The Corporate Sector can Save the World

The Business community may offer the best hope of saving the world from the ravages of environmental decay. In the context of the difficult economic times we are experiencing corporate initiatives may be our best hope for slowing the progression towards worsening environmental calamity. As reported in The Guardian, Peter Bakker corporate, the president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD), "believes that the corporate sector currently offers the best opportunity for saving the world."In the wake of the disappointing outcome at Rio+20, Bakker is on a "mission to encourage business to implement change at scale." He believes that the short term fate of the world hinges on "the coalitions of the willing," comprised of local efforts, and responsible cities and countries.


Bakker flatly rejects criticism that the 1,000 businesses that descended on Rio are not serious about creating change. As Bakker points the corporate world has made significant progress towards developing their approaches to sustainability. Bakker wants to move the WBCSD beyond merely educating business towards real efforts that have meaningful impacts.

As Bakker points out there are good businesses that work to be more sustainable and there are bad businesses that work to undermine progress.  "The 20% of really bad guys we need to regulate out of existence."

Bakker has developed a four point plan to extend the WBCSD's sector led coalitions to the tire and chemicals industries the same way progress has been made in the cement and forest sectors. This involves sharing best practice and creating common measurement and reporting standards. He also wants to create cross-sector working groups that auger change at city level including public transport, construction and utilities."

Bakker is working on innovative approaches to standardized reporting and he is developing a common methodology for companies to integrate impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity into their accounting systems. More than 50 companies have already signed up to take part and companies like Puma are leading in this area.

New accounting frameworks require financial system to put a value on companies' sustainability performance which is why Bakker also plans to involve financial companies. "The valuation of a business has to change and that's why I need the banking sector to value these commitments," he says. "If the capital markets measured the sustainability of companies then people like Paul Polman at Unilever would be seen as a god."

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Video: Walmart's Sustainability Efforts

Walmart's sustainability efforts are making a positive impact on a global scale. These efforts are evident from the products they sell to the packaging, to the way those products are used by their customers. Sustainability is inextricably embedded within their overall business strategy and carbon reduction is a key element of their sustainability program.

Walmart's goals are to: Be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; Create zero waste; and Sell products that sustain people and the environment. They have driven specific strategies that will reduce risks and increase opportunities associated with carbon for their company, their supply chain, and their customers. Their GHG reduction targets were set in order to increase their efficiency, lower their costs, save their customers money, and provide for positive social and environmental impacts. Their scope ensures significance.

By focusing on emissions reduction since 2005, they have achieved an annual savings rate in excess of $150 million compared to that base year by increasing their efficiency in the use of electricity, natural gas, refrigerant and transportation fuels. By reducing their energy consumption now, they are better positioned for further savings should any proposed carbon legislation be enacted into law. Similarly, just as they found efficiencies within their own footprint, they realized the opportunity to help their supply chain find these same, or even greater, efficiencies that will lead to additional financial and environmental benefits.

Walmart has announced an aggressive goal to eliminate twenty million metric tons of GHGs from their global supply chain by the end of 2015. This represents one and a half times their anticipated cumulative carbon footprint growth over the next five years. That amount of carbon decrease, if all achieved from electricity use reduction in the U.S., would have an associated annual cost reduction in excess of $2.5 billion. There are many opportunities to reduce throughout the product life cycle from the sourcing of the raw materials, to the manufacturing of a product, to its transportation, and to how customers use it, dispose of it and recycle it.

On public policy engagement, Walmart is working with industry groups, NGO's, consultants, and members of Congress and their staffs in order to foster better communication and understanding on the issues, challenges, and potential impacts to their business and customers. These understandings allow them to continuously re-evaluate their progress and impacts and to refocus or redirect their efforts when needed.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Best Global Green Brands of 2011 (Top 50)

The "Best Global Green Brands" is published by the marketing and research company Interbrand. Over the last 10 years, Interbrand has built its corporate citizenship practice. They believe that corporate citizenship isn’t just “good practice” but “smart practice,” with its benefits greatly outweighing its risks.

