It’s as easy as ABCD - The Strategic Planning Framework

The Natural Step system conditions define a set of basic issues that must be met in a sustainable society. The Natural Step has developed and tested an approach to help organisations to incorporate sustainability into their strategic planning and decision-making processes. The A-B-C-D approach includes four elements, which are repeated as the organisation progresses along various pathways towards sustainability.

A = Awareness: Align your organisation around a common awareness of the situation

B = Baseline Mapping: What does your organisation look like today in terms of the systems conditions?

C = Creating a Vision: What will your organisation look like when it is sustainable and meeting the four System Conditions?

D = Down to Action: Backcasting from where we want to be to where we are now, what steps do we need to take to get there? How can we support these actions?

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Services

The Natural Step advises on the application of The Natural Step Framework, and its application to strategic planning and day-to-day operations. With our advisors' assistance, we facilitate the process of building organisation-wide alignment around vision and goals, then support the ongoing implementation.

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Sustainability in Action in NZ

The Natural Step works with leading edge organisations to develop innovative new business models and practices that chart a course to a sustainable future. This work is supported by our practical, applied and conceptual research, conducted in partnership with our clients in New Zealand and the international multi-disciplinary Natural Step network. We are also actively involved in outreach, and through public presentations and workshops, our newsletter, and the tools and resources on our website, we seek to educate, inspire and empower individuals and organisations to play a meaningful role in the sustainability revolution. Join us!

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Pathfinder Programme 2000-2003

The Natural Step Pathfinder Programme began in 2000 with a group of major New Zealand businesses and organisations undertaking in-house sustainability programmes and also meeting regularly to share ideas and learn from each other and from guest speakers. This Pathfinder Group included Macpac, Tait Electronics, The Christchurch City Council, Orion Network Ltd, Landcare Research, The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Phoenix Organics and The Warehouse. The Pathfinder report overviews how The Natural Step worked with each Pathfinder company.

Each company has moved ahead in identifying their desired future and putting together an action plan to take them there. For example, Phoenix Organics, the first NZ organisation to adopt the TNS Framework has grown steadily, from a staff of 15 to its current 28, since using the Framework to revisit their vision and take steps to align philosophy, practices and marketing with their sustainability vision. Christchurch-based designer and distributor of outdoor recreation equipment Macpac has used the framework to develop actions relating to each of the system conditions including waste minimisation, energy management, restoration of biodiversity, carbon emissions management and a detailed sustainability analysis of their pack fabrics. See the Phoenix Organics case study.

Tait Electronics - also based in Christchurch, this manufacturer of radio telecommunications systems has used the Natural Step framework to provide direction to their ISO 14001 system, including determining priorities for action, and are beginning to use it as design criteria as they seek to develop new electronic products which will meet increasingly stringent standards for use of heavy metals. See the Tait Electronics case study.

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SME Courses

From 2001 The Natural Step has offered a series of training workshops for small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). These companies learn how to apply the Natural Step framework within their own situation, often with a focus on resolving upstream issues. These Natural Step users include Hot Pyjama Productions and Serra Natural Foods (both recognised with awards for resource efficiency), Curators House Restaurant, Ludowici Plastics Ltd and Russell Devlin Architects. See our case studies page for case studies of these and other Natural Step SMEs.

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University of Canterbury

In July 2004, The Natural Step began working with three departments at the University of Canterbury - Geography, Facilities Management and Continuing Education - on a pilot UC Sustainability Project which is exploring how systemic change can be created throughout the University, beyond the isolated environmental initiatives to date. The University recognizes its responsibility to equip its students to understand the sustainability challenge and to lead the development of the new approaches, new technologies and new ways of thinking, needed if we are to achieve sustainability. Based on the initial success of the Pilot, the University is now expanding its effort across the University, working on how it can more fully include sustainability principles in all its teaching and research, as well as in operational activities such as building design, construction and maintenance and transport. One of the students from the international Masters in Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability course is working with Canterbury over the current year. To learn more about sustainability initiatives at the University, visit their website.

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Sustainable Agriculture

The Canterbury Regional Council (ECAN) is funding a pilot programme in 2004-2006 with a group of North Canterbury farmers who are interested in using the framework to guide their decision-making on their farms.

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Research

Scientific research lies at the heart of The Natural Step. In New Zealand and internationally, The Natural Step is involved in cutting-edge conceptual and applied research on key sustainability issues. Through collaboration and partnering, our team draws on the expertise of an interdisciplinary, international network and works to strengthen the theory and practice of sustainability.

In New Zealand our initial focus was on specific applied problems that arose for our Pathfinders as they began implementing the Framework, for example a sustainability analysis of fabrics for Macpac. Our 2006 projects include a Sustainability Analysis of New Zealand using The Natural Step Framework, commissioned by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, and a number of projects related to sustainable construction. Internationally, research projects are underway in the areas of sustainable materials, sustainable construction, sustainable communities and sustainable temperate agriculture.

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