Sustainability Performance Metrics: Measuring what Matters for SME’s
Presentation to Sustainable Enterprise Conference
Chris Yalonis, Managing Partner, Sustainametrics415-309-0331
Content
• About Sustainametrics• Why measure sustainability performance?• Design: alignment with business ops and goals• Most critical measures• Best practices• Reporting
About Sustainametrics• Sustainability intelligence and consulting firm helping
SME’s, colleges and government entities green their operations and products/services.
• Our Core Competencies – Sustainability plan development– Green Certification– LCA, product design, voice of the Green
customer– Materials, Water and Waste Management– Energy and Greenhouse Gas Management– Training and workshops, green team facilitation
• 150 years of experience in sustainability, energy, lean manufacturing, eco-branding, LEED certifications, environmental engineering
• Can act as outsourced Sust. Director but with deeper experience, team resources, network connections
• Sustainability plan and program set-up for Green Seal
• San Francisco Scavenger: LEED Silver certification application and execution assistance
Clorox Greenworks
• Market research, product formula tests, market tests with 1000 household online community
Columbia College
• Strategic Sustainability Plan development and Stakeholder education/ engagement.
City of Napa
• Sustainability Plan for City Govt Ops and Community
Why Sustainability Intelligence?• Just like business intelligence has become a critical
management tool, sustainability intelligence is evolving as a foundation that integrates the triple bottom line and provides insight in making better system level decisions
• Sustainability practice leaders are drowning in information, starved for knowledge
• Battle for human and financial resources requires ROI, quantitative justification
• Self control and empowered individuals, teams, communities require that they know:– What is expected– What resources are available– How they are doing against expectations
The role of metrics in strategic planning and execution
– Metrics should be a reflection of goals and strategic plan
– Requires a baseline and feasible targets, resources
– Must install a sustainability operating system (SOS)
• SMART goals• Action plan• Owner/governance• Funding• Schedule• Rewards/incentives• Reporting
What makes a a SMART Metric?
Common Economic Practices/Indicators
• Economic– Planning
• Business Plan• Succession Plan• Marketing Plan• Strategic Plan
– Performance• Investing in Capital• Growing Profits• Positive Cash Flow
– Practices• Employee Professional Development• Standard Accounting Principles
Environmental Practices/Indicators• Environmental
– Watts (Energy)• Review Gas and Electric Bill for the purpose of reducing consumption• Adopt written goals about reducing energy consumption
– Water• Review monthly bills for the purpose of conservation• Install new or retro fit appliances
– Waste• Measure production• Purchase/sell products with reduced packaging• Reuse items and recycle as much as you can
– Wheels (Transportation)• Incentives/Reduce barriers for use of alternate modes of
transportation• Explore telecommuting/online meetings/teleconferencing
Social/Community Practices/Indicators
• Social Responsibility– Family Friendly Policies
• Paid or unpaid leave for birth/adoption of a child• Paid or unpaid leave for care of a dependant• Provide a group health plan for employee participation
– Civic Participation/Corporate Responsibility• Make cash or in-kind contributions to local non-profits• Match Employee contributions to local organizations• Internship opportunities for local youth
– Volunteerism• Give employees time off to volunteer in schools or with agencies• 100% of senior management serve on the board of a local non-
profit.
Examples of functional areas and metrics:
Energy/climate GHG-climate neutrality, watts/therms/sq ft. or unit or employeeEnergy efficiency, GHG/$, use calculators from EPA or cleanair-coolplanet.org for energy bill-co2 conversion ratios
Materials % of purchases from sustainable sources Processes % of employees paid market based living wage/benefits
LEED qualified building/remodels Products/services % of sales from sustainable/green products/services
Customer satisfaction ratings of LOHAS/Green product customers, impact of sustainable features and company behavior/reputation
Waste Diversion rates, reduction of absolute waste levels/unit or employee Partners/supply chain % of suppliers who meet defined sustainable index thresholds Community Profits/time donated
Local sourcing as percentage of total procurement
5 W’s X 5 P’s (5 Work Plans model)Simple frame to review company’s sustainable practices
Watts Waste Water Wheels Wellness
Products
Process
People
Purchasing
Plant (buildings)
For each cell, assess what is working and not, design SMART
goals/metrics, report
3 Key boundaries of Footprint Measures
Company GHG Emissions
Product Impact Tools
LCA and “Hot Spots”
Best Practices in Using Metrics
• Ensure a balanced scorecard in your metrics-cover range of performance measures-soft and hard
• Use the right scale and units (ie. CO2 /square ft)• Get ownership in use and maintenance of ongoing updates and reports• Keep the number of metrics to 5-7, a manageable amount to keep
attention• Combine metrics that are leading (energy conservation and efficiency
measures) and lagging (energy use)• Draft your reporting in advance and map data gathering to it• Align reporting to your industry reporting protocols and green
certifications (LEED, GRI, Green Seal, STAR)• Publish Web based dashboards to make them memorable to employees
and stakeholders
Keep Reporting Concise and Memorable
Align metrics with attaining/retaining Certifications/Eco-Labels most important to your customers
Savings on Investment Return on InvestmentOutcomes based on savings to the budget
Outcomes based on financial benefit on the bottom line
Focus on eliminating waste and improving processes
Focus on systems approach and long-term growth
Measurement by cost savings Measurement by statistical analysis
Diminishing returns Potential increasing returns
Measure ROI + SOI
Use Dashboards (Credit 360 example)
- Software for Carbon management vs sustainability intelligence-ISSP report on reporting software- Favorites for SMB’s- Credit 360, IReuse
iReuse Performance Tracking
Take-aways
• Start small, at the level you can maintain the effort
• Go through all the steps of planning and design: Assess, set goals and accompanying SMART metrics
• Assign owners of reports and update data• Measure Cost Savings and ROI• Report out key 5-7 KPI’s with dashboards
Reference materials• Sustainability Planning, Darcy Hitchcock and Marsha Willard, Pages 65-79• Ecological Intelligence, Daniel Goleman• ISSP 2010 Directory of Sustainability Planning & Reporting Tools, LCA tools
– http://www.sustainabilityprofessionals.org/resources/general-resource• Standards
– http://www.greenbiz.com/print/43386
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