What does Sustainability mean to you?  

Sustainability for me is crucial as it determines an essential part of the productive ecosystem overlooked by many businesses. In the long-run, Sustainability determines the quality of revenue and returns companies will be able to garner. Sustainability demands that companies pay attention to doing well profit-wise and making a good impact. When we think about the future of business, some important global trends should be considered. 

First is global population growth. The earth will have about 7 billion people to 9 billion by 2050. Second, Rapid urbanization; we are seeing the development of megacities and the rise of the middle class in many emerging markets. These translate into incredible demand on an unprecedented scale for food, consumer goods, housing, transportation, infrastructure, energy and water. Feeding a population of 9 billion people will be impossible if we don’t find new ways of doing it. Providing energy and housing will be impossible if we don’t find sustainable ways of doing it.  

We are experiencing genuine constraints on the availability of resources and agricultural inputs to make goods that these 9 billion people will need. Companies will have to be innovative as to how they are going to produce and deliver these goods at the scale they are needed. Sustainability in business responds to the fact that paying attention to social and environmental concerns can be good for business. Sustainability is the intersection of people, the planet, and profit. Corporations now exist in multinational forms, doing business for millions of dollars across the globe. 

What frameworks can you as an organization begin to look at to get into this? 

1. IMPACT – What is the systemic change you wish to see in the long term? 

2. OUTCOMES – These are the intended and unintended changes that your stakeholders are experiencing or might experience with your intervention. Outcomes are the broader benefits we aim to achieve. A well-designed theory of evolution should include short term, midterm and long term outcomes 

3. OUTPUTS – These are the immediate results of our activities or products, which are necessary for achieving the outcomes. 

4. ACTIVITIES – Answer the question; what activities need to happen for each output? 

5. INPUTS – Inputs refer to the resources or investments needed to ensure that the activities take place 

When defining all these, ensure to think alignment, as this exercise must be done in light of the program or project you intend to execute.