The DCPerform Podcast: Sustainability: Enabling success in capital investment, brand loyalty & environmental impact
EPISODE 9:
Happy #EarthMonth!
In honor of April serving as an annual environmental awareness month, we’ve dedicated this month’s episode to Sustainability. Sustainability SME & Program Manager of ASU’s Zero Waste Program, Kendon Jung, joined hosts Wonil Gregg & Rachael Weber to discuss the impact that corporate sustainability initiatives have on brand loyalty, capital investment, and the environment & society as a whole.
Thanks for tuning in to the DCPerform Podcast!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:
00;00;00;08 – 00;00;03;29
Rachael Weber
Hello and welcome back to the DCPerform podcast. My name is Rachael Weber.
00;00;04;05 – 00;00;05;06
Wonil Gregg
And I’m Wonil Gregg
00;00;05;13 – 00;00;15;15
Rachael Weber
And this episode is dedicated to Earth Month and Earth Day sustainability. It’s a huge topic in the marketplace. It’s a part of society and the economy and ultimately impacting brand loyalty.
00;00;16;11 – 00;00;41;15
Wonil Gregg
And it’s supply chain practitioners. It is an incredible hot topic not only for the boardrooms, but also in supply chains and ultimately the end consumer. We’ve got a great guest that’s coming from ASU, who is a subject matter expert. And this is going to deliver valuable insights not only on what sustainability means in a bigger perspective, but how it impacts our lives and our businesses.
00;00;42;04 – 00;00;50;14
Rachael Weber
Thanks for tuning in to episode number nine of the DCPerform Podcast. Kendon Jung, thank you so much for joining us today. Great to have you on the DCPerform Podcast.
00;00;50;20 – 00;00;51;11
Kendon Jung
Pleasure to be here.
00;00;51;14 – 00;00;58;15
Rachael Weber
You are a program manager at the Arizona State University Zero Waste Program. Can you give us a little background about that?
00;00;58;16 – 00;01;15;03
Kendon Jung
Yeah, our offices charged with helping guide the university to achieve our zero waste goals, which is a 90% diversion from the landfills. So once it’s here, making sure it doesn’t go to landfill, as well as a 30% aversion from the landfill. So keeping waste from being generated in the first place.
00;01;15;10 – 00;01;40;07
Wonil Gregg
First of all, I’m outnumbered here being the older guy because the next couple of episodes before. But you know, we talk about how there’s transformational change going on in the marketplace and how the new generation’s coming up are really defining the behaviors of corporate America to the values that they believe in. And we always look at it from the end consumer perspective and look at them through that life.
00;01;40;07 – 00;01;47;05
Wonil Gregg
But now we’ve got a subject matter expert in this topic who represents that. This is going to be a great episode. Thanks for joining us.
00;01;47;08 – 00;01;48;01
Kendon Jung
Happy to be here.
00;01;48;01 – 00;01;51;27
Rachael Weber
Yeah. So give us a little background about how you made your way to the Zero Waste program.
00;01;52;13 – 00;02;01;06
Kendon Jung
Yeah. So I’m actually born and raised miles south of Arizona State University. I’ve gotten my degree in sustainable urban dynamics from the School of Sustainability at ASU.
00;02;01;09 – 00;02;04;28
Wonil Gregg
Sustainable Urban Dynamics. That’s that’s a lot a lot of words. What does that mean?
00;02;05;03 – 00;02;11;10
Kendon Jung
How do you design the dynamics of how a city operates in order to deliver sustainability goals?
00;02;11;10 – 00;02;24;11
Wonil Gregg
So really, it’s a collaboration between government, municipalities, the public, also business. And how do you make that all work together from a sustainability initiative?
00;02;24;20 – 00;02;51;23
Kendon Jung
Absolutely. And the concept of sustainability is really about symbiotic relationships. How do you help as many different areas as you can and to really work a system and design a system so that everyone benefits. Bringing in the social value along with the economic and environmental values is really where the nexus of sustainability sits and can add the most value to our future.
00;02;52;06 – 00;03;23;19
Wonil Gregg
So this has really been a phenomena over the last ten years or so 4.54 billion years old. The Earth is estimated to be, yet the population growth in humanity really exploded in 1800, which coincides with the Industrial Revolution. So when you look at the forecasted population growth from where we are today, at about 8 billion people, they’re saying that by 2100 in another 75 years, we’ll be at 10 billion people.
00;03;24;03 – 00;03;42;11
Wonil Gregg
So when we think of that exponential growth in the constrained resources that we have on this planet, and then when we think of corporate America and businesses and what we do in supply chains, how do we process that, make better use of our limited resources and also continue to have our population flourish?
