As the building blocks of society, communities play an essential role in addressing the challenge of sustainability. Canadian communities face numerous sustainability-related challenges, from rising energy and housing costs, traffic concerns, and climate change, to long-term water supply challenges. Municipalities are therefore increasingly leading the call for and implementation of sustainability in infrastructure and planning in Canada.

Since communities are complex and diverse systems with multiple stakeholders, there are often many interpretations of sustainability and very different ideas about how best to achieve it. The Natural Step provides a clear, compelling, science-based definition of sustainability and a strategic planning framework to help communities make smart decisions that will move them step-by-step towards a successful and sustainable future.

Our planning framework, tested and adapted in dozens of Canadian communities, is rooted in systems thinking, which helps our partners to understand how daily decisions impact the larger system in which we all live. It is therefore tailor-made for integrated community sustainability planning.

The Natural Step offers a variety of approaches for communities. The primary objective is to help municipalities and their broader communities build capacity to understand and move strategically toward sustainability. We customize education and training programs to make the best use of the tools and programs that are already in place.

We give communities practical tools and information for developing sustainable practices and systems. We also provide access to an extensive global network of sustainability experts and leaders who are committed to accelerating the world's transition to a more sustainable and prosperous future.

Read more about our services for communities.