Sustainability Peer Forum
The Sustainability Peer Forum offers best practices and lessons learned through member-led and analyst-facilitated teleconferences, summits, and webcasts. These events target sustainability supply chain executives in consumer products, life sciences, high tech, industrial, and chemical. Sustainability Peer Forum members share experiences, survey results, and case study presentations to help organizations maximize ROI and improve business processes.
I help sustainability executives drive competitive advantage from their supply chains.
The Sustainability Peer Forum is a unique networking group dedicated to sharing best practices for developing a sustainable supply chain.
Recommended Research
Teleconferences- Clients
- Testimonials
- Benefits
-
Past Events
Sustainable Sourcing
Thursday, April
8, 2010
Bookmark to my calendar
Teleconference
Kraft Foods sources from environmentally friendly cocoa farms in Ecuador, which helps to reverse deforestation in that country’s Amazon forest. Kraft pays a premium price for the Rainforest Alliance-certified cocoa, the farmers make some money, and everyone wins. This session will look at best practices in sourcing sustainably, in particular across global supply chains. We will look at the energy/emissions/water profiles in sourced materials/components; the use of recycled/reused materials and components; and the ecosystem impacts of mined, farmed, fished, or extracted inputs. On the social side, we will look at sourcing from suppliers with adequate EH&S and minimum wage standards.
If you have questions, please contact Amie Durgin.
The GHG Protocol and the new Scope III Initiative
Thursday, May
13, 2010
Bookmark to my calendar
Teleconference
The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol is the most widely used accounting tool for businesses to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The Protocol provides the accounting framework for nearly every GHG program in the world—from the ISO to the Carbon Disclosure Project to the California Climate Registry. It is used by hundreds of individual companies to prepare their GHG inventories. The new Scope III Initiative is trying to come up with a method to inventory the emissions across products’ full lifecycles and corporate supply chains, taking into account impacts both upstream and downstream of the company’s operations. How would a Scope III Protocol focused on supply chain emissions impact members? How would you build a business case for accounting for scope III emissions?
If you have questions, please contact Amie Durgin.
Financial Sustainability Metrics: Measuring Up
Thursday, July
8, 2010
Bookmark to my calendar
Teleconference
Sustainability has come a long way in a short time. Now that it’s the norm in the marketplace and company landscape, are we closer to having access to a tool kit? After all, monetization is a critical step in the standardization of sustainability. We will look at current best practices, examine the extent to which they are or are not being employed by the corporate world, and offer some ideas as to the trends we are seeing in their evolution moving forward.
If you have questions, please contact Amie Durgin.
Partial Client List
Dow Chemical
“The AMR Research Sustainability Peer Forum is an effective way to benchmark your progress, gain insights, learn and leverage from others outside your industry and address topical problems with inputs from your peers in those other businesses and industries!”-Pat Tiernan, VP Sustainability, Hewlett-Packard.
“The value of the AMR Sustainability Peer Forum is that it presents the opportunity to hear how others are dealing with similar challenges but in new and different ways, while also providing a great opportunity to develop senior level relationships with peers outside of one’s own industry.”-Rick Kroon, Director Environmental, Health and Safety, Intel Corporation.
Benefits
- AMR Research expert analysts draw best practices out of interactions
- Peer experiences promoting good decision-making, maximizing ROI, and improving process effectiveness
- Education and development opportunities for your team without the travel expense
- Unlimited participation at all levels of your organization
Deliverables
- Executive In-Person Summits: Members can send 2 attendees to each of the semiannual Executive Summits. These are highly interactive, in-depth sessions that focus on specific topics published ahead of time.
- Monthly teleconference calls: Members receive unlimited access to all scheduled Peer Forum Teleconferences. Each 90-minute teleconference brings together peers in their community for an open discussion on a predetermined agenda.
- Bi-weekly newsletter: Members receive the Peer Forum Newsletter twice a month. Detailing all new and pressing information pertaining to the Peer Forum, it is AMR Research's primary means of communicating with members, including asking them for input and sending invitations for participation in Peer Forum activities.
- Written key findings and lessons learned from summits and teleconferences: Shortly after each teleconference and Executive Summit, AMR Research will publish a summary of the major discussion points and findings.
