Firms Must ‘Prioritize Resource Efficiency Or Die’

Companies could face a 40 percent gap between available water supplies and water needs by 2030, and some critical materials could be in short supply as soon as 2016. The Carbon Trust says these challenges remain largely unaddressed, leading to disruptions to supply, growing regulatory requirements, volatile fluctuation of prices, and threatening the viability of existing business models.

Business resource challenges such as the increasing scarcity of land, energy, water and materials are quickly intensifying. Companies must assess their exposure to resource challenges to future proof their business models in today’s resource-constrained world, according to a report by the Carbon Trust.

Firms that adapt their business models through assessing their exposure to such resource constraints can identify how to manage these risks and exploit commercial opportunities. This will improve efficiency, strengthen long-term resilience, and drive business returns, the report says.

Some UK companies, such as BT and Whitbread, are already working with the Carbon Trust to proactively assess their exposure to resource constraints. The report finds that these organizations are bringing bottom-line improvements through efficiency gains, and are also expected to have long-term advantages far outweighing the more immediate costs.

These include:

• Bord Bia, which is helping farmers in Ireland identify actions that deliver financial and environmental improvements and maintain the industry’s leading position in Europe.
• Whitbread, which after identifying new opportunities for sustainable growth in the business, invested £4 million ($6.5 million) in energy and resource efficiency.
• Stagecoach, which, through its focus on sustainability and resource efficiency has decreased its carbon intensity by 30 percent for each pound of turnover in 2012-13, compared to a 2007-08 baseline.
• BT, which help its customers reduce carbon emissions by at least three times the end-to-end impact of its business, and also drive energy efficiency and carbon reduction throughout the supply chain.