Publications

Equity in Action Toolkit

To equip municipal leaders in better understanding and addressing social equity in their community, the Sustainable States Network (SSN) commissioned Be Bold LLC to create an Equity in Action Toolkit. Developed in collaboration with SSN and Sustainable Pittsburgh, the toolkit includes a brief primer on why equity matters, an introduction to equity as a systemic issue, and a methodology to define, assess, and implement equity initiatives. It also includes best practices to support community officials with implementation.

The “Equity in Action Toolkit” defines equity as fairness in process, access, and outcomes. Unlike equality, which assumes that every individual will obtain the same benefit from the equal distribution of resources, equity accounts for an individual’s needs. For example, it may be more difficult to obtain feedback on an important community project from a single mother who works two jobs than it would be to hear from the retired couple who comes to every Council meeting.

Socially equitable policy creation and inclusive practices can foster strong social foundations ensuring long term community success. An ICMA study from 2014 found that inclusive citizen engagement plays a critical role in improving the relationship a local government has with the public and significantly improves the quality of public projects. When people feel they are a valued part of the community, they are much more likely to contribute to its overall success.

Access the Toolkit

Get Started with Supply Chain Sustainability

Supply chains can enhance – or tarnish – reputations and bottom lines. This brief slideshow explains the importance of practicing sustainable supply chain
management and how to get started.

Safety Tips for Food Takeout and Delivery during COVID-19

As restaurants have been forced to halt business as usual in order to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19, there is a need for businesses to learn how to best adapt to these changing times, all the while ensuring that their customers and employees are kept safe.

The following guide from Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurants provides recommendations for best practices that can be implemented at restaurants that are providing take-out and delivery options during this time and how to communicate these efforts to customers.

Materials and Waste Management Guide

This resource guide aims to provide relevant information regarding waste management options and practices to ensure sustainability professionals and their internal business partners are able to select the best waste management systems for the needs of their operations.

The guide was developed by the Materials and Recycling Group of Champions for Sustainability, a program of Sustainable Pittsburgh. The group was formed in 2015 and comprises sustainability professionals in the Pittsburgh region. The workgroup was focused on understanding the region’s sourcing, handling, and end-of-life management of waste and recyclables.

Overview: Tools for Sustainability Disclosure and Analysis

An overview of tools for sustainability disclosure and analysis

Get Started with Materiality

Materiality is the threshold at which aspects become important enough to stakeholders and the operation of the organization that they should be reported. Explore this brief slideshow to learn what is involved with starting a materiality assessment process and key questions to ask.

Get Started with Sustainability Reporting

This brief slideshow presents high level characteristics of good sustainability reporting and a basic reporting outline.

Kendall Simon Sustainable Business Case Studies

Featuring Eat’n Park Hospitality Group and PITT OHIO, these case studies offer lessons for getting started with and realizing the bottom-line benefits of business sustainability. The case studies are offered through a partnership between Sustainable Pittsburgh and the Berg Center for Ethics and Leadership at the University of Pittsburgh Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration.  The project was made possible with support from BNY Mellon, UPMC and the BNY Mellon Foundation.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Sustainability Goals + Indicators Report 2016

Sustainable Pittsburgh last presented this regional sustainability goals and indicators report in 2004. In tracking the region’s progress, we see that much has changed, while too many things remain the same.  Not changing however, is the reason we produce the report.  The old saying, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” applies.  Sustainable Pittsburgh is resolute that we as a region need to take stock of key issues, throw all we have at the ones that need to be fixed and continually take stock of our progress.

This 124 page report provides a suite of measures of the overarching, regional issues that cut across our geopolitical boundaries of southwestern Pennsylvania. The 29 sustainability indicators detailed in this report were selected during an extensive public engagement process. Overall, the indicators show a region that has one foot squarely planted in a new and promising economy that is clean, equitable, renewable, healthy and based on sustainable business and community practice.

View the web-based version of the report

Pittsburgh’s H2Opportunity–An Assessment of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Water Sector

On January 13, 2011, the Pittsburgh World Environment Day Partnership, of which Sustainable Pittsburgh is facilitator, released the Pittsburgh region’s first economic analysis of the water industry sector. Completed at a time when the overall water market is growing (up to ten percent annually), Pittsburgh’s H3Opportunity: An Assessment of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Water Sector offers a snapshot of the region’s strengths in water-related industries and highlights future opportunities for innovation and growth.

Key recommendations in the report include:

• Assess, organize and advance regional opportunities related to water and coordinate resources to support them;
• Identify the occupational pipeline and workforce needs for the high priority water industry sectors and develop training on more efficient uses of water for energy, industry and agriculture;
• Strategically identify and selectively recruit innovative firms and industries that can benefit from and be good stewards of the region’s abundance of high quality water;
• Support innovation and commercialization in water technology;
• Promote green water management infrastructure; and
• Initiate partnerships with other regions and identify national and international export opportunities for regional firms.

Southwestern Pennsylvania Blighted and Abandoned Solutions Project

This report substantiates that addressing blight and abandonment offers the chance to build assets in a community and deliver economic, environmental, and social equity benefits for both the community and region as a whole. At present, there exists no regional plan, decision-making table, nor coordinated regional effort to tackle the growing crisis of blight and abandonment in our communities. The figure of 67,886 abandoned housing units in Southwestern Pennsylvania commands attention, particularly when factoring that vacancy begets abandoned properties and the compounding associated costs to individuals, neighborhoods, social networks, the economy and region which is working so hard to reach its economic aspirations. Given the regional impacts and nature of this issue, regional approaches are in order.”

View Executive Summary

Inclusion in the Workforce: Positioning the Region to Prosper and Compete

The stark racial disparities that characterize Greater Pittsburgh’s labor market weaken the regional economy and levy — much like an onerous tax — high costs on the entire community. Building an urban economy in which everyone participates and prospers is not merely a matter of altruism or social justice, but rather a crucial step towards transforming an aged industrial center into a dynamic, 21st century city.

This strategic report explains why, in this global information economy, racial equity and inclusion are the cornerstones of sustained development and successful, healthy regional economies. This report analyzes racial disparities in employment in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, reviews the critical role that a diverse workforce plays in improving economic competitiveness, and recommends policies for enabling the region to reach its full potential.