Making the Business Case for

Environmental Sustainability
Rebecca Henderson

Working Paper
15-068

February 19, 2015

Copyright © 2015 by Rebecca Henderson

Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and
discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working
papers are available from the author.
Making the Business Case for Environmental Sustainability
Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School
September 30, 2014

Can a business case be made for acting sustainably? This is a difficult question to answer
precisely, largely because there is no generally accepted definition of the term “sustainability”. Is
it acting sustainably to protect the human rights of the firm’s workforce? To invest in education
in local communities? To switch to renewable power? All of these actions might improve social
welfare, and some of them might improve profitability but they are very different, and the
business case for each of them is similarly likely to look quite different. Here I begin to explore
the issue by focusing on a more limited question, namely whether a business case be made for
acting in an environmentally sustainable way, which I define as acting in any way that reduce a
firm’s environmental footprint.

An accumulating body of research suggests that reducing the environmental impact of the private
sector is likely to have significant social returns (Stern, 2008; Jorgenson et al, 2014). Reducing
the use of fossil fuel based energy and hence of CO2 emissions reduces the risk of climate
change, for example, and using fewer raw materials and adopting more sustainable fishing or
farming practices reduces pressure on the world’s eco-systems. However it is not immediately
clear that these kinds of actions are likely to yield significant private returns. The risks of climate
change or of eco-system destruction are classic “externalities” in that their costs accrue to the
broader society and not to a particular firm, so that in a competitive market firms that invest to
reduce their environmental footprint – by, for example, reducing the amount of waste they
generate, using renewable energy or investing in more efficient equipment – are running the risk
of putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage if these actions simply contribute to the
public good.

The substantial scholarly literature that has attempted to measure the relationship between
economic returns and sustainable behavior underlines this tension, finding that at the very least
the relationship between addressing environmental issues and immediate financial returns is a
complex one. Margolis and Walsh, (2003), for example, in one of the best summaries of this
literature, find no evidence that embracing sustainability increases profitability, and although
some recent papers suggest that these kinds of investments can increase returns (See, for
example, Eccles et. al, 2013), other work continues to find no correlation between financial
returns and investments in sustainability. Figure (1), for example, maps the relationship between
a comprehensive set of social and environmental indicators and financial performance over the
previous two years for 1,100 CEOs (Hansen et al, 2013). It suggests – and the authors confirm –
that the correlation between them is very close to zero.

Figure 1 Hansen/Ibarra about here

Does this evidence imply that the business case for investing in environmental sustainability
cannot be made? Certainly some observers has suggested that this is the case, arguing that the
public sector is much better equipped to handle environmental problems than the private, and
that at best those private firms who invest in environmental sustainability (hereafter simply
“sustainability”) are engaged in sophisticated green washing (Stavins, 2011).

In this chapter, however, I argue that this conclusion is fundamentally mistaken. The push to
transform our economy from one based on the premise that natural resources are inexhaustible
and that waste can be freely disposed of to one that acknowledges natural limits and actively
minimizes waste is fundamentally disruptive, requiring firms to make sustainability a central
strategic concern and to change their operations, strategies and organizational processes in
fundamental ways. As such, it will require business leaders to actively manage the tension
between “exploitation”, or the need to continue to exploit current ways of doing things and
“exploration”, and the need to invest in preparing for a major shift. One of the reasons that these
kinds of discontinuities challenge the status quo is that the investments required to prepare for
the future are rarely immediately profitable (Bresnahan, 2012; Christensen, 1997; Tushman and
Romanelli, 1985). The business case for making them cannot rely on immediate, short term
returns. Instead it rests on a sophisticated understanding of the risks entailed in doing nothing
and on the opportunities inherent in moving early to prepare for a range of plausible futures.

2
It is thus not surprising that cross sectional analyses of the relationship between financial returns
and investments in sustainability do not – as yet – yield any easy answers. In a number of
industries – particularly in energy, the built environment, agriculture and consumer goods –
investments to increase environmental sustainability have compelling economics on short time
frames. But in many sectors these kinds of investments are best thought of as experiments,
strategic hedges, or plausible bets against a coming world, rather than as investments that are
likely to shift overall corporate performance today. The recognition that this is the case has
significant implications for not only how leaders should make the case for change, but also for
the ways in which the strategy making process should be managed and for the ways in which
investments in sustainability should be organized.

To make this case I begin by focusing on those instances in which investing in sustainability
already yields immediate, predictable returns. Building on a range of examples and the typology
developed in Esty and Winston’s “Green to Gold” (2006) I suggest that three business models
have emerged to date as particularly powerful ways to make money from acting sustainably:
forestalling risk, increasing operational efficiency and selling to the environmental niche. I then
draw on a scenario technique developed by Peter Schwartz (1996) to highlight the way in which
increasing environmental degradation is likely to create the conditions under which these models
will become increasingly compelling across a wide range of industries.

I argue that in many industries increasing environmental pressures may lead to major changes in
the competitive context – including significant shifts in the nature of consumer demand, in the
regulatory environment and in the availability of cost effective environmentally friendly
technology. I suggest that these uncertainties mean that most firms face (at least) four possible
futures, in three of which investing in sustainability is likely to be a significant source of
competitive advantage. Using the examples of Unilever, M&S, Nissan, Duke and BP, I suggest
that leading firms are already using this perspective to make the case for investing in
sustainability, despite the fact that these kinds of investments may not be immediately profitable
in a “business as usual” scenario. I suggest that the key to building a business case in these
circumstances is to make investments that are robust -- to make investments that are at least

3
marginally profitable in today’s world, but that simultaneously position the firm for significant
competitive advantage as and when the competitive context changes.

I close by suggesting that this perspective has important implications for the effective leadership
of sustainable change, since it implies that investing in sustainability requires the explicit
recognition that the firm faces a multiplicity of possible futures. Leading effectively in the face
of this kind of uncertainty requires both challenging the conventional strategy process and the
ability to hold the organizational tension inherent in investing in any “exploratory” project
(March, 1991). Rather than insisting that environmental investments are certain to yield returns,
leading effective change requires senior leaders to create both organizational and strategic
flexibility inside the firm, and to create the capability to be both efficient and sustainable. These
are precisely the kinds of capabilities highlighted so effectively in this book (See for example,
Silvestri and Gulati, Kanter, Tushman, O’Reilly, and Harreld, Ancona et al, and Edmondson et
al).

