Putting a price on our future

Helping big businesses consider their impact on the environment is leading to a re-evaluation of activities to combine profitability with sustainability. If we really want to effect change, we have to find a way to align sustainability with business models - Jake Reynolds How can businesses value and manage their dependencies and impacts on the natural world? How can banks be encouraged to make clean energy investments? As sustainability moves up the agenda, the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) is linking Cambridge academics with international businesses to help their leaders make responsible decisions for the long-term. "Companies are starting to think about the ecological impact of their activities across their supply chain," said Dr Bhaskar Vira, University Senior Lecturer in the University's Department of Geography. "We're trying to put a real economic value on natural resources." Production of many mass market consumables, from beer to chocolate, takes advantage of many natural resources that aren't currently factored into operational costs. "A global food manufacturer, for example, wants to be aware of all the ingredients that have gone into one of its flagship confectionary products, and the way in which they've been grown and sourced," said Vira. "Throughout that supply chain there may be impacts on the environment that aren't currently factored into the price of the product." Similarly, an agribusiness giant depends on tomatoes supplied by farmers in California - a water-scarce region.