Helping Businesses

Translating the fundamentals of sustainability into innovation and value creation

Rising resource, energy and waste management costs, labour disputes, environmental regulations and rules for international business agreements are increasingly challenging the economics of today’s business. Proactive businesses are learning to avoid such problems by allowing sustainability to be a guiding force of their business strategy. more>>

Helping Municipal Governments and Communities

Why are communities so important?

Communities are the building blocks of our society and are therefore an obvious place to begin to address the challenge of sustainability. Communities are complex systems that comprise a diversity of stakeholders and interests and deliver a multitude of goods and services. more>>

Books

Help support TNS by purchasing your books online through our website. When you purchase a book published by New Society Publishers through our website, The Natural Step earns a percentage of the proceeds. Click here to order the book from New Society Publishers.

The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns can Change to Sustainable Practices
Sarah James and Torbjörn Lahti
New Society Publishers 2004
Available at: www.newsociety.com

The Natural Step Story: Seeding a Quiet Revolution Karl-Henrik Robèrt (Founder and Chair of The Natural Step)
New Society Publishers 2002
Available at: www.newsociety.com

Dancing With the Tiger: Learning Sustainability Step by Natural Step Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare
New Society Publishers 2002
Available at: www.newsociety.com

The Natural Step for Business: Wealth, Ecology and the Evolutionary Corporation Brian Nattrass and Mary Altomare
New Society Publishers
1999
Available at: www.newsociety.com

Ants, Galileo, and Gandhi: Designing the Future of Business through Nature,Genius and Compassion Edited by Sissel Waage (The Natural Step USA)
Greenleaf Publishing 2003
Available at:
www.greenleaf-publishing.com/catalogue/antsgg.htm

Helping communities and businesses take meaningful steps toward sustainability

The Natural Step as an organization is to develop a genuine commitment to, and competence in, sustainable development throughout society, using The Natural Step Framework as a systems approach for dialogue and decision making.

eLearning

Learn more about our award-winning eLearning course on sustainability.

Sustainability 101™ and Sustainability: Step by Natural Step™ are fresh and innovative learning experiences developed by The Natural Step that provide practical sustainability education to a broad base of business, government, and community organizations that are serious about moving towards more sustainable operations.

Even the best strategies for sustainable development will not succeed without commitment from an organization's members and employees. Education and training are crucial to build awareness, share understanding, encourage commitment, and create a shared vision of sustainability.

Course Objectives

Access - To increase corporate, government and community access to relevant, engaging and technologically appropriate sustainability educational materials

Understand - To increase corporate, government and community understanding of sustainability by structuring learning around the proven Natural Step Framework

Apply - To increase the application of sustainability principles to corporate, government and community decision-making, in order to speed the transition to a sustainable society

Understanding Sustainability

The Natural Step Framework

The Natural Step Framework is a methodology for successful organisational planning. It is based on systems thinking, recognizing that what happens in one part of a system affects every other part. We begin by understanding the broader system within which problems occur and the principles governing success within that system These principles for success then provide a practical set of design criteria that can be used to direct social, environmental and economic actions, developing effective, durable solutions to the environmental, social and economic issues of the new century.

More about the TNS Framework:

Basic Science The basic science behind The Natural Step framework.
An organisation's sustainability objectives
Benefits of Implementing The Natural Step framework

Our Projects

The Natural Step provides training programs, coaching and advisory services to diverse stakeholders including communities, businesses and non-profits. Read about some of our projects here.