SUST 5063 Module 2 Sustainability Baseline Example

Course	SUST 5063 Developing Sustainable Business Strategies
Module	Module 2
Paper type	Current sustainability practices assessment
Length	1,240 words, about 5 pages plus title and reference pages
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	American College of Education
Program	M.S. in Organizational Leadership
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for SUST 5063 Module 2

1,746 Tonnes, 38 Percent Certified Coffee and 92 Percent Café Turnover: A Sustainability Baseline for a Denver Roaster

Student Name

American College of Education

SUST5063: Developing Sustainable Business Strategies

Module 2 Assignment

Instructor Name

September 11, 2028

What this page is doingPutting one environmental, one supply chain and one people figure in the title shows that the assessment covers all three bottom lines.

Introduction

The first paper chose a combined framework for Front Range Roasters, the composite Denver coffee company with a roastery and 14 cafés: responsibilities ranked as in Carroll's pyramid, goals drawn from the three cases for sustainability, actions screened for shared value and results tracked on a three-part scorecard. This paper uses that framework to assess the company's current practices for 2025. It measures greenhouse gas emissions with published factors, reviews waste, coffee sourcing, employees and community giving, and identifies strengths, gaps and missing data. The results form the baseline against which later goals will be set.

Economic and Legal Foundation

Under the pyramid, sustainability rests first on a sound business that obeys the law. Front Range earned about $31 million in 2025 with a modest profit, enough to fund some investment but not large programs. Its compliance record is clean on food safety inspections and wage rules, and its roastery operates its afterburner, which controls smoke from roasting, under an air permit. These are real strengths. A sustainability strategy that weakened the business or cut corners on compliance would undercut everything built on top of it, so later actions will be tested against their cost.

Measuring Emissions

Emissions were measured under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol's corporate standard, using operational control as the boundary (World Resources Institute & World Business Council for Sustainable Development, 2004). Activity data came from utility bills and fuel cards: natural gas totaling 14,000 MMBtu, 70 percent of it at the roastery, 9,200 gallons of gasoline for six delivery vans and 1,950 megawatt-hours of electricity. Factors came from EPA's 2025 hub: 53.06 kilograms of carbon dioxide per million British thermal units of natural gas, 8.78 kilograms per gallon of gasoline and, for the WECC Rockies grid subregion, 1,036.021 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour, with methane and nitrous oxide converted at global warming potentials of 28 and 265 (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2025).

Emissions Results

Natural gas produced 743.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent and the vans 80.8 tonnes, for Scope 1 emissions of 824.4 tonnes. Electricity produced 921.6 tonnes under the location-based method, about two thirds of it in the cafés. Total Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 1,746.0 tonnes, or about 56 tonnes per million dollars of revenue. The van figure covers carbon dioxide only, since methane and nitrous oxide from vehicles depend on mileage and model year, which the company does not yet record. The roastery's gas use, largely for roasting and the afterburner, and the cafés' electricity are the two largest sources.

What this page is doingStating exactly which gases are excluded for which source keeps the baseline honest and shows what data to collect next.

Waste

The cafés and roastery produced about 410 short tons of spent coffee grounds in 2025. A pilot at four cafés sent 82 tons to a commercial composter; the rest, 328 tons, went to landfill. Using EPA factors for non-meat food waste, 0.67 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per short ton landfilled and 0.11 composted, the grounds produced about 220 tonnes in landfill and 9 tonnes in compost. Another 260 tons of mixed waste, largely cups, lids and milk cartons, went to landfill at 0.58 tonnes per ton, about 151 tonnes (EPA, 2025). Waste emissions, about 380 tonnes, equal roughly a fifth of Scope 1 and 2.

Coffee Sourcing

Front Range bought about 1.9 million pounds of green coffee in 2025. About 38 percent came through fair trade or other certification schemes or through direct relationships with farms the company visits; the rest was bought through importers on the open market with no information about farmer prices. Dragusanu et al. (2014), reviewing research on fair trade, found evidence that certification can raise prices received by producers and improve some outcomes, but that effects vary, that benefits often flow more to cooperatives than to hired workers and that certification is not a guarantee of higher farmer incomes. The company's 38 percent is therefore a starting point, not proof of fair dealing.

Employees

The city's 2026 wage floor is $19.29 an hour for most workers and lower for tipped food and beverage staff whose tips make up the difference (City and County of Denver, 2025). Front Range's starting barista wage is $19.75 before tips, just above the untipped minimum, and roastery production staff start at $22. Health insurance is offered to employees working at least 30 hours a week, but only about 40 percent of baristas reach that threshold. Annual turnover in the cafés was 92 percent in 2025, compared with 31 percent at the roastery. High café turnover is the company's largest social and economic problem, since each departure brings hiring and training costs.

Community

The company donates coffee to local food banks and schools and gave about $40,000 in cash and products in 2025, chosen informally by café managers. Unsold pastries are donated at six cafés. These contributions are appreciated locally but are not linked to the business's main effects, such as waste or wages, or to any stated goal. In the pyramid's terms, they sit at the philanthropic level while some ethical-level questions, such as pay and farmer prices, remain unanswered.

Assessment Against the Framework

Judged by the framework from the first paper, the foundation is solid: the business is profitable and compliant. The business case is partly met; the company has done little on energy efficiency, and its pilot composting program shows savings are possible. The natural case is unmet, since there is no limit on total emissions or waste as the company grows. The societal case is mixed: wages slightly exceed the legal minimum, but café turnover and limited benefit eligibility suggest jobs are not yet good enough to keep people, and most coffee is bought without knowledge of farmer prices. Shared value opportunities exist in turnover, composting and direct sourcing.

