By now most companies have sustainability programs. They’re cutting carbon emissions, reducing waste, and otherwise enhancing operational efficiency. But a mishmash of sustainability tactics does not add up to a sustainable strategy. To endure, a strategy must address the interests of all stakeholders: investors, employees, customers, governments, NGOs, and society at large. To do that, it has to increase shareholder value while at the same time improving the firm’s performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dimensions. Read more

Harvard Professor Rebecca Henderson wants to change the conversation. For Henderson, it’s not enough that large corporations have adopted various sustainability measures. Businesses can’t just rest on their laurels. They must bring a deeper passion to the table if they expect to help find solutions to complex environmental problems, she argues. Read more

Sustainability initiatives assuage the conscience of executives and honor the appeals of NGOs. It's no wonder that feel-good business improvements are plentiful in most large companies. The trouble is, as these programs mature, managers are finding that the easiest projects have already been identified. What's more, first-generation initiatives might not address unsustainable practices at the core of a business. A financial institution can reduce its carbon emissions by renting space in a green building, for example, or encourage employees to recycle, or compost cafeteria leftovers, but it's all still irrelevant to the managing market risk faced by investors. Read more

Jobs are the best social program, it has been noted frequently. If that’s true, we can expect to see social problems rather than progress in the United States if we continue to have high rates of youth unemployment, especially among minority males. Youth unemployment is an even greater problem in other countries—Greece, Italy, South Africa, to name just a few. Furthermore, the gap between the highest income-earners and the rest continues to grow, and social mobility has declined. A future arena for innovation is in quality-of-life services: health care, education, and improving the environment. Read more

The Chinese auto industry reached a major milestone in 2009. After a decade of continuous growth, China became the largest car market in the world. In 2012, it also became the world's largest producer of emissions, in part from the rapid spread of personal cars and gasoline-powered trucks and buses. The Chinese government understood that it had an environmental problem. Read more

John Macomber, senior lecturer in the finance unit of Harvard Business School, described the site as a “pop-up megacity” and suggested that it is unique. Part of Harvard’s research was aimed at exploring how cities of the future will be constructed as the world urbanizes. “30 years from now there will be twice as many people living in cities,” Mr. Macomber said. Read more

Doug Rauch, the former president of Trader Joe’s who made millions of dollars marketing cheap but chic groceries across America, plans to sell meals prepared with food that is edible but has passed its sell-by date to low-income consumers in Boston.

The idea is to take food “waste” — perishables at, near, or past their expiration date that supermarkets throw out daily — and turn it into healthy meals priced like a McDonald’s Big Mac. Rauch compares the nonprofit’s mission to the work of Goodwill, which resells donated clothing at affordable prices.

Jose Alvarez, who served as president of the Stop & Shop supermarket chain from 2006 through 2008 and is an Urban Food Initiative board member, said the organization does not want customers to think, “Hey, I’m going to be eating the rich man’s garbage. Read more

If you seek change — as today’s climate change activists do — you can’t shrink from conflict, because the two go hand-in-hand in a democracy, according to a Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) authority on social organizing. Marshall Ganz, an HKS senior lecturer in public policy, drew on his decades of experience in the Civil Rights Movement and as a community organizer to offer lessons for those seeking change. Read more