In collaboration with leaders and experts from industry, government and civil society our teams are working on ‘Five Big Bets’ that have enormous potential to contribute to a clean and prosperous economy, as we collectively develop effective and scalable solutions to climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution.

We live in a time of great uncertainty, complexity, and unprecedented systemic challenges. Addressing complex sustainability challenges requires unprecedented collaboration and new ways of working across sectors and across scales.

The Canada Plastics Pact (CPP) is creating a circular economy in Canada in which plastic waste is kept in the economy and out of the environment. Canada Plastics Pact Partners are united, working together on achieving clear, actionable targets by the year 2025. 

  Blog

Message from the Executive Director: Focusing and scaling up to achieve the impact we all desire

The first half of 2012 has been an exciting time at The Natural Step Canada. While those of you who follow us on social media know that we have been contributing our perspective to some of the public debate around issues linked to sustainable development, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on what we have been focusing on and how we are scaling up our impact.

We continue to help a number of leading organizations with the development and execution of their sustainability strategies, including for our friends at the David Suzuki Foundation. Supporting the development of role model organizations for sustainable business and sustainable communities continues to be a primary way that we achieve our mission of accelerating the transition to a sustainable society.

We often work with medium-sized businesses in Canada who want to make a deep commitment to sustainability and drive long-term profitability, resiliency, and increased market share—but don’t know how. Has your company started along its sustainability journey and made some progress, but found you need help to make the transformational change you know is needed (and good for the company)? Know that you’re not alone. And, thankfully, this is where The Natural Step Canada excels.

Few businesses know what a bold sustainability strategy REALLY means: Long-term profitability and resiliency

Over the past 10 plus years, we have been fortunate to be able to get to know a number of businesses and business leaders who are taking a leadership role in sustainability. They do this not only due to their commitment to a better future, but—perhaps more importantly—they feel that sustainability is a real driver of long-term profitability and resiliency. This requires an honest organizational dialogue about its key sustainability challenges and a vision that goes right at the heart of what sustainability means for its core business strategy.

For example, take the Landmark Group of Builders, a medium-sized home builder located in Edmonton, Alberta. One of the key early initiatives that has really driven their sustainability journey was an honest look at how their core business processes were contributing to the degradation of social and ecological systems, including affecting big issues such as climate change, toxicity, and urban sprawl. Although not an easy conversation, this led to adopting a bold vision for the business that charts a course for long-term success for the business and sustainability for the planet.

Good guys & bad guys: They're all part of the same unsustainable system

On June 4, environmental groups and other organizations are blacking out their web sites to protest Bill C-38. We won't be blacking our web site out, but we do have something to say.

At The Natural Step Canada, we are not experts in the policies being debated. Other groups have considerably more to say on the implications of the policies in question.

But what we can speak to—from a standpoint of considerable experience—is the unfortunate tone of this public debate and the government’s divisive approach that has led us to where we are.

Pages

Subscribe to Front page feed