Sustainability strategy: planning in 4 steps (ABCD)

In this whiteboard animation, I present a 4-step method to create effective and rigorous strategic sustainability plans. It is inspired from the work of Dr Karl-Henrick Robèrt and The Natural Step. Read more on en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natu... and www.naturalstep.org/en/abcd-pr.... It also highlights that the creative tension between the current situation and the vision of success is what generates motion and action toward sustainability.
This method is related to backcasting from sustainability principles as part of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) developed by The Natural Step.
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Videos are created by Alexandre Magnin using years of experience drawing and working as a sustainability consultant with businesses and communities: www.amcreative.org
Music: "The Creek" by Topher Mohr and Alex Elena.
Big thanks to our subtitles volunteer:
Spanish & Catalan: Josep Simona
Portuguese: André Ribeiro Winter
** SCRIPT **
If we combine backcasting from sustainability principles with some common strategic planning methods that you may already know, we get a simple step-by-step approach to strategic sustainability planning in 4 steps:
A- Awareness: First we need to make sure that we have a common language in our team, our department or our organization and that we all agree on what it means to play the 'game' of sustainability and what the rules of the game are. Sounds obvious but often people use different definitions.
B- Baseline -- Assessing current reality: This is where we are today. It's about completing a diagnosis of our current situation. It usually includes a sustainability impacts analysis to identify key infractions of the 4 sustainability principles and key sustainability challenges. It also includes an assets inventory and an evaluation of stakeholder relationships.
C- Compelling vision: This is about creating a sustainability vision and imagining potential solutions to the challenges identified in the baseline assessment. The vision includes complying with the 4 sustainability principles but also our core purpose and our core values. Using backcasting is very powerful here! It prevents us from proposing only solutions to problems we have today. With the end in mind, we can suggest solutions that will help us create the sustainable future we want for ourselves.
D- Decide on priorities: This step is about choosing between the solutions proposed in the previous step and deciding which ones are most strategic while allowing for tactical flexibility. Three questions can help us decide strategically on priorities here and this will be the topic of another video.
This is a very flexible approach: you can apply to a product, a department, the whole company or the whole community. It's also cyclical and you always revisit and refine A, B, C and D.
Applying this ABCD planning methodology many times with businesses and communities, I have found that the most important element is the gap between our current situation and our vision because that's what creates the creative tension. A lot of the time, when we know where we are and where we want to be, we just go there. Creating this tension upstream generates action and motion downstream. That's why it's important to be rigorous and honest while assessing our current situation and to be ambitious while creating our vision. Pretending that the current situation is better that it really is and/or creating a vision that is not very ambitious can feel more comfortable but it reduces the creative tension and therefore reduces our chances to generate action and motion in the right direction.

[@ivanmurillo-conde5643]

Very clear, informative and well produced! I´m preparing a workshop on Urban Planing and this video still in 2022 gives key elements to consider when bringing together diverse visions of a sustainable city. Thanks!

[@learnsustainability]

Awesome! Thanks for letting me know 👍

[@catherineweetman2834]

Thank you Alex, great video and just as relevant today!

[@learnsustainability]

Thanks Catherine! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@peterhess1055]

great video. very clear, specific and useful. thanks!

[@omololaolowu3387]

This video was amazing!! Super helpful! Thank you so much

[@learnsustainability]

Glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to write a comment!

[@srig9553]

This 4 steps strategy can be applied to even to personal goals. Thanks for sharing.

[@learnsustainability]

Absolutely! Thanks for your comment!

[@jorgetabilo1]

It is a very good video, is very useful move an organization from the current situation to a desired situation. This road will be the roadmap established in the strategic plan.

[@learnsustainability]

Thank you! Glad you like it :-)

[@manabucomunit]

Excellent video!!

[@learnsustainability]

thanks :-)

[@DiplSRS]

Well done. I really like how you brought the creative tension associated with how ambitious the vision and how honest the baseline really is. We have 2 problems right now - 1) we lack the courage to propose an ambitious, visionary long-term view and the 2) the courage to tell truth to power about our current unsustainability. Keep up the good work Alex.

[@learnsustainability]

Thanks Kathryn! I appreciate it :-)

[@riaddjeha5983]

I liked it a lot

[@isaacmate9819]

Very helpful

[@taibbasheeib4068]

Very Productive

[@learnsustainability]

👍

[@mattchristie7768]

Excellent video! I can't find the video explaining the 3 prioritizing questions, could you please provide the link?

