Welcome to the latest news from Natural Logic -- strategic advisers to the sustainable economy.

Perspectives: The state of "sustainability"

The sustainability "tipping point" that I flagged early this year is continuing to rocket forward. Wal-Mart's venture into the fray has had huge influence -- both on their 60,000 suppliers, and on the many companies whose sense of reality got shifted big time by seeing Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott on the cover of Fortune. The reality and risk of climate change is concerning all but the most ideologically minded. Billions of investment dollars are looking for deals in "clean tech" -- the current term of art for renewable energy, energy efficiency and the like.

For the many of us who've been working in the trenches all these years, it's more than a validation -- it's an enormous opportunity, but one that demands some careful re-thinking of just how we can add the most value for our customers. The days of "making the business case" for sustainability are past; as Bill Gates once said, "If you can show me the business case, you're too late."

The focus now shifts to three key questions: - are your goals sufficient to the challenge (the needs in the world, the market opportunity, and the aspirations of your people)?

• can you systematically and consistently meet those higher goals -- can you translate vision into implementation?
• are you tracking performance toward those goals in ways that deeply engage your organization toward that common purpose -- so that people can function with "autonomy in a coherent whole"?

That's where the focus of our work is turning. More details in next quarter's newsletter.

Read "Sustainability - At the Tipping Point?"

Project Highlights: What's keeping us busy

We're deep into our second global market analysis of the biofuels and bioproducts industry (for a confidential client considering transitions from the fossil fuel economy. ) Other upcoming projects include:

• corporate sustainability indicator systems;
• management and employee engagement programs;
• regional and national sustainability plans;
• regional sustainability dashboards;
• and more.

Some of our recent projects include:

Raising the S-BAR
- S-BAR -- the Sustainable Business Achievement Ratings system -- is moving steadily forward. Current focus is on fleshing out the design framework, advising businesses on applying the framework to their offerings, and raising funds for full-scale development. (On that note, we'll be hosting an invitational breakfast briefing in San Francisco November 23; if you or someone you know is a potential funder or sponsor, please contact me for an invitation.)

Greening the world's largest buyer
- The sustainability reporting strategy that we've been producing for the US General Services Administration (in collaboration with LMI, Sustainability Associates, and Sylvatica) is in final draft, and should be released shortly.

Greening Cities
- Our sustainability strategy consulting with the City of Berkeley (in collaboration with David Johnston of What's Working) has resulted -- as we recommended -- in the creation of Sustainable Berkeley, a multi-stakeholder non- profit coalition that will provide leadership and community engagement to complement the city government's efforts. - We've also begun working with David and his colleague Sandra Sault Poulson on Ecotopia 2012 -- a six year program to help West Coast cities collaborate on their sustainability strategies, and create underlying infrastructures that support a long-term civic commitment to sustainability. (You can download the pdf version "Early Prospectus" here.

Greening Finance
- Also on the local government front, we recently produced a first Sustainable Finance Symposium for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. The symposium (a joint initiative of Natural Logic and Seattle's Cleaner Production) brought together 75 bankers, financiers, developers and public officials to share programs and visions, and find more effective ways to cooperate. Was it successful? Well, we weren't sure we could get all these busy people for a 3.5 hour meeting; it turns out we had to throw them out of the room, because there was so much more they wanted to talk about. Mayor Newsom's observation: the San Francisco Bay Area may become a "center of excellence" for sustainable finance, just as Silicon Valley is for the electronics industry. Watch for more news of this exciting initiative as it unfolds.

Pro Bono
- Pro-bono work has included participation in a working group for Midwest greenhouse gas registry, and pollution prevention work with Tribal P2. We're pleased to have been sponsors of the Ella Baker Center's "Tribute to a Dream" and the Berkeley Ecology Center's "Sustainability Summit."

That's the news of the season from Natural Logic, as autumn is upon us and as the sustainability revolution continues its remarkable acceleration.

As always, feel free to forward this newsletter to others who might be interested. Do keep us posted about your organization's sustainability initiatives (but please conserve electrons and don't include this entire newsletter in your reply). And give us a shout if there is any way we can help you.

PS: That "major web site overhaul" I mentioned last time? Still coming soon. (Sometimes internet years are like dog years...)