The Natural Step Robert, Karl-Henrik, the Natural Step Environmental Institute Ltd

The Natural Step is a strategic management framework now used in more than 100 companies such as WASA (insurance), Ikea (furniture), McDonalds/Sweden, and Electrolux (which considers its sustainability investments the best it's made in a long time). The Natural Step provides a coherent platform that makes strategic economic sense out of disparate environmental initiatives, and that provides organisations with a coherent framework for addressing future challenges.

The Natural Step is built on a scientific and social consensus around four "system conditions for sustainability", derived from universally accepted principles of thermodynamics and evolutionary biology: The Natural Step model is constructed upon two preconditions

Basic science principles:

• matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed;
• matter and energy tend to disperse;
• net increase in material quality on Earth can be produced only by sun-driven processes;
• We never consume energy or matter - only its exergy, purity and structure.

The precondition of our lives:

• Humanity cannot tolerate continual degradation of the environment.

The two preconditions lead to the cyclic (systems) principle that says that,

"Reconstitution of material quality must be at least as large as its dissipation"

THE NATURAL STEP'S FOUR SYSTEM CONDITIONS

Condition No. 1: Stored deposits

Substances from the Earth's crust must not systematically increase in nature.
This means: fossil fuels, metals, and other minerals must not be extracted at a faster pace than their slow redeposit in the earth's crust.
Because: otherwise quality will be lost due to the inevitable spread of wastes and their accumulation toward often unknown limits beyond which irreversible changes occur.
In practical terms this means: radically decreasing mining and use of fossil fuels.

(Does your organization systematically decrease its economic dependence on underground metals, fuels and other minerals?)

Condition No. 2: Alien compounds

Substances produced by society must not systematically increase in nature.
This means: substances must not be produced at a faster pace than they can be broken down in nature or deposited into the earth's crust.
Because: otherwise quality will be lost due to the inevitable spread of substances and their accumulation toward often unknown limits beyond which irreversible changes occur.
In practical terms this means: decreased production of natural substances that are accumulating and a phase out of all persistent and unnatural substances.

(Does your organization systematically decrease its economic dependence on persistent synthetic substances?)

Condition No. 3: Ecosystems

The physical basis for the productivity and diversity of nature must not be systematically deteriorated.
This means: the productive surfaces of nature must not be diminished in quality or quantity and we must not harvest more from nature than can be re-created.
Because: our health and prosperity depend on the capacity of nature to reconcentrate and restructure wastes into resources.
In practical terms this means: sweeping changes of our use of surfaces in, for instance, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and planning of society.

(Does your organization systematically decrease its economic dependence on activities that encroach on productive ecosystems?)

Condition No. 4: Metabolism

Just and efficient use of energy and other resources.
This means: basic human needs must be met with the most resource-efficient methods possible, including a just resource distribution.
Because: humanity must prosper with a resource metabolism meeting system conditions 1-3. This is necessary to get the social stability and co-operation for making the changes in due time.
In practical terms this means: an increased technical and organisational efficiency in the whole world, including a more resource-economical lifestyle in the rich part.

(Does your organization systematically decrease its economic dependence on using a large amount of resources in relation to added human value?)

IKEA, a world-renowned furniture manufacturer, for instance, produces a line that complies with the Natural Step conditions. It is made without metal parts or persistent glues, and it is built of wood from sustainable forestry. Furthermore, a Swedish oil company inspired by the Natural Step develops alcohol-based fuels.