In the final quarter of 2010 alone, stalwarts like Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Google, and Walmart all set audacious goals tied to massive resource efficiency, local sourcing, and innovation. What’s striking about this is how it represents a fundamental shift from just a few years ago, when companies were exceptionally timid about making public commitments.

FastCompany has a great article looking at how businesses are embracing sustainability and the role sustainability is now playing in how business gets done. One of the most important changes is that businesses are now publicly sharing their sustainability commitments.

Two key changes have occurred. First, sustainability has become a topic on the Board’s agenda. Second, it is now more widely understood that sustainability can spark innovation that delivers a competitive advantage–it is not simply a risk mitigation exercise. Both these changes have led the world’s most prominent CEOs–such as Unilever’s Paul Polman, Walmart’s Mike Duke, and Procter & Gamble’s Bob McDonald–to link their companies’ reputations, and their own, to their sustainability performance.

FastCompany isn’t the only one that sees sustainability changing how business gets done. Lindsay James sees three key trends including the adoption of EDPs.

The environmental version of “Nutrition Facts”,Environmental Product Declarations offer third party verified data without bias, allowing consumers to decide whether or not a product is environmentally responsible. EPDs have been around for awhile, but I think 2011 is the year where we’ll see growing adoption in the green building industry in response to consumer-driven demand, as the green media continues to highlight the need for no-nonsense eco-labels.

James says the other sustainability factors affecting business in 2011 are increasing oil prices and biomimicry.