Managing Sustainability Improvement within a Large Organization: Carnival Corporation's Experience

"Sustainability is the next business megatrend," according to a 2010 Harvard Business Review article. How do companies respond to this megatrend in a manner that is integrated into the rest of their business?

As one of the largest vacation companies in the world, with over seven operating lines and 97 ships and other facilities worldwide, Carnival Corporation is a key example of a complex organization that has begun to broaden the scope of their transparency while understanding the multifaceted processes involved in transitioning from environmental management reports to sustainability reports (SR).

Specific efforts and milestones on their journey:

Certified seven of Carnival's Operating Lines to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System standard;
Developed and issued a SR guideline/ template document for Corporate and Operating Line use;
Identified specific sustainability performance indicators for which data are being collected and reported;
Implemented the SoFi sustainability management platform software solution as a means to capture and analyze sustainability performance data and create reports;
Achieved a reduction in CO2 emissions intensity from 2005 to 2009;
Named to the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index (CDLI) for 2008 and 2009 after submitting reports since 2006; and
In 2010, Carnival was again confirmed in the FTSE4Good Index.

Conducted with John Heckman of Five Winds International, Carnival Corporation's Jim VanLangen, VP of Management Systems, and Neville Dias, Director of Reporting and Analysis, this presentation provides unique perspectives and lessons learned on Carnival's ongoing path towards sustainability.

Click here to download a PDF of the slides and Q&A session.