00;03;42;11 – 00;04;08;14
Kendon Jung
So there’s a phenomenon called Overshoot Day, Earth, Overshoot Day, and that is the amount of resources that the Globe uses on an annual basis that can be renewed. And The Earth Shot Day is at what point do you reach that within the year? So we’re now at a point where we are reaching Earth Overshoot Day in in about January instead of reaching it in December.
00;04;08;17 – 00;04;25;00
Kendon Jung
And part of that is how we design products to ensure they have longer life spans by reducing our resource consumption and redesigning entire supply chains to make sure that you’re delivering it as close in space to time to where people are using them.
00;04;25;07 – 00;04;41;16
Wonil Gregg
You know, there’s always the political and the social perspectives of do we believe in it or don’t we? Could you give us your perspectives on how technology is really bringing the facts to light?
00;04;41;17 – 00;05;15;21
Kendon Jung
A huge piece is measuring our greenhouse gas emission particles in the atmosphere and using that as a record keeping. So I think we’re at 420 parts per billion. The acceptable level was about 320 that we weren’t supposed to get in excess us. So we are now in a state where any fluctuations in temperature or planetary shifts in proximity to the sun, we can’t attribute any changes in the parts per billion to those anymore.
00;05;15;21 – 00;05;47;25
Kendon Jung
And actually you had mentioned the Industrial Revolution. That is actually if you look back at ice core samples, that is where the parts per billion start to pick up. And most of our embedded carbon is from the start of that time period. That was also a time period that was designed on delivering through machines, how we consume. So it’s very linear, it’s extraction, manufacturing that deliver to the end user use and disposal.
00;05;48;06 – 00;06;08;28
Kendon Jung
And so one of the principles of sustainability that we are really striving for is a circular economy of changing that linear path of consumption to disposal into a circular one. And that creates a lot of resilience to a system, and that’s inherently good as uncertainty comes our way.
00;06;09;07 – 00;06;14;25
Rachael Weber
Are there any sustainability metrics that are on the horizon of being measured that maybe aren’t being looked at now?
00;06;14;26 – 00;06;42;24
Kendon Jung
So the social element is a really key piece that is still relatively new to the measurement space. A good overarching framework is from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. A lot of companies have been leaning into particular aspects of those 17 goals to say This is relevant to my product or relevant to my particular supply chain, that I’m interacting with.
00;06;42;24 – 00;06;50;00
Kendon Jung
I’m going to lean in and figure out how my business can help solve these goals.
00;06;50;00 – 00;07;10;10
Rachael Weber
I was reading about that actually that alliance with United Nations, and they had a whole sustainable fashion sector of that. That was really interesting to me because then it started rolling out. There was the Fair Trade U.S.A. They created a label which then could get rid of that whole greenwashing aspect in the fashion industry. So I thought that was a really interesting pivot that they can get that stamp of approval.
00;07;10;13 – 00;07;38;14
Kendon Jung
What you’re leaning into, which I think is a really important trend in the sustainability space, is that the social awareness of the environmental impacts of poor decisions are gaining global recognition, and that brings through that labeling the ability for consumers to actually see there is things happening behind the scenes that bring new value to why I want this product.
00;07;38;18 – 00;08;04;13
Kendon Jung
I’m sure you’ve seen the research come out of the Pew Research Center, and they found that especially among gen-z, millennials and alpha generation, that climate change was the top concern that they had. What was found is that while they believe that climate action is the top concern, they also are one of the most disabled in their ability to affect change in that space.
00;08;04;22 – 00;08;35;22
Kendon Jung
And that results in a population that believes business should be taking more action. And so businesses showing it in a transparent way is what this population of gen-z, millennials and alpha generation are really looking for. And with that population moving into the kind of mature purchasing phase of their life that these companies are taking advantage of that, but also using it as an opportunity to transform the way that they operate.
00;08;35;22 – 00;09;12;13
Wonil Gregg
So let’s talk about the real driver for a change. Then it still comes down to the bottom line. To get to the point where investment is done, the opportunities have to be revealed. So what’s the problem? Where is the opportunity for investment? And then ultimately, how does this, our society benefit from it? From a business standpoint, there is currently institutional investment at a significant level that’s been happening $11.6 trillion committed by institutional investors, wholesale investors and insurance companies towards these causes.
