The UNEP publication, “The Business Case for the Green Economy – Sustainable Return on Investment”, although published in 2012, is still a relevant and valuable document, particularly when preparing motivations for sceptical directors and reluctant managers.
This 40 page document is right-sized to provide the basic facts and these are well supported by nine, one page, company case studies. The full Technical Report is available for those who wish to delve deeper into the facts.
For those who need to understand the emerging issues that may affect corporate risk management programmes, there is a very useful table on page 8 which describes material issues in various industry sectors and the implications for transition to a Green Economy. Of course, these implications also highlight the issues that are developing for those sectors which have not yet decided to consider the transition to a green economy focus.
Another useful table, on page 22, describes how brand reputation is often seen as an important reason for organisational responses to calls for increased sustainability. The thought provoker here is the list of business benefits along the bottom access of the table.