An eBook Summary of a Virtual Dialogue on Sponsored by

HAIRSHIRTS, RATTLESNAKES, AND SHOELACES:TOWARD A NET POSITIVE MOVEMENT

Curated and Edited by Bill Baue and Ralph Thurmin partnership with Sustainable Brands®

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Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

Glenn FrommerSenior Advisor Global Reporting Initiative Focal Point China

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

“The key issue with ‘zero’ and ‘sustainability’ – they motivate almost no one and feel like a hairshirt. ‘Net Positive’ has the word ‘Positive’ in it, like Positive Psychology, which is what kick-started the whole field of flourishing, thriving and ThriveAbility.”

“What is a net positive rattlesnake? Nature is. Nature is zero waste and slow stepwise evolution. Nature is about flows and dynamic balances. (see Donella Meadows and Diana Wright’s 2008 book, Thinking In Systems, A Primer.) So, perhaps Net Positive should be focusing on zero waste, flows and feedbacks.”

“At this stage in the debate, we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to agree a standard, but instead we should be piloting, experimenting, learning what works and telling other people about it. Otherwise we risk spending so much time tying our shoelaces that we don’t actually go for a walk.”

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Foreword• Introduction• Net Positive Virtual Dialogue Snapshot• Defining Net Positive o Net Positive Group’s 12 Principles o Concerns with Definition o Sustainability v Net Positive o Science-Based, Context-Based Net Positivity o Quantitative v Qualitative Net Positivity• Measuring Net Positive o Net Positive Group Measurement Report o Net Positive Group Measurement Principles o Trade Offs o Incremental or Transformative o Experimentation o Product-Level Net Positivity • Communicating Net Positive o Net Positive Group Communication Report o The Power of Positive o Audience o Transparency o Communications Case Examples• Building a Net Positive Movement• Conclusions & Synthesis• Resources

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FOREWARD

“The most forward thinking companies are taking a holistic approach to value creation within their businesses, placing an emphasis on the more intangible societal and environmental value alongside economic. Total Contribution is our route to deepening our business model in this way. As a responsible business, it is enabling us to recognize and respond to a greater set of opportunities, influenced by sustainability considerations, for long-term value creation. Our accounting approach is built upon the principle of net contribution – taking into account the negative as well as positive outcomes, including connected activity elsewhere and things that ‘would have happened anyway’.

“We see ourselves working with a broader community of practitioners who are seeking to redefine how business creates holistic value for stakeholders and society. This weeklong virtual dialogue on Convetit helped connect that community across time and space in ways that are difficult if not impossible to achieve using traditional methods. And the digital ThinkTank engendered a robust dialogue and healthy debate on how best to advance the concept and practice of Net Positive. This emerging practice of online engagement pulled together diverse players with passionate perspectives that resulted in synergistic learnings that fueled forward momentum of the Net Positive Movement.”

“Fundamentally, we want to contribute so that the principles of sustainability can be the foundation of another way of building the business environment and society as a whole, through enthusiastic human relations, with micro and macro-economic interactions focused on generating a positive impact in an economic, social and environmental sense.”

“Advancing common understanding through online dialogue has long been Natura’s way, aligning with our NaturaConecta interactive website that was profiled in the 2010 Harvard CSR Initiative report, The Accountability Web (along with other company-specific efforts, such at the Patagonia Chronicles and Timberland’s Voices of Challenge). Now, a half-decade later, we’re glad to see this practice has migrated from company-led initiatives to a conversation across the entire field, linking distant practitioners to share ideas and examples that leverage the emerging power of digital dialogue to move us all forward toward positive impact.”

Claudine Blamey Head of Sustainability & StewardshipThe Crown Estate

Luciana Villa Nova SilvaSustainability ManagerNatura

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INTRODUCTION

“A truly Net Positive company is probably impossible – a Holy Grail that we can seek but never really attain.” So said the Chief Sustainability Officer of a company actively striving to become Net Positive in a background conversation with us. We understand this realism, while also applauding the underlying ambition of this Sysyphian task.

While Net Positive has this seemingly-out-of-reach quality to it, at the same time, its necessity makes common sense – Net Negative impacts, compounded over time, cannot possibly persist. This is precisely what we are experiencing with Earth Overshoot – the aggregate impacts of operating beyond the carrying capacities of the vital capital resources we rely on.

Bluntly speaking, we’re continuing on a death spiral as a human race while shoulder-clapping each other about incremental improvements. We see the altogether predictable rebound effects, many of them created by our current economic system and its set of incentives. So our ongoing viability literally depends on overcoming the perception of Net Positive’s impossibility. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Shifting to the “glass half full” perspective, perhaps the most striking takeaway from the Net Positive Virtual Dialogue is the inspiring, motivational quality of the Net Positive framing (see “The Power of Positive”), turning on its head the “hairshirt” associations of Sustainability. The positivity of Net Positive bodes well for selling the concept internally (built on the foundations of a robust business case) and externally (assuming Net Positive avoids the perception of greenwash by embracing a context-based approach to sustainability thresholds as the dividing line between Net Negative and Net Positive.)

To visualize where Net Positive sits in the change continuum, we presented the following graphic in the Net Positive Workshop at Sustainable Brands ‘15 San Diego in June 2015:

That Workshop was the launching pad for the initiative resulting in the eBook you’re reading now – a distillation of a week-long virtual dialogue on the online engagement platform Convetit to collaboratively explore the theory and practice of Net Positive. As firm believers that collective examination yields better outcomes than working in isolation, we curated this digital ThinkTank (which you can view in its entirety here) in order to accelerate learning and identify common understandings – as well as areas of divergence that warrant further discussion.

Over those five days in early September 2015, we facilitated a healthy debate over the definition and conceptual underpinnings of Net Positive, as well as a strong consensus that the positive framing of the term carries profound inspirational power.

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INTRODUCTION (cont.)

Ralph Thurm Co-Founder ThriveAbility Foundation

Bill Baue Co-Founder / Chief Engagement Architect Convetit

To capture the dialogic spirit of this digital ThinkTank, we present this eBook as a series of quotations drawn directly from the platform (with some necessary editing for flow). Our intention is to retain the conversational feeling of the discussion as it unfolded, while also synthesizing to distill the key takeaways and core learnings.

We invite you to join the ongoing dialogue in the Net Positive Workshop at the Sustainable Brands New Metrics ‘15 in October in Boston – and continuing thereafter at the Sustainable Brands ‘15 London in November, and beyond.

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Net Positive Virtual Dialogue August 31 – September 4, 2015

GUEST EXPERTS

Claudine Blamey Head of Sustainability & StewardshipThe Crown Estate

Luciana Villa Nova SilvaSustainability ManagerNatura

Steve Roberts Corporate Responsibility MarketingDell

Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

Greg NorrisCo-Director Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

Eric Olson Senior Vice President Business for Social Responsibility

John Pflueger Principal Environmental Strategist Dell

DAILY DISCUSSION TABS

DAY 1

Defining Net Positive

DAY 2

Measuring Net Positive

DAY 3

Communicating Net Positive

DAY 4

Building a Net Positive Movement

DAY 5

Synthesis & Conclusions

https://convetit.com/net-positive-virtual-dialogue-486.html

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DEFINING NET POSITIVE

“Net Positive simply means putting more back into the environment or society than an organisation takes out, with a resulting overall positive impact.”

“I often state the same idea a bit more simply as ‘giving more than we take.’ What Net Positive changes initially is that we now start to know, and grow, our positive impacts, what we give, our Handprints. What it also does is change how we know ourselves and what we seek to be: from harmers to healers.”

Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

Greg NorrisCo-Director Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

“Net Positive requires a commitment to eliminating all negative impact, since then positive impact really can become restorative.”

Geanne Van Arkel Head of Sustainable DevelopmentInterface

David Aeron-Thomas Former Head of Metrics Forum for the Future

“I think we have two things here: defining the end point i.e. what it means for a company to be Net Positive (and I suspect that for a company to be truly Net Positive then it needs its supply chain to be NP, which in turn means that the rest of society has moved that way); and defining what it looks like to be on the way to Net Positive. Let’s spend time working on a good enough description of the end point. And then lets focus most of our energy on the definitions that help organizations on the journey; and hence, grow the movement.”

