Business Case Drivers: Costs
Approaches to cost cutting can be found, above all, in site maintenance extensification, in the reduction of energy and resource use, and in the reduction of emissions and waste that are subject to charges. There are a number of environmental cost accounting methods that can make a valuable contribution to identifying such opportunities. In addition, costs can be reduced by positively changing intangible aspects, such as work morale.
Fields of action
Fields of action in can be identified and set by analysing where a company’s activities have a either direct or indirect influence on biodiversity. The spatial relation to biological diversity is intuitively connected to the sites and facilities field of action. Corporate activities influence biodiversity in other ways though as well.
Sites and Facilities
Need for new space due to degradation or other costs from lower productivity rates
Decreasing maintenance costs through new site development
Decreasing restoration costs and/or decreasing offset costs
Best Practice Examples: Axel Springer – Environmental ground care protects biodiversity and lowers maintenance costs
Axel Springer showed that economics and ecology are not mutually exclusive when they redesigned the company grounds at their printing facility in Ahrensburg. An award-winning renaturation programme lowered the maintenance costs while increasing the ecological value of the grounds.
Axel Springer AG
Product Design
Reduced product cost by altering product design
Personnel
Decreasing personnel costs by encouraging long-term commitment and higher levels of employee motivation
Supply chains, commodities and materials
Cost reduction by long-term supplier relationships (biodiversity-oriented supply chain management)
Cost reduction by taking advantage of new sources of income (for example, subsidies for using resources from traditional cultivation)
Best Practice Examples: Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland - Agenda for sustainable packaging
DSD is concerned about the packaging life cycle and is cooperating with many manufacturers to develop a way to keep the packaging materials even longer in the business cycle (cradle-to-cradle). With the company’s Environmental Success Report, DSD has been able to collect information on its environmental impact, as well as gather specific indicators on the further development of packaging recycling. DSD has joined forces with selected partners from the retailing, filling and package manufacturing sectors to set up the “Sustainable Packaging Agenda” pilot project.
Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD)
Additional information about Supply chains, commodities and materials
Production and manufacturing processes
Decreasing production costs (for example, by means of energy efficiency, processes enabling the substitution of rare resources)
Best Practice Examples: Der Grüne Punkt - Duales System Deutschland - Agenda for sustainable packaging
DSD is concerned about the packaging life cycle and is cooperating with many manufacturers to develop a way to keep the packaging materials even longer in the business cycle (cradle-to-cradle). With the company’s Environmental Success Report, DSD has been able to collect information on its environmental impact, as well as gather specific indicators on the further development of packaging recycling. DSD has joined forces with selected partners from the retailing, filling and package manufacturing sectors to set up the “Sustainable Packaging Agenda” pilot project.
Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD)
Additional information about Production and manufacturing processes
Transport and Logistics
Decreasing costs for transport and storage (for example, by increasing energy efficiency)
