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Now, with CSR 2.0, entrepreneurship must be purposing driven business where CSR is integrated
into core business activities and understood as potential.
While consumer and market segments are requesting more sustainability in business models,
this offers the business opportunity to develop products and services meeting the needs of latest
consumer demands. This is also, why of the major companies believe that they have to change
30-40 % of their value creation. That is why sustainable business models play a major role in
corporate success (Schmidpeter and Bungard 2022).
Opportunities from product to systemic change
The UN and UN Global Compact recommend the SDGs as source for opportunities, the UN
Global Compact principles provide the way of how these opportunities should be used for
innovation, creating value for stakeholders and implementing them in business models.
Sustainable ideas can be understood as a comprehensive notion that may be applied to various
levels of analysis, e.g., the single company, the industrial sectors, the region or the entire
economy. Besides it may be achieved in many ways including behavioural changes. However,
the focus of policy should be on all innovation – like social innovation as well, not just on
technologies. By the way the design of a product and values embedded in it can also bear some
opportunities as the end of the lifecycle (recycling, upcycling or re-use)
As an example, eco-efficiency innovation contributes to company competitiveness in at least four
ways:
1. Operational advantages thanks to greater resource efficiency resulting in lower resource
costs.
2. Commercialisation of the innovation.
3. Reduced environmental costs of pollution control and waste management
4. Improvements in image, marketing and stakeholder relations
The WBCSD has identified seven elements to improve eco-efficiency (since 2000’s - World
Business Council for Sustainable Development (2000)
According to that this measure should lead to less environmental impact and can also contribute
to the SDGs.
1. Reduce material intensity
2. Reduce energy intensity
3. Reduce dispersion of toxic substances
4. Enhance recyclability
5. Maximize use of renewables
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