The business world has increased its focus on sustainability issues amid harrowing predictions on climate change as well as increased investor concerns about how private enterprises factor the planet’s future into business strategy.

Against that backdrop, it’s no surprise business leaders searching for solutions have connected Lean and Six Sigma with sustainability. Process improvement provides a proven way to eliminate the waste and defects that can lead to harmful consequences for the environment.

It’s an especially important issue on Earth Day, when people around the world draw attention to steps people can take to preserve the planet. Leaders in the environmental movement, including those who oversee Earth Day, increasingly focus on businesses as well as government leaders. Action on the part of both groups is needed to promote environmental sustainability.

In both cases, Lean and Six Sigma can help make sustainability a core part of operations.

What Is Earth Day?

Earth Day officially started on April 22, 1970. However, John McConnell, a peace activist from Iowa, first created Earth Day in 1969 out of a belief that people have an obligation to care for the planet. He also had become concerned about the impact of pollution on the planet during the industrial boom following the end of World War II.

McConnell, who died in Denver in 2012 at the age of 97, originally wanted Earth Day to happen during the vernal equinox in March, However, Wisconsin Sen. Gaylord Nelson changed the date to April 22 because he wanted to promote an environmental teach-in on that day. This is why Nelson is also credited with starting Earth Day.

Earth Day organizers choose a new theme each year. In 2022, it is ‘Invest In Our Planet,’ a theme meant to encourage businesses, governments and individuals to take the action needed to reduce the impact of global warming on future generations.

ESG and Business Sustainability

Now more than ever, private business plays a key role in promoting sustainability. In part, investors drive this change. Over the past few years, more investors than ever judge whether to move capital into a company based not only on profits and losses, but also on what is called ESG factors (an acronym for environmental, social and governance).

As part of the “E” considerations, investors and financial firms want companies to make bigger investments in activities and strategies that incorporate sustainability. That’s led business leaders to make commitments to sustainability.

There’s also a sense of urgency. The global climate report from the United Nations released in February 2022 predicts increases in extreme weather that will lead to increases in extreme weather events as well as more illness and death related to heat stress, air pollution, poverty and hunger.

Global investment firm Franklin Templeton writes that there is “a sizable disconnect between ambition and action among companies and governments.” They advise a greater sense of urgency among companies. Many investors are already there, with Forbes reporting that the value of sustainability-focused index funds have doubled to more than $250 billion.

Using Lean and Six Sigma For Sustainability

Process improvement is a natural fit for sustainability because of its very nature. Lean focuses on reducing or (ideally) eliminating waste in a process. Six Sigma focuses on reducing errors and variation in an operation. Both can make a business more successful in reducing the environmental impact of operations.

3M demonstrated this with its “Pollution Prevention Days” program from 1974 to 2005. The program kept more than 2.6 billion pounds of pollutants out of the environment. More than 70% of projects in the program used Lean Six Sigma in just one year alone.

Research also backs the use of Lean and Six Sigma in sustainability. A study from India showed how using Lean and Six Sigma approaches can lower energy use in the jute industry in Bangladesh. Ford Motor Company reduced volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by using Six Sigma techniques to reduce basecoat paint consumption.

Also, a study from Great Britain reviewed the use of Lean and Six Sigma in relation to environmental initiatives and reported that “organizations can consider the adoption of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma to meet environmental regulations, save costs and also meet quality management standards.”

The EPA feels strongly enough about the potential of Lean and Six Sigma to improve sustainability efforts that it has published the Environmental Professional’s Guide to Lean & Six Sigma. The EPA reports that process improvement makes operations so much more efficient that many times businesses reduce environmental impact without even setting out to do so.

  • The Boeing Company improved resource productivity (the amount of raw materials and other inputs needed for a unit of production) by 30 to 70%, decreasing chemical use per plane by 12%.
  • General Motors reduced hazardous waste generation from nine pounds per car to 3.2 pounds per car.
  • Goodrich Corporation eliminated four 5,000 gallon tanks with methyl ethyl ketone, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and trichloroethane, eliminating the potential for spills and the need to address Clean Air Act risk management planning requirements

The use of Lean and Six Sigma strategies to bolster sustainability initiatives makes those with training and certification more valuable than ever to private business, as well as to government agencies actively working on reducing carbon emissions. The methodologies also give businesses a proven set of tools to use as they develop plans to reduce the environmental impact of operations.

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