00;09;12;13 – 00;09;54;27
Wonil Gregg
The UN SDG program has called out different types of activities such as clean water and sanitation, affordable, clean energy, climate action, all those different types of initiatives they have where they have committed to be zero emission by the year 2050. That amount of investment now that trickle down as you’re starting to see that and it’s a direct result of the buyers, the consumers saying this is something that we require if we’re going to do business with you and with technology now enabling that those groups to have voice, it’s driving investment and businesses to change their behaviors.
00;09;54;27 – 00;10;17;17
Wonil Gregg
If you think of about a boardroom, they’re thinking about planning, execution, coordination and collaboration of their teams. Let’s say you’re a grocer. Where are we going to find our fresh produce? Who are going to be our providers? And why could you walk us through that thought process that board members might have when they’re thinking about how do we evolve our supply chain so we can meet the customer requirements?
00;10;17;24 – 00;10;40;12
Kendon Jung
The way that I would kind of break this out, the first one is boardrooms making investments. One of the hats that I wear is I serve as the chair of the Sustainability and Resiliency Commission for the City of Tempe, and we actually got a presentation from their budget office where they’re talking at a national level of how investments are being decided that predominantly affects their bond ratings.
00;10;40;12 – 00;11;17;28
Kendon Jung
So their ability to borrow in order to create projects, the folks that are insuring projects being purchased have this awareness that projects that are not addressing climate action in a way that is local to that space. So, for example, Tempe has 53 days that are over 110 degrees. If a business is coming in to build a new headquarters or a new building that is completely glass, a big old glass cube from a sustainability and resiliency standpoint, that building is not going to last very long.
00;11;17;28 – 00;11;47;11
Kendon Jung
So that investment is a risk and that is going to affect the company’s ability to borrow money. Tempe is nervous about this from a city investment standpoint to say we need to bake sustainability into the projects that we’re coming up with to let investors and the people that are informing their bond ratings to say, we’re doing everything we can to protect our investment as a government.
00;11;47;20 – 00;12;11;28
Kendon Jung
So businesses are exactly the same thing. However, you’re getting your projects financed, that is going to be a trend in your ability to borrow money and ensuring that your projects are delivering on the climate action that is locally applicable. The second piece of that is then distribution. How does a national distribution program interact with the local needs of a community?
00;12;12;06 – 00;12;36;18
Kendon Jung
A great example of this is Aramark Food Service. They are our food service provider on campus at ASU. One of the things that they tried to do was to locally source products for our dining halls. They were like, All right, we’re going to create this menu. It has these things that are grown locally in Arizona. US and ASU consumed the entire state supply of squash in a single day.
00;12;37;16 – 00;13;06;08
Kendon Jung
That was an example of, Hey, this is a really good concept. We need to do more work to develop the local capacity for whatever that supply is. And especially distribution companies, from my perspective, have a unique opportunity to look at what is being purchased in this space and then to work with local entrepreneurs, say, Hey, here’s this need that your community has.
00;13;06;21 – 00;13;14;10
Kendon Jung
Let’s build some resiliency into this region by supporting business in these particular areas.
00;13;14;13 – 00;13;38;02
Wonil Gregg
So when we think of our customers and the supply chain as a whole, we design thinking about sustainability and come up with a design metric that ultimately focuses on capacity, throughput and velocity and volume. What would you think this industry could benefit from that? Maybe we’re not applying today.
00;13;38;10 – 00;14;05;19
Kendon Jung
I think some of the things that will be coming down the pipe is looking at how your system is designed to connect for and waste production. So a great example of this is one of the programs I used to run is in partnership with Borderlands Predator Rescue. So that is a company based out of Nogales, Arizona. If you didn’t know this, the majority of Arizona produce comes from Mexico.
00;14;05;19 – 00;14;38;11
Kendon Jung
So that comes through this port of entry. It is then sold at wholesale and so the IS will come and buy for their locations for an entire week. And at the end of the day there’s a bunch of produce that’s leftover that is then donated to Borderlands Produce Rescue that sets up their own supply chain in order to redistribute the ugly food they were looking at, where there were communities that could use this food so that they can bring access to produce to these communities.
00;14;38;21 – 00;15;09;09
Kendon Jung
That is a whole secondary waste recapture supply chain that is attached to the produce industry. And as folks are looking for where their particular industries, supply chains, waste is that looking at those types of partnerships with other nonprofits or even doing it yourself I think is going to be a really big piece of the kind of next generation of supply chains.
00;15;09;21 – 00;15;18;13
Wonil Gregg
So when we think of a parallel, for example, you have a Nordstrom’s, then you have Nordstrom Rack because they couldn’t sell it at their premium outlets.
00;15;18;13 – 00;15;19;27
Rachael Weber
And then it goes to the last chance and then.
