Sustainable Innovative Practices: A path breaker or mere jargon

Theft is a crime. And theft of our next generations future would someday be a crime, an interesting statement that slipped out during a green-savvy CEOs speech, that paused me and stimulated me to try and understand the implications of sustenance, technology and innovation. I have been familiarized with pressing concern for gaining knowledge and application of sustainability in the organization I worked. Sustainability is entirely a new jargon in business context for many of the low level employees. All we got to see is a range of placards, wall papers, knowledge transfer sessions, quizzes which ultimately left a grey area on what exactly companies are doing so as to become sustainable? Sustainability had always been the responsibility of management rather than company as a whole which in reality is otherwise. But what exactly is sustainable innovation? Is it entirely related to environment? Whats the role of technology in achieving sustainability? And above all, is sustainable environment a path breaker or useless and unprofitable strategy? Lets analyze these questions in all aspects. Sustainable practices involve the help of innovation and technology to keep a company competent and surviving even during scarcity of resources. Well, this is a very basic understanding of sustainability. Different people perceive sustainability in different aspects. For some its innovation in practices, methods, technologies and business models to sustain in scarce environmental resources and for others, its competence, leading and making profits and for some others its just a compliance and overhead. But thanks to the competition and flattening business scenario of the world, where companies, in their own perceived ways, adapting sustainable innovation practices so as to keep them updated with technology and innovation which ultimately result in optimal usage of scare environmental resources. But the road is not all clear. One still has thorns to surpass. Adapting sustainability practices in real terms include huge investments, restructuring, high level of innovation and complete revamp of technology, which is conceived as threat to the existence of even big corporate houses. They are worried about their profit margins and the success of sustainable innovation practices in near future. In this era of completely profit driven business scenario, apart from government and environment activists, hardly anyone is cautious about a sustainable vision. However, as they rightly say, there is always a way to create an opportunity out of nothing. Some innovative companies dared to think beyond profits and converted the sustainable compliance as an opportunity. The Environmental Impact (EI) is popularly known to be related to population (P), affluence (A), technology (T) as EI = P x A x T.

Sustainable Innovative Practices: A path breaker or mere jargon

But later, the idea of sustainable innovation practices has revolutionized the way to perceive technology and innovation as an asset rather than expense, changing the Environmental Impact surprisingly to EI = P x A / T. Higher the technological innovation, lower the Environmental Impact, which is quite ironical yet striking. What made the technology (T) alter from numerator to denominator? Well, the answer is sustainable innovative processes. By revolutionizing processes from extractive to renewable, linear to cyclical, fossil fuel energy to renewable energy, wasteful to waste free and labour productivity to resource productivity, many innovative companies have reduced their input costs drastically, reduced their dependency on scarce resources, improved their sales, profit margins, social image and what not. Sustainability has proven to be the integral part of business transformation and success. However, the story is not yet over. Though its undoubtedly manifested that companies that make sustainability a goal will have competitive advantage, there is still long way to go. Most of the firms still have to embrace it religiously. Thanks to the competence-cautious market and stringed laws pressing firms to embrace sustainability, which made many companies tread on sustainability path in recent times. But whats the basic issue thats hindering the rapid growth of sustainable innovative practices? At basic level, the answer is simple personal gain, only the scale its perceived differs. For all those who are yet to tread the sustainability path religiously, I would like to reply with a little quote We are each and everyone a part of web of life. And we have a choice to make during our brief visit to this beautiful blue and green living planet - to hurt it or to help it. For you, its your call.