Stylus/Earthscan - The Sustainability Handbook: The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic and Environmental Responsibility

The Sustainability Handbook

The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic and Environmental Responsibility

Cloth: 978 1 84407 495 2
Price: $97.50

Publisher: Earthscan Publications Ltd.
November 2007 , 812 pp., 6 1/8" x 9 1/4"
figures, boxes & tables

The Sustainability Handbook covers all the challenges, complexities and benefits of sustainability for businesses, governments and organizations. It provides a blueprint for how organizations can reach or exceed economic, social and environmental excellence. It offers a host of practical approaches and tools including a model sustainability policy for organizations, summaries, tips on selecting sustainability codes, an extensive collection of metrics and a wealth of supplementary reference material. Truly the only reference needed for every organization.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements; About the Author; Introduction and Executive Summary; 1) Addressing the Confusion about Sustainability: The Typical Executive View; 2) Determining Scope: An Operational Definition of Sustainability; 3) The Value of Sustainability: Why Bother?; 4) Building an SOS: The Key Elements and Basic Structure; 5) SOS Standards: The Roadmap for Change; 6) Strategic Planning for Focused Sustainability Improvement; 7) Selecting Goals and Indicators; 8) Bringing Sustainability to the Front Line: Deployment, Integration and Alignment; 9) Data Systems, Auditing and other Monitoring and Accounting Mechanisms; 10) Transparent Sustainability Reporting; 11) Stakeholder Engagement: The Role of NGOs; 12) Approach to Sustainability for Small and Struggling Companies; 13) Approach to Sustainability for NGOs; 14) Approach to Sustainability for Governmental Organizations; 15) Approach to Sustainability for Colleges and Universities; 16) Keeping the Initiative Alive: Making the SOS Sustainable; Appendices: Appendix 1: Summary of Sustainability Trends; Appendix 2: Sustainability-Related Codes of Organizational Behavior; Appendix 3: Sustainability-Related Management Systems Standards; Appendix 4: Planning Forms for Assessing and Prioritizing Sustainability Risks and Opportunities; Appendix 5: Method for Calculating Savings and Cost Avoidance for Baxter’s Environmental Financial Statement; Appendix 6: Examples of Sustainability Issues for Various Functional Groups; Appendix 7: Examples of Sustainability Metrics; Appendix 8: Sustainability Resources for Universities; Acronym; Index.

Related titles:

Companion Site

Brochure

Reviews & Endorsements:

"By far the best book I have read on sustainability in the last ten years. Filled with practical techniques, tips and tools to ‘operationalize’ these concepts into plans, programs and performance of any organization."
- George Nagel , Bristol Myers Squibb Company

"Deep and wide and contains numerous insights into how corporate environmental and social responsibility is being internalized by many companies and can be profitable."
- Dennis J. Aigner , Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine

"A truly comprehensive review of sustainable development as it relates to organizations large and small."
- Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman , Anglo- American plc

"Blackburn is a powerful voice for a common-sense approach to sustainability. He presents a strong social and business case for adopting sustainable practices, and demonstrates its significant contributions to individual and corporate well-being. It's practical, clear, comprehensive, and compelling."
- Scott Charon, LEED AP, Project Manager, New Product Development, Advanced Concepts and Materials , Herman Miller Inc.

"Bill Blackburn is a recognized expert and leader in the environmental arena, including on sustainability and corporate responsibility. Bill's career as head of EHS at Baxter Healthcare makes him particularly qualified to comment on how companies should and will manage toward sustainability and ensuring that their behavior on social, economic, and environmental matters is responsible. Bill's new book is a good read for any environmental legal practitioner or business manager, and certainly will add to their understanding of the relevant issues."
- Vail T. Thorne, Senior Environmental, Health & Safety Counsel , The Coca-Cola Company

"Bill Blackburn has long been involved in this work. He has made a real difference in his company and has had a positive impact on many others. There is a lot of material on the subject, but coming from an experienced, passionate, successful leader makes this a worthwhile read."
- Elizabeth C. Girardi Schoen, Sr. Director EHS Strategic Partnerships and Planning, Global Environment, Health and Safety , Pfizer Inc.

