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The Sustainability Decision-making Methodology

One of the key outputs of the Accounting for Sustainability project is the Sustainability Decision-Making Model developed by the sustainability consultancy firm ERM in conjunction with, and tailored by, Cadbury Schweppes, Duchy Originals, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

This illustrative decision-making model has been developed to show how sustainability issues can be taken into account more effectively in day-to-day decision-making processes. It proposes an example methodology, that could be adapted and applied to both products and services. It is not intended to be a universal tool and will consequently need to be adapted for each organisation. It is, however, hoped that the general principles demonstrated in this model can be developed and adapted to meet a wide range of circumstances and be of use to organisations from a wide variety of sectors.

Throughout the Accounting for Sustainability project we learnt that managers, are rarely provided with the methodology and information needed to take their organisation’s strategic sustainability objectives into account in a meaningful, robust and consistent manner.

The methodology is divided into three broad phases.

  1. Undertaking a review of the whole product or service range to understand the impact of the of the organisation’s main sustainability objectives. If additional major sustainability impacts are identified during this process the organisation’s overall strategy may need amendment.
  2. Analysing the life-cycle of particular products and services to determine the impact of the key sustainability factors identified during the first more general review. This is an iterative process involving, for example, discussions with in house manufacturing and/or suppliers and other stakeholders.
  3. Understanding all the various options and reaching a balanced fully informed and documented decision as to how the sustainability performance of the particular product or service can be improved.

The Accounting for Sustainability Decision-Making Methodology is demonstrated through a PowerPoint tutorial which takes the user through the three stages above.