In Sweden, district heating (DH) is quite well developed and is already mainly based on non-fossil fuels. Increased use of DH is therefore considered as a way of phasing out fossil energy for heating purposes. Furthermore, increased use of DH provides an increased basis for combined heat and power production (CHP). Considering that coal condensing is the marginal production of electricity in Europe, increased use of bio-fueled CHP leads to even greater reductions of global carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. However, in a sustainable society, where there is no longer a systematic increase of CO₂ (and no other sustainability problems), the benefits of DH are less obvious. The aim of this work is to explore the impact of DH and CHP in the development towards such a society. A local energy system is studied for five different time periods from 2010 to 2060 with different marginal technologies for electricity production. Results show that when the local energy utility co-operate with a local industry plant and invests in a new CHP plant for waste incineration the global CO₂ emissions for the whole studied time period will be reduced with about 48 000 tonnes, which corresponds to over 100 % of the emissions from today’s system for the same time period. When considering that bio fuel is a scarce resource, and that the amount of CO₂ emission linked to waste probably will be lower in sustainable society, the global CO₂ emissions will be about 250% lower compared to the system of today. The studied DH related cooperation and introduction of CHP will reduce the system cost for the whole studied energy system with 2 500 MSEK for the studied period. In general, the results indicate that the modeled measures will not have any major advantages over other heating technologies in a sustainable society but that it can play a vital role for the development towards such a society.

The business case of sustainability has been argued for by many authors (Willard, 2005; McNall et al., 2011). There is a large degree of consensus regarding the potential business impact of sustainability. However, most companies either are not acting or are falling short on execution (MIT Sloan, 2009). Relatively few companies consider innovation for sustainability substantially rewarding. Suggested solution for this includes better access to frameworks for understanding sustainability and value creation and the business cases thereof (MIT Sloan, 2009). Furthermore, it is well-known that support for generation and selection of ideas and for formulating goals and strategies is especially essential to have during the early phases of the innovation process (Roozenburg & Eekels, 1995).

The usual absence of an operational definition of sustainability is still a major barrier to corporate strategic sustainable development (Holmberg & Robèrt, 2000). A sustainability definition that can guide assessment of the current situation and stimulate generation of ideas for upstream solutions and strategic guidelines that can aid prioritization of early smart actions are among the most promising leverage points. A framework including those features is being developed in an international consensus process since twenty years (see, e.g., Robèrt et al., 2012). Among other things, this framework for strategic sustainable development FSSD, clarifies the self-interest in sustainability work and thus supports more widespread and proactive sustainable innovation. 

In this study, the FSSD is used as the main basis for a new tool to be used in early phases of the innovation process for self-assessment of an organization’s current maturity and performance from an overall strategic sustainability point of view and for stimulating generation of ideas for business models design. We present a prototype version of such a tool and results from initial tests of this tool performed in four organizations. We study in particular whether the outlined tool is perceived by the organizations to be: (i) easy to comprehend, (ii) relevant, (iii) capable of differentiating the organizations in a comprehensive way, (iv) helpful for discovering insufficiencies that the organizations are not already aware of and (v) helpful for generation and selection of ideas for upstream solutions, business model innovation and for formulation of goals, and strategies. 

Successful business is increasingly about understanding the challenges and opportunities linked to society's transition towards sustainability and, e.g., being able to innovate, design and build business models that are functional in this context. However, current business model innovation and design generally fails to sufficiently embrace the sustainability dimension. Typically, the business case of sustainability is not understood profoundly enough; the planning horizon and system scope are insufficient; the competence to bring together people into systematic ventures towards sustainable business is too low. A unifying framework for sustainability analyses, planning, cross-disciplinary and cross-sector cooperation, and cohesive use of the myriad sustainability tools, methods and concepts has been developed: the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). Similarly, a generic approach to business model design has been put forward: the Business Model Canvas (BMC). In this paper we explore how the FSSD could inform business model innovation and design by combining it with the BMC and supplementary tools, methods and concepts such as creativity techniques, value network mapping, life-cycle assessment, and product-service systems. The results show that the FSSD-BMC combination can support business model innovation and design for strategic sustainable development, as well as strengthen each supplementary tool, method and concept in its own primary purpose. We apply the combined approach, for the purpose of initial testing and presentation, to a real case of business model evolution. Based on our findings we propose a new approach to business model innovation and design for strategic sustainable development. The new approach facilitates, e.g., business scalability and risk avoidance and clarifies the interplay between classical business model development and strategic sustainability thinking. The new approach highlights the opportunity for novel business model design for future sustainable success.

Product-Service Systems (PSS) have been identified as potentially important for addressing sustainability challenges. However, progress has been relatively slow as regards realizing this potential, and a lack of practical approaches to the design of business models capable of supporting implementation of such PSS has been proposed as a partial reason. The aim of this study is to explore connections and the potential functional nexus between the three fields of PSS, Business Models and Sustainability, in pursuit of possible key enablers to further realization of the potential for sustainability-promoting PSS. A systematic review and analysis of the academic literature is performed. The review shows that, although a relatively new and unexplored endeavor, there is growing effort at the interface of the three fields. The review indicates that the main deficit so far is that the PSS and business model fields lack concrete guidelines and practical tools for how to embrace the sustainability dimension in a strategic way. Especially the strategic dimension emerges as a general finding from diverse sources as a potential key enabler for mutual benefits across the three fields. The study thus points to the need for research aiming at developing such guidelines and tools, and also at exploring case-based applications to create experiential knowledge, to fill the gaps in current theory and practice.

Sustainability integration in core business and product development has been a challenge, even if many supporting methods, tools and concepts are available today. However, these are mainly focusing on specific environmental aspects and are often failing to serve companies in integrating sustainability thinking into their strategic decision processes, and consequently into their core business and product development. In this study a previous proposal for an approach to assessing the current state of sustainability integration in company decision systems was used at two case companies, ABB High Voltage Cables and Hammarplast AB. The purpose was to develop this approach further so that it can better assist decision makers (when initial assessment points to such gaps) to integrate sustainability thinking into the strategic decision processes, i.e. align vision, management system and tools to help prioritize actions in a backcasting plan for a sustainable company within a sustainable society. The developed approach includes a SWOT analysis supported strategic capability assessment, and genericguidelines for how to identify appropriate targets, which can also serve as a basis for development of indicators – all informed by a framework for strategic sustainable development.