"Bill's been there…in the trenches and in the boardrooms. He's fought the tough battles and won the really important ones. His intellect and passion are profound. A reader will find his coverage of the sustainability subject well researched, well organized, and clearly articulated."
- Roberto Piccioni, Senior Manager, Corporate Environment, Health & Safety , Genentech

"Bill fully understands maintaining a sustainability operating and management system, from an experienced and practical experience. His style helps the reader understand the impact of sustainability now, and for the future, and the path to pursue it in reality. This Guide is long overdue!"
- Erin Elizabeth Kreis, Manager, Corporate Relations , General Motors Public Policy Center

"This book is an essential guide for practitioners who are trying to wade through the myriad of terms, frameworks, claims and counter-claims about the importance of sustainability initiatives. Blackburn has hit a home run with this book. He tells us what sustainability is, why organizations should pursue it, and how they can approach it to improve their chances of long-term success. It is full of useful checklists, model language and frameworks and strategies for implementation. The book is a valuable reference guide on many levels-both to academics and practitioners who are new to sustainability as well as to the well-seasoned sustainability professional."
- Mark A. Cohen, Justin Potter Professor of American Competitive Enterprise, Owen Graduate School of Management , Vanderbilt University

"Bill Blackburn cogently explains the concept of sustainability, dispelling the myth that it is just a 'feel good' idea irrelevant to long-term performance. He describes a structured approach whereby companies and other organizations can create a 'sustainability operating system' that integrates other management systems and produces real long-term value for shareholders and stakeholders alike. This book is a 'must read' for company and institutional managers and their attorneys."
- Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., Maurice K. Goddard Professor of Forestry and Environmental Resources Conservation , Penn State School of Forest Resources

"This handbook provides a wealth of information and practical ideas on how to translate sustainable development into the day-to-day operations of corporation and other organizations. Building on more than 25 years of management, consulting and legal experience, Bill Blackburn has provided an invaluable resource for adding value-environmentally, economically and socially sustainable value-to any organization's work."
- John C. Dernbach, Professor of Law , Widener University Law School,

"The Sustainability Handbook is the first complete, practical book about sustainability for all types of organizations. Corporations, NGO's and government agencies alike will find the tools invaluable in their efforts to achieve economic, social and environmental responsibility."
- George P. Nassos, Director, MS in Environmental Management Program & Center for Sustainable Enterprise , Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart Graduate School of Business

"A very complete and detailed account of how to take the difficult concept of sustainable development, move it from the confines of the international forums and academia and make it a valuable tool to help ensure a more just, equitable, and environmentally safe planet."
- Alberto Ninio, Lead Counsel, Environmental & International Law, Legal Vice Presidency , The World Bank

"For many years, Bill Blackburn has been tracking and implementing social, economic and environmental corporate policies and procedures and reporting on the results. The clarity and practical wisdom in this book will provide invaluable help for any manager facing the many inherent challenges of sustainability."
- Joan Bavaria, President , Trillium Asset Management

"Blackburn's tenacious and relentless focus on results and his readiness to adopt and apply new thinking allowed him to achieve much over his years as a leader in the EHS field. His book will be a valuable resource for others who really do want to make a difference. It is full of ideas that will make you think and act differently. Read it, if you care!"
- Brian Kraus, CEO , ERM Certification and Verification Services

"Blackburn writes from practical experience, not theory. His sustainability vision at Baxter propelled the company forward as a responsible corporate citizen and also brought environmental accounting to a new level of excellence. Written in plain English, this book is a must for practitioners struggling to define what sustainability is all about for their business management."
- Richard MacLean, President-Competitive Environment, Inc., Executive Director, Center for Environmental Innovation, Principal-MacLean , Marsh and Associates

"Bill Blackburn has accomplished a rare feat: he has crafted the perfect reference for both the academic and the executive. Readers are made critically aware of the importance of considering the ramifications of decisions that are not made with sustainability in mind. The Sustainability Handbook should be required reading for MBA students and seasoned executives."
- Allen White, Senior Fellow, Tellus Institute, Co-Founder and former CEO, Global Reporting Initiative, Co-Founder & Director , Corporation 20/20

"With all the short-term results, Blackburn opens the reader's eyes to the long-term risks and opportunities that lay in wait. Readers will strengthen their organization's operations and relationships by following the advice in this book."
- Ernst Ligteringen, Chief Executive , Global Reporting Initiative, Amsterdam

"Blackburn is a uniquely qualified author. This book is told from the perspective of one who has both led a successful sustainability initiative within a major global corporation as well as worked closely with global multi-stakeholder NGOs like CERES."
- Mindy Lubber, President , Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES)

More Reviews...

Related Titles by Subject:
See Green Business catalog ; Corporate Social Responsibility ( Business & Economics ) ; Green Business ( Environment & Conservation ) and Sustainability ( Higher Education )