Production NW - Introduction
The agenda for resource flow analysis of businesses and their supply chains
The business agenda
Businesses may be on the threshold of a new kind of game - as well as financial viability and competitiveness, there is a bigger agenda of CSR (corporate social / environmental responsibility). Why should businesses care about this? Because their customers, supply chains, regulators, media image, lenders and investors, all care increasingly about this, in an increasingly inter-connected world.
However, as yet there are few measures for CSR which really get to grips with the key issue of environmental sustainability. Without rapid progress it is clear that the global environment and resource base is rapidly deteriorating.
All businesses are now somewhere on the 'responsibility' spectrum, with major oil companies and retailers now showing the way. One problem is that as the amount of presentation goes up, the credibility often goes down.
This is then the contribution of the Eco-region NW, and its parent REAP model - to provide a benchmarking scheme for environmental sustainability, based on the best available solid data and analysis. The prototype REAP-benchmark shows some basic ideas, to be developed in phase 2 of the programme.