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Defining Net PositiveNet Positive Group’s 12 Principles

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Defining Net PositiveConcerns with the Definition

“I have trouble with the proposed definition. What exactly is it that is being put back into the environment or society? Companies put more greenhouse gases back into the environment than they take out. Is that Net Positive? I think a little more rigor and specificity to the definition would be in order here.”

Mark McElroy Founder Center for Sustainable Organizations

“I share Mark’s uneasiness about the Net Positive Group’s definition of net positive.”

Bob Willard Co-Founder Future Fit Business Benchmark

“I’m not surprised you have problems with the definition. I do, too. We know what we need “Net Positive” to mean. But we need details. What are the trade-offs? How do we compare negative impacts in one area with positive results in another? Is this an endpoint or a journey. If a journey, can we define the steps? This is going to take some elbow grease. Nothing about Net Positive is settled or nailed down -- except, of course, for the outcomes being ‘Net’ and ‘Positive’”

John Pflueger Principal Environmental Strategist Dell

“I fully appreciate that we are looking at developing a business process, one to help business achieve a strategic transformation but also to support the ‘business case’ for Thriveability. Nonetheless, what I am reading could just as well describe a ‘going concern’ and the 12 principles and measurements a balanced scorecard. In my opinion these views are based on a stock-taking mentality. Though certainly an interesting exercise, I am concerned on the real added value of Net Positive. Can nature provide us with some insight? What is nature’s net positive? What is a net positive rattlesnake? Nature is. Nature is zero waste and slow stepwise evolution. Nature is about flows and dynamic balances. (See Donella Meadows and Diana Wright’s 2008 book, Thinking In Systems, A Primer.) So, perhaps NP should focus on zero waste, flows and feedbacks.”

Glenn FrommerSenior Advisor Global Reporting Initiative Focal Point China

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Defining Net PositiveSustainability v. Net Positive

Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

“As I see it Sustainability is an approach to doing business and Net Positive is an approach to setting targets - two nicely complementary concepts. The strongest definition of Net Positive is the very brief one, which is emphasizing that the concept as an overall commitment, an aspiration or a target. Net Positive is calling for accounting for impacts and that is how it really adds value.”

Claus Frier Senior Engagement Manager Engagement International

John Pflueger Principal Environmental Strategist Dell

“You can conceptualize Net Positive as an aspect of sustainability. ‘Net Positive’ is a more active term than ‘sustainability’. But Net Positive is different; and I don’t think it’s an either/or type of thing. We’re not interested in replacing ‘sustainability’. Adding to it? Sure, I’m good with that.”

“The first question I have about Net Positive (NP) as a concept is, why do we need it? What does it bring to the table, besides old wine in a new bottle, that isn’t already there in sustainability? My concern is that, unless there is a bona fide need for a new concept like NP, the introduction of it into the CSR and sustainability dialogue is distracting and not particularly helpful, especially when sustainability is in such dire need of attention in most companies.”

Mark McElroy Founder Center for Sustainable Organizations

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Eric Olson Senior Vice President Business for Social Responsibility

“I like and agree with the elements – approach, boundaries, timeframe, etc. – that are used here to characterize better, more advanced practices – and I have used similar frameworks many times in my work, but my overall labels would be different. The top row is what I call ‘Business As Usual’ and the bottom better row is closer to how I define ‘Good Sustainability’ – I think Net Positive needs to add something more specific and compelling to serve as the next stage beyond ‘Good Sustainability.’”

“Eric, I agree with your comment. I would take it a step further - instead of ‘Good sustainability,’ why not simply ‘Sustainability’? I also agree that NP needs to add to this – what does it mean to go ‘beyond’ Sustainability?”

Rajesh BuchPractice Lead, Global Sustainability Solutions ServicesASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives

“You can conceptualize Net Positive as an aspect of sustainability. And I think what’s being described as ‘sustainability’ in the chart is more about the progress in integrating sustainability practices into large corporations, not the definition of sustainability. I am supportive of a definition of Net Positive revolving around eliminating negative impacts and maximizing positive impacts. Net Positive and Sustainability are much closer to each other, and really about re-branding (which is likely needed).”