Strengths

Several strengths can be built on. The company already has a direct trade program with farms its roasters know, which can grow. The composting pilot shows that diverting grounds is practical and could expand to all cafés. Roastery staff, with lower turnover and higher pay, provide a model of more stable jobs. The owners' interest in sustainability, and the company's local reputation, give it credibility with customers who care about these issues. And because it is still small, changes such as switching a supplier or redesigning a role can be made quickly.

Data Gaps

The baseline also exposed missing data. The company does not track vehicle mileage, refrigerant leaks from café coolers, water use by café or purchased goods emissions other than coffee, such as milk, cups and pastries, which are likely larger than its own operations. It knows farmer prices for only its direct trade coffee. It has no exit interview data to explain café turnover. Each gap limits what goals can be set credibly, so the third paper's materiality assessment will need to decide which gaps to fill first.

Conclusion

Front Range Roasters' baseline for 2025 shows Scope 1 and 2 emissions of 1,746 tonnes, waste emissions of about 380 tonnes, 38 percent of coffee bought through certification or direct trade, wages just above Denver's minimum and café turnover of 92 percent. Against the framework chosen in the first paper, the economic and legal foundation is solid, but the natural and societal cases are largely unmet. Strengths in direct trade, composting and roastery jobs offer starting points, and data gaps need attention. The next paper identifies which issues are material and sets measurable goals.

References

City and County of Denver. (2025). Denver local minimum wage adjusts to $19.29 per hour for 2026. https://denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Department-of-Finance/News/2025/Denver-Local-Minimum-Wage-Adjusts-to-19.29-per-Hour-for-2026

Dragusanu, R., Giovannucci, D., & Nunn, N. (2014). The economics of fair trade. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28(3), 217-236. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.28.3.217

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2025). GHG emission factors hub. https://www.epa.gov/climateleadership/ghg-emission-factors-hub

World Resources Institute & World Business Council for Sustainable Development. (2004). The greenhouse gas protocol: A corporate accounting and reporting standard (Rev. ed.). https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard

SUST 5063 Module 2 instructions, in plain terms

The second SUST 5063 paper often asks you to assess an organization's current sustainability practices. Expect to measure a baseline across environmental, social and economic areas, such as emissions, waste, sourcing, wages, turnover and community giving, using cited methods and data sources. Most prompts reward judging these practices against the framework or model chosen in the first module, identifying strengths to build on and naming data gaps honestly. Use the organization's own records where possible and published factors or benchmarks for comparison. Cite methods, factors and research in APA 7, and mark any composite or estimated number so readers can separate measurement from assumption. A short summary table of baseline figures helps later modules set goals against it.

How the SUST 5063 Module 2 example is put together

The sample checks the economic and legal foundation first, then calculates emissions from natural gas, gasoline and WECC Rockies electricity with EPA factors, showing each figure. Waste from coffee grounds and cups is converted with EPA landfill and compost factors. Coffee sourcing is reviewed with research on fair trade's mixed effects, and employee pay is compared with Denver's minimum wage, alongside turnover and benefit eligibility. Community giving follows. The practices are then judged against the three cases and the pyramid, strengths are listed and data gaps, such as purchased goods emissions, are named. Every baseline figure is dated to 2025 so that later goals have a clear starting point. Gaps are listed plainly.

Reading the SUST 5063 Module 2 rubric

Baseline assessments are graded on coverage, method and judgment. Graders look for environmental, social and economic practices measured with cited methods, results that can be checked and an assessment tied to the framework chosen earlier. Strong papers show calculations, compare wages or other figures with external benchmarks, use research to interpret practices such as certification and name strengths and gaps. Stating what was excluded is often credited. Papers that describe practices without measuring them, cover only the environment or judge practices with no stated yardstick usually earn less. Each data source and factor needs a full APA 7 reference. Separating measured results from estimates throughout strengthens credibility. Clear tables help.

SUST 5063 Module 2 help from the desk

A sustainability baseline takes data from bills, payroll and purchasing, plus the right factors and benchmarks. We can help you decide what to measure, calculate emissions and waste, compare wages and turnover with benchmarks and judge practices against your chosen framework. Share the organization's data or ask for a composite case, along with your prompt, and the baseline we prepare will source every figure. Restaurants, retailers, manufacturers, clinics and campuses all work. Expect a finished draft in about two days, calculations included, so each figure can be traced to its factor table. We can also adapt the method to a nonprofit or public agency. Revisions are included.

Write yours, or have the desk draft it

This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official American College of Education document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.

More SUST 5063 and M.S. in Organizational Leadership sample papers

SUST 5063 Module 2 questions, answered

What does SUST5063 Module 2 usually ask for?

Module 2 of SUST5063 usually asks you to assess an organization's current sustainability practices, measuring a baseline and identifying strengths and gaps.

How do I calculate a small company's emissions?

Collect fuel and electricity use from bills, apply EPA emission factors for each fuel and the local eGRID subregion and convert other gases with global warming potentials.

Does fair trade certification guarantee higher farmer incomes?

Not always. Research finds it can raise prices and some outcomes, but effects vary and benefits may not reach hired workers.

Where can I find a free SUST 5063 Module 2 sample paper?

This page has one: a Denver roaster's baseline of 1,746 tonnes of Scope 1 and 2 emissions, 38 percent certified coffee and 92 percent café turnover.

Should an assessment include social issues?

Yes. A sustainability baseline should cover employees, suppliers and communities as well as emissions and waste.

SUST 5063 Module 2 Current Sustainability Practices Assessment Example