Argues why businesses should move beyond the duality of environmental concerns and making money to expos the false divide between environmental and business thinking. It makes the case that doing so is important in order for the organization to operate successfully, and thrive, in an increasingly resource constrained world. by Christopher Gleadle, author of Sustainable […]
Exceeding and defining industry standards – or even business standards in general – is one way that forward thinking companies will leverage their efforts from the existing guidelines and do more. Doing so will establish that they are not ‘toeing the line’ but rather ‘raising the bar’.
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.
The idea sounds simple enough. Create a team of volunteers from existing employees. Have them focus on ways to green the business and culture. In turn, create cost savings, attract top talent due to an improvement in brand recognition, and increase market share from the newfound brand image, possibly even innovative product and services. The idea and the goal sound simple, while the execution and plan of attack seem a bit more complex. How can an individual or company go about implementing this team of sustainability focused volunteers? Resources and guides may be abundant and abound. The report, “Green Teams: Engaging Employees in Sustainability,” released by GreenBiz.com and Green Impact, provides a good starting point that captures the business case for these green teams, how to get started, four key areas behind best practices, and a breakdown of 10 best practices in developing green teams.
Sustainable Brands Boot Camp’s sixth session served as an excellent introduction to sustainable design. Nathan Shedroff provided an overview of the principles, frameworks and tools employed by sustainable product designers and discussed some of the design strategies implemented today by leaders in this field.
Verdantix, recently released a free report, that explains why the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) is needed, defines the role of the CSO, and provides a profile to guide the appointment of the CSO. It also explains why organizations face a climate change and sustainability management deficit, why fixing sustainability governance gains is becoming a major priority by a growing number of firms, how the CSO can spearhead business transformation, who the ideal candidate for the chief sustainability officer role is, and what are the three priority areas of domain expertise.
According to the white paper, “Developing a Sustainability Strategy”, published by Pike Research, successful corporate sustainability programs share a common foundation and are supported by three key pillars: executive buy-in from the start, creation of an effective sustainability committee, and the establishment of clear and measurable sustainability goals.
IntertechPira is now accepting submissions for presentations at the Sustainability in Packaging 2010 conference. Of particular interest are submissions for sessions on: Sustainability strategy, Global perspective on sustainability, Marketing and communicating sustainability internally and externally, Procurement, Supply chain cooperation,
