Hi folks, Alex here. Decision-making for socio-ecological sustainability
can seem complex and daunting. So many factors are at play.
So how can you make sure that you make a good sustainability decision?
Like with many other things, tools and frameworks can be very helpful.
Here are three strategic questions to help you make good sustainability decisions.
We will go through them and apply them to a real-life example.
This is also part of the D step of the ABCD methodology
that we presented in a previous video.
Question number one: is it a move in the right direction?
Is this decision going to take us closer to
where we want to be, closer to our vision?
Here is an example: as it prepared to host the Winter Olympic Games in 2010,
the town of Whistler, Canada, had to face an increasing energy demand.
The heating needs had long been provided primarily by propane,
delivered by rail and trucks and distributed by pipes.
Knowing that the existing propane system had reached its capacity,
the municipality turned to natural gas provider Terasen for suggestions.
Answering this first question,
Whistler looked at the extent to which bringing a high-pressure natural gas pipeline
for a cost of approximately 43 million dollars amortized over 50 years,
would be aligned with their "Whistler 2020" plan for a long-term sustainable future
defined by the four system conditions for sustainability.
You can watch the video linked in the description for a reminder on this.
Converting from propane to natural gas would provide a 15% reduction
on greenhouse gas emissions which would also reduce contribution
to the first and second system conditions.
Natural gas can also be used for vehicles.
Building the pipeline while building the road was an opportunity to limit
the degradation of nature by physical means, which is the third system condition.
Terasen suggested a bigger lower pressure pipeline,
so it could be installed within the highway shoulder,
saving costs while meeting the legal requirements
and helping Whistler make sure that the project was well aligned
with their social sustainability goals the fourth system condition.
The revised project was going in the right direction according to the "Whistler 2020" plan.
It is important to have a robust and ambitious sustainability vision
for this question to be a powerful way to make good sustainability decisions.
Qestion number two : is it a flexible platform?
We are not going to reach sustainability overnight,
When we take action, we need to make sure that
we're not going to lock ourselves into a dead-end.
We need to make decisions that provide enough flexibility
so we can build upon them and allow for future opportunities and
technologies that might not be known yet.
In the case of Whistler, natural gas being a fossil fuel,
and therefore a finite resource, they found that
they didn't want to lock themselves into a 50-year amortization period.
They asked Terasen to revise their proposal.
The revised project decreased the capacity
of the pipeline by half and forced Whistler to make a
conscious decision to look into alternative energy systems.
They decided to put in place geothermal heating and to use natural gas
only as a backup system to be used during peak hours.
Question number three: does it provide a good return on investment?
It does not anybody any good if an organization
trying to become sustainable goes bankrupt.
It is critical that every decision made provides a good return on investment.
In the case of Whistler, going with a lower pressure pipeline
and decreasing its capacity by half,
reduced the project cost by about 10 million dollars.
This made it possible for Terasen
to charge customers rates that were competitive with electricity
while providing a good return on investment for Terasen
and for the community of Whistler.
There you have it: three strategic questions to consider to
help you make sustainable decisions:
is it a move in the right direction?
is it a flexible platform?
and does it provide a good return on investment?
In our example, working together as partners, the municipality of Whistler and Terasen
were able to come up with innovative solutions that served both parties.
Having a robust long-term plan as well as tools and frameworks
can help you think out of the box, revise existing projects and solutions,
and come up with new innovative ones for your organization or your community.
I will be back with more sustainability tools in video.
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