Investing in Environmental Sustainability: the Case for Current Action

A lively practitioner orientated literature – including “Green to Gold” (Esty and Winston, 2006),
“Shared Value” (Porter and Kremer, 2011), “The Resource Revolution” (Hecht, 2014) and “The
Big Pivot” (Winston, 2014) argues that the environmental crisis is creating very significant
opportunities for the private sector. One particularly compelling example of this stream of work
is the “McKinsey cost curve” – an analysis by McKinsey, the global consulting firm, that
suggests that nearly half of all of the currently available opportunities for reducing emissions of
green-house gases are NPV positive, or economically viable right now (Figure 2).

Figure 2: McKinsey cost curve about here

Indeed many firms claim to be actively investing in becoming more environmentally sustainable.
For example nearly 6,000 report issue some form of sustainability report under the GRI, the

4
Global Reporting Initiative1. “Sustainability” is a broad term, and many of these firms may be
focused more on social and governance issues than on environmental concerns, but nonetheless
there is increasingly compelling evidence that environmental sustainability is big business. A
recent front page article in the New York Times suggested that “Industry Awakens to the Threat
of Climate Change” and for many firms investments in sustainability appear to have yielded
immediate returns2 Three business models have emerged as particularly promising: forestalling
risk, increasing operational efficiency and selling to the environmental niche.3

Forestalling Risk: Preventing Brand Damage and/or preserving “License to Operate”

The combination of an increasingly global media, the widespread penetration of social networks
and an increasingly concerned consumer base has led many firms with large, consumer facing
brands to invest aggressively in sustainable business practices to forestall potential brand
damage. Similarly firms facing tight regulatory environments or potentially hostile communities
have also invested heavily in the attempt to head off potential regulation and/or the loss of the
firm’s “license to operate”.

For example allegations that Nike’s factories were polluting local water ways were a major
factor in persuading the firm to invest heavily in sustainability. Nike now employs more than 135
people in its sustainability group, and has publicly committed to a range of aggressive targets in
the area. Similarly some years ago Greenpeace accused both McDonalds and Kimberly Clark of
contributing to deforestation (of the Amazon and of old growth forest in the US, respectively). In
response McDonalds took the lead in spearheading industry wide efforts to preserve the Amazon,
and both firms have committed to sourcing policies that promise to steadily increase the
environmental sustainability of their supply chains.4

Coca Cola’s engagement with the question of water scarcity is another striking example. Nearly
ten years ago Coca Cola – whose brand is estimated to be worth more than $77bn, nearly half of

1
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/science/earth/threat-to-bottom-line-spurs-action-on-climate.html?_r=0
3
How does this typology relate to G to G typology?
4
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/sustainability/library/policies_programs/sustainable_supply_chain/Rainf
orest_Conservation.html

5
the firm’s entire capitalization -- was accused by Indian activists of depleting local water
suppliers and was the target of widespread local action and global criticism as a result.5 While
the firm disputed the accuracy of the underlying charges it has since launched a major effort
focused on water, announcing a commitment to become “water neutral”.6

Similar dynamics have led a number of firms – particularly in the chemical and in the extractive
industries – to invest in reducing their environmental impact in an attempt to preclude
community pressure and/or additional regulation. The evidence is mixed as to whether such
‘self-regulation’ is as effective as more standard regulation in reducing pollution (Toffel and
Short, 2011), but there is compelling evidence that the chemical industry’s extensive investments
in both waste reduction has more than covered its costs through the delivery of significant
improvements in operational efficiency (Hoffman, 2002).

Increasing operational efficiency

As the introduction to this volume suggested, one of the most immediate impacts of the
environmental crises we face has been increasing input costs. For example figure 3 shows the
recent increase in commodity prices.

Figure 3 Commodity prices

As a result many firms are finding that there is a great deal of money to be made in increasing
the efficiency with which resources are used. As Figure (1) suggested, this dynamic is
particularly salient in the case of energy, where both anecdotal evidence and a number of careful
comparative studies suggest that a compelling business case for increasing energy efficiency
exists in many contexts. For example, a recent National Academies study conducted on behalf of
the Department of Defense concluded that using LEED-Silver or equivalent standards in the
design and construction of new buildings increased the costs of initial construction between 0-
8%, but that since construction costs are typically only 5-10% of total life cycle costs, building
“green” or “high performance” buildings increased total costs by less than 1% while reducing

5
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/business/16coke.html?ref=asia&_r=0
6
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/our-water-conservation-goal

6
energy costs by between 5 and 30% and water use by 8-11% over the life of the building. The
commission recommended that all new DOD buildings or major renovations use these
standards.7

The widespread recognition of this opportunity has fueled the growth of hundreds of new firms.
For example, Johnson Controls, one of the largest players in the space, had 2012 revenues of
over $14bn in their energy efficiency business, while Schneider Electric, a €23bn global energy
giant, recently repositioned itself as the “only global specialist in energy management” and
claimed that more than 35% of its revenues were derived from its integrated solutions business.
Similarly an increasing fraction of new construction is being built with an eye to increased
energy efficiency and heavy equipment manufacturers across a range of industries have
introduced energy efficient products including aerospace engines (GE, Rolls Royce) and
compressors (Ingersoll Rand, United Technology).

