ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the concept of regulatory risk and the challenges as well as the opportunities that ensue for sustainability consultants in its management. It also outlines the concept of sustainability and how it is affected by risk. The chapter examines why risk is important to sustainability consultants, specifically looking at consulting as an ongoing process of managing risk. Within a sustainability consulting engagement, there are a number of regulatory risks facing a consultant. The chapter explains risks such as client expectations and wants; upstream and downstream regulatory risks; and stakeholder expectations and needs. This is followed by a discussion on what regulation means for sustainability with the proposal of a conceptual model to manage regulatory risk around sustainability issues. The consultant, in managing the risk of the current regulation's impact, also has to manage the probability of the proposed solution not succeeding because the organisation may have an inadequate relationship with the regulator.
