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The Green Economy Outpaces the Conventional Economy: Small Businesses Need to Get On-Board

March 04, 2014 Add Comment Edit

There are growing opportunities for sustainable businesses. During the period from 2008 to 2011, the green economy in the US has outpaced the conventional economy by a considerable margin. This is particularly true of the the food, personal goods, and construction markets.

The rate of growth for green business products and services are rising faster than conventional goods in the US. This figure is even more remarkable given the fact that this steady growth occurred throughout the depths of the recession.

These are the findings of a 2012 survey of 1,300+ “microbusinesses” (five or fewer employees), conducted by “The Big Green Opportunity,” and reviewed in a June 2013, Cleantechnica article. It shows that 88 percent of US businesses classified as “microbusinesses” report that the greener the product or service the more likely its sales increase. A total of 75 percent reported an increase in green business from 2008-2011 at a 19 percent price premium compared to traditional goods. A total of 79 percent of small businesses report that green goods and services provided a competitive advantage.

Demand

The survey further suggests that there is growing consumer demand for sustainable products and services which is creating “green competition” among businesses.

“Green segments today are growing far faster than their overall industries,” said Denise Hamsler of Green America. “The growth we’re seeing today is off the charts.”

Green Building

Growth in green building continued to be strong even as the housing bubble burst and the recession set in. Between 2005-2011, the green building segment grew 1,700 percent while the overall US construction industry shrank 17 percent. By the end of 2011, green building represented 38% of the US construction market, up from just 5 percent in 2005. Profits have followed growth, with green building worth $54 billion in revenue in 2011, and forecast to hit $200 billion in 2016.

Renewable Energy

Small businesses are investing in small-scale renewable energy projects instead of fossil fuel to power their operations. From 2002-2011, renewable energy consumption (solar photovoltaics, biofuels, geothermal, and wind) grew 456 percent while non-renewables (oil, natural gas, and coal) fell 3.2 percent.

Energy Efficiency

Businesses are also investing in energy efficiency measures to help cut costs. Survey respondents also reported purchasing energy efficient equipment, training staff to conserve energy, and installing efficient lighting were the top three actions they took to produce the fastest return on investment.

Organic Foods

Healthy organic food and personal goods are generating serious profits for businesses across the US. The organic food market segment grew 238 percent from 2002-2011 to hit $29 billion in revenue, while the overall food market only grew 33 percent during the same period. Although organic food represents just 4.2 percent of the overall food market, profits are projected to more than double to $78 billion in 2015.

Organic Non-Food

The organic non-food market is also growing. Green goods like clothing, personal care, pet food, and household products grew 400% from 2002-2011 while the overall non-food market grew 33 percent Revenue also jumped, from $439 million to $2.2 billion.

Investments in Sustainable Products

The growing fossil fuel divestment movement has prompted significant increases in socially responsible investing (SRI). Assets in SRI portfolios grew 32 percent to $2.3 trillion from 2001-2010, and produced a 13.2 percent return compared to 0.4 percent for the overall investment market during the recession.

Small Business

The survey indicates that large companies are disproportionally taking advantage of this growth compared to smaller businesses. Many opportunities also exist for smaller companies.

“Adopting green practices provides even the smallest businesses an opportunity to grow,” said Tammy Halevy of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity.

However, small businesses must act soon or they risk missing out on this valuable opportunty.

Taken together, these survey results support the business case for going green for businesses of all sizes. The combination of steady growth, higher sales and bigger margins are unavoidably compelling.

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Webinar - Green Business Success

February 17, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Green Business Success is a free webinar for green business owners & entrepreneurs who want to increase sales and grow their profits in 2014. This webinar will take place on Tuesday February 18th, at 12PM Pacific/3PM Eastern. Join Jamie Clem, from the Green Business Bureau and Ted Ning, founder of the LOHAS Expo, for a FREE invitation-only webinar that teaches you how to grow your green business in 2014. This informational-packed and empowering webinar is taught by business experts and it gives you a 3 Step business formula, while managing your time and resources. Grow your business to financial security with purpose, training, and empowerment!

Here is what you can learn

1 You'll get a step-by-step formula on how to transform your business, take it to the next level, and SUCCEED in 2014.
2 You'll discover how to get incredible results for your Business ... with less time and resources ... and be paid what you're worth.
3 You'll discover why in 2014 it's more profitable for you to do the exact polar opposite of what everyone else is doing!
4 You'll discover how Mobile Marketing and Internet Marketing will positively increase your sales and grow your business in 2014!

This LIVE WEBINAR allows only 1,000 attendees, so, register now to secure your seat.

Click here to get your free invitation.

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Small Businesses are Going Green in America

June 13, 2013 Add Comment Edit

A new report from the nonprofit, Green America, shows that a record number of small businesses are going green. The report is titled, "The Big Green Opportunity for Small Business in the U.S."