Many firms have also reported significant savings from individual efforts to reduce energy. For
example KKR claims that the imposition of a systematic process of energy and water reduction
across their portfolio companies has yielded returns of at least $150m a year for each of the last
five years (Eccles, Serafeim and Clay, 2012), while between 1990 and 2012 IBM reduced
electricity consumption by 6.1 billion kWh, saving $477 million through energy conservation
alone.8. Maersk, the world’s largest container shipping company, forecasting that the cost of fuel
was likely to rise from $250/ton in 2008 to $700/ton by 2020, committed to an aggressive
program of energy efficiency, introducing “slow steaming” by its ships and reducing fuel use by
7% between 2009 and 2012 (Reinhardt, 2012). One report from the UN Foundation estimated
that an investment of $US3.2 trillion worldwide in energy conservation would avoid new supply
investments of $3 trillion and would pay for itself within three to five years.9

Similarly technologies that enable reductions in water use are opening up new markets. For
example Jain Irrigation, an Indian firm specializing in “micro-irrigation” techniques, saw

7
National Research Council. Energy-Efficiency Standards and Green Building Certification Systems Used by the
Department of Defense for Military Construction and Major Renovations . Washington, DC: The National
Academies Press, 2013.
8
http://www.ibm.com/ibm/environment/climate/
9
http://www.globalproblems-globalsolutions-files.org/unf_website/PDF/realizing_potential_energy_efficiency.pdf

7
revenues grow at a 41% compound growth rate between 2005 and 2010 (Goldberg, Knoop and
Preeble, 2012). Waste reduction is also emerging as a significant opportunity. For example Wal-
Mart claims to reduced waste by more than 80%, and in doing so to have returned $231m to the
business last year.10 Recycling is also an increasingly important business. 70% of the feedstock
to the aluminum industry, for example, is now derived from recycled materials, saving 95% of
the energy required to make new aluminum from bauxite ore, and Waste Management estimates
it could generate $15 billion of revenue annually if it could effectively separate and resell all the
material in the roughly 100 million tons of garbage it collects each year—something that would
more than double the size of the company (Hecht, 2014).

Selling to the environmental niche

A number of firms have been able to build successful businesses by developing highly
differentiated offerings targeted specifically to consumers who value environmental
performance. While only a relatively small proportion of consumers appear to be willing to pay
more today for sustainable products, they are supporting some sizeable businesses. Stonyfield
Farm, for example, had 2012 revenues of $360m and revenues at Patagonia, a leader in this
space, are estimated to be about $500m. Some of the fastest growing restaurant chains are
claiming “sustainability” as a key identity. Starbucks is a particularly well known example, but
Chipotle had 2012 revenues of almost $3bn, while Panera Bread had 2012 revenues close to
$2bn. Only 10% of Clorox’s approximate $5b of sales are of “green” products, but they have
been providing much of the firm’s recent growth (Ofek, 2012).

At an even larger scale, Toyota sells more than 230,000 Priuses every year, making it a roughly
$4.5bn business. Whole Foods had 2012 revenues of $11.7bn, while in the same year the
sustainably orientated Triodos Bank had € 8.0bn of assets under management, much of it
provided by retail investors committed to the Bank’s core mission.

Several opportunities to build entirely new kinds of businesses meeting entirely new needs have
also emerged in the environmental space. The “clean tech” sector is both the most well-known

10
http://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/environment-sustainability/zero-waste

8
and the largest example. Renewable energy is still a relatively small share of the total energy
supply, but it is a multi-billion dollar business. Wal-Mart, for example, recently announced that
there were planning to source 100% of their energy needs from renewable sources by 2020,
while Verizon has committed to spending $100m on solar power and fuel cell technologies to
power their operations.11 Solar and wind have been growing at double digit rates and now
provide 12% of total electric power in the US, with world-wide revenues last year on the order of
$100bn for each of them.12

Actively seeking to reduce consumption by building the so-called “shared economy” is another
source of opportunity. For example Avis recently bought Zipcar, the pioneering provider of
“wheels when you want them” for $96m, and Zipcar’s success has drawn in a host of new
competitors, including firms such as Car2Go and Mint Cars on demand. Uber, the leading car
hailing company, is reported to have revenues of over $20m a week, or more than $1bn a year,
while Airbnb, the online room rental service, is expected to reach $1bn in revenues this year. 13

Building a Business Case in the face of uncertainty:

Thus in the case of a number of industries – including energy, chemicals, the built environment,
transportation and consumer goods -- building a business case to act in the face of the
environmental crisis is already relatively straightforward, and this perhaps explains why so many
consultants and observers insist that “green is the new gold”. In many sectors of the economy
and for many firms, however, the business case for investments in sustainability rests much more
on their ability to position the firm for advantage in anticipation of the ways in which an
increasingly visible environmental crisis is likely to change the competitive context.

Investing in anticipation of major shifts is always risky, but it is often also a powerful source of
competitive advantage – or, at the least, a useful means of avoiding competitive disadvantage. In

11

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/energy_resources_materials/the_disruptive_potential_of_solar_power?cid=R
esourceRev-eml-alt-mkq-mck-oth-1404
12
(Pew Charitable Trust “Manufacture, Compete: A Clean Energy Action Plan”
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/03/12/biofuel-wind-and-solar-global-market-values-set-to-double-by-2012/).
13
http://allthingsd.com/20131204/uber-essentially-confirms-revenue-estimates-but-bristles-over-source-of-
valleywag-report/

9
this case, for example, the case for investing to forestall potential brand damage or regulatory
costs is likely to become increasingly compelling as consumers become increasingly concerned
about sustainability and as regulators respond to their concerns. Investing “ahead of the curve”
may also allow firms to create first mover advantage: investing in sustainability before its
required, for example, may enable firms to build brand advantage, or to create relationships or
assets that will serve them well as the world shifts. Third, leading edge firms often shape the
future to their advantage. No one can be sure what will drive the kinds of technical, cultural and
political shifts that would make many sustainable business models profitable, but in many cases
it seems plausible that private sector action – particularly if it can be coordinated with other
stakeholders – may play an important role in making them happen. Lastly, the increases in
employee engagement that often emerge as the result of a commitment to sustainability may
more than cover the usually minimal costs of making some of these preemptive or exploratory
investments.

