“The planet strikes back,” says Luk Van Wassenhove, Emeritus Professor of Technology and Operations Management. In this INSEAD Explains Sustainability episode, he speaks of how businesses must approach sustainability as planetary boundaries become evident.

As energy companies venture into alternative sources such as solar and wind, Van Wassenhove explains the need to take a life-cycle view in the energy transition. He urges companies and policymakers to account for the life-cycle costs – including installation, maintenance and decommissioning – or society will have to pay the price in the coming decades.  

Moreover, the viability of alternative energy sources such as solar power hinges on the availability of rare earth minerals that might eventually be exhausted. There is a strong need to be able to reuse these valuable resources and to invest in urban mining. Companies not only need to work with companies upstream and downstream of their supply chains, but also with unlikely partners in unrelated industries that “mine” used minerals or that can give used materials a second life. 

Companies operating in complex global dynamic systems with many stakeholders must adopt an ecosystem view. Going beyond their business-as-usual mode, they may find themselves ill-equipped in this landscape.  "You cannot adjust the planet to the business, you have to adjust the business to the planet," he says.  

To help with the transition towards an ecosystem view for more sustainable operations, INSEAD’s Sustainable Business Initiative sets out to plug the knowledge gap and help companies develop a larger systems approach with a business model perspective. 

One way for companies to achieve sustainable operations together is to reimagine ecosystems where they may compete with organisations in the same industries in developing new products. At the same time, they can collaborate with competitors on joint recycling, setting new sustainable industry standards and other areas. Such is the art of “coopetition”.