Mick Dalrymple Senior Sustainability Scientist ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives

Defining Net PositiveSustainability v. Net Positive (cont.)

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Defining Net PositiveContext-Based, Science-Based Net Positivity

Bob Willard Co-Founder Future Fit Business Benchmark

“There needs to be a defined list of science-based sustainability topics on which a company should aspire to be net positive. And there must be science-based, industry-independent definitions for what break-even / do no harm performance looks like.”

“Net Positive should embrace Context-Based Sustainability. ‘Setting baselines that delineate net positive from net zero or net negative impacts,’ as Ralph mentions in his introductory remarks, is something we have been doing now in fairly explicit and rigorous ways for the past several years under the banner of Context-Based Sustainability (CBS). So CBS is ready-made for Net Positive!”

Mark McElroy Founder Center for Sustainable Organizations

“I feel that CBS has a lot to offer in the sustainability realm. I also personally find the NetPositive aspiration to be even more inspiring (and indeed, to go farther than) CBS. CBS says ‘Take no more than your fair share of a total consumptive flow which can be sustained by nature over time.’ This is good. We can say ‘it’s not getting worse because of us.’ NetPositive says ‘Give more than you take.’ That seems even better! We can say ‘it’s getting better because of us.’ If CBS makes you no longer part of the problem, NP makes you part of the solution.”

Greg NorrisCo-Director Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

“As Mark suggests, we need to prioritize Context-Based Net Positivity while also agreeing with others that the upside potential of breakthrough innovation could moot the efforts to micromanage our sustainability equations.”

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

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“There are two ways to interpret ‘Positive’ – one quantitative (as in ‘more’), the other qualitative (as in ‘good’). If ‘Net’ is used in a more quantitative sense, whereby Net Positive means empirically more than sustainable, then the referent of net has to be norms, standards or thresholds in vital resources in the world (capitals). On the environmental side, for example, a company would be Net Positive if its use of natural resources were no more than what they must be in order to be fair, just and proportionate. That, of course, also argues strongly for the qualitative interpretation of NP (as in net “good”). Sticking to the environmental example, if a company does not consume any more than its fair, just and proportionate shares of available natural resources, we can say that its operations and impacts in the world are sustainable. I would be totally comfortable with the idea of saying that they are also Net Positive, as in Net Good!”

Mark McElroy Founder Center for Sustainable Organizations

“A quantitative interpretation of NP can be framed in a way that is entirely consistent with CBS. Net Positive’s starting point needs to be a disciplined approach to measuring degree of impact in a specific area of impact (e.g. carbon, or water, or living wage, etc.) The goal here would be to achieve coherence and ‘mass balancing’ of impacts. So NP needs to simultaneously assess areas of impact independently (do my water recycling efforts replenish aquifers in the watershed commensurate with my water withdrawals?) while also attending to how areas of impact dynamically interact (does the energy used in desalination tip my GHG footprint outside my allocation of the carbon budget?)”

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

“‘Net’ denotes a mathematical difference and thereby conveys that any trade-offs are fine... the ends justify the means. I actually prefer Greg’s term ‘Handprint’ because you can have handprints and footprints and they may be from different realms and in different units and do not imply that they can offset each other. Positive social equity and social benefit handprints, negative social impact footprints, regenerative environmental handprints and environmental LCA footprints, economic revenues and costs. And ‘Handprint’ is a very positive term.”

Mick Dalrymple Senior Sustainability Scientist ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives

Defining Net PositiveQuantitative v Qualitative Net Positivity

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Measuring Net PositiveNet Positive Group Measurement Report

Measurement Activities

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Measuring Net PositiveNet Positive Group Measurement Principles

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Measuring Net PositiveTrade Offs

Bob Willard Co-Founder Future Fit Business Benchmark

“A prerequisite for Net Positive to work is no trade-offs between the various aspects.”