00;15;19;28 – 00;15;23;29
Wonil Gregg
It goes to the last chance. And then the next question would be, what happens after that?
00;15;23;29 – 00;15;39;03
Kendon Jung
Yeah. And creating that circularity, really the power of human ingenuity is going to help us in that space. Part of it is behavior change, and part of it is how do we redesign these systems that can promote circularity, that can promote reuse.
00;15;39;07 – 00;16;04;01
Wonil Gregg
As a species where survival is our strongest instinct as long as that stays fundamental, the changes that you’re talking about and the awareness now that is happening, it’s happening faster in an earlier age because of technology. But still it comes down to then how do you put into practice? Theory is great, but how do you now apply it in practice it where it becomes the new norm and that’s going to be the greatest challenge for your generation.
00;16;04;13 – 00;16;30;24
Kendon Jung
I’m glad that you talked about this, the survival instinct, because a lot of what we’re talking about is change. And change is inherently something that humanity and the individual does not like. And this will cause our society to have to grapple with change. Embracing uncertainty is unlocking our growth mindsets of how do we embrace this thing that’s happening?
00;16;30;24 – 00;16;56;02
Kendon Jung
How do we become resilient by being open to change and looking at where your behaviors can change and trying to the best of your ability to affect that change is 80% of the work. And if we’re constantly thinking about that on an individual level and as a business level, that is the growth mindset that we’re going to need in order to tackle these challenges.
00;16;56;15 – 00;17;29;04
Wonil Gregg
Yeah, that’s a great statement because we’re seeing now execute in level software platforms that measure and create and have KPI. What you don’t see in those KPIs is all the data and the sourcing of it that used to be that data was presented just for data sake, but then it went to, well, I want to know how we’re doing, but then it went to okay, I just want to know what the exceptions are now between the technology that’s being created, the way that we’re rationalizing and consuming data, and also the changes in human behavior.
00;17;29;04 – 00;17;31;17
Wonil Gregg
That’s where the future is for finding a solution on this.
00;17;31;19 – 00;17;57;06
Rachael Weber
Speaking of behavioral change, within generations, I noticed something that my friends are doing now are using clothing, rental services. There’s one called newly. You go online, you select the clothes you want, eliminate those one off purchases as an article of clothing is reused over time and it gets worn out. They either recycle it, donate it, it’s over 70% of their clothing is laundered in their custom built energy and water efficient washing machines.
00;17;57;19 – 00;18;13;15
Rachael Weber
And that’s something that a lot of my friends have been hopping on board, not only for using their mind when it comes to picking out outfits because they just have a subscription, but mostly for those environmental impacts, because they felt like they were just using fast fashion all the time and supporting a cause that they didn’t approve of.
00;18;13;15 – 00;18;36;09
Wonil Gregg
So that’s an evolution of a person they used to be. What do you wear? How much was it and where did you get it from? Now it’s flipping to it’s not about ownership so much and what you have, it’s about the sourcing of it. Were you a good steward of of of our ecosystem? You know, with it being the month of April, Earth Day, Earth Month is on our awareness.
00;18;36;09 – 00;19;00;02
Wonil Gregg
The big picture is the topic that we’re presenting was intentionally done for this month. The awareness that you’re bringing to us about details that I think if you’re not involved, you’re not aware of these things going on. And even though we’re supply chain practitioners, we don’t think this way and we need to there are some companies that are focused on this, but still they’re not influencers.
00;19;00;02 – 00;19;08;20
Wonil Gregg
So spend a few minutes on your your appreciation for Earth Day and how you see that impacting the future.
00;19;09;03 – 00;19;36;04
Kendon Jung
Absolutely. So Earth Day started in 1972 as a reaction to a tension that society was feeling and largely around water pollution. The naming of Earth Day was really to, like you said, raise awareness and position the messaging. So that people aren’t just thinking about this on one day a year, that you can live every day like it’s Earth Day.
00;19;36;19 – 00;20;01;29
Kendon Jung
And that looks like embracing change and sustainability. We will be in a very different place in a good, different place. If everyone thought, What can I do that is achievable for me? Yes. Embracing that as a challenge and a way to differentiate not only yourself but your company among your competition is is a fantastic place to be.
00;20;02;10 – 00;20;15;29
Wonil Gregg
Kendon this has been an incredible journey with you. And I’m very optimistic about our future because we have people who are subject matter experts, passionate and represent the future. So thank you for joining us.
00;20;16;02 – 00;20;18;00
Kendon Jung
Thank you for having me. This is a wonderful thanks.