Cleantech Investment Becoming a Global Corporate Mandate

Cleantech Investment Becoming a Global Corporate Mandate

Three-quarters of large international corporates plan to increase or significantly increase cleantech budgets over the next few years to incorporating clean technologies into existing products to improve environmental performance; entering cleantech segments that are adjacent to existing business units/operations; or create entirely new cleantech-driven product and service offerings, and ultimately new industries.

Grass is Not So Green: Marijuana Has a Huge Carbon Footprint

Grass is Not So Green: Marijuana Has a Huge Carbon Footprint

indoor marijuana weed cannibisThe yearly greenhouse-gas pollution of the $40 billion per year marijuana industry is responsible for about 3% of all electricity use or 8% of household use. Indoor growers use high-intensity lights that are 500 times more powerful that a standard reading lamp. They also use several other high energy industrial practices. The closest comparison for these massive, industrial-style grow facilities are data centers, which consume about two percent of the nation’s electric power.

Green MBA Success: Meet Janet Smartt, Program Manager, StopWaste.Org

Green MBA Success: Meet Janet Smartt, Program Manager, StopWaste.Org

Read our interview with Janet Smartt, Program Manager, StopWaste.Org, the Alameda County Waste Management Authority in which she shares his story of how she used her green MBA to evolve her career from a career in corporate marketing and public outreach to one in sustainability program management.

Pink Announces Their List of The Top Women in Sustainability

Pink Announces Their List of The Top Women in Sustainability

Last year, during Women’s History Month, we published, our list of the top women in sustainability. This week, PINK released their list of the top women in sustainability for 2011. These are women who they see as pioneers who are employing cutting-edge best practices to lead the movement for corporate responsibility and sustainability

Top 10 CSR Studies of 2010

Top 10 CSR Studies of 2010

The following is a list of the year’s 10 best research findings related to CSR, compiled by the Network for Business Sustainability. They focus on the impact of sustainable innovation on profit, the affect volunteering has on performance, employee engagement, product quality, stakeholder buy-in, reputation, carbon metrics and honoring stakeholders.

Green MBA Success: Meet Conor Carlin, Manager, Enterprise Energy Intelligence, EnerNOC, Inc

Green MBA Success: Meet Conor Carlin, Manager, Enterprise Energy Intelligence, EnerNOC, Inc

Meet Conor Carlin, Manager, Enterprise Energy Intelligence EnerNOC, Inc. Conor is also the managing editor of Thermoforming Quarterly, a newsletter of the Thermoforming Division of the Society of Plastics Engineering. Prior to transitioning to a career in energy management, Conor worked for 9 years in business development, sales and marketing in the plastics and packaging industries. Read our interview with Conor, in which he shares his story of how he transitioned from a career in packaging and plastics sales management to one in energy management.

UN Climate Change Conference Ends with a Deal after Threats from China and Tense Disagreements

UN Climate Change Conference Ends with a Deal after Threats from China and Tense Disagreements

Progress was made on a number of important issues at the UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun last week, but the US Senate’s failure to pass clean energy legislation tied the hands of negotiators to come to a full global deal.

Green MBA Success: Meet Emily Reyna, Project Manager, Corporate Partnerships at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

Green MBA Success: Meet Emily Reyna, Project Manager, Corporate Partnerships at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

As part of our Green MBA Success Series, I am interviewing Green MBA graduates to uncover what steps they took to transition to green careers using their degrees. Meet Emily Reyna, Project Manager, Corporate Partnerships at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).  Emily also recently co-authored, Hybrid Organizations: New Business Models for Environmental Leadership, a book […]

US Sustainable Business Spending to Double to $60 Billion By 2014

US Sustainable Business Spending to Double to $60 Billion By 2014

Using financial data from 1,833 firms with US revenues of more than $1 billion in 2008/09, independent analyst firm Verdantix finds that spending on 29 sustainability initiatives will grow from $28 billion in 2010 to $60 billion in 2014. Over the 2009 to 2014 period the US sustainable business market will experience a 19% compound annual growth rate. The sustainable business market forecast finds that growth of 11% in 2010 will increase to 16% in 2011 and 24% in 2012. Growth in spending is driven by improved economic growth, risk drivers, competitive dynamics, innovation diffusion, higher oil prices, state-level GHG regulations and renewable energy policies. The study covers all industries and all sustainability initiatives from energy efficiency to spending on strategy, risk and brand.