Making the Case for Radical Green Business Transition

The transition of organisations to greener, more eco-efficient operations has gathered pace. Businesses are exploiting opportunities to reduce cost, increase quality and add more value to customers whilst reducing their environmental impact. Additionally, new business streams have enabled businesses to use their learning to exploit more significant opportunities. As businesses mature further on their green path and work towards sustainability, opportunities arise to actually benefit the environment rather than minimise our impact on it. Such transitions are radical and are more than the culmination of continuous incremental improvements. Whilst significant advances can be achieved through new practices and new technology, ultimately new mind-sets and new business models are needed. This chapter demonstrates the pathways that businesses have taken in pursuit of greener strategies and the associated business benefits. Building on this, the chapter argues that being less bad is no longer good enough; businesses must transition to doing “more good” to benefit the environment and society through sound economics against the backdrop of climate change impacts. Examples from business activities and emerging theory from across the spectrum of industry are used to make the business case for radical transition in industry, for which the chemistry field could lead the agenda for.