The fast-emerging sustainability consulting firms are nipping at the heels of the established consultancy giants who are scrambling to find their way in the emergent field of sustainability. The upstarts are challenging many of the established notions of how to add value to their clients’ operations. By looking at the business world through what the sustainability expert Stuart Hart calls ‘new sustainability lenses’, sustainability consultants are able to make sense of challenges that are baffling their clients. Moreover, they are also beginning to help their clients uncover new and sustainable value streams, the ultimate goal of good consulting practice.

In Consulting for Business Sustainability sustainability consultants from around the world offer some of their perspectives and lessons on how to truly create sustainable value for their clients. Packed with new tools, advice and approaches, the book comprises a unique collection of wisdom from some of the leading lights in sustainability consulting practice. The areas covered include: developing best-in-class environmental management systems; sustainable design; supporting organisational change agents; working with key stakeholders; social impact assessments; human rights; and regulatory risk.

The book will be essential reading for practitioners in business searching for advice and toolkits on how to make their sustainability initiatives bear fruit, for consultants looking for advice on how others have provided value to clients, and for students of sustainability looking for best-practice examples and exploring future careers in this burgeoning field.

Consulting for Business Sustainability is a collection of guidelines for business sustainability written by the sustainability professionals around the globe. These lessons represent different aspects of business sustainability while introducing some of the concepts to be implemented and further developed by the practitioners.

Even though in its embryonic stage, sustainability consulting is taking share in the industry and stepping out into competition with the established consulting giants. Sustainability consultants are looking out for ways to add value to businesses by dealing with high-importance but low-urgency issues. This approach prevents firms from dealing with high-importance and high-urgency issues as in case of Exxon Valdez oil spill or Shell Oil Brent Spar public relations disaster where timely action was required.

The book starts with the chapter on CSR consultancies in the United Kingdom presenting findings of undertaken research in order to gain understanding of the CSR consultancy industry. The following chapters cover different areas of adding value to the clients though sustainability consulting. These areas include supporting organisational change agents, working with key stakeholders, human rights, social impact assessments, developing environmental management systems, sustainable design, and regulatory risk. Several tools and approaches are introduced, among them Stakeholder Dashboard and Sustainability Portfolio Assessment.

With a hint from the title, the book is addressed to the sustainability consultants. However, in the same way it can bring value to the working professional or entrepreneur who is looking forward to transform the company into sustainable business. The book is especially valuable for the concrete guidelines and approaches which can be replicated within organisations.
Karina Toonekurg, CSR International Book Review Digest 2.2 (February 2010)

Chris Galea is a father, educator, outdoor enthusiast, builder and blue-sky sailor. He is also an entrepreneur who owns and operates a property management and hospitality business. Chris teaches at the Gerald Schwartz School of Business at St Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He was part of the founding faculty of the Sustainable Enterprise Academy at the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. Much of his research work is in the area of management learning as it relates to sustainability.