Because of the potential for misalignment between brand performance and perception, Interbrand decided to measure leading brands’ green efforts (environmental sustainability performance) and to acknowledge that those brands excelling in this area receive credit for their initiatives.

Interbrand’s Best Global Green Brands is based on analysis of publicly available data, and data from Thomson Reuter’s ASSET4 (which includes environmental sustainability performance data for over 3,000 companies). This analysis was then paired with Interbrand’s understanding of how brands create brand value.

The Best Global Green Brands report combines public perception of environmental sustainability (“green”) performance with demonstration of that performance based on publicly available information and data.

Interbrand’s years of experience in brand valuation have shown that efforts to grow brand value must include a focus on internal and external elements of brand strength. For this ranking, green includes both actual environmental sustainability performance and the degree of external reporting. This included an evaluation of the performance components of green brand strength (clarity, commitment, protection, and responsiveness) in the context of company’s efforts to act in environmentally responsible ways and an evaluation of the perception components of green brand strength (authenticity, relevance, differentiation, consistency, presence, and understanding) in the context of consumer awareness of company’s green activities, while also weighing environmental performance.

Deloitte was engaged to develop a corporate environmental performance methodology based on publicly available data as an input to Interbrand’s overall scoring methodology. The Green Performance Score was composed of 82 metrics on which each company was ranked. The metrics evaluate companies’ disclosure and environmental performance across six “pillars”:

Governance
Policies and mechanisms put in place by the company to manage environmental impacts and successfully set and execute environmental programs.

Stakeholder Engagement
The degree to which the company recognizes and engages with the various relevant stakeholder groups associated with the company.

Operations
The company’s performance across operations as measured in energy efficiency, GHG emissions, water management, waste management, and toxic emissions management.

Supply Chain
The company’s performance in measuring, reporting, and mitigating the environmental performance of their supply chain.

Transportation and Logistics
The company’s performance in measuring, reporting, and mitigating the environmental performance of their transportation and logistics, business travel and commuting.

Products and Services
The product portfolio of the company and an evaluation of the green attributes of its products, including product efficiency, sustainable production, and use of life cycle assessment.

The Green Performance Score is designed to be applicable across industry sectors and therefore includes metrics designed to make the evaluations meaningful and relevant across industries and adjusts for outsourcing and multi-sector operations. Because public disclosure of environmental performance is a leading practice among sustainable or “green” companies, the Green Performance Scores are based on publicly available data as well as data from Thomson Reuter ASSET4 (which includes performance data for over 3,000 companies).

The evaluation of each company’s consumer perceptions (external components) was conducted by Interbrand. To begin, Interbrand asked consumers in the 10 largest global markets to answer questions related to their perception of each company’s green activities along the six dimensions of brand strength. Interbrand spoke to 10,000 consumers worldwide and each brand was rated by at least 1,250 consumers. For the initial stage of analysis, Interbrand aggregated data on each dimension within each market. The six external dimensions of brand strength assessed were:

Perception elements

Interbrand then aggregated the scores across markets. The data was ranked by the size of each country and each country’s contribution to the global economy was also considered. This permitted a view of which brands consistently differentiate themselves in terms of environmental performance across markets, and which do the best job engaging in green activities that consumers find relevant. The analysis also discounted cases where positive perceptions of the brand outweighed a company’s actual green performance.

Overall, the “strongest” green brands appear to reside at the intersection of performance and perception. The final ranking table is a detailed illustration of which brands lead when it comes to the environment.

