The Natural Step is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in Sweden in 1989 by scientist Karl-Henrik Robèrt.
The Natural Step has pioneered a "Backcasting from Principles" approach meant to advance society towards greater sustainability.
Its biggest advantage is the concept of 'simplification without reduction' to prevent getting lost in the details with the complex topic of sustainability.
For almost 30 years, the approach has been implemented, proven and refined in education, research, businesses, municipalities, regional and national governments, inter-governmental organisations (e.g. UN, EU) and a multitude of NGOs around the world.
Change programs and transition Labs include Future-Fit Business Benchmark and the Alberta, Canada energyfutureslab.
The Natural Step (TNS), an approach used to guide sustainability efforts in organizations, involves implicit and explicit precautions judgments that may limit growth.
Some implicit precautions are that TNS avoids making judgments about specific levels of damage thresholds or critical concentrations because they are uncertain and can cause disagreements.
Some explicit precautions are TNS rate corollaries include avoiding the extraction, production, or dispersion of materials at a faster rate than their breakdown in nature and avoiding harvesting or manipulation of nature in a way that reduces productivity and diversity, and infrastructure development in human history would not have been possible had the TNS systems conditions and these first intended corollaries have been adhered to.
[2] Sustainability essentially means preserving life on Earth, including humanity - or the well-being of the socio-ecological system and it's subsystems over time.
The Natural Step believes the root causes for unsustainability should be taken into account when designing for sustainable solutions and satisfaction of fundamental needs.
It can be used to analyze any complex system of any type or scale (e.g. human body, the game of chess or soccer, an organization, a sustainability concept) and helps to plan, decide and act strategically towards success based on principles determined by the working of the system (e.g. treat cancer, win chess or soccer, manage a successful business, design useful tools).
Individuals, organisations and society are hitting the walls of the funnel over time e.g.: victims of climate change-related weather events, stricter laws and regulations, depleting fish stocks, increased number of cancer occurrences, air-, water-, soil pollution, erosion of trust, financial crises, bankruptcies due to price increases of scarce resources, land erosion, etc.
In order to be able to create a structured overview and not to be confused with more downstream or detailed information only the logic of the concepts are explained here.
Trust is essential in the smooth workings of societal systems and can be seen as the glue binding society (economically, politically, socially).
[3] These main causes of unsustainability are in two groups of, as follows: These latter 5 are the result of recent research led by Dr Merlina Missimer.
[7] Since then there have been 2 more rounds of scientific consensus on the Framework, one was initiated by Paul Hawken in the USA (1994), one took place in Australia.
The restrictions set by these 'rules of the game' stimulate creativity as they are applied in personal, professional or community planning and decision-making.
Backcasting is continually used to assess and evaluate the actions, to determine if the organisation is moving towards the vision set in 'A'.
Below various examples: The framework is applicable to organisations (of any sector, size, location), processes, products, services, business models.
[12] In an article in In Context (1991), Robèrt described how The Natural Step Framework would create change: I don't believe that the solutions in society will come from the left or the right or the north or the south.
There are now 12 eco-municipalities in the United States and the American Planning Association has adopted sustainability objectives based on the same principles.
[13] Communities such as Whistler and Dawson Creek,[14] In addition to the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, corporations such as Interface, Nike, Inc., ICI Paints, Scandic Hotels, Max Hamburgers, and IKEA have also adopted the framework and have become more sustainable as a result.
Each of these companies have completely re-thought their business and have examined and changed all their processes including purchase of materials, manufacturing, transportation, construction of facilities, maintenance and waste management.