This country’s 130 million homes together generate more than 20% of the nation’s carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions. This is one of the most significant contributing sources in the country to global warming. Existing techniques and technologies in energy efficiency retrofitting can reduce home energy use by up to 40 percent per home on average which would also lower our national greenhouse gas emissions by 160 million metric tons annually by the year 2020. In addition doing so would reduce home energy bills by $21 billion a year and over time these savings would more than pay for the high up-front costs for energy efficiency retrofitting.
If you think your business is too small or too service-based to benefit from going green, or you’re waiting for the hype about green and sustainability to die down, then you’re missing an opportunity to chart an upward course for your company.
Your company has been progressing nicely up the sustainability curve from compliance to cost savings. The next logical step is reputation and revenue generation, and itʼs here that many sustainability pros hit a roadblock. Without a CEO mandate, business units usually have little incentive to deviate from whatʼs been working in the past. Sustainability and CSR initiatives have safely been tucked away behind the scenes, dealing with internal and supply chain issues that reduce risk and cost to the business. Objections to customer-facing sustainability initiatives range from “Why put our neck out and riskgreenwashing charges?” to “Itʼs still a niche market” and “Why would we promote our values for commercial ends? Weʼre doing this because it’s right, not to make money from it.”
Lobby groups are ramping up opposition to the Obama administration’s climate change plans, however not all their plans are perfect. In these difficult times it’s vital that companies stand up for what they believe in. Too often over the past 15 years, many firms have said one thing in public, and then allowed their lobby groups to do the ‘dirty work’ of lobbying in short term financial interest for them. This is not always true of course. Sometimes NGOs have said this was happening when it may well not have been, such as in the case of Starbucks a few years ago. But in the case of climate change, we are seeing some very aggressive lobbying indeed. No doubt. And one group, the powerful US Chamber of Commerce, is really going way too far.
Senior members of the US Chamber of Commerce are strdently opposing the Chamber’s position of opposition to climate policy. These organizations are eager “to boost their green credentials,” for fear of alienating their customers and senators. This is an indications that Social movements shape political power and concerned citizens, can move even the most entrenched corporate and political interests. NRDC research finds that “only 23 members of the U.S. Chamber’s board have a publicly stated position on climate change and more than 80 percent [19 members] are not on board” with the Chamber’s official position.
It’s no secret that air travel is hard on the environment; but it’s also one of the key ingredients to a robust global economy. The World Intellectual Property Organization says that air travel accounts for 35 percent of goods traded internationally (by value) and over 40 percent of international tourism. On the upside, aviation generates 5.5 million jobs and contributes over $400 billion to global GDP. On the downside, aviation also accounts for roughly 13 percent of global transport emissions and 2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
As the discussion continues on the true impact of emissions on climate change, many companies are reevaluating the internal impacts pending legislation may have on costs. For the first time, businesses are evaluating emissions as a waste stream that will be part of total lifecycle cost.
Yalmaz Siddiqui, Office Depot’s Director of Environmental Strategy, shares his glass-half-full view of environmental policy, calls for a new definition of “green” and talks about the legacy he’d like to leave. Siddiqui joined Office Depot in 2006. He’s since developed programs that improve the environmental standards of Office Depot’s supply chain, its internal operations and the consumer market.
Today, Newsweek launched a ranking of the greenest companies in America in its current issue and Hewlett-Packard took top honors. The Newsweek Green Rankings is the first-ever report based on companies’ actual environmental footprint, policies and practices. The twelve-page report in the September 28 issue, features a green ranking of America’s 500 largest publicly-traded companies as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees. On Newsweek.com, users can search and sort the data in several ways, analyze the detailed methodology of the study and submit and review comments.
