Viewing Innovation through the Sustainability Lens

摘要

A number of recent studies (Brown 2011; Murray 2011; Kobb and Bernstein 2012) suggest that sustainability is gaining momentum as a central business concern. The number of company sustainability reports published in the past few years has grown exponentially; companies are defining and expanding goals for energy consumption, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions. It is certainly in vogue for companies to use sustainability as a marketing tool, promoting their efforts to reduce their environmental impact, advance social issues, and profit in the process. For customers, however, what is and is not a sustainable product can be something of a mystery.