Business and environmental sustainability are not natural bedfellows. Business is about making money; sustainability is about protecting the planet. Business is measured in months and quarters; sustainability often requires significant short term costs to secure a sometimes uncertain long-term benefit. To some activists, all executives are exploitative, selfish "1 percenters." To some executives, all activists are irresponsible, unyielding extremists.

And yet engaging with the issue isn't optional - all businesses must have a strategy to deal with sustainability and, like any...