Sustainability In The Age Of Responsibility

Sustainability in the Age of Responsibility
Question
Answered

Learning Objectives:
Discover new trends or practices within industry.
Present the benefits to sustainability as practiced within a business you have researched.
Directions:
1. You may partner with one other person in the class for this project, and as such you would submit the same project to the D2L dropbox. Please ensure that the Word and PowerPoint documents are appropriately named and follow the naming convention: CSR_Final Project_FALL2016_Student Names.docx and the same for the PowerPoint (If you are handing in a PowerPoint presentation as well – see below).
2. Using the principles of CSR 2.0 as a lens for your research, as described by Wayne Visser in his book entitled The Age of Responsibility, find a ‘gold star’ business that is currently engaged in best practices in sustainability. The business need not have achieved all of their aspirational goals in their journey towards becoming a responsible company, but must have documented proof of their commitments and effectiveness in keeping those commitments, which you will explain to your classmates. The business can be working within any industry, but should not be susceptible to the criticisms levied in Futerra’s Greenwashing Guide.
3. Questions you will want to ask of your industry example of a sustainable business:
a. When did they start their journey and how far along are they in reaching their goals?
b. What makes their efforts unique within their industry?
c. In what ways are they exhibiting the principles of creativity, scalability, responsiveness, glocality and circularity? (Note: the business need not exhibit all principles, but should be exemplars of at least three of these principles).
d. What makes this business interesting or unique in terms of becoming a responsible company? Are they industry leaders? Have they developed a new process, and one in which is more cyclical in nature? Are they heading towards net-zero emissions or net-zero footprint? Do they solve social problems in a unique way, furthering social justice or reducing inequality?