Overview

At the conclusion of this workshop, there was a general feeling that environmental managers must be aware of several key issues with regard to Life Cycle Analysis; these were: exactly what LCA tools are available, how these tools can be applied, how to guide others with regard to the application of these tools, and how [...]

by Brian Butler | Filed under: 1, 2-From Eco-Efficiency to Eco-Effectiveness, Overview

Consensus was reached during this workshop that Eco-Efficiency is simply not enough, with regard to “proper” environmental performance. Essentially, the main agreement throughout the course of the workshops was that a move toward a new paradigm was needed; a paradigm in which Eco-effectiveness is more sought after than is Eco-efficiency.
The summary statement for this workshop [...]

by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: 1, 2, 3-The Goal of the Environmental Manager, Overview

During this workshop the hypothesis was posed that environmental sustainability is the ultimate goal of the environmental manager. There were varying opinions on this and no consensus. However there was consensus regarding the belief that the profession should have a unifying goal. What that goal is or should be was not determined during the brief [...]

by Brian Butler | Filed under: 1-In the host community, Overview

The general findings at the conclusion of the symposium workshops included the idea that CSR is a necessary pre-cursor to Corporate Citizenship. There was a consensus of opinon that sustainability creates a moral and ethical imperative in relation to the host community. Also discussed was the notion that in addition to the needs of future [...]

by Brian Butler | Filed under: 1-Environmental Valuation and Accounting, Overview

Accounting and economic valuation may be separate although related issues. The tools and insights of economics can be used at an organizational level to enhance insights into what organizational options might be, but some of the tools need to be developed and explored in more detail. We would encourage the development of bridging tools that [...]

April 24, 2008 by Brian Butler , John Morelli , LAUREN KERWAWYCZ , and NEIL MILLER | Filed under: 1-The Impact of the Wal-Mart Sustainability Scorecard o

Anju, John, and I were reviewing the discussion thus far regarding the impact of the Wal-Mart Sustainability Scorecard and we are suggesting that possible topics for the symposium workshop could be:

What does the environmental manager need to know about the Wal-Mart Sustainability Scorecard in order to gain leverage to move his or her company toward [...]

by Brian Butler and John Morelli | Filed under: 1-Environmental Valuation and Accounting

Our moderator for this topic has chosen to explore the following questions at the symposium workshop:

What are some examples of how the more innovative corporations and countries are internalizing external environmental costs?
How can environmental managers more effectively use these innovative techniques?