Natural Step

The Natural Step (TNS) is a process of first considering and then engaging in improvement of environmental performance, associated with an organization of the same name. While most commonly used in organizations, especially private sector companies, the process can also be applied to other settings, such as communities. The Swedish nonprofit organization was founded in 1989 by Dr. Karl-Henrik Robèrt (b. 1947), a leading cancer researcher whose work led him to consider the role of preventable environmental factors in cancer. He concluded that since the late 19th century, human civilization had been “disrupting the cyclical processes of nature at an accelerating rate,” consuming raw materials at unprecedented levels and producing waste in unheard-of quantities. Robèrt spent 21 drafts composing a paper soliciting consensus from the ...