I develop this argument in more depth using scenario analysis, a tool that was first developed at
Shell, the oil major, as a tool for thinking about how a firm might frame strategy in the face of
very significant uncertainties, when the common assumption that the future is likely to look like
a slightly modified version of today is unlikely to hold (Wilkinson and Kupers, 2014). In these
situations it is much more useful to think of the firm as facing several different scenarios, or
future worlds, in each of which it might be optimal to adopt a very different strategy, rather than
as being faced with a single future for which it must plan.

I explore three sources of uncertainty whose resolution would have a significant effect on the
profitability of sustainable action: whether and when mainstream consumers come to value
sustainable products and services enough to pay for them; whether and when increasingly acute
environmental pressures generate political pressure for additional environmental regulation; and
whether and when scientific and technological advances across a range of fields are likely to
make responding to environmental issues significantly cheaper.

An emerging consumer movement?

10
One of the major uncertainties surrounding the development of sustainable business models is
the extent to which consumers will be willing to pay a premium for sustainable products and
services. At the moment the evidence on this point is mixed. On the one hand, one study has
reported that two-thirds of consumers in six countries say that “as a society, we need to consume
a lot less to improve the environment for future generations” (66%), and that they feel “a sense
of responsibility to purchase products that are good for the environment and society” (65%).14
The same study suggested that consumers in developing markets (Brazil, China, India) were
more than twice as likely as their counterparts in developed markets (Germany, UK, US) to
report purchasing products because of environmental and social benefits, being willing to pay
more for sustainable products and encouraging others to buy from companies that are socially
and environmentally responsible.

Careful experimental research similarly suggests that in some situations, some consumers will
pay a significant premium for some products – although this work is still at a sufficiently early
stage that we don’t yet have a clear sense for the common factors that are at work across them.
For example two large scale field experiments conducted with the apparel manufacturer Gap,
suggested that labels with information about a program to reduce water pollution increased sales
by 8% amongst female shoppers, although they apparently had no such effect in outlet stores or
on male shoppers (Hainmueller and Hiscox, 2012). Experiments in a major US grocery store
chain suggested that sales of the two most popular bulk coffees sold in the store rose by almost
10% when the coffees were labeled as Fair Trade, (Hainmueller, Hiscox and Sequeira, 2011) and
an experiment on eBay suggested that shoppers were willing to pay a 23% premium for coffee
labeled Fair Trade (Hiscox, Broukhim, Litwin, 2013). Similarly several studies of consumers’
willingness to pay for “green power” suggest that some consumers are willing to pay a premium
for sustainably produced electricity (Bigerna and Paolo, 2011; Borchers etc al., 2007).

On the other hand, “green” products and services remain a niche product in many markets, with
many firms reporting that consumers are not willing to pay more for them. For example Wal-

14
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/articles/rethinking-consumption-finds-
consumers-buying-less-and-betterThe findings are based on an online survey of 6,224 consumers
across Brazil, China, India, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States conducted in
September and October 2012.
11
Mart has not marketed its (extensive) green supply chain initiatives directly to consumers,
apparently fearing that the “green” or “sustainable” label may be interpreted as either
“expensive” or “lower quality” (Humes, 2011). Whether and when consumer preferences shift in
this regard clearly has immediate implications for the profitability of acting sustainably.

Potential Shifts in Political and Regulatory Regimes.

Similar uncertainties surround whether and when local, state and national governments are likely
to react to the threat of environmental degradation. For example some US states have imposed
their own “cap and trade” regimes in an attempt to limit the emissions of green-house gases,
while others have mandated renewable portfolio standards. Europe has been experimenting with
several different forms of carbon regulation, while some countries – including Norway and
Australia -- have imposed significant carbon taxes. The Chinese government appears to be
attempting to shift its power sector towards a less carbon intensive mix. Attempts to create a
global carbon regime have so far been unsuccessful, but if the effects of climate change are as
significant as some forecast, they may one day succeed.

Governments across the world are also exploring the possibility of increasing regulatory
protection for natural systems such as water, clean air, and a variety of natural habitats, as well as
potentially tightening up rules for the disposal of many different kinds of waste, with recent
Australian and Chinese activity in this space perhaps the most far reaching example.15 Since
these kinds of regulations are often viewed as constraints on short term economic growth it is
very difficult to predict how they will evolve going forward, but historically significant increases
in living standards have been accompanied by political pressure to raise environmental
standards, so that accelerating growth in the developing world may well increase the pressure for
environmental regulation. Again, appropriate regulation can, of course, completely shift the
landscape for private sector action. In the US, for example, investments in wind power have
fluctuated significantly in response to the presence or absence of tax credits16, while the

15
http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21583245-china-worlds-worst-polluter-largest-investor-green-energy-
its-rise-will-have
16
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-09/wind-energy-companies-prepare-for-tax-credits-end

12
installation of solar power in Germany has been entirely dependent on the provision of generous
incentives from the German government.17

Technological responses

Yet another critically important uncertainty is the question of how rapidly technological
solutions are likely to emerge in response to the kinds of environmental pressures we are likely
to face, since investing preemptively in these kinds of opportunities can often create advantage
as costs come down. For example Duke Energy’s investments in renewable energy have forced
them to explore both the technological challenges and the policy hurdles inherent in moving to
distributed power generation, while both IBM and Cisco are investing aggressively in exploring
the potential for technology to enable the creation of “Smart Cities”. New technologies can
rarely be adopted off the shelf, since their successful adoption usually requires the development
of detailed knowledge about how they are likely to be used and how they can best be integrated
into existing systems.

This issue is particularly salient since humans are almost infinitely resourceful, and it is possible
that the next ten years will see major breakthroughs in resource use, in agriculture and in energy
production that dramatically lower their costs. For example the cost of both solar and wind
power has fallen dramatically over the last ten years – some estimates suggest that the cost of
solar power has fallen by over 80%,18 and some experts have predicted that the next few years
will see a “resource revolution” in which investments of more than $1 trillion may lead to $3-4
trillion of potential efficiency gains.19 Similarly new approaches to the generation of nuclear
power may significantly reduce costs, waste generation and the threat of nuclear proliferation
(Sahlman et al, 2012), while in Singapore introducing “smart” transportation systems may cut
the number of vehicles on the road by over 60% while improving levels of service.20 Investing in

17
Policymaker's Guide to Feed-in Tariff Policies, U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab, 2010,
www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/44849.pdf
18
http://cleantechnica.com/2013/05/06/solar-pv-module-prices-have-fallen-80-since-2008-wind-turbines-29/
19
http://www.mckinsey.com/features/resource_revolution
20

http://app.mot.gov.sg/page_land.aspx?p=/Land_Transport/Sustainable_Development/Promoting_Sustainable_Trans
port.aspx&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

13
advance of these kinds of trends can allow the firm to develop the kind of on the ground
experience, customer knowledge and regulatory relationships that can allow them to take
advantage of technological change as it occurs.