Here are the top 50 green brands according to Interbrand's analysis:

1. Toyota

2. 3M

3. Siemens

4. Johnson and Johnson

5. Hewlett-Packard (HP)

6. Volkswagen

7. Honda

8. Dell

9. Cisco

10. Panasonic

11. Hyundai

12. BMW

13. Apple

14. Danone

15. L'Oreal

16. Mercedes

17. Nike

18. Sony

19. IBM

20. Ford

21. Allianz

22. Nokia

23. Addidas

24. General Electric (GE)

25. Samsung

26. Intel

27. Coca-Cola

28. Canon

29. Pepsi Co

30. Microsoft

31. Xerox

32. Philips

33. Shell

34. Caterpillar

35. Cambells

36. Kellogg's

37. AVON

38. SAP

39. IKEA

40. Santander

41. American Airlines

42. Starbucks

43. Nintendo

44. Credit Suisse

45. McDonalds

46. Citi Bank

47. Barclays

48. HSBC

49. UPS

50. Accenture

For more information click here.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Eventbrite Corporate Sustainability Officer Courses in Australia (Sydney and Brisbane)

Eventbrite's Corporate Sustainability Officer courses offer key business leaders and owners the ability to plan for the future. Eventbrite courses are designed to give the corporate sector a head start with their sustainability initiatives. They provide a foundation of knowledge to build upon. The courses do not involve a lot of heavy jargon nor does it provide an overflow of information. The courses employ simple principles to help participants better understand the process of change and how to implement sustainability in the easiest and most effective way possible.

Here are some testimonials from graduates of the previous courses:

“The best sustainability course I have come across to date. Covered so much that I can't wait to go back and start using the tools and ideas.”Katrina Brooks, Sustainability Communications Manager, Mirvac.

“Fantastic, Badin did an amazing job distilling a huge amount of current information on sustainability issues and James' presentation was highly interactive and thought provoking. Highly Recommended.”Mark Ireland, Sustainability Manager, Sydney Ports CorporationTo register for the Sydney Course

For more information or to register for Corporate Sustainability Officer courses in Sydney (November 21-22, 2011) click here.

For more information or to register for Corporate Sustainability Officer in courses in Brisbane (December 5-6, 2011) click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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What Businesses are Doing to Combat Climate Change

Some members of the business community are already playing a leading role in the war against climate change. These companies are making better use of resources, increasing energy efficiency measures, creating more energy-efficient products, and investing in new energy technologies. Many of these businesses are implementing technologies that reduce CO2 emissions and increasing their use of renewable energy while decreasing their use of energy derived from fossil fuels.

Companies like Xerox, PUMA, HP, Walmart and even smaller companies like Zotos are successfully incorporating sustainability initiatives and reducing their environmental footprint.

Assessment and reporting is an important part of these efforts and we are seeing more and more measurement tools, best practices, benchmarks and verification.

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the US, it has specific environmental goals to reduce energy use in its stores and pressure its 60,000 suppliers in its worldwide supply chain to follow its lead. On energy efficiency, Wal-Mart wants to increase the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet by 25% over the next three years and double it within ten years. By 2020, it is expected to save the company $494 million a year. The company also plans to build stores that are at least 25% more energy efficient.

By addressing the environmental issues inherent in their business models, companies not only improve their practices, but also ensure the sustainability of their core business and help to make entire markets more sustainable.

For many companies, looking at more efficient energy use can pay off in the medium to long term. The problem is that shareholders are preoccupied with short term returns, and it may take many years for the costs of climate change to become apparent. However, heavily subsidized carbon-heavy fuels will not be artificially cheap forever and clean technology will be less expensive once it gains critical mass. Many businesses are looking at longer term time horizons and they increasingly understand that companies that ignore the trend will be at a competitive disadvantage.

Businesses are increasingly concerned about factoring environmental risks along-side other factors that impact a company’s performance and value. This trend will continue as carbon intensity starts to show up on balance books through organizations such as the Carbon Disclosure Project.

The involvement of the business community is crucial to global carbon reduction. Around 97 percent of the C02 emitted by western industrialized countries comes from burning coal, oil and gas for energy, much of which is used by business.

Some businesses are offsetting their carbon by paying someone else to plant trees or find other ways to reduce carbon emissions. Businesses that have purchased carbon offsets including HSBC and The Guardian newspaper.

