Deloitte has made a report available, Sustainability: Balancing Opportunity and Risk in The Consumer Products Industry, that it collaborated with GMA/FPA on (via Environmental News Bits).  

Here are some takeaways:

• Sustainability maturity levels within the industry are still evolving. There is a very real opportunity to seize a leadership position in sustainability that enhances overall business advantage.

• Leaders in sustainability understand the compelling financial, regulatory, risk mitigation, and broader marketplace opportunities inherent in evolving their business models. They are not going “green” for “green’s” sake alone.

• Sustainability is a critical business issue that is quickly becoming a mandatory requirement. Unlike other business issues, sustainability is being shaped by drivers outside of the industry’s control. Multiple constituencies – shareholders, regulators, consumers, customers, NGOs – are demanding that companies address it, ensuring this issue will be with the industry for years to come.

• Leading companies realize that truly sustainable business models are fundamentally different, have far reaching implications and are not merely incremental to today’s consumer business operations.

• Well-intentioned sustainability programs may lead to net negative outcomes. Thoughtful consideration and a broader life-cycle perspective is necessary to understand the full impact of sustainability initiatives.

• Leading companies address the sustainability opportunity through a disciplined and structured approach. This approach starts with strategic alignment at the top, evaluates the operational implications of sustainability strategies, drives collaboration across the value chain, and develops governance and control structures to guide and measure progress.

There’s a previous story from the report here.