2degrees, the world’s largest online community of sustainability professionals, has launched a White Paper that identifies sustainability as the key driver of growth and competitiveness in the 21st century.

2degrees has partnered with Oxford University’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment to define how organisations can adapt to achieve a Sustainable Competitive Advantage in a series of White Papers. Researchers at the Smith School will test and strengthen the initial definitions of the core competencies, particularly for collaborative growth and efficiency

The first paper ‘Sustainable Competitive Advantage -The 4th Economic Revolution: Unavoidable, Opportunity’ outlines the social and environmental stresses driving us towards a 4th economic revolution defined by resource scarcity, and identifies the five core competencies that organisations need to adopt in order to succeed and prosper through the 21st century. They are: collaborative growth and efficiency, zero waste, renewable resource, climate resilience and eco-performance measurement.

The paper calls upon business decision makers to take action inside their organisations, to adapt to the challenges of the 4th economic revolution, which is defined by resource scarcity. In doing so, pioneering organisations that have taken early action, are paving the way for others to follow.  During the 21st century, the population of the earth will grow to 9.3 billion people by 2050, compared to 6.7bn in 2000, representing a staggering 50% growth. This is on top of a doubling of the world population during the 20th century, and will have a huge impact on the amount of energy, food and water consumers will require.

Martin Chilcott, Founder and CEO of 2degrees said: “The White Paper draws upon evidence from case studies of global companies that are already converting resource constraints into positive areas of growth. We sought to provide a clear definition of the pillars of a Sustainable Competitive Advantage and future papers in the series will detail the characteristics which underpin this.

Our long term goal is for the research to ultimately deliver levels of collaboration and problem-solving within a company’s supply-chain which is unsurpassed.”

Tesco and the NHS are examples of pioneering organisations that are increasing opportunities for efficiency and growth by adopting new ways of collaborating with different stakeholders.

Helen Fleming, Climate Change Director at Tesco said: “The findings of this White Paper should be a wakeup call to businesses all over the world. Organisations that seek out opportunities for developing collaborative efficiencies will be among those that grow and survive through the 4th economic revolution, whilst reducing their costs, building consumer confidence and being more sustainable.”

2degrees has been working with Tesco as one such example, through the launch of the Tesco Carbon Reduction Knowledge Hub - an area within 2degrees’ online platform which is exclusive to Tesco suppliers - set up specifically to help them collaborate more efficiently.

The Tesco Carbon Reduction Knowledge Hub became a vibrant space for education and peer-to-peer learning for Tesco’s suppliers and equipped them with useful ideas and tools through webinars, case studies and forum discussions to help reduce carbon emissions. Issues discussed ranged from voltage optimisation and waste contracts to refrigeration energy loss and on-site energy generation.

The NHS is finding new ways of increasing efficiencies, reducing costs and embracing opportunities for growth – through new and unique collaborative arrangements between different NHS trusts.

A copy of the White Paper can be found on the 2degrees website. To download a free electronic copy click here >> 


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For further information please contact:

Nick Day on 0207 932 1845 or email nick.day@grayling.com


About 2degrees:

2degrees is the world’s largest online community for sustainable business, designed to help corporations & public sector organizations accelerate the development and implementation of their sustainable business strategies; to make them more profitable and sustainable. This community consists of over 13,500 professionals from 7,000+ organizations in 100+ countries and provides the source of practical insight that underpins the views expressed by the authors in this paper.

2degrees brings together thought leaders, industry experts, corporate managers, policy makers and academics, all with a professional interest in sustainability. It provides them with networking, content, tools, opportunities to collaborate, and customized services to help them make their organizations more sustainable and profitable.

2degrees is organized into two business lines: the 2degrees Community and 2degrees business services.

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