“The very idea of ‘negative’ impacts of one kind or another being offset by ‘positive’ impacts of another is otherwise known in the sustainability literature as ‘weak sustainability’ (WS), a concept that died an inglorious death a long time ago.”

Mark McElroy Founder Center for Sustainable Organizations

“The very idea of ‘negative’ impacts of one kind or another being offset by ‘positive’ impacts of another is otherwise known in the sustainability literature as ‘weak sustainability’ (WS), a concept that died an inglorious death a long time ago.”

Mick Dalrymple Senior Sustainability Scientist ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives

John Pflueger Principal Environmental Strategist Dell

“There are impacts that are so significant that no positive outcome can balance them. And there are some areas where positive outcomes have to be delivered in the same currency from which the negative impacts arose. There are no other justifiable offsets or trade-offs. Trade offs are amongst the key challenges for Net Positive, but I’m not going to punt by saying they’re unmanageable. Trade-offs are a problem that needs to be worked, not avoided.”

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“The idea of trade-offs coming out in the wash is anathema because it seems to give a license to ‘do harm over here’ while ‘doing a little bit of good over there.’ But if we are talking about goal-setting of the Ray Anderson kind (Mission Zero and beyond by 2020), it is perfectly legitimate to aspire to moving beyond zero negative impacts to being not only net positive but gross positive. Then we must accept the trade-offs that go with that trajectory, as most businesses/organizations have to migrate from where they are to where they need to be, so some negative impacts are going to be inevitable for quite a while.

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

Measuring Net PositiveTrade Offs (cont.)

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Measuring Net PositiveIncremental or Transformative

“Isn’t Net Positive as defined above nothing if not utterly incremental? If all one has to do is put more of something back into the environment or society than one took out, why should we not regard that as nothing but the most extreme form of incrementalism? Indeed, even the most stringent practitioner of NP could be wildly unsustainable by that definition -- always putting a little more of something back into the environment or society than they take out, but never enough to satisfy sustainability criteria.”

Mark McElroy Founder Center for Sustainable Organizations

David Aeron-Thomas Former Head of Metrics Forum for the Future

“I do believe that an incremental approach to Net Positive is possible and actually necessary; but only so long as it is put into context.”

Greg NorrisCo-Director Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

“One of our best opportunity pathways in NetPositive is ‘radical scaling of incremental innovations.’”

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

“Many ‘disruptive’ changes/innovations are the result of a network of isolated incremental innovations brought together to deliver a transformative result.”

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Measuring Net PositiveExperimentation

Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

“At this stage in the debate, we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to agree a standard, but instead we should be piloting, experimenting, learning what works and telling other people about it. Otherwise we risk spending so much time tying our shoelaces that we don’t actually go for a walk.”

Eric Olson Senior Vice President Business for Social Responsibility

“On the one hand, we should not jump to focus on communications and branding before we have a solid shared definition of and commitment to what we are trying to achieve and how we will measure progress. On the other hand, we need to create sufficient excitement and incentive for companies to help us learn by experimenting, and this in turn requires that we find ways to support and promote promising steps in the positive direction, warts and all.”

David Aeron-Thomas Former Head of Metrics Forum for the Future

“Yes, lets define as much as we can up front, but also recognize that for Net Positive to be useful it needs to inform decisions that individuals, companies and governments make. And for that we need practical experience of decision-making using this information and this mind-set. So, whilst I would like all organizations to turn Net Positive overnight I recognize this will take time. Organizations will need to experiment, try things out, dip their toes in the water, etc. As they do that they will change, their supply chains will change and new infrastructure (physical and cultural) will emerge. It takes a long time (years) to work out all the detail. I also really believe that we cannot work out the detail in theory – it has to come from practice and experiment etc. The most authentic way to communicate is to do – and then talk about it.”

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Measuring Net PositiveProduct-Level Net Positivity

John Pflueger Principal Environmental Strategist Dell

“When discussing Net Positive, we’re frequently discussing apples and oranges, often in the same breath, without realizing that we are doing so. We’ll complicate discussions by comparing the guidelines for ‘measuring’ a company with the guidelines for measuring a program, project or product. We’re going to need all of these. I’m going to have to have a way to assess Dell as a company and assess the IT solutions in which Dell plays a role. These are related, but they are not the same. They won’t have identical rules and protocols; may not even have the same units of measurement. To make progress, we’ll need to be clear which we are working on at any given moment in time and which we are referring to when we are communicate status or results.”

