This week, the networking giant announced plans to offer a new home control and monitoring panel for AT&T's Digital Life service and apparently sees a bright future in the "Internet of Things." The Digital Life controller allows users to wirelessly manage devices connecting AT&T software with Cisco Z-Wave radios.

WHERE IN CSR ARE WE HEADED? CBSR's FIRST QUARTERLY UPDATE

The nature of capitalism is changing in dramatic and disruptive ways. The 2012 year began with the World Economic Forum (WEF) themed: "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models", focusing on reshaping communities, companies and countries. In his opening speech WEF Founder Klaus Schwab challenged the current state of capitalism saying that it "…no longer fits the world around us" and needs to be fixed to serve society.

Population growth, climate change, and the rise of the middle-class consumer is putting a strain on natural resources and creating high and volatile resource prices. The debt crisis and the growing inequality of income and wealth distribution is a major issue. And, we are now living in a world where society at large is losing trust in some of the important institutions that have been developed over the last few decades.

Companies that recognize the risks associated with the realities of this new era, and harness the opportunities for innovation that adaptation requires, will have positioned themselves to outperform their lagging peers.

In the first quarter of 2012, we saw a stronger effort to address those challenges through transformational changes in demand and supply to scale sustainable consumption; utilization of social media to cultivate trust with important stakeholders; and increased efforts to collaborate with like-minded companies to drive innovation. We are also seeing a closer examination of supply chains, especially in emerging markets, as both business and investors are concerned about potential Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) risks. Finally, we are seeing an increased interest in impact investing, and the flow of private capital to generate solutions for social good.

There is a growing need for interconnectedness between economic growth, social equality, and environmental sustainability. In the words of Sir Richard Branson, from his recent book entitled Screw Business as Usual: “Doing good is good for business.”

This is a list of CSBR’s top five trends for Q1. We welcome your thoughts and additions.

In recent years there has been a lot of discussion about the value of life cycle analysis, or LCA, as a tool to advance sustainability practice. It is often touted as an important and robust way to ensure correct data is being incorporated into the decision-making process.

I don’t disagree with this, and I hope we continue to see increased uptake in LCA studies and growing interest in organizations with the expertise to conduct them.

But a lot of companies balk at LCA for a host of reasons. It’s too expensive, they say. It’s an overwhelming amount of data. It’s more for the product engineer folks, not the strategists. And on and on.

Enter the other LCA, where “A” is for “Approach”. Taking a life cycle approach is, in essence, applying the concept of life cycle thinking without necessarily conducting a formal LCA. Sometimes this means leveraging existing life cycle data and applying it to a different situation - fortunately, there are many LCA studies made available to the public. And sometimes, it just means using common sense - something that isn’t always present when well-intended marketers or strategists run with the sustainability agenda. 

An excellent blog from The Natural Step Canada about unlocking brand value creation potential of sustainability through the authenticity of every experience or touch-point. For more information about The Natural Step Canada, visit their website http://www.thenaturalstep.org/en/canada

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We are often asked to provide our thoughts and reflections on the growing connection between sustainability and an organization’s reputation and brand. In a recent survey of CEOs (the largest of its kind) entitled “A New Era of Sustainability” and released by the United Nations Global Compact on sustainability, CEOs ranked “brand trust and reputation” as the top reason to take action on sustainability. However, while many organizations realize the reputational and brand differentiation potential of taking meaningful steps towards sustainability, they are also increasingly (and justifiably) wary of public scrutiny and the accusation of “greenwashing.

The question is:

How can sustainability help you create a brand that differentiates and avoids greenwashing?