The findings in this report are welcome news as the small business community has been understandably slower then corporate America in adopting more sustainable business practices.

Here are some of the survey's key findings:

The green economy is growing much faster than the traditional economy
79 percent of companies strongly agree that green products and services give them a competitive advantage
75 percent of companies who sell green products and services saw an increase in sales during the recession

Those are just some of the reasons that Intuit reports sustainability will become a "competitive requirement for small businesses within the next 10 years."

To download the report click here.

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Message to the Federation of Small Businesses: Every Business Can Go Green (Video)

November 24, 2012 Add Comment Edit

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) annual conference was founded in 1974, and has more than 210,000 members across 33 regions and 230 branches, the largest organization representing the interests of small and medium businesses in the UK. 'Small Business and the Environment' was this year's conference theme.
The focus of the keynote presentation was "Going Green in the Connected Era," something that every business (regardless of size) can embrace. I met with John Holbrow, FSB Environment Chairman, and we discussed how small businesses are making a difference. An FSB-commissioned report released earlier this year found that an overwhelming majority of small businesses (92 percent) are socially and environmentally responsible. Eighty-three percent are already engaged in waste minimization and recycling.

The good news is that we can all do a lot more to help ensure a cleaner future.

"We can all commit to being carbon neutral, designing environmentally-responsible products and offering free recycling to consumers everywhere we do business. We can also partner with our customers and members of the ReGeneration -- people of all ages who care about the environment."

Working together, we will make a world of difference!

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How sustainability can Save your Business (Video)

May 12, 2012 Add Comment Edit

The Benefits of Sustainability in Business (Video)

May 12, 2012 Add Comment Edit

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May 12, 2012 Add Comment Edit

10 Sustainability Initiatives for Small Businesses

April 30, 2012 Add Comment Edit

Although the constraints of many small business often preclude the grand sustainability gestures of larger corporations, there are many things that these businesses can do to be more sustainable. Here is a summary of ten easy and inexpensive things that small businesses can do from Miratel:

1. Go as paperless as possible. Be mindful when printing an email, document or report and consider whether it is really necessary. When possible, print double-sided and in black and white.

2. Keep a running count of the pages you print off – it’s just like calorie counting. You’ll be more cognizant of your consumption.

3. Activate your computer’s standby/sleep/hibernate settings to reduce energy when not in use and power it off completely at the end of each work day Power down all other electronics when not in use. Take it a step further by unplugging them when not in use which will save additional energy

4. Eliminate all disposable dishes, cups and utensils and stock a communal set of dishes, drinking glasses and cutlery in the staff lunch room.

5. Lower your thermostat in the winter and raise it in the summer (by 1 to 2 degrees). Every degree represent a 5% reduction in use.

6. Encourage packing a lunch and going meatless one day per week. It will save money and the environment by reducing your carbon footprint by 28.5%.

7. Ban plastic water bottles and provide staff with reusable water bottles and filtered tap water.

8. Encourage employees to take public transit or carpool.

9. Switch to energy efficient lighting fixtures that use T5 fluorescents bulbs rather than traditional fluorescents.

10. Use green, toxin-free cleaning products.

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Ten Green New Year's Resolutions for Businesses

January 12, 2012 Add Comment Edit

Powerful forces are aligning to drive sustainability in 2012. Companies are leading by eliminating waste and diminishing greenhouse gas emissions due to the realization that the pursuit of environmental benefits yields material results.

More companies than ever are creating economic value from enhanced social and environmental outcomes. A recent study by Green Research titled Annual Sustainability Executive Survey, 2012, found that corporate sustainability spending will significantly increase over the next year. Almost 33 percent of the companies surveyed are adding staff to their sustainability departments, and 50 percent will increase spending on company-wide sustainability initiatives. A total of 25 percent of the companies surveyed said they are planning to increase the budgets of their sustainability departments.

Sustainability is fast becoming a core component of business best practices. Here is a list of sustainability resolutions to help you become a leader in the sustainable businesses revolution that is taking hold in 2012.

1. Inform yourself about the value of sustainability

2. Create a team within your organization dedicated to sustainability

3. Incorporate sustainability into your long term strategy

4. Adopt sustainable business practices

5. Craft measurable goals

6. Disseminate information on the veracity of climate change

7. Get others within your supply chain involved in sustainability

8. Petition all levels of government about the need for climate and energy legislation

9. Educate consumers about your sustainability efforts

10. Convince consumers that buying a sustainable brand provides them more value than the cheaper alternative.

© 2012, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

Businesses are Combating Climate Change and Turning a Profit

April 21, 2011 Add Comment Edit

All around the world, there are many sustainable success stories from companies that are seeing tremendous profit from green.