“The EU is stimulating the use of environmental product declarations (LCA with product category rules, focusing on relevant predefined impact categories) in various sectors, so people can make informed choices. Combining this with the social dimension – for example UNEP is working on social LCAs – gives a pretty good insight where a company stands.”

Geanne Van Arkel Head of Sustainable DevelopmentInterface

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

“I fully agree that product level NP is the place to start.”

Eric Olson Senior Vice President Business for Social Responsibility

“Establishing a credible and consistent way to measure and communicate positive benefit is much easier to do within precisely defined impact/opportunity areas, maybe also a specific activity or product, than it is for an overall enterprise or business sector. The latter would seem to require that we embrace the complexity and subjectivity of trade-offs, threshold values, etc.”

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Communicating Net PositiveNet Positive Group Communication Report

How to Communicate

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Communicating Net PositiveThe Power of Positive

“Interface Founder Ray Anderson said, ‘Outrageous goals that take your breath away really unleash enormous creativity within the organization.’ At Interface, we have been experiencing this working towards our Mission Zero goal, to become a restorative company by 2020, contributing positively to the environment and society and eliminating our negative impact. It’s inspiring not only our employees but also clients, suppliers, colleagues, other organizations and governments.”

Geanne Van Arkel Head of Sustainable DevelopmentInterface

Bob Willard Co-Founder Future Fit Business Benchmark

“I see two benefits of the Net Positive concept. One is restorative: the state of the world requires us to be restorative, so if the ‘Net Positive’ idea helps people ‘get’ this requirement, then it’s a useful concept. The other is inspirational: net zero goals fall flat; Net Positive goals inspire people.”

“The key issue with ‘zero’ and ‘sustainability’ -- they motivate almost no one and feel like a hairshirt. ‘Net Positive’ has the word ‘Positive’ in it, like Positive Psychology, which is what kick started the whole field of flourishing, thriving and ThriveAbility. Sustainability is as much a problem of changing our mental models as it is a problem of dealing with the flows of materials, energy and resources effectively and sustainably. ThriveAbility is in part a response to the failure of sustainability to address this critical psychological challenge, and to fully appreciate and measure the human and social capitals that lie at the heart of all innovation and progress.”

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

“Net Positive is a useful ‘North Star’ that resonates and excites people.”

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John Pflueger Principal Environmental Strategist Dell

“In practice, I have seen how viewing an approach or a goal as ‘Net Positive’ makes a qualitative difference in how that approach or goal is perceived, It can affect how a goal or initiative does, or doesn’t, inspire and energize stakeholders.”

Greg NorrisCo-Director Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

“By adding Handprint creation to Footprint reduction, it engages us in a challenge that is unbounded, rather than being characterized by diminishing returns.”

Eric Olson Senior Vice President Business for Social Responsibility

“The key insight is that creating positive impact is inherently more inspiring and motivating than staying out of trouble. Establishing a credible and consistent way to measure and communicate positive benefit, and thereby unleash some kind of race to the top in various specific activities or business areas, would create enormous value in my view.”

Communicating Net PositiveThe Power of Positive (cont.)

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Communicating Net PositiveAudience

“Net Positive addresses the broadest stakeholder group – ‘society’ – which expects companies to demonstrate value creation in the broadest sense. The second main flow of information is provided in integrated reporting for investors expecting profitability. The third flow of information is directly associated to products and the targets group is consumers expecting decency.”

Claus Frier Senior Engagement Manager Engagement International

“Multiple levels of communication are necessary for multiple audiences and their varying needs: ie: elevator pitches and tag lines vs. marketing materials vs. educational content vs. technical specs.”