[@learnsustainability]

There it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmPYY2SIndCLaLs You might find that the website is an easier way to find the various videos: sustainabilityillustrated.com/

[@mattchristie7768]

@@learnsustainability thanks so much!!

[@RonPaulgirls]

i may have missed it, but why aren't you putting population into context as in I=PAT. the usa has a biocapacity of about 200 million which was exceeded decades ago as the country was flooded with illegal aliens and amnesty after amnesty. on top of that all kinds of nonsceintific gibberish theories like global warming, when there are thousands of reasons to maintain a clean protected environment anyway.

[@learnsustainability]

Thanks RonPaulgirls. You have not missed anything. I have not done anything on I=PAT and I am not very familiar with it but I will look into it for sure.

[@RonPaulgirls]

yea, it's weird, i go all the way back to the beginnings of the ecology movement and back then population control was issue no. 1. since then the ecology movement got continuously hijacked by socialist liberals who want massive immigration. immigration is the biggest problem with population control, the usa's biocapacity is at about 200 million with current technologies. you seem like a super nice guy, you might watch my last video to get some clarity on the usa population mess. my videos are pretty hard core, they basically pitch critical thinking applied to ecological libertarianism.

[@learnsustainability]

RonPaulgirls Thanks! I will watch your latest video for sure!

[@RonPaulgirls]

