
Sustainability is a simple concept — when you do business in a way that respects nature and cultural values, you reap environmental, social and economic benefits.
But when corporations, NGOs, and government agencies start applying the principles of sustainability, they almost always encounter unique challenges that can only be resolved with situation-specific analysis and assessment.
That’s why, since our founding in 2000 (formerly EarthShift), EarthShift Global has pursued a simple mission: to partner with our clients to shift to a more prosperous, sustainable world.
When you work with EarthShift Global, you get direct access to distinguished sustainability consulting experts who’ve won praise (and repeat business) from clients like GE, Dow Chemical, Hewlett-Packard, YFY Jupiter, and the US Department of State. In addition to developing our widely used software for life cycle assessment and packaging lifecycle evaluation, they’ve helped establish international standards and practices and trained many of the world’s leading sustainability consultants.
“Since our founding in 2000, EarthShift Global has pursued a simple mission:
Partner with our clients to shift to a more prosperous, sustainable world.”
Partner with our clients to shift to a more prosperous, sustainable world.”
EarthShift Global is a woman-owned business, led by Lise Laurin, CEO and Founder of EarthShift.
There are Lots of Sustainability Companies Out There —
What Sets EarthShift Global Apart?
EarthShift Global’s team helps top-level executives, front-line practitioners, academic researchers and policymakers worldwide achieve their sustainability goals and objectives by providing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software, consulting services, and training that de-mystifies the path to sustainability. Our proven approach emphasizes engagement, adaptability and credible, measurable results, as well as incorporating performance-enhancing sustainable thinking into everyday business decisions.
- Exceptional clients continue to look to us for guidance on sustainability goals, environmental impact assessments, sustainable packaging techniques, using software planning tools, knowledge and analysis
- Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Return on Investment (S-ROI) Leadership - EarthShift Global continues to develop new international standards for industry leaders
- Our LCA training programs have taught the world's leading sustainability professionals
- We have proven sustainable approaches that deliver measurable results
If you’re a CEO or CFO seeking to reduce vulnerabilities and develop sustainability policies that generate both pride and ROI, an environmental engineer conducting lifecycle evaluation, or a product developer implementing design for sustainability, we are with you at every step to help you succeed. We can help optimize everything from project conceptualization to winning buy-in across your organization.
EarthShift Global is committed to business practices that promote better relationships with the world and its natural resources, in a socially equitable and economically sound way. Our organizational culture prioritizes integrity and honesty, and we respect and value clear thinking, new ideas, and data-driven solutions, wherever they may come from. We provide equal opportunity in employment and collaboration, and prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ancestry, age, veteran status, disability unrelated to job requirements, genetic information, military service, or other protected status.
Today, our Sustainability Partners Network unites a diverse range of resources that can also be engaged on behalf of our clients – and through our leadership positions in many LCA governing organizations, we’re helping make LCA increasingly relevant to current and future environmental challenges.
What Does This Look Like in Practice?
Our business model is built around our ability to engage in a variety of ways, applying sustainability consulting expertise, proven training techniques, and innovative Life Cycle Assessment software on an as-needed, where-needed basis. This ensures both economy and effectiveness in a wide range of situations.
Because we understand sustainability theory AND practice and have worked in such a diverse range of settings, we can strategize from a high level, or dig into a product-specific assessment with equal effectiveness.
Examples of our Work and Accomplishments
- Medical Packaging LCA
- Medical Products Disposal LCA
- Corporate Sustainability Goals
- SROI Biomass Study
- Packaging Material LCA
Packaging Life Cycle Assessment—Medical Device Manufacturing LCA
GE Healthcare and GE Global Research
Polymer vs. Glass Bottles for Contrast Media Delivery
We helped analyze two packaging options for one of GE Healthcare’s advanced products, covering manufacturing, use, and a variety of end-of-life disposal scenarios. Findings included clear wins for polymer-based packaging over glass in virtually every respect, including climate change, toxicity, and resource usage. The work was done in conformance with ISO standards and underwent third-party review.
Read article from The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (PDF)
Product Lifecycle Evaluation
Becton, Dickinson and Co.
ecoFinity Life Cycle Solution for Sharps Disposal
Working with a major medical technology company, we helped demonstrate the superior environmental performance of the ecoFinity sharps disposal system – and identified key points of environmental impact, such as water usage, so that BD could improve performance even further.
Sustainability Return on Investment (S-ROI)
Dow Chemical
Every 10 years, Dow Chemical develops a new set of sustainability goals and applies S-ROI to understand how these goals bring value to its shareholders. EarthShift helps them kick off this process and trains new groups of Dow employees to take up and apply the methodology for ongoing projects.
Sustainability Return on Investment
National Agriculture Research Organization of Japan
Biomass Utilization for Fuels, Fertilizers, Etc.
Japan’s National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO) was tasked with researching and evaluating the use of various biomasses for fuel, fertilizer, and other applications. After creating pilot programs in several regions of the country, NARO asked EarthShift to help assess the sustainability of continuing investment in four of the projects. In addition to identifying those projects that supported both social and environmental sustainability, the process uncovered several ways to ensure the projects were both economically sound for the biomass plant operators and win-win-win for the operators, community and the government as investor.
Get the details on the study and findings
Packaging Material LCA
YFY Jupiter
npulp Straw-Based Electronic Packaging
YFY Jupiter, a Chinese paper manufacturer, has developed a new way of making packaging pulp from straw, which is often burned off from fields where it cannot all be tilled under for the next crop. To confirm the new process’s sustainability impact, YFY asked potential customers in the electronics industry for help finding an LCA practitioner that could compare their product to conventional electronics packaging. The resulting EarthShift-YFY partnership has resulted in the adoption of YFY’s npulp by major sustainability-minded electronics manufacturers, including Dell Computer. Because npulp is a branded process in EarthShift Global’s tools, YFY can provide customers with primary data from its own manufacturing processes, while preserving proprietary information through aggregation of data. YFY continues to use the EarthShift-developed PackageSmart model to assess new product and process concepts.
Bottom line — EarthShift Global delivers credible sustainability programs, large and small, which provide our clients with:
- Measurable value creation
- Innovative products and processes
- New market opportunities
- Measurement and benchmarking on the environment, society and profitability
How About Implementation of Sustainability Initiatives?
We’re proud that our LCA and SROI software, training programs and consulting services are all designed to help our clients build far-reaching capabilities of their own, leveraging solid data to reach reliable conclusions. We take great satisfaction in helping sustainability professionals get better at developing research, analyses and recommendations that can withstand the most intense scrutiny.
This is essential for winning the trust and participation of internal and external stakeholders, cultivating sustainability-oriented thinking across your organization, and influencing and optimizing your supply chain.
At the same time, the rigorously data-driven EarthShift Global approach ensures that your environmental sustainability marketing efforts are supported by credible science. You can build your brand with confidence, and compete effectively with rivals with no accusations of “greenwashing,” optimizing the return on your sustainability investments.
Effective implementation is a central value for EarthShift Global, because we want to help organizations establish better relationships with the world and its natural resources. We’re resolutely practical, but we’re also motivated by our own personal values and aspirations, because in this particular area self-interest, business interests, and societal interests quickly become indistinguishable.
What are YOUR Sustainability Goals?
Contact us today – we’d love to hear about them and share our perspective on how we can help you get there.