Net Negative; Net Zero; Net Positive

I sometimes get a bit mouthy when I see the word “sustainability” being used, because I think it’s often misused, or used to mislead.

There was a short period of time where I even encouraged people to use a different term, until I realised that’s also what people do when they ride the wave of a trend – they just jump to the next popular term and use that instead.

So when I spotted this table in a presentation this morning, I thought it was important to share it. For me it visually unlocked what a green pathway might look like for an organisation who’s starting, or furthering, their green initiatives.

On the left (Degeneration) is where we generally start. Although our intentions aren’t “bad”, we often don’t even realise that by building products, sourcing lower-cost talent overseas, capturing all the data we can ‘just in case’, or using the cheapest web hosting option, we’re actually contributing to an “extractive” culture. Our fledgling organisation is already a burden on the system because of all the resources we use and things we create. Resources can’t easily be replenished, and physical things we create linger long after their use has expired.

In the middle (Sustainability) is where we start to balance out. We realise that we can fix a few things pretty easily, and a little more effort means we can fix even more things. We get choosy about our buying options, offset emissions, read labels, and start making steps towards being less extractive.

On the right (Regeneration), our organisation is no longer a burden on the system. Instead, it actually starts restoring the systems it touches. It sees itself as part of a bigger picture that supports the other parts rather than competing with or avoiding them.

So sustainability is still a thing Danny, and it’s really good 🙂 If every organisation achieved sustainability, the world would look very different.

That’s what the journey to net-zero looks like. We shoot for sustainability as a minimum, and regeneration as a stretch goal.