A2.6 Environmental Problems and Opportunities
Environmental problems can be reasonably easy to identify at an operational level. There are many indicators that improvements are required, which indicate that there is a problem, such as:
- If you fail an audit…
- If there is an environmental pollution incident…
- If you breach legislation…
- If your Aspects and Impacts register has numerous significant issues…
- If you review your energy bills and they are twice what you would expect…
- If you suddenly have a lot of unexpected expenditure…
- If you get a lot of complaints (e.g. about noise)…
As discussed earlier in this Unit, the most significant opportunities available through actively pursuing more sustainable approaches to business are to:
- save costs by making reductions to environmental impacts and treating employees well;
- increase revenues by improving the environment and benefiting the local economy;
- reduce risk through engagement with stakeholders;
- build reputation by increasing environmental efficiency;
- develop human capital through better human resource management;
- improve access to capital through better governance.
At a strategic level, problems and opportunities are not quite as straightforward to identify. The WWF consider the following issues treats and opportunities to competitive advantage: