An Enterprise Must Have Sustainable Operations

Posted under environment by Daniel Stouffer

We know that our individual impact on the environment is something that we must all now consider. We cannot ignore this problem anymore and must think of future generations to come. Insofar as we need to act individually, organizations and businesses need to study their own positions as well as produce products that we all need to survive. Irregardless of the size of the enterprise, a program of sustainable operations must be introduced and maintained on an ongoing basis.

The term “sustainable operations” refers to the ability of the organization to endure, from an environmental perspective. We know that we have caused considerable damage through unrestricted consumption and a disregard for the environment all around us. There is growing pressure on a daily basis to ensure that we are as self-sufficient as possible and that we do not place too many unreasonable requirements just to maintain life.

Senior management at any organization must fully adopt the principle of sustainable operations and must drive this understanding downwards and throughout the operation. It cannot be delegated within a particular division nor can it become the subject of a glorified public relations campaign. Morally, the enterprise is fully under the spotlight.

While major organizations around the world, maybe as many as eight out of ten, seem to fully understand and embrace the idea of sustainable operations, we can nevertheless see that the vast majority of companies do not. They are only now analyzing and understanding what they have to do in the future to comply.

At all costs, an organization must be very wary that is not accused of “greenwashing.” This charge can be leveled if they start to panic when they realize that they are not maintaining sustainable operations and try to bluff their way through it. To start off with they must fully understand their footprint, their emissions, energy usage, water usage and waste disposal before they can be in a position to understand exactly where they are and proceed to move forward.

A lifecycle analysis refers to the process of fully understanding the entire A-Z operation of the business. Every element must be revealed and understood before its impact can be incorporated into the plan and any action can be taken for the future.

When it comes to carbon emissions - the single most significant problem ahead for every organization - senior management must ensure that their direct carbon emissions are fully analyzed and reported. These “scope one” and “scope two” emissions refer to the production and subsequent use of energy, but they must also reveal “scope three” emissions related to the supply chain, subsequent product use and disposal.

One of the byproducts that can be enjoyed following the implementation of sustainable operations is a finer return on investment for each of the organization’s assets. This will be revealed as each asset must now be made to work with ultimate efficiency and this may certainly not have been the case prior to implementation.

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