In the September issue of Harvard Business Review, authors Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad, and M.R. Rangaswami provide a framework for adopting sustainable practices to bring about technological and organizational innovations that will ultimately yield top-line and bottom-line returns, providing a competitive advantage when the recession ends. They feel that sustainable companies will emerge from the recession ahead of their competitors, who will face difficulties trying to catch up.
Each year, Brown-Wilson Group and Black Book Research undertakes an annual survey of outsourcing service providers’ green initiatives from the perspective of their client experience. These research results represent an extensive and representative perception study of outsourcing vendors, validated by 1,338 unique company respondents from service users around the globe earlier this year. Over 7,000 individual nominations were received during the survey. They surveyed outsourcing buyer CIOs, governance, buyers, user managers &
corporate executives uncovered both the progress of suppliers and to determine who are the cream of the crop when it comes to Green IT. Xerox topped the list, followed by Accenture, CSC, Capgemini and IBM Global.
Despite the enthusiasm regarding sustainability expressed by the global business community, these organizations have been slow to address these issues when it comes to sustainable supply chain management, says a new study by the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum and E2open that was conducted in the second quarter of this year. Operations, logistics and supply chain executives also lack the understanding of how to go green and save green across complex, global, multi-tiered supply and distribution networks. The study, titled “Acceleration of ECO-Operation: Achieving Success & Sustainability in the Supply Chain,” gained insights from more than 125 supply chain, operations, finance, and executive professionals around the world across multiple industries. It set out to measure and quantify how companies are managing the complexities of supply chain demands, distribution costs and environmental concerns. The study has major implications for supply chain, finance, operations, logistics, and procurement professionals and underscores the need for better ECO-Operation, sustainability measurement, and operations insight into multi-tiered supply chain networks.
Colleges and universities are responding to a surging interest in green careers by offering more opportunities for degrees in sustainability. “The past few years, society as a whole has become increasingly interested in sustainability,” said Julian Dautremont-Smith of the Association for Sustainability in Higher Education, who was quoted in USA Today. “Higher education has been swept up as well.”
Earlier this week, the Navajo Nation signed into law promising green-jobs legislation that could serve as the first step in a broader transition for the Navajo Nation and other low-income communities in the Southwest. The bill, passed by the Navajo Nation Council in July, creates the Navajo Green Economy Commission that will coordinate a long-term green transition plan for the Navajo Nation and a Green Economy Fund that will support green-business development in the community. These enterprises range from weaver’s cooperatives to small-scale clean energy projects. While a green economy is not a new concept to Navajos, it does stand in stark contrast to our recent past and present.
Grassroots Environmental Education recently launched a new web portal called, “HowGreenIsMyTown.org (HGIMT ), which is designed to provide local citizens and decision makers the tools they need to bring about meaningful and lasting environmental change in their communities. The 200-plus page online initiative draws together resources from government agencies and non-profits across America to address the issues of climate change, sustainability and environmental health in one web site.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently announced their list of the greenest cities in the United States and have released their findings on a new web site, called Smarter Cities. The survey includes all cities in the United States with populations larger than 50,000. Smarter Cities is considered to be one of the nation’s most comprehensive and robust database of U.S. urban progress toward sustainability. Seattle ranked number one and San Francisco ranked number 2 among the 67 large cities that were evaluated. Madison, Wisconsin placed firstand Santa Rosa, California came in second among the 176 medium cities that were surveyed. Among the 402 cities that were evaluated, Bellingham, Washington came in first place and Mountain View, California came in second.
The first wave of green IT solutions failed to make sustainability benefits tangible according to a new study conducted on the sector by the independent research firm Verdantix. However, innovative IT sustainability solutions just released into the market or on the horizon for 2010 – will quickly demonstrate the tech sector’s role in supporting corporate sustainability strategies.
The Princeton Review, today released its second annual Green Ratings of colleges. In this measure of how environmentally friendly the institutions are on a scale of 60 to 99, the company tallied its Green Ratings for 697 institutions based on data it collected from the colleges in 2008-09 concerning their environmentally related policies, practices, and academic offerings. The Princeton Review also named 15 colleges to its “2010 Green Rating Honor Roll” – a list that salutes the institutions that received the highest possible score – 99 – in this year’s rating tallies.