Mick Dalrymple Senior Sustainability Scientist ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives

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Communicating Net PositiveTransparency

Zoe Le Grand Principal Sustainability Advisor Forum for the Future

“Net Positive measurement requires a considerable number of calculations, assumptions, approximations and use of various sources of data. Rules and standards cannot be developed for every eventuality, but being transparent will enable others to compare and contrast and thereby allow appropriate rules to emerge. And where information isn’t available for a material impact area it is better to use a conservative estimate than to leave a gap. Be transparent about assumptions and lay out intentions for acquiring this data.”

Andie Stephens Senior Customer & Project Manager The Carbon Trust

“Transparency helps a lot, because it allows you to say this is how we’ve calculated this, these are the assumptions, and if people want to challenge the assumptions, then that is great, as it helps to improve the calculation approach and improve the assumptions and data points. This is a strong argument to avoid the criticisms of greenwash.”

“I think it is important to have radical product transparency, with companies reporting on their impact at product level, so throughout the supply chain. This information should be publicly available and being verified by a multi-stakeholder third party.”

Geanne Van Arkel Head of Sustainable DevelopmentInterface

Greg NorrisCo-Director Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE)

“Transparency and data sharing as vital, instrumental, core.”

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Communicating Net PositiveCommunications Case Examples

“The three examples of Kingfisher, The Crown Estate and Natura show different ways of communication: one making a bold ambitious statement and describes success but also challenges in great depth (Kingfisher), the second one developing its measurement step by step and therefore coming closer to Net Positive (The Crown Estate), and the third taking it as the ethical basis and the right to exist (Natura).”

Ralph Thurm Co-Founder ThriveAbility Foundation

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Building a Net Positive Movement

Steve Roberts Corporate Responsibility MarketingDell

“Are we part of a movement? If so, what can we learn from other movements? What past movements are most like this?”

David Aeron-Thomas Former Head of Metrics Forum for the Future

“I really believe that the quickest way to grow the movement is to get as many organizations as possible trying it out and putting it into practice. So this means an emphasis on encouragement and support. Grow by doing and communicating.”

Claudine Blamey Head of Sustainability & StewardshipThe Crown Estate

“I think to get companies on board we really need to make sure we communicate what Net Positive means on a practical and pragmatic level. We also need to show what the benefits are for organizations.”

“My long term concern about that ‘Net Positive’ is from a communications term standpoint. To grow a movement, you need to engage new stakeholders enough to get them beyond the first impression so that you can get to more elaborate definitions. In general, it is counter-productive to have to spend extra scarce movement time and resources explaining a definition in order to overcome a first impression that misses the mark.”

Mick Dalrymple Senior Sustainability Scientist ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives

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Building a Net Positive MovementNet Positive Group Communicating Net Positive Report

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Synthesis & Conclusions

David Aeron-Thomas Former Head of Metrics Forum for the Future

“There is real passion to do something positive. There is also a real concern to do the right thing, ensure that this isn’t greenwash and that it is worth doing. I believe that these passions and concerns will together take us in the right direction.”

“I recommend that structuring how we frame the technical challenges of defining and measuring negative and positive impacts and what “netting” actually means and how it works, needs to be multi-stakeholder based and co-created as a set of de facto standards with “plug ‘n play” interfaces between different protocols, as part of a global public good. A Net Positive approach – where businesses demonstrate positive environmental or societal impacts in key areas of their operations – adds further benefits, including competitive advantage, supply security and the space to innovate products and services through moving the organization into a leadership space.”

Robin Lincoln Wood FounderThriveAbility Foundation

“I learned that the thing I will continue to be most interested in is the innovator. Innovators innovate for a wide variety of reasons, a key one of which is passion. The central question of interest for me, is ‘how can Net Positive inform and motivate the innovator’s actions -- especially the disruptive innovator?’”

Dan O’Neill General Manager ASU Walton Sustainability Solutions Services

RESOURCES

• Net Positive Virtual Dialogue o Net Positive Workshop Presentation, Sustainable Brands ‘15 San Diego• Net Positive Group o Net Positive Report o Net Positive Principles o Measuring Net Positive Report o Communicating Net Positive Report• Harvard Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive Enterprise (SHINE) o SHINE Summit 2015 Summary Report o Handprint: A New Unit for Measuring Impact

Virtual Dialogue Powered by eBook Designed by

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