The WWF climate savers strategy: In search of the Giant Step

Ivaylo G.

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The WWF climate savers strategy: In search of the "Giant Step"

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Abstract

WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is among the leading NGOs (non-government organizations) in the world. The Fund was established in 1961 and since then has been operating and directing its efforts in saving the planet, the world of life. "Climate Savers" (CS) partnership program was founded in 1998 by WWF. The ambitious goal of the CS initiative was to reduce the GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions by encouraging companies to implement innovative solutions that would cause CO2 reduction and at the same time would not harm their productivity and profitability. During the first decade of its existence, CS attracted 15 corporate partners, located in the US and Europe. However, the programme's effectiveness was restricted in a certain range, because instead of taking the required giant steps, the companies were limiting themselves to small-step changes. At the same time, the topic was gaining an increasing popularity and had become a political issue. As a result of this, the competition in the CO2 reduction market rose significantly. In addition, the CS program had to become more autonomous.

Due to a new, more focused WWF organizational strategy, the budget of the CS initiative had been cut seriously. These factors have led the CS program to a crossroads. There are four strategic options to save and develop the CS partnership, including: Scaling up the business model, Geographic expansion, Value chain, and Zero CO2. This assignment presents an analysis of the changing external environment and internal capabilities and an evaluation of the four strategic options and recommendations to the Board for selection of the best one, accompanied by convincing arguments.

Introduction
Literature review
Analysis
Discussion
Conclusion

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[...] Returning to the applied model of evaluation, each strategy should be given a value equal to 0 or which depends on the fulfillment of each criterion. Consequently, for the criterion internal consistency, options 1 and 3 (Scaling up the existing business model and Value chain) receive value 0 and the geographic expansion and Zero CO2 receive 1 (refer to Exhibit 3). With respect to the environment consistency, as it was mentioned in the analysis above the governments in the US and EU changed their policies, set ambitious targets aiming GHG reduction and established new binding legislations in order to achieve their aims. [...]

[...] With respect to the environment consistency, it is crucial the strategy to fit the external factors. The estimation of the available resources and whether they are sufficient to implement a certain strategy also can not be skipped. Regarding the workability, it should be assessed if the planned results are really achievable. As all these criteria have similar level of importance, equal weights - 10 are given to each of them. The significance of the criteria satisfactory degree of risk and appropriate time horizon is considered as relatively small in this particular case, but it is not negligible. [...]

[...] Based on the analysis of the identified external factors influencing the carbon reduction market and the internal strengths and weaknesses of the program, it could be concluded that CS is on a crossroads and it is crucial for the initiative to respond to the changes of the market environment by finding the best match between the current external and internal conditions. Discussion In the process of considering the strategy change various scenarios were built and discussed by the WWF members. [...]

[...] The best strategy is the one with the greatest overall mark. Based on the analysis of the external environment and internal capabilities and resources, each of the options was estimated with respect to the six criteria according to the used methodology. Option 2 - geographic expansion received the highest mark - 95 (refer to Exhibit 3). As a result, it might be concluded that it is recommended for CS program to select the strategy of geographic expansion to the emerging markets. [...]

[...] Available at: [Accessed 4.11 .2012] European Commission, Climate Action [online]. Available at: [Accessed 4.11 .2012] Gore, A An Inconvenient Truth. Documentary film. Directed by Davis Guggenheim. USA. Johnson, G., Whittington, R. & Scholes, K Exploring Strategy. 9th Ed. Essex, Pearson Education Limited, p.50-54. Reinaud, J Climate policy and carbon leakage - Impacts of the European emissions trading scheme on aluminium. [...]

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