Scenario Analysis: Exploring the interaction between these trends

Following Peter Schwartz (1996), one can use these uncertainties to define a 2x2 grid defining
four possible future worlds. I assume that the possibility that consumers will be willing to pay for
products and services that prevent or mitigate environmental harm is so closely correlated with
the possibility that there will be increasing political pressure for increased regulation that the two
are effectively equivalent. This is clearly an enormous simplification, and if one was conducting
this analysis for a single industry, or for a single geography one could be much more precise –
but at this very broad level of analysis it’s not an unreasonable first cut. Figure (4) shows the
results of mapping this possibility against the possibility of significant technological change.

Figure 4 about here: Basic scenario analysis

Any such mapping is necessarily a simplification of a hugely complex underlying reality. This
particular map, for example, doesn’t explicitly focus on the question of how rapidly
environmental degradation is likely to occur going forward, and here I thus make the implicit
assumption that from a business perspective the key issue is not how rapidly the environmental
crisis is likely to unfold but whether and how such degradation will feed through into consumer
response or political action. Despite its simplicity, however, this map immediately highlights a
number of critically important strategic and organizational dynamics.

Between them, the two uncertainties define four possible scenarios: “Business as usual”, “Green
goes main-stream”, “Demand driven opportunity” and “Supply driven opportunity.” “Business
as usual” is a world in which neither consumer demand nor regulatory pressure leads to any
significant increase in the demand for sustainable products or services, and in which
implementing sustainable solutions remains relatively expensive. Notice that it could still be a
world in which there was very substantial environmental degradation – in this world, however,

14
such degradation does not lead to any pressure for action. This is the world that most firms
experience at present, and it appears to be the future that is taken for granted by many business
people. For example, Exxon Mobil recently released a report asserting that the firm does not
believe that there is a significant risk that any of their current reserves will become “stranded”, or
valueless, as a result of future changes to regulatory policy.21

Even those business people who do not believe that “business as usual” is the most likely future
often act as if it were – as decades of organizational research have taught us, assumptions about
how the world works and how it is likely to evolve are often deeply embedded in the deep
structure of an organization – in its identity, in its information processing routines, and in its
organizational capabilities (Nelson and Winter, 1982; Hannan and Freeman, 1989; Tushman and
O’Reilly, 1997). The identity and mental models of an organization often evolve only very
slowly (MA Glynn in this book; Kaplan, 2008; Tripsas and Gavetti, 2000).

“Green goes Mainstream” is a world in which accelerating technological change in combination

with robust demand driven either by consumer preference or political pressure has opened up
large markets for sustainable products and services. For those parts of the solar energy and wind
power industry with strong political support and for those businesses such as Zipcar or Uber that
already sell to sustainably orientated consumers and for whom the technologies necessary to
support their business are already in place, this world is already a reality, but for many firms it
remains only a possibility.

In “Demand Driven Opportunity”, the technological progress necessary to develop new products
is slow in coming and/or costly, but consumer or voter concern has led to an increasing demand
for green products and/or for policies the penalize conventional offerings. Firms such as
Patagonia and Seventh Generation that sell more expensive products to those consumers who
currently care about sustainability are already experiencing this world, but to date these kinds of
products remain a relatively small share of the market.

21
http://cdn.exxonmobil.com/~/media/Files/Other/2014/Report%20-%20Energy%20and%20Carbon%20-
%20Managing%20the%20Risks.pdf

15
“Supply Driven Opportunity”, is a world in which significant technical change has opened up
opportunities, but neither consumers nor politicians are willing to allocate resources to pay more
for sustainable products. The very large efforts focused on reducing energy demand are already
experiencing this world – acting sustainably is economically viable even in the absence of
consumer demand, and many observers believe that acceleration in raw material prices of all
kinds will drive significant activity to this space going forward.

Mapping these examples to industries highlights the way in which the current case for
sustainability differs enormously across the economy, with the major opportunities currently
occurring in energy, buildings, water, agriculture and consumer goods. In these cases the
uncertainties I have mapped are increasingly no longer uncertainties – firms can be sure that
technological progress will occur, or that consumer or regulatory demand will enable them to
offer a more highly priced product. But framing the strategic space in this way also focuses
attention on the fact that for many industries, the case for becoming more sustainable rests on the
assumptions one makes about how these uncertainties are likely to play out.

In many industries raw materials and energy are a relatively small percentage of value added,
and there is as yet only nascent consumer and political pressure to become more sustainable. One
way to approach the development of sustainable business models in these contexts is to simply
insist that the world is changing, and that becoming more sustainable is a far sighted anticipatory
response. But as the discussion above suggests, we cannot be certain how the world is likely to
evolve. It might prove to be the case, for example, that technological change triggers such
significant improvements in resource productivity, and/or such dramatic reductions in the costs
of carbon free energy, that we can arrest or reverse the environmental decline and resource
productivity that might otherwise occur. Similarly environmental degradation could continue to
accelerate, but economic pressure may make mainstream consumers very reluctant to pay for
green products and there may never be sufficient political will to impose appropriate regulation.
Even if one believes that both trends are inevitable, there can be significant disagreement about
the pace of change. It is much easier to make a business case if one is reasonably certainly that
major regulation is likely to be imposed next year than if one believes it is likely, but not for
another twenty years. This kind of uncertainty is a constant feature of disruptive or discontinuous

16
change, but it is not, in itself, a reason to do nothing. Nokia, for example, lost its phone business
because of its inability to make a compelling case to make the investments necessary to compete
with Apple in the smart phone business, while Corning survived the dot-com crash because it
had invested in the technology necessarily to make large displays many years in advance of their
becoming commercially viable.