- Member-to-member peer networking to address specific questions or needs
- Member-driven agendas refreshed every 6 months
Copenhagen Accord, U.S. Climate Policy, and American Manufacturing
Thursday, March 11, 2010
The U.S. Senate may or may not pass legislation to slow climate change. It may or may not sign up to a global treaty that commits nations to do so. A possible Senate rejection could pose a threat to the 192-nation effort to forge an agreement. Senate ratification of a global treaty would require 67 votes (big target!) compared with 60 for legislation. Meanwhile, most Republicans and many Democrats from manufacturing states are opposed to any type of carbon legislation. What should U.S. companies in iron, steel, aluminum, cement, glass, pulp and paper, and chemicals do to protect themselves?
Designing for Sustainability
Thursday, February 11, 2010
We will look at practices for designing around environmental (and social) considerations. We expect to dig into lifecycle analysis (LCA) in detail here and explore how companies can modify their NPDL processes to better serve sustainability goals. Software vendor interest should be concentrated but high for the few concerned (Dassault, Siemens, PTC, SAP, Oracle, Autodesk). Focusing on companies’ sustainability messaging for specific core products rather than just corporate brand, we will discuss how members can put together an integrated design process and design team that takes into account sustainability through the entire value chain.
Sustainability as the Key Driver of Innovation
Thursday, January 14, 2010
“The quest for sustainability is already starting to transform the competitive landscape. Companies are being forced to change the way they think about products, technologies, processes, and business models. The key to progress, particularly in times of economic crisis, is innovation. Just as some internet companies survived the bust in 2000 to challenge incumbents, so too will sustainable corporations emerge from today’s recession to upset the status quo. By treating sustainability as a goal today, early movers will develop competencies that rivals will be hard-pressed to match. Smart companies now treat sustainability as innovation’s new frontier.”—Harvard Business Review, September 2009
The Sustainability Outlook for 2010 Teleconference
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
The end of 2009 will be many things – the end of an economic Annus Horriblus, the effective end of President Obama’s first year of political reform, the end of the Kyoto Protocol as well as the fleshing out of a likely post Kyoto Protocol agreement in Copenhagen. And importantly it will mark the likely commencement of the economic transformation widely recognized and the low carbon, energy efficient sustainable economic transformation. We will review key events that have driven patterns in operational sustainable performance, key players and policies, and consider what the likely outlook for 2010 might be. How big are those green shoots? How many green jobs have been identified? How is international carbon regulation likely to shake-down and how rapidly is the market place likely to be transitioning to a low carbon framework? – just what are the leading and lagging indicators likely to be? We will offer our collecting predictions on just what sustainability and the global supply chain will be morphing towards as we await the recovering economic transition, global carbon pricing and markets and the second decade of the 21st century.
Sustainable Operational Excellence
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
How is sustainable operational performance defined, indentify and grade? This teleconference will overview AMR’s recently developed supply chain specific sustainability performance metrics. We will explore reasons why we feel that a new operationally focused metric is required, the quantitative basis of the metric, and demonstrate how it is applied to develop a ranking of good (and bad) performance. We hope to vet opinions about the usefulness and design of a performance index based on Governance Indices (DJSI, FTSE for Good, GS Sustain, etc), Carbon emissions data, and a peer assessment of sustainability leadership in sourcing, internal operations, and product lifecycles across energy, people, and environment dimensions.Sustainable Logistics Teleconference
Thursday, September 10, 2009
As work moves from the factory to the distribution center and product take-back grows in importance sustainability strategies need to move from plants and headquarters out into the supply chain. This teleconference will discuss our recent research and analysis on how transportation, warehouse management and materials handling are changing and which best practices save the most money while reducing carbon emissions. We will additionally explore where technology solutions are increasingly adapting more sustainably-focused, and where they are not.
Watching the Watchdogs Teleconference
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
It is a highly unusual time for most groups in the current economic climate. Probably the most out of sorts are the NGO’s. Long-standing adversaries of economic and production-focused progress, the NGO community now finds itself ‘in the tent’ with the corporate world who embrace and propagate the sustainability message as a new basis for organizational transformation and business process and performance improvement.
Supplier vs. Consumer Responsibilities for End of Life Issues/Recycling Teleconference
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
AMR Research Analyst: Dr. Stephen StokesManagement of waste is an increasingly important corporate issue. While minimizing waste is an important objective, the emergence of the post-consumer phase of product life cycles and many supply chains has shifted the agenda considerably. In Europe compulsory take-back of motor vehicles and end-of-life has been around for some time. Increasingly in the high tech industry take-back of computer, printer, cartridges, and other forms of E-waste is rapidly shifting from ‘nice-to-have’ to essential – both in terms of a potential profit center and in anticipation of emergent legislation in many territories. The key questions at the core of this discussion are: How far up and down the supply chain is a manufacturer required to take responsibility? Should that responsibility be shared? Should it be motivated by competitive forces, legislation, or some other factor?