Efficiency initiatives and renewable energy have many advantages for the environment and businesses are increasingly understanding the benefits for their bottom line.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Xerox's Green Innovation

Sustainable innovation is key to Xerox's strategy. The company is putting green innovation to work for profit and the planet. For Xerox sustainability and profitability are mutually reinforcing goals for themselves and their customers.

Xerox Corporation is a $22 billion global enterprise for business process and document management. The 136,000 people of Xerox serve clients in more than 160 countries. Through its broad portfolio of technology and services, Xerox provides leading-edge document technology, services, software and supplies for graphic communication and office printing environments of all sizes. ACS, a company which Xerox acquired in February 2010, offers extensive business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing services.

The photocopying giant has also partnered with The Nature Conservancy to promote sustainable forestry, preserve biodiversity and help minimize forest loss and degradation that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Xerox has been a leader for decades, as a mature company they now claim that green is part of their DNA. The company has maintained a business strategy focused on sustainable innovation. Xerox pioneered two-sided copying, print-on-demand, recycled paper and toner cartridges. More recently Xerox developed managed print services that enable customers to achieve their goals of reducing paper and energy usage, while boosting productivity.

The company claims that sustainability is a business fundamental, embedded in their operations and technologies, written into supplier specifications and creating economic value for their customers. They approach sustainability from a life cycle perspective because they recognize that the biggest opportunity to make an impact is by addressing all aspects of their actions, products and services.

Xerox’s innovative solid ink technology enables customers to cut costs and reduce their environmental impact. According to company, their ColorQube™ multifunction printer generates 90 percent less supplies waste, uses 9 percent less life cycle energy and produces 10 percent fewer greenhouse gases than comparable laser devices. Compared with conventional systems, it saves water, and is easier to recycle.

Xerox created the industry’s first Sustainability Calculator to help customers develop a fact-based estimate of their print-related environmental footprint. It enables customers to pinpoint opportunities to reduce both their environmental impact and their costs. They also help customers move from paper to digital documents with innovative business process and document management solutions

On April 7, 2011 Xerox Canada celebrated the achievement of reaching 1,500 patents. U.S. Patent 7,875,411 – XRCC’s 1,500th patent is part of the patent portfolio that covers long life photoreceptor technologies, a key area for increasing the sustainability attributes of Xerox’s laser printers and related products. The Xerox Research Centre Canada is responsible for developing the armour technology that almost doubles the life of photoreceptors - multi-layer thin film devices that convert light into electrostatic images.

“This technology has enabled a 30 percent reduction in waste, less down time and disruption to work flow, improved productivity, and fewer service calls,” says Yonn Rasmussen, vice president of the Xerographic Component Systems Group.

Investment in innovation can provide lucrative returns. Xerox discovered that their innovations have ended up either saving their customers and Xerox money or creating new markets and new profits.

See Xerox's environmental initiatives related to Solid ink technology and ColorQube. The company also has a sustainability Kit (PDF).

For more information, visit Xerox, or for investor information, click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Greener Japanese Companies

There is a long list of Japanese companies that are investing in sustainable innovation. Many of the world's best known Japanese brands are seeing the wisdom of green.

Sharp has built a solar-cell factory that raised its output to 1.3GW last year, from 790MW the year before. According to Ernst & Young, we could see a fourfold growth in Japan’s solar panel market by 2020.

Sanyo has re-emerged as the world’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries as well as a producer of solar panels. On April 1, 2011, Sanyo Electric became a wholly owned susbsidury of Panasonic.

Panasonic is expanding its energy businesses, from electric-vehicle batteries to hydrogen fuel-cell generators, and hopes to more than triple revenues from the segment to Y3,000bn ($36.4bn) by 2018. Like many other companies in Japan, Panasonic is also making its manufacturing operations greener, doubling the ratio of recycled materials used in its products and raising the recycling rate for its own industrial waste to virtually 100 per cent.

Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors have begun selling battery-driven electric vehicles, building on a green-car market pioneered by Toyota's top-selling Prius hybrid.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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