This uncertainty has very significant implications for the leadership of sustainable change. In the
first place, it highlights the importance of distinguishing between models that are profitable now,
given today’s prices and technology, and models that represent strategic bets against possible
future states of the world. Persuading a firm to make investments that are likely to immediately
profitable, while by no means always easy, presents a fundamentally different kind of strategic
and organizational challenge from persuading firms to develop models whose success is
contingent on some uncertain future state. In the second place, it focuses attention on the
contingent nature of plausible sustainable business models. Their profitability in any particular
context is going to be dependent on the rate at which the relevant uncertainties resolve
themselves and their salience for the nature of the business. In any particular industry, the
potential profitability of sustainable business models will be dependent on how much pressure
these forces can exert, and on how rapidly they resolve.

Consider, for example, Unilever’s move to introduce “sustainable tea”. In 2007 Unilever became
the first major tea company to commit to sustainable sourcing on a large scale. Unilever’s tea
business is substantial – Unilever sells roughly €3.5bn worth of tea, approximately 30% of the
world’s market for branded tea, and buys approximately 12% of the world’s supply of black tea.
The firm is committed to sourcing 100% of its tea sustainably by 2020, and in partnership with
the Rainforest Alliance has developed an auditable standard. As of February 2014, 39% of
Unilever’s tea purchases were sourced from Rainforest Alliance certified farms.22

Estimating the economic returns to this effort is complicated by the fact that it is impossible to
know what would have happened to Unilever’s share of market without the adoption of
Rainforest Alliance certification, but those numbers that are available suggest that by 2011 the

22
http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/sustainablesourcing/tea/ Accessed 2/1/2014

17
effort had roughly broken even. Moving to certified tea required training farmers – between 2007
and the end of 2012, for example, 450,000 farmers had been trained to Rainforest Alliance
standards – and also meant paying a small premium for certified tea. However in some markets
the introduction of certified tea was associated with significant market share gains, at least in the
short term. For example in the UK, the introduction of Rainforest Alliance certified tea was
associated with a share gain of 1.8% (Henderson, 2011). These introductions were not costless –
for example in the UK, Unilever spent the entire €12m marketing budget on launching the new
product – but given the difficulty of making share gains in such a hotly contested space these
results are suggestive. The move to sustainable sourcing also generated economic gains for the
farmers involved, as in many cases yields increased significantly and costs fell.

Has this strategy been successful? It has since been widely imitated by Unilever’s competitors,
with many of the world’s largest tea brands announcing a commitment to sustainability. Such
rapid imitation would suggest that the idea has gained some traction amongst consumers, and
there is some evidence that Unilever’s commitment to sustainability has significantly increased
employment commitment and engagement.23 Moreover there is no evidence that it has harmed
the brand, and some that it may even have increased brand equity.

But to think about it this way is to miss the point. Thinking about Unilever’s strategy in the
context of the scenario grid of figure 4 suggests that it is better thought of as an experiment or as
a well-designed strategic option. If the world does not change significantly – if the next five
years see the “business as usual” scenario playing out – then Unilever has lost nothing. But
should the world change – if, for example, consumer preferences switch aggressively towards
sustainable brands -- then Unilever may have established a first mover position in consumers’
minds that could be tremendously valuable. Less plausibly but still possibly, should climate
change indeed have a negative effect on the productivity of tea plantations, Unilever’s moves
may have given it an advantage in accessing worldwide tea supplies. And of course if both
should happen – should the tea industry move to the “green goes main-stream” future – then in
retrospect Unilever’s investment will come to be seen as a brilliant strategic move.

23
http://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/betterlivelihoods/developing-and-engaging-our-people/

18
Another intriguing example is that of the Nissan Leaf. The Leaf – an all-electric five passenger
compact car – was launched in December 2010. By the end of June 2013 the firm had cumulative
sales of roughly 70,000 units (Nissan 2013 Annual report), and installed capacity of 250,000
units/year24. The firm claimed that the Leaf was a profitable product25 but with estimates of
Nissan’s commitment to the car running as high as €4bn, and cumulative sales probably no
greater than $2.2bn, it seems hard to argue that – at least so far – the Leaf has achieved a positive
rate of return on its investment.26

But the Leaf, too, can be viewed as a strategic option against an uncertain future. Carlos Ghosn,
Nissan’s CEO, defends the Leaf as a long term investment, and as an “asset to the brand.” 27 He
hopes to use it enter the Chinese market, and he also believes that the company’s head start in
electric vehicle battery technology may give it a long term advantage (Burgelman and Schifrin,
2011). As in the case of Unilever’s tea business, in the “business as usual” scenario it’s hard to
see the Leaf as a huge success. But Nissan can certainly afford the investment -- in 2012,
Nissan’s revenues were $94bn, and net income was over $5bn (Nissan AR 2012) – and again,
should consumer preferences shift towards sustainability, or should the political climate shift to
support widespread carbon regulation, Nissan’s first mover position may give it a very
significant advantage in a “demand driven opportunity” world.

A number of other major consumer orientated companies similarly appear to be preparing for a
world in which consumers increasingly value sustainable products. For example it is probably
not the case that Chipotle’s recent remarkable growth has been driven by its commitment to
“Food with Integrity”, since in a 2007 interview the CEO of Chipotle estimated that only about
5% of his consumers knew about the campaign and the company conducts only minimal
advertising.28 But the firm’s positioning both give it an edge with those consumers who do value

24
http://insideevs.com/nissan-leaf-production-starts-at-3rd-assembly-plant-in-sunderland-uk-factory-video/
Accessed 2/1/2014
25
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/25362 Accessed 2/1/2014
26
http://www.plugincars.com/ghosn-defends-nissan-leaf-calling-electric-cars-future-automobile-126844.html
accessed 2/1/2014
27
http://www.plugincars.com/ghosn-defends-nissan-leaf-calling-electric-cars-future-automobile-126844.html
accessed 2/1/2014
28
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-02-16/chipotle-fast-food-with-integritybusinessweek-business-
news-stock-market-and-financial-advice accessed 2/1/2014

19
sustainable agriculture and means that should consumer tastes shift the company will be well
positioned to meet them.

