Insights

December 23, 2014

SR Inc hosts the Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Q4 Executive Symposium: Strategies for Net Zero Portfolios

SR Inc was pleased to host the Sustainable Business & Enterprise Roundtable (SBER) Q4 2014 Executive Symposium: Strategies for Net Zero Portfolios December 4th in Menlo Park, CA. We want to thank our host, SBER Member-Client Facebook in particular for facilitating our in-person executive meeting.

The particular focus of the discussion was SBER Member-Clients’ aggregated progress in driving sustainability through corporate operations globally in 2014, as well as forward-looking strategies for net zero emissions portfolio-wide. Below are some key takeaways, highlighting general findings drawn from multiple Member-Clients during the preparation for this meeting and discussion:

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  In 2014, many SBER Member-Clients are setting second generation qualitative goals and quantitative targets to increase resource productivity through-out national and global portfolios through 2020.

• As they re-evaluate goals and targets, most Member-Clients have gained strong internal buy-in for multi-year sustainability strategies that help real estate and operation align with and help enterprise-wide value creation.
• Employee engagement strategies have gained importance as service companies, in particular, recognize employees as the first audience for corporate sustainability.
• As renewable energy becomes cost-competitive with fossil fuels nationally and internationally, developing a strategy for renewables has become necessary for most corporate occupiers and real estate investors.
• ICT companies are setting goals to increase renewable energy procurement, with global leaders committing to procure 100% renewable energy for data centers or to operate as net zero enterprises.
• Zero based management planning has been used long before it was applied to issues related to Corporate Sustainability and much can be learned from that history.
• Corporate Sustainability is increasingly recognized as bringing Strategy to Quality as it guides and imbues continuous optimization with a broadly shared purpose that foster innovations of growing importance.
• Executives are exploring “the power of zero” in goal setting, especially as it relates to zero-waste targets at some or all facilities.

Global thought leader Paul Hawken also joined us at Facebook to discuss his exciting new non-profit best practices project DrawDown. Many Member-clients were interested in this optimistic and science based project and we look forward to following up about it through separate email and, potentially, additional meetings.

Materials presented at the Q4 Executive Symposium and a summary of the discussions are available in SR Inc’s Member-only Digital Library. If you do not have a username and password, you may request an account. To download a copy of the presentation, discussion notes and key takeaways on Strategies for Net Zero, click here.