This document summarizes the key benefits of sustainability commitment for organizations and provides questions for organizations to assess their sustainability strategies and opportunities for improvement. It notes that sustainability can be a competitive advantage through leaner operations, greater market share, and more attractive brands. It prompts readers to consider how their sustainability strategy, products/services, and branding/messaging align across different departments and stakeholder groups. Readers are encouraged to evaluate their sustainability integration, goals, performance metrics, and communications to ensure they are realizing the full strategic and financial benefits of sustainability.

2. A COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY CAN BE A REAL SOURCE OF VALUE FOR
YOUR ORGANIZATION
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Unaware -
12.1%
Unsure –
32%
Influenced – 32.4% Proactive – 20.7% Committed 2.3%

3. “The best players have succeeded in
harnessing their “greenness” as a real
competitive weapon leading to:
-a path to leaner operations
-greater market share
-more attractive brands”
-Boston Consulting Group-

4. Does your company’s current strategy move sustainability from your Legal and PR
departments to your sales driving front lines?
You do have a strategy, right?

5. Is your brand telling a story about a
commitment to sustainability?
How?
Do you think customers are listening?
Do they believe you?
What stories are they telling about you?

6. We make becoming
sustainable attainable
We’ve assembled an experienced
team of bright, passionate, truly
innovative people
BPG works with or within your organization to define which actions & attributes
will be most meaningful to your customers
Our motives are simple
Work towards
creating better
business models
Reduce the negative impacts
business has on society & the
environment
Improve the financial
performance of our
clients

7. Our approach is straightforward & highly effective
-What does sustainability currently mean at your company?
-What do you want it to mean?
-How will you get there?
-How will you know when you’ve succeeded?
The “How” You Do It
Strategy, Planning &
Process
The “What” You Do
Products &
Services
The “Who” You Are
Brands, Messaging &
Customers

8. Is sustainability incorporated in to your strategic planning and budgeting processes?
Do you have specific, metric-driven ROI targets for sustainability initiatives?
Are you integrating sustainability in to everyday business processes?
Is your management team held accountable for specific objectives around sustainability?
Have you factored in quick wins to create momentum and buy-in across the organization?
The “How” You Do It
Strategy, Planning &
Process
“Hope is not a strategy”
-Rick Page

9. Are you currently selling “green” products? How are they performing? How should they
be performing?
Does your category management specifically address “green”?
Are you selling to “the” green customer or multiple green segments?
Do you have a plan to measure and “score” your current suppliers and products? What
about corrective actions? Are you prepared to remove suppliers and/or products for poor
performance/low standards? When?
Are you reducing the environmental impacts of your packaging? Supply chain?
How much have you saved? How much do you want to save?
“Awareness and choice – not price – are the
most powerful levers for increasing sales of
green products.”
Boston Consulting Group
The “What” You Do
Products &
Services

10. Is your corporate brand and your sustainability messaging in sync?
How are you perceived by your stakeholders, customers, competitors, financial community?
How do these perceptions align with your actions?
What about your product brands? Are there specific “green” offerings? the same as your competition?
If Proprietary product brands exist, how do you communicate their value?
Do your customers agree? Do they reward you with greater loyalty?
Are you at risk of greenwashing? Wait, what’s greenwashing?
“A recommendation would make 71% of
people more comfortable with a product,
more so than advertising (15%) or even
personal experience (63%).
-MediaLab
The “Who” You Are
Brands, Messaging &
Customers

11. Are you satisfied with your answers to these questions? Do you need help
answering them? or do you have others?
prioritize strategic initiatives, plan successful implementations, and
manage the tactics you need
discover your unique points of difference and leverage them to
achieve measurable, improved results
develop and introduce solutions that are scalable, relevant and
meaningful to consumers
Blue Planet Group can
help…
The “How” You Do It
Strategy, Planning &
Process
The “What” You Do
Products &
Services
The “Who” You Are
Brands, Messaging &
Customers

12. 12303 Airport Way
Suite 200
Broomfield, Colorado USA 80020
303-327-1538 – phone
lgraham@theblueplanetgroup.com
www.theblueplanetgroup.com