The renewable energy strategies currently being pursued by many of the large energy suppliers
can similarly be best understood as strategic hedges, placed against the possibility that carbon
will be regulated or taxed in the foreseeable future, and/or that the price of conventional energy
will rise dramatically. For example the economics of Duke Energy’s plan to build a nuclear
reactor look only marginally profitable given today’s energy prices and regulatory regime, but
would look a great deal better should either shift (Vietor and Reinhardt, 2014), while BP’s
$2.9bn in range of renewable technologies including wind, solar and biofuels,29 almost certainly
has a similar strategic rationale.

Implications for leading sustainable change

This framing has a number of important implications for the leadership of sustainable change. In
the first place it suggests that developing a deep understanding of key uncertainties – and
incorporating them directly into the firm’s strategic thinking – may be critically important to
building an accurate and persuasive business case for sustainability. In many contexts it is a
mistake to blindly insist that acting sustainably is simply “the right thing to do” or that is always
likely to be profitable. Some of the discussion around shared value, for example, can be
construed as suggesting that the set of actions that simultaneously make a difference in the world
and create value for the firm is clearly delineated. In reality, however, this boundary is both
fuzzy and constantly changing – and this has important implications both for how the strategic
process should be led and for how organizational efforts designed to improve the sustainability
of the firm should be managed.

Managing the strategy process

29
http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9030041&contentId=7055175
Accessed 2/1/2014

20
In established businesses dominated by incremental change, strategic planning is often difficult
to distinguish from budgeting, and is largely a matter of planning incremental extensions to the
current business. Indeed in many firms the immediate needs of the firm’s largest customers
dominate the strategic agenda, making it very difficult to invest in anything significant different
(Christensen, 1997). The fact that the business case for sustainability is – for many sectors and
firms – likely to be dependent on the recognition of the uncertainties facing the world and the
potential advantage that may be realized by anticipating them suggests that one of the most
important tasks for leaders trying to driven their organization towards sustainability is the
development of a strategic process that incorporates the time and expertise necessary to do the
kind of uncertainty driven strategic framing I have outlined above. Such a process, for example,
would invest heavily in understanding the nature of the most salient uncertainties facing the
business, would carefully tracks them over time (Wilkinson and Kupers, 2014), and would focus
attention on those investments that are likely to be “robust”, in that they are worth making in a
range of possible futures.

Developing such a process is also likely to have a number of important organizational benefits.
Strategic discontinuities must be coupled with organizational discontinuities if they are to be
navigated successfully. Large, successful firms often react to them first with denial – “it’s not
happening” – then with skepticism “even it does happen we won’t be able to make any money’
and then with incompetence and inertia, as old identities, structures and processes make the
execution of new strategies difficult (Tushman and Romanelli, 1985; Hannan and Freeman,
1989).

Effective strategic framing can be a powerful tool to help overcome these kinds of barriers. In
the first place, new frames can help to confront denial. The reluctance to admit the possibility
that the world is fundamentally changing is deeply rooted in both individual cognition and in the
dynamics of firm identity. In this context, simply asserting that the world is changing and
expecting the organization to shift is unlikely to be successful. But using a tool like scenario
analysis – one that moves the debate away from the question of “is global warming real?” to “is
there a real possibility that an increased public perception that global warming is real may lead to
increased regulation of global warming gases?” can be enormously helpful in reframing

21
perceptions. Figure 5, for example, shows the probabilities that two groups of executives placed
on the long term uncertainties of figure 4 in the context of a discussion of the energy supply
business, on the one hand, and in the context of the consumer goods industry, on the other.30

Figure 5 about here

In both cases the “business as usual” scenario – no major shift in the technological opportunity
set and no major shift in either consumer demands or the regulatory context – is the most likely
scenario. But in both cases the odds of its coming to pass – if one believes these executives -- is
less than 50%. My experience has been that if this recognition – that by their own reckoning the
odds of the “business as usual” scenario continuing into the indefinite future are less than 50/50 -
- changes the conversation amongst a group in significant ways. Indeed in some cases I have
seen it support a major shift in orientation – away from “it isn’t going to happen” to “it might
happen” – and – most importantly -- to the idea that assuming that there is no real chance that
sustainable business models will be important is a mistake. This kind of analysis can be also be
organizationally helpful is that it immediately highlights the business case for investing in
“experiments”, and for developing the organizational capabilities that will be required to make
these experiments a success.

Another benefit of thinking through the potential for sustainable business models from this
perspective is that it also focuses attention on the factors that are likely to resolve the
uncertainties that are central to any decision, and most importantly on the degree to which firms
themselves can affect these uncertainties. For example, Unilever’s decision to put its entire tea
business on a sustainable footing has been followed by similar announcements from all of its
major competitors. What might thus have been a competitive disadvantage for the firm has thus
been transformed into table stakes – and possibly into an advantage, since Unilever has a very
significant head start in greening its supply chain. While one cannot be sure that Unilever’s
behavior has caused this shift, it certainly seems within the realm of possibility. Similarly
Nissan’s investment in electric vehicles has been accompanied by a commitment to sell the
technology that it develops as a result to the rest of the industry, thus significantly reducing the

30
Both figures are composites derived from teaching and consulting to a large number of global executives.

22
costs of other firms also introducing electric vehicles – and potentially accelerating the adoption
of the infrastructure needed to support them. The private sector investments in clean energy that
have played a huge role in driving down the cost of both wind and solar energy – some observers
now believe that solar energy may be cost competitive with fossil fuel based energy by 2020 in
most applications – have similarly changed both the political climate surrounding carbon
regulation.

