ABSTRACT
I DIAGNOSE THE MOST COMMON BARRIERS in environmental sustainability programmes as:
Lack of leadership: leadership is critical to any successful corporate programme arid a lack of leadership will kill off culture change programmes before they get going.
A lack of integration: 'green' and 'sustainability' are seen as tangential issues to the mainstream business processes and are thus of secondary importance or someone else's problem.
A misalignment of responsibility and authority: most environmental managers have lots of responsibility and precious little authority. Conversely, people who have the power to push sustainability are given no responsibility to do so.
A lack of accountability: environmental performance is leftoutside the performance management system.
Wishful or limited thinking: 'We've appointed energy champions. Job done.'
76Sloppy company culture in general: I find that the companies who have a poor sustainability culture usually have poor discipline, weak quality standards and messy premises.
A lack of empowerment: 'It's more than my job's worth to turn that off.'
Ignorance: 'If I turn up the thermostat, the office will warm more quickly.'
Inertia: 'We've always designed our products like that,' 'That sound? That's always there. No, we don't check our compressed air system for leaks. Should we?', etc.
Fear: 'If we try this, who'll get the blame if it goes wrong?'
