Resource ID: INDIGO-ARES-0114
Sustainable ventures can make a significant contribution to poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. These business initiatives and activities improve human well-being and the environment on a profitable basis (people, planet, profit), contributing to decoupling economic growth and improvements in well-being from natural resource use. Key questions related to the identification of opportunities, the understanding of the determinants of success and the assessment of costs and benefits appear repeatedly. This publication introduces a toolbox that helps to answer such questions. It addresses initiatives that support sustainable ventures including donor programmes, award schemes, private and public investors, professional education programs and policy makers.
The tools respond to three questions that appear over and again in the processof building and managing a sustainable venture:
(1) Where are opportunities to create value by meeting needs better and more efficiently?
(2) What factors determine the success of the venture?
(3) What are costs and benefitsof the venture for the business, society and the environment?
Impact goal: Development poverty reduction
Internal/external: External, Internal
Leader: UNEP
Method: Framework agnostic
Output format: Qualitative only
Scale: Macro
Sourcing: Self driven
Time frame: Ongoing, Prospective
Type: Guide
Used in sectors: Development, Sustainability eco
Who: Private sector
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