More broadly, it seems plausible that many of the shifts in consumer preferences and/or in the
political environment that are likely to make the widespread deployment of profitable sustainable
models profitable are unlikely to happen without coordinated action at either the level of the
industry or the state. Building the basis for a sustained conversation about sustainable business
models thus has the potential to support the firm’s engagement in these broader networks and
levels of action. For example Nike has been central to the apparel industry’s effort to improve
both environmental and labor standards, while HP and IBM appear to have played similarly
critical roles within the IT industry. There is some evidence that these kinds of efforts can play a
crucial role in complementing local state based regulation (Locke, 2013). Thinking about
strategic efforts within this kind of contingent framework may thus be a means for engaging the
organization in the kinds of long term, multiple player based effort that is almost certainly
critical to long term sustainable change.

Organizational implications

Thinking of many sustainability orientated investments as hedges against risk or as strategic bets
against future states of the world also highlights the fact that they may need to be managed quite
differently from investments designed to pay off in the near future, in ways that are orientated
towards the support of flexibility and innovation. Shifts in strategy must be coupled with shifts in
organizational architectures. This is a theme that is taken up extensively in the other chapters of
this volume, but the scenario based perspective provides a particularly useful lens through which
one can understand quite how important this is likely to be and why it is likely to be particularly
difficult because it makes explicit the fact that there is no guarantee that these efforts will be
successful.

23
As a long literature has suggested, the organizational structures best suited to exploit the existing
business are quite distinct from those required to explore new possibilities (March, 1991;
Henderson and Clark, 1990; Tushman and O’Reilly, 1997; Tushman, O’Reilly, Harreld, Ancona,
Edmondson, this book)). Running the existing business well requires well developed skills in
operational excellence and the ability to execute rapidly and effectively, while building entirely
new businesses often requires abandoning existing routines and procedures in favor of new ways
of operating that support creativity, flexibility and the ability to fail. These two modes typically
require quite different organizational structures, quite different incentive structures and quite
different time frames and formal metrics.

If it is indeed the case that in many firms’ environmental investments are strategic bets against
possible futures, managing them will require holding the tension between these two very distinct
modes of organizing. Opportunities within the “business as usual” quadrant may challenge the
organization, but they have the great advantage of being at least no minimally profitable
according to the firm’s established metrics. Opportunities in the other three quadrants are – by
definition – only likely to be significant sources of financial return in the potentially quite distant
future and in some – very uncertain – states of the world. They are exploratory by their very
nature, and investing effectively in them is likely to require both the implementation of local
mechanisms that ensure they are managed to allow for creativity and flexibility and the
development of the capability at the most senior level of the firm to manage two very different
kinds of project simultaneously. In this context effective leadership must be “ambidextrous” –
able to support the evolution of the firm’s identity and organization in a way that both honors the
firm’s pasts and invests against its probable future. This is the task explored in the subsequent
chapters of this volume.

Conclusion

In this chapter I have argued that making the business case for sustainable environmental change
is both more complex and more interesting than is generally assumed. I have argued that as many

24
observers have suggested, in some industries and for some firms the benefits of environmental
action can be directly internalized today, focusing particularly on the benefits of using raw
materials more efficiently, securing supply, preventing brand damage, selling to the sustainable
niche and building entirely new businesses. But I have further suggested that for many firms, the
case for sustainable change is better understood as a strategic bet against a number of possible
future states. I have suggested that if this is the case it not only explains why cross sectional
studies of the relationship between environmental action and financial returns have yielded such
mixed results, but also has important implications for the ways in which one should think about
leading and learning how to execute sustainable change

25
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 Extending to CSR/Sustainability
9

SOCIAL

1
2000 1000 0

FINANCIAL

Reprinted with permission from “The Best-Performing CEOs in the World” by Morten T. Hansen, Herminia Ibarra, and Urs Peyer.
Harvard Business Review, January 2013. Copyright © 2013 by Harvard Business Publishing; all rights reserved.

Figure 1: Long-term financial performance of ~1,100 CEOs against their companies’ social and
environmental performance for their last two years in office.

29
Figure 2: The McKinsey Cost Curve

Gas plant CCS retrofit

Abatement cost Coal CCS retrofit
€ per tCO2e Iron and steel CCS new build
60 Low penetration wind Coal CCS new build
Cars plug-in hybrid Power plant biomass
50 Residential electronics co-firing
Degraded forest reforestation
Residential appliances Reduced intensive
40 Nuclear agriculture conversion
Retrofit residential HVAC Pastureland afforestation High penetration wind
30 Degraded land restoration
Tillage and residue mgmt Solar PV
20 Insulation retrofit (residential) 2nd generation biofuels Solar CSP
Building efficiency
Cars full hybrid new build
10
Waste recycling
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 38
-10 Organic soil restoration
Geothermal Abatement potential
-20
Grassland management GtCO2e per year
-30 Reduced pastureland conversion
Reduced slash and burn agriculture conversion
-40 Small hydro
1st generation biofuels
-50
Rice management
-60 Efficiency improvements other industry
Electricity from landfill gas
-70 Clinker substitution by fly ash

-80 Cropland nutrient management

Motor systems efficiency
-90 Insulation retrofit (commercial) Source: McKinsey Global Institute, 2011
Lighting – switch incandescent to LED (residential)
-100

30
700

600

500

400
Commodity Research Bureau BLS
Spot Index (1967=100) - PRICE
INDEX
Thomson Reuters Equal Weight CCI -
300 PRICE INDEX

200

100

0
1986
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984

1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012

Source: Thomson Datastream

Figure 3: The evolution of commodity prices 1962-2012

31
 Political pressure
and/or consumer sentiment
creates strong demand for
“sustainable” products/services

“Demand driven opportunity” “Green goes mainstream”

Technological advance is slow: Technological advance is rapid:

Acting sustainably expensive Acting sustainably is cost effective

“Business as usual” “Supply driven opportunity”

Minimal demand for

sustainable
products/services

Figure 4: One possible scenario grid

32
Figure 5A: Estimated uncertainties in the energy supply industry

Figure 5B: Estimated uncertainties in a consumer goods industry

33