Sustainability and Resilience Approach

Introduction

Global policymakers and strategic planners face difficult choices—for example, what future energy sources will power cities, businesses, and transport systems? Is it possible to sustain economic growth and avoid major disruptions or ecological impacts? Our premise is that the effective pursuit of global sustainability requires a systems approach to the development of policies and intervention strategies. Absent a full understanding of system implications, there is a risk of unintended consequences; for instance, adoption of innovative technologies based on renewable resources (such as bio-based fuels) may have hidden adverse side effects upon agricultural productivity.

Sustainable energy and mobility are closely coupled and are essential services in the supply chain for virtually every economic sector. It has become increasingly unrealistic to perform a self-contained analysis of sustainability in a particular industry without touching upon the broader questions of energy, transportation, climate change, and urban planning. Thus, setting the boundaries for meaningful analysis has become a formidable challenge. Perhaps a more robust approach will be to explore sustainability issues within a global, integrated model, with a magnified resolution for the particular system or sector being studied.

The following discussion explores several fundamental questions:

• What is the current state of scientific knowledge about how complex industrial systems can achieve both short-term continuity and long-term ecological integrity?

• What scientific advances are needed to better understand the linked behavior of complex social, economic, and biophysical systems?

• How can this knowledge be applied to the design and management of future technologies and infrastructures required to meet human needs, particularly energy and mobility?

Drawing upon the experience and insights of intellectual leaders from academia, government, and industry, this essay seeks to provide guidance for future research and collaborative initiatives that offer pragmatic pathways toward sustainability.1

State of sustainability

Over the last two decades, awareness of sustainability has increased significantly among government, industry, and the general public. Policymakers worldwide have sought to incorporate sustainability considerations into urban and industrial development. Sustainable development and social responsibility have become increasingly important strategic issues for companies in virtually every industry. Leading manufacturers in the United States and abroad have begun to emphasize sustainability in their internal business processes, external stakeholder and investor relations, and customer value propositions. The following are examples of companies striving to adopt more sustainable business practices.

• Interface, a leading producer of industrial floor coverings, was an early adopter of sustainability principles under the leadership of Chairman and CEO Ray Anderson. By developing products using more sustainable process technologies, Interface has reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 50% and energy consumption by about 33% in five years. Through recovery and reuse of waste materials over a ten-year period, the company has diverted about 84 million pounds of carpet waste from landfills and avoided about US$300 million in waste disposal costs. Redesign of every aspect of Interface's products has led to a significant decrease in their life cycle-environmental impacts (Bertolucci, 2006).

• Chevron is incorporating sustainability into its business models by developing profitable approaches for meeting public energy needs without bias toward any particular technology. For example, Chevron Energy Solutions (CES) is a fast-growing provider of energy-efficient facility upgrades that are funded by energy savings and can be "bundled" with alternative power (e.g., solar, fuel cells). CES public-sector projects for Federal agencies and various municipalities are reducing resource consumption, avoiding GHG emissions, and saving taxpayer money while benefiting the environment and society. In 2005, CES projects saved 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 177 million kWh of electricity use and avoided 97,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide emissions (Davis, 2006).

• General Motors (GM) has adopted a corporate-responsibility framework that combines social responsiveness with corporate values and business goals. Despite its recent financial difficulties, GM recognizes that social and environmental responsibility is critical to its long-term survival. In addition to incremental energy and environmental improvement goals,