Swiss Sustainablity Hub

The Swiss Sustainability Hub

The Swiss Sustainability Hub is a multi-stakeholder initiative of Business School Lausanne and representatives of the business, government, and NGO sectors with the aim to position Switzerland as a global hub that encourages and generates meaningful best practices of sustainable development with the end goal in mind. This means how can countries, regions, organizations, industry branches, cities and communities engage in those select powerful activities so that all 9 billion of us can live well on our 1 planet. The hub was initiated initially by Paul Polman (CEO of Unilever), Katrin Muff (Dean of Business School Lausanne) and Thomas Dyllick (Delegate for Responsibility & Sustainability, University of St. Gallen) and has its home currently at Business School Lausanne and operates under the umbrella of its People and Planet Hub.

The Swiss Sustainability Hub was founded in September 2014 with the support of Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, Nick Beglinger, President of swisscleantech, Jean Laville, Deputy CEO of Swiss Sustainable Finance, and Bruno Oberle, former Director of the Federal Office of the Environment (FOEN). The SSH continues operations in 2017 advancing the financed GAP Frame and exploring options around its “Collaborative Action Spaces”.

Download the Swiss Sustainable Hub Status
https://youtu.be/c-9Seg9I1n0

The project is funded mostly through voluntary engagements of the core team and select board members. Certain activities have been funded by organizations in the Advisory Board, namely:

  • EPFL
  • IKEA Switzerland
  • Migros
  • Swisscom
  • Unilever Switzerland
  • Business School Lausanne (continues to finance development and going-to-market of the GAP Frame)

Advisory Board

The SSH appreciates its voluntary Advisory Board providing strategic insight from a multi-sectoral perspective. As per December 2016 it consists of the following people:

  • Dr. Katrin Muff, Dean, Business School Lausanne
  • Thomas Vellacott, CEO, WWF Switzerland
  • Dr. Thomas Dyllick, University of St. Gallen
  • Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever
  • Peter Bakker, CEO, WBCSD
  • Peter White, COO, WBCSD
  • Simona Scarpaleggia, CEO, IKEA Switzerland
  • Lorenz Isler, Sustainability Manager, IKEA Switzerland
  • Cornelia Diethelm, Director, Sustainability Issue & Management, Migros
  • Seta Thakur, CEO, ÖBU
  • Christian Zeyer, Co-CEO, swisscleantech
  • Bruno Oberle, Director, Professor at EPFL
  • Res Witschi, Head of Corporate Responsibility, Swisscom

Projects and Initiatives

The GAP Frame is a new normative Framework, developed as part of the pilot-projects in 2016.

In spring/summer 2016 pilot “Collaborative Action Spaces” were prototyped.

The following industries have been identified for the pilot projects: