Sustainability Projects

"Every single pressing social and global issue of our time is a business opportunity."

Peter Drucker
Author, Teacher, Consultant

Board Sustainability Expert
Gib Hedstrom was asked by a $10B chemical company to provide a 45-minute external report on "Sustainability: Update, Trends and Implications" for a Board of Directors committee meeting in July, 2010.

Keynote Speaker - Annual Sustainability Meeting
Gib Hedstrom was asked to be the keynote speaker at the annual Novartis sustainability conference in May, 2009 and again in June 2010.

Conference Board Council
As director of The Conference Board's EH&S Officers' Council, we organize meetings of our 65 members. The main themes from our 2010 meetings have been sustainability strategy; external sustainability ratings; product risk management; supply chain stewardship; and carbon risks and opportunities.

Corporate Sustainability Strategy
For a Fortune 500 global building products firm, Hedstrom Associates recently developed a comprehensive corporate sustainability strategy. Our work involved competitive benchmarking, executive interviews, sustainability workshops, in-depth analysis of competitive opportunities and a special focus in risks and opportunities associated with global warming.

Sustainability Reporting
Hedstrom Associates continues to work with many major multinational corporations to provide support with their sustainability reports. During the past year we assisted a major European-based multinational, a major US-based multinational chemical company, and a small, privately held company in developing well-founded sustainability reports. Drawing on two dozen years of experience and a strong network of third parties who are involved in rating sustainability reports, we provide guidance on how to position the report for the maximum benefit of internal and external stakeholders.

Long-Term Sustainability Goals
A Fortune 250 company asked Hedstrom Associates to participate in an internal team developing new five-year sustainability goals. Drawing on our experience as a founding member of the Global Reporting Initiative and our insights gained from working with many other companies, we provided what the client called "extremely valuable" support. The CEO accepted the team's proposed goals.

Business Case for Sustainable Development
A major global company asked Hedstrom Associates to help a cross-functional team determine the business value of taking a proactive stance on sustainable development. We benchmarked leaders in the industry, using our "Sustainability Scorecard" to rate the client company and its competitors.

Twenty-First Century Redesign of SRI Rating Criteria
One of the best known socially responsible investment funds asked Hedstrom Associates to conduct a complete "top to bottom" review of its strategy, processes, criteria, and detailed methodology for rating corporations. We conducted several high-level strategy sessions, independently audited the existing processes, developed proposed recommendations, guided the client with internal process changes, and ultimately revised the internal database to support the new strategy.

PEMEX Sustainable Development Strategy
Hedstrom Associates was asked by PA Consulting Group to continue assisting PEMEX with development of its Sustainable Development Strategy. We tailored our Sustainable Development Scorecard to reflect issues most critical to Mexico, evaluated information from prior interviews with top management, and developed a presentation used at the annual PEMEX Sustainable Development Week.

Benchmarking Corporate Responsibility Leaders
As input into a multinational company's strategic planning process, Hedstrom Associates staff conducted a benchmarking on sustainability-related positioning, goals, and actions of competitors, customers, and leaders.

Twenty-First Century Sustainability Management System
Working for the president of a new venture within a Fortune 100 company, we built a robust twenty-first century management system, reflecting both traditional EHS issues and new environmental and social drivers that will grow in importance in the years ahead.

ePulse Data Tracking and Analysis
ePulse is a technology and service offering that helps clients stay up to date on current news and emerging issues. While it can be used for virtually any subject, we are using it primarily to deliver targeted, timely intelligence on global environmental, social, and governance (ESG) trends and corporate responses. Working with several clients for the past four years, we provide reports that help them:

• Keep their finger on the pulse of emerging ESG developments;
• See relevant changes as they are made to selected competitor (and other) websites without having to trawl through those sites to see if anything is new; and
• Selectively override the laborious process of reading journals and searching the web for competitive insights and emerging issues, thus saving money while improving their competitive intelligence.

ePulse is a proprietary technology of Krupp Consulting Inc., one of our key partners. (Learn more - ePulse)

Carbon Management Strategy
For a Fortune 500 company in the building industry, we recently completed a detailed analysis of carbon trends – regulatory and non-regulatory. We analyzed state-by-state current and pending carbon legislation, reviewed the latest corporate best practices and trends, and updated our analysis of global greenhouse gas and carbon trends. We used this information, along with competitive benchmarking, to develop a robust carbon strategy for our client. Today, despite a poor economy, our client is moving ahead aggressively with implementation of our proposed carbon (and broader sustainability) strategy.

Executive Sustainability Workshops
We have designed and run dozens of several-day workshops on sustainability for clients ranging in size from Fortune 50 companies to small, privately-held companies. Following a design that we have honed over the years, we typically start with a dinner and evening speaker to provide a provocative introduction to sustainability. Then for the next day and a half we work through a simple framework starting with a look at where the client wants to be in the future, followed by a brutally honest look at where they are today. We end with identification of the “critical few” high leverage initiatives and concrete action plans to present to the senior executive who is the sponsor of sustainability within the company.

Sustainability Training
We are frequently asked to conduct sustainability training sessions for groups of employees. Drawing on our experience having conducted many hundreds of training sessions over 20 years (in environmental auditing, environmental management systems, quality, and sustainability), we combine critical elements of theory with practical examples of corporate action and active participant involvement in small group exercises and group discussion. As certified Natural Step trainers, we combine the fundamental principles of sustainability with our years of practical experience and insight into corporate actions and best practices.

See Sustainability Services