Forecasts on the Future Of Sustainability
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
AMR Research Analyst: Dr. Stephen StokesSooner or later, we sit down to a banquet of consequences (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Sustainability has transformed from a peripheral to a crucial and order qualifying aspect of number retail and manufacturing offerings. The transition has been rapid and complete in a short period of time. We now want to work green, to live green, to drive green, to dress green, and to learn green. And all this has happened despite the widespread incorporation of fact-based sustainable frameworks, metrics, and analytical tools designed to drive sustainability as a strategic and quantified business tool. So what’s next? Is there a green 2.0? How will the green movement and its various stakeholders participate in future green-normalized global economy and global society?
Achieving Radical GHG Reductions Teleconference
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
AMR Research Analyst: Dr. Stephen StokesHow much reduction is radical GHG reduction? At a national level President-elect Obama has indicated his desire for a 15% reduction to 2020 [i.e. a return to 1990 emission levels] and an 80% reduction by 2050. How many companies are capable of achieving or exceeding such targets and what strategies, technologies, and innovation is being employed? We will explore this theme is a general sense, as well as the various challenges of energy (and hence emission) intensive vs. non-intensive verticals and by those straddled with either fixed and/or mobile-dominated asset portfolios. We will also consider the role which the emerging ERP market and smart technologies have in supporting radical GHG reduction initiatives.
The Organizational Structure of Sustainability Teleconference
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
AMR Research Analyst: Dr. Stephen Stokes
Whether accelerated, restricted, or unaffected by the current economic downturn, most organizations have begun to engage more fully with sustainability. So who do you hire for a sustainability job? A lawyer, an engineer, a process or environmental specialist? What title do you assign to them? Who do they report to and who reports to them? What kind of team and budget is the norm and are their any patterns on a vertical by vertical basis? These are all key questions currently facing organizations and we will be discussing these in relation to key industry trends and recent AMR research data.
The Business Case for Sustainability Teleconference
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Peer Forum Insights
AMR Research Analyst: Dr. Stephen StokesShould sustainable initiatives and investments be subjected to the same financial rigors and analysis as conventional capital expenditure or should alternative analytics and hurdle rates be introduced? While many companies are adamant that sustainability pays for itself, there remains some board room resistance to undertaking sustainability initiatives without a more objective analysis of the costs. We will consider recent patterns of spending, examples of theoretical and actual ROI for a range of sustainable investments, the challenge of quantifying intangible benefits of sustainable practices, and the development of sustainable investment portfolios as a long-term strategy for risk assessment and strategic sustainable investment planning and performance management.
Implementing Energy Efficiency Programs Teleconference
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Greening Your Assets Teleconference
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Measuring Sustainability Teleconference
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Peer Forum Insights
While everyone from the Dow Jones to Yale University has developed sustainability indexes, real problems remain in identifying and agreeing on a common basis for a quantitative measurement of sustainability. Without this common basis for measurement, there is little chance of accurate and strategic management. Simple indexes are increasingly being reported for individual environmental variables (e.g., absolute or relative carbon dioxide emissions), but putting numbers or ranks onto measures of corporate sustainability initiatives remains highly complicated and rarely attempted. We will learn of attempts by some Peer Forum members to quantify sustainability within their businesses and how theoretical frameworks are changing in a manner that should assist in future attempts at measuring organizational sustainability.Water Teleconference
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Peer Forum Insights
Despite being one of the first big pollution issues on localized catchment scales, water has until recently taken a backseat to greenhouse gas emissions as the foremost environmental and sustainability issue. Some say water is the gold of the next century, and many nations have already begun undertaking large-scale water transfer projects. Some countries in the Middle East are translating hydrocarbon-based energy resources into water via widespread desalinization (including re-injection into partially or fully exploited groundwater aquifers). Water use reduction, water quality maximization, and shipment of virtual water in global supply chains is an increasingly important issue, especially for organizations and entities operating in arid and semi-arid regions of the potentially future warmed world. There are many opportunities out there in terms of water reduction strategies. Organizations must also be aware of the costs, fines, and negative market perceptions associated with excess or misuse of water. We will explore the current landscape of water use and utilization and hear how some members are adopting new water use strategies.