A bit of healthy competition in sustainability
We are competitive beasts.
Whether in business, sport, the arts, science or technology, there is a natural, human drive to be the best – the fastest, the strongest or the best selling. And we can harness this in sustainability:
- League tables of sustainability indices to set business vs business, city vs city or even country vs country;
- Making suppliers compete on sustainability as well as price and performance to win your business;
- Setting up internal competitions to see who can cut the most carbon, save the most paper or develop the best innovation.
I’ve seen all of these deliver fantastic results. Yet many sustainability practitioners seem to think that this is against the spirit of the overall goal. I have no such qualms.
Of course, you have to make sure the competition is well refereed – if people can game the system, then you could end up in a mess cf the banking crisis, mid-90s professional cycling or a million and one accounting scandals.
Play on!