Earth, photo by NASA

5 strategies for a Planet Centric Business

The earlier in a project we focus on sustainability, the bigger the impact. What mostly affects one service or product is decided in the beginning, when its foundations are laid down and key decision-makers agree to its direction. Therefore we start with 5 strategies for a Planet Centric Business Model, which is followed by 5 strategies for a Planet Centric Service.

1. It all starts with a sustainability-driven purpose

It all really starts with a good intention, and keeping it over time.

Take a look at Kuulea. It was founded with the purpose of tackling the problematic amount of emissions generated by digitalization:

• Kuulea provides data centres, i.e., the servers used to process data, which are distributed in properties that require heating services. The heat that is generated as a by-product of data processing is utilised locally in the heating of the property.
• This forms 2 services: Kuulea COMPUTING provides electricity for high performance computing and Kuulea HEATING uses the waste heat to warm up properties (like swimming pools, check it out in this article).
• On top of this they currently compensate for their emissions and are committed to becoming carbon-neutral, currently being part of the Sustainability Committee of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce.

Having a sustainability-driven purpose is like a compass to ensure a business keeps investing on having positive impact. This does not end with having a sustainability mission, it should affect every decision along the business lifetime. As a business develops and scales up, different challenges emerge to keep a positive impact and sustainability must remain a core priority, as important as keeping business profitable, for example.

2. Go against uneconomic growth

Get inspired, investigate different types of economic models that challenge linear economy and consider how your business can align with them. This also helps you think about how you can generate other types of value, other than monetary. To name a few:

Regenerative economy aims to regenerate the resources used, meaning the goods and services that the earth supplies. Therefore it aims to go beyond having a net zero impact, to actually have a positive impact. Some examples of regenerative businesses are:

• CompostNow is a subscription composting service that collects their customers’ compostable materials, processing them into composted soil and then distributing it to public and private agricultural operations.
• Historic Fourth Ward Park features green infrastructure that uses natural landscaping elements to reduce flooding, filter out pollutants and reduce capacity needs of municipal stormwater infrastructure. On top of that it increases the air quality and provides shade and cooling during hot times.
• Soul Fire Farm grows food for 80 families using exclusively organic and ancestral techniques that increase topsoil depth, sequester carbon, and increase soil biodiversity. The goals of the farm are to end racism and injustice in the food system, through trainings.

Circular economy is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, reusing, repairing, and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. This way, it decouples economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. It includes 5 main strategies:

• Product-life extension: as an example, Kamupak offers reusable containers to restaurants and groceries, avoiding waste in takeaway.
• Resource efficiency and recycling: Pure Waste offers clothing produced from upcycled surplus materials.
• Product as a service: 3StepIT leases mobile phones, computers and tablets for workplaces, monitors their state to increase their lifecycle, and ensures they are reused by new customers
• Sharing platforms: OLX is a online peer-to-peer marketplace for second-hand products.
• Renewability: EcoUp reuses material from demolition to create carbon-neutral termal insulation.

Degrowth movement emphasises the social and ecological harm caused by the pursuit of infinite growth promoted by Western societies. It proposes that we should be shrinking rather than growing economies and that economic growth and GDP as indicators of prosperity should be replaced by social and environmental well-being. To name a few examples:

• The beverage company Premium has an anti-volume discount: The larger the order, the higher the price per unit. It aims to support small distributors to counteract vendor concentration in the beverage market.
• Energy provider EWS Schönau include a subsidy component which is used to help customers become renewable energy producers themselves. This means their customers become non-customers to promote the decentralization and democratization of the renewable energy market.

These strategies do not exist in isolation as, for example, circular models can be regenerative and regenerative businesses can have a degrowth mindset. So feel free to combine them with each other or other models that you may find.

Warning: keep in mind the intention of having a positive impact mentioned in 1. Aim for a sustainability-driven purpose. It is easy to fall into the trap of using these strategies as add-on to your main business. For example, if your main business is to sell t-shirts, having a collection of upcycled fabrics can be used as a way to attract a different audience, but not really change to sustainable ways of operating.

3. Consider other human and non-human personas in value creation

In human-centered approach, we usually focus on the target users, when considering for whom we want to create value. However many others are affected by your business. City residents are affected by Airbnb, a river is affected by the nearby agricultural field that grows potatoes for a chips brand, the animals in a forest are affected by the music festival hosted there.

Consider who is directly and indirectly affected by your business and focus on creating positive impact for them through your service. These might be human or non-human. Putting other personas in the center of your business development should happen when you first start your business and as your business grows, in your product and service development activities.

Let’s look at the example of a music festival:

Boom Festival, as an example

In a planet centric business, we consider how we are affecting, in this case, the fauna and flora, the river passing by the festival area and the city residents. We think of how this festival can generate value for these personas, the same way it generates value for the attendees, artists, investors and city hall.

4. Sustainability-based pricing

Include social and environmental costs in your pricing

• This means that you consider the market price of a product, plus the social and environmental costs. Social costs include taking into account insufficient wages for employees, occupational health and safety risks, etc. Environmental costs include air pollution from production, degradation of land, as examples. True price focuses on developing pricing models that include these costs and have available resources to guide companies in creating true pricing models.
• This is quite a complex area, but it is worth considering what are these costs might be, even if you cannot calculate them precisely.

Develop your pricing to motivate sustainable behaviour

• When having multiple products or service packages, make the most sustainable option, the most cost-efficient as well. For example, Valtavalo offers a lower price on more energy efficient lightning solutions, compared to the less efficient ones.
• Motivate customers to consume less or consume more consciously, in order to pay less. The Arctic Blue Resort is being built and it will have a sustainability-based pricing, as its guests can impact their rates by reducing energy consumption, participating in environmental activities, and choosing sustainable meals.
• Guide your consumers towards the most sustainable part of your offering, by providing extra benefits with it. For instance, Nolla is a zero waste restaurant that directs big groups to the Chef’s menu, instead of the à la carte options (as it is easier to minimize food waste), by providing the Chef’s menu faster, adjusted to the group’s dietary requirements and at lower price than à la carte options.

5. Strategic partnerships

Pick your partners wisely to help you increase the positive impact of your business or minimize the negative. From green energy providers like Kuulea, to sustainable logistics like Nüwiel or to upcycling partners to your operations waste like Honkajoki.

Set up an exemplary value chain from the get go and think beyond your immediate suppliers. A useful framework to identify direct and indirect suppliers are the 3 Scopes of GHG Emissions.

Source: GHG Protocol

I hope these strategies were inspiring to your business journey!

To put these ideas into action, check out the Business Model Flip canvas, from the Planet Centric Design toolkit, to guide you further in creating a Planet Centric Business Model.

“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space