Todd Houstein TAKE THE TROLL QUIZ OR FUCK OFF LOSER, I DON'T WASTE MY TIME ON DUMB TROLLS: 1. NAME ALL THE CELL SPECIES & ORGANS IN THE BODY, DESCRIBE THEIR STRUCTURES, QUANTITIES, FORMS AND FUNCTIONS. 2. LIST ALL OF THE HUMAN BODY'S NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS SUCH AS VITAMINS AND MINERALS AND HOW THEY CAN BE SUPPLIED WITH A VEGAN DIET, IF YOU CONTEND THAT ANIMAL PRODUCTS ARE NECESSARY, LIST THE SPECIFIC NUTRIENTS SUCH AS VITAMINS AND MINERALS THAT ANIMAL PRODUCTS PROVIDE. 3. NAME ALL THE ECOSYSTEMS WITHIN THE EARTH'S ENVIRONMENT. 4. DESCRIBE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE EARTH AND ITS ORBIT AROUND THE SUN AND THE SUN'S ORBIT WITHIN THE MILKYWAY AND THE MILKYWAY'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE OTHER FEW HUNDRED BILLION GALAXIES IN THE UNIVERSE AND THEN DESCRIBE THE CURRENTLY UNDERSTOOD MODEL OF THE OBSERVABLE UNIVERSE'S CONSTRUCTION. 5. EXPLAIN HOW LIBERTARIAN GOVERNMENTS OR OTHER POLITICAL SYSTEMS COULD RELATE TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND PERSONAL HEALTH AND DESCRIBE THEIR FORMS,FUNCTIONS, STRUCTURES AND BUDGETS. 6. DO YOU THINK MOST OF THE NEWS ON MAINSTREAM MEDIA CHANNELS AND MOST OF THE FABRICATIONS YOU GET FROM POLITICIANS AND THEIR ACCOMPLICES IS MORE OR LESS REAL THAN PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING? 7. DO YOU THINK CRITICALLY REGARDING PEOPLE AND THEIR BEHAVIORS, ACKNOWLEDGING THEIR STRENGTHS, QUALITIES AND WEAKNESSES? 8. EXPLAIN THE STANDARD MODEL AND THE PERIODIC TABLE AND LIST ALL THE MINERALS THEN EXPLAIN WHAT THE SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY IS AND HOW IT MIGHT BE USED WITH ALL OF THOSE MODELS 9. WHAT SYSTEMS DO YOU PROPOSE THAT WILL PROVIDE FOR PROTECTIONS FROM INVASIONS OF SAY 400 MILLION PEOPLE INTO THE USA TERRITORIES RIGHT AFTER YOUR DELUSIONAL WORLD OF DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY STATE IS IMPLEMENTED. 10. HOW DO YOU PROPOSE TO REPAIR ALL OF THE DAMAGE THAT HAS BEEN DONE TO THE TERRITORIES OF THE USA ALREADY AS A RESULT OF MASSIVE IMMIGRATION EXCEEDING BIO CAPACITIES AND GOVERNMENT BUDGETS, WHICH HAVE LEFT USA MORE DEBTS. 11. EXPLAIN WHAT AN ECOLOGICAL FOOT PRINT IS AND WHAT BIO CAPACITY IS AND WHAT GENERAL REMEDIES AND CONTROLS SHOULD BE IN PLACE AS REMEDIES OF THESE KINDS OF IMBALANCES. 12. PRESENT A DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIFE ON PLANET EARTH FROM 3.5 BILLION BC TO THE PRESENT AND THEN GIVE YOUR DESCRIPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN SPECIES OVER THE LAST 100,000 YEARS. 13. IF THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF AN AMERICAN IS 5 TO 8 ACRES AND THERE ARE APPROX. 100 MILLION ACRES IN CALIF AND THERE ARE 38 MILLION PEOPLE IN CALIF, MANY OF WHICH ARE ILLEGAL ALIENS, WHICH MEANS THAT CALIF HAS TWICE THE POPULATION THAT IT'S BIOCAPACITY CAN HANDLE WHICH IS DESTROYING IT'S ENVIRONMENT, WHILE IT HAS THE HIGHEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE OVER 8 PERCENT IN THE USA, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM? A. ARE THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY SKANKS WHO DON'T GIVE A SHIT? B. ARE THERE ORGANIZED INVASIONS? C. ARE THERE TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE DUMBER THAN FUCK?? D. WHY SHOULD THE USA ACCEPT MASSIVE INVASIONS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHEN MEXICO DOESN'T ALLOW MILLIONS OF IMMIGRANTS IN TO ITS COUNTRY THROUGH ITS SOUTHERN BORDER? 14. EXPLAIN WHAT YOUR DIET IS INCLUDING MACRO AND MICRO NUTRIENTS AND RAW VS. COOKED PERCENTAGES AND WEATHER YOU CONSUME ANY WILD FOODS AS WELL. IF YOU'RE COMPLETELY IGNORANT ABOUT THAT GO TO MY CHANNEL PAGE AND REVIEW THE HEALTHY LIVING PLAYLIST SECTION. 15. PROVIDE AN INTELLIGENT REVIEW FOR AT LEAST 40 OF THE RONPAULGIRL'S GENIUS VIDEOS, LIST THEIR CONTENTS AND EXPLAIN WHY THEY ARE USEFUL IN SUPPORTING AND PROMOTING LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY. 16. EXPLAIN THE HISTORY OF LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY OVER THE LAST 3,000 YEARS. 17. EXPLAIN HOW YOU CAN GO ABOUT ADVANCING YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF HOW THE WORLD WORKS. WHAT WOULD BE YOUR FIRST STEPS IN SELF EDUCATION. 18. HUMANS ARE MADE UP OF APPROXIMATELY A DECILLION SUBATOMIC PARTICLES. NAME THE PARTICLES AND EXPLAIN HOW THEY ARE ARRANGED THROUGHOUT THE HUMAN BODY IN VARIOUS HIARCHAL STRUCTURES AND DESCRIBE THEIR RELATIONSHIPS AND FUNCTIONS. 19. EXPLAIN WHAT LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY IS AND HOW IT RELATES TO THE FULL SPECTRUM OF REALITY IN THIS UNIVERSE AND YOUR EXPERIENCE OF IT. A. START WITH AN EXPLANATION OF YOGIC PHILOSOPHY AND ITS PRACTICES AS PRESCRIBED BY PATANJALI IN APPROXIMATELY 200 BC. B. NEXT EXPLAIN HOW LIBERTARIAN PRINCIPLES RELATE TO THE MAINTENANCE OF YOUR PHYSICAL BODY AND YOUR RESIDENTIAL LIFESTYLE, MEANING HOW AND WHERE YOU LIVE AND HOW YOU MAINTAIN YOUR RESIDENCE. C. EXPLAIN HOW YOU APPLY LIBERTARIAN PRINCIPLES TO YOUR BUSINESS, YOUR COMMUNITY AND ITS POLITICAL SYSTEMS 20. STARTING FROM NOW, HOW WOULD YOU WORK TO STRATEGICALLY PROMOTE AND ADVANCE LIBERTARIANISM REGARDING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS: A. MAKE A LIST OF WHAT YOU WOULD PRIVATIZE, SUCH AS PUBLIC EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE, DRUGS, ETC. B. EXPLAIN HOW YOU WOULD REDUCE GOVERNMENT SCOPE, WOULD YOU ELIMINATE ALL GOVERNMENTS ENTIRELY OR REDUCE ACROSS THE BOARD TO SAY 10 PERCENT OF THE SIZE, OR WHAT, STRATEGICALLY

[@learnsustainability]

RonPaulgirls I had to remove your post. Please make sure to not insult people you disagree with to keep your mesages up. Thank you.