Sustainable Business

Radar 3/7 will have to start identifying, securing, processing and reusing key commodities in highly novel ways. The study maintains that sustainability will be about the "efficient stewardship of scarce resources" to ensure a firm's long-term success. As businesses start to focus their investments on producing more value with few resources, this will result in economic dematerialisation which could see companies begin to compete on the resource efficiency of their processes and products. This could create "protectionism of resources" with a focus on reclaiming end-of-life materials. "The most nimble organisations will develop new business models, such as closed loop systems," the study predicts. "The idea of a circular economy is not new, but companies will place renewed emphasis on security of supply and recapturing end-of-life materials, particularly in the extractive and technology sectors." The research also maintains that companies will become more decentralised and flexible as they adapt to such pressures within their global supply chains. Multinational corporations in particular could find themselves navigating an increasingly hostile and challenging operating environment if these trends play out. "The overlapping challenges presented ... will mean that companies will need to plan for more than one issue at the same time – such as how water scarcity, food security and climate change will coalesce and affect the company, its supply chain and consumers," the study notes. Interestingly, it also forecasts that those businesses ahead of the curve will start to offer expertise in resource management as part of their core service offering. Campaign FCC backs the Revolution FCC Environment, one of the UK's leading waste management companies, is throwing its weight behind the Resource Revolution – organised by SB sister titles LAWR and edie.net. The Resource Revolution is a high profile campaign, addressing the increasing- ly more mainstream concepts of closed loop processes, the circular economy and cradle-to-cradle thinking. Key outputs include a comprehensive whitepaper, drawing on exclusive research, which examines the key stakeholders in closing the loop, their attitudes to collaboration and responsibilities and what waste producers and waste management companies need to do in order to make the move from the traditional, linear approach. This will be followed by a series of 'Leader' interviews focusing on each stakeholder group in turn including designers, retailers, manufacturers, consumer brands, SMEs, local authorities and waste management companies, and drawing on the research findings. These will be filed and broadcast over the coming weeks on edie.net and include sessions with Unilever, John Lewis Partnership, the RSA and Coca-Cola Enterprises.

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