Environmental Sustainability at 3M 3M has been a leader in environmental sustainability efforts for many years

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Environmental Sustainability at 3M

3M has been a leader in environmental sustainability efforts for many years. Dating back to the 1970s, its 3P program has helped it not only reduce its environmental footprint, but become more efficient and profitable as a result.

Environmental sustainability continues to be an issue important to both society and organizations. Effectively leading an organization to develop environmental sustainability efforts and practices is essential. This case discusses how 3M has been able to see this challenge as an opportunity.

Read the case below and answer the questions that follow.

Vision and creative change are not solely domains of the CEO. Take former vice president of environmental engineering and pollution control at 3M, Joe Ling, as an example. In 1975, Mr. Ling oversaw 3M’s efforts to comply with new legal pollution requirements. Years ago, 3M focused on lowering its environmental impact through, for instance, placing scrubbers on smokestacks, treating effluence before releasing wastewater, and segregating solid waste. While this prevention strategy allowed 3M to comply with legal requirements, Mr. Ling’s vision went much further. Instead of seeing environmental concerns as a necessary evil, he asked whether 3M could prevent pollution altogether and profit from doing so. He thought 3M could, and he started 3M’s famous Pollution Prevention Pays (or 3P) program that survives to this day.

While it is challenging to introduce creative change into any organization, Mr. Ling did not shy away from setting challenging goals. Any idea that would reduce pollution must also save money for 3M. Executives at 3M stick to this ideal and reiterate that “anything not a product is considered a cost.” This sustainability strategy is firmly grounded in the 3P philosophy that everything that increases 3M’s footprint is not just pollution or waste, but also a sign of operational inefficiency.

3P not only encourages top executives to rethink products and processes, but also empowers lower-level employees to generate sustainability improvements. Mr. Ling’s vision to embed 3P in 3M’s corporate culture has grown to phenomenal success, culminating in more than 6,300 sustainability projects and 2.6 billion pounds of pollutants saved. Consistent with 3P’s mantra that pollution prevention is instrumental to 3M’s financial success, the company achieved over $1 billion in first-year project savings.

3P has been an integral part of 3M’s corporate strategy in an increasingly global marketplace. One could imagine that sustainability cost savings would show up in increased profitability, yet 3M’s profit margins are roughly the same as 30 years ago. Yet 3M operates in increasingly competitive industrial businesses, reducing operating margins and making operational efficiency programs such as 3P crucial to 3M’s long-term success. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that 3M continues to challenge its employees with high sustainability standards. Over the past two decades, 3M has slashed toxic releases by 99 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 72 percent. This makes 3M the only company that has won the EPA’s Energy Star Award every year since the prize has been awarded, and it has saved costs and stayed competitive while doing so.

A) What does "3P" stand for in the 3P Program?

• Pay Pollution Premiums

• Pollution Prevention Pays

• Protect Prevent Promote

• Pretty Please Pollute

• Prevent Pollution Policy

B) One of the central tenants of the 3P philosophy is that everything that increases 3M's footprint is not just pollution or waste, but also a sign of ____________.

• legal violations

• operational inefficiency

• potential ethics violations

• profit loss

• mismanagement

C) True or False. The 3P approach expects all sustainability improvements to be generated and carried out by the company's top executives.