At HP, carbon reductions are now 33 percent better than in 2005, fossil fuel use has been cut by 62 percent and the water savings have increased to 89 percent. Companies like the UK's British Sky Broadcasting having reduced customers' carbon emissions by around 124,000 tonnes. Some corporations, like PUMA are committed to carbon neutrality.

Du Pont has set a goal to increase annual revenue by at least $2 billion USD by 2015 from products that reduce carbon emissions, which were already generating $731 million USD as of 2009.

According to a 2010 global survey, seventy percent of firms with revenue of $1 billion or more say they plan to increase spending on climate change initiatives in the next two years.

Nearly half of the 300 corporate executives who responded to a survey conducted for the accounting and consulting giant Ernst & Young said their climate change investments will range from 0.5 percent to more than 5 percent of revenues by 2012.

Whether to enhance brand loyalty or to reduce costs, businesses are seeing the merit of going green. More than four out of five respondents, or 82 percent, said they plan to invest in energy efficiency in the next 12 months, with 92 percent saying that energy costs will be an important driver.

Despite the challenges, the Ernst & Young Survey indicates that corporate executives are increasingly committed to taking action on climate change. The fact that 70 percent of executives said they planned to spend more on climate change programs is clear evidence of this trend.

Even in the absence of government regulations on climate change, businesses see the value of investing in sustainable programs because they see the opportunities to grow through new services and products, as well as save money through enhanced efficiency and limit risk. This is more than just public relations, it is a reflection of the market driven movement.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Cooperation Between Environmental Organizations and Businesses

April 14, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Increasingly we are seeing cooperation between environmental organizations and businesses. All around the world, grassroots environmental organizations are teaming up with corporations in the service of the environment.

Environmental organizations have commonly pressured corporations to change. Greenpeace's widely publicized campaigns against unsustainable companies are some of the best known examples.

Other environmental campaigns are less adversarial and more inclusive. There are many strong partnerships were the business community is working alongside environmmental groups. For example, Xerox has partnered with The Nature Conservancy to promote sustainable forestry, preserve biodiversity and help minimize forest loss and degradation that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

Strong partnerships are forming where non-profits are putting their expertise to work guiding businesses. Some of the most productive partnerships involve information sharing between environmental groups and companies. Greenpeace has partnered with companies like Cisco and Google, Carbon Trust has put out a Green Guide for SMEs and the WWF-UK has launched its Green Game-Changers initiative for Business. The WWF is involved in training business executives for sustainability through its Sustainability Training Program. The WWF has partnered with the IMD to create a Sustainable Business Program. The WWF also provides training to business leaders through its One Planet Leaders Program The Environmental Defense Fund has the comprehensive Innovation Exchange and Ceres has been integrating sustainability into capital markets for more than 20 years.

Other campaigns work with companies to foster change from within the business community. For example, 350.org's "The US Chamber of Commerce Doesn't Speak For Me," campaign.

Various professional and development organizations support sustainable businesses. The B Corporation, certifies businesses as change agents, The ISSP, International Society of Sustainability Professionals, promotes professional development, as well as providing networking and sharing of best practices.

Although the EPA is a government organization, the public - Private cooperation that fuels its Green Power Partnership program has yielded impressive results.

Cooperation between businesses and environmental organizations is helping to produce a greener world. These partnerships illustrate that capitalism and environmentalism can converge in ways that benefit the planet.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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350.org and Business

April 06, 2011 Add Comment Edit

Bill McKibben and 350.org have some ambitious plans to get the business community involved with efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. The business community is responsible for a large amount of the CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere, if we are to achieve necessary reductions business people have a critical role to play in shaping a more sustainable economy.

Many business people know that regulatory standards send clear market signals to investors and entrepreneurs about new opportunities. The current climate of uncertainty does not serve the business community. Numerous product innovations, clean energy investments and new service offerings will flow from a consistent EPA effort to regulate greenhouse emissions. As many states across America have demonstrated, policies that address greenhouse-gas emissions do not impair economic growth. To the contrary, they enhance it by attracting venture and institutional investors and new high technology and manufacturing companies.

In a conference call with Bill McKibben and the 350 team, The Green Market's Richard Matthews asked what 350.org is doing to help support the business community to combat climate change. Bill McKibben answered the question by saying, "it is really important to get businesses and business people involved that is why we are getting chambers of commerce involved." He went on to say, "capitalism is supposed to be innovative flexible and creative,[and] most business people are prepared to consider energy powered by the sun and the wind."

McKibben wants to get businesses to sign up to support efforts to combat climate change through a campaign that targets the US Chamber of Commerce. Rather than represent small businesses, the Chamber is actually a giant lobbying machine, spending more money to influence the political process than anyone else in Washington.

As indicated on the 350.org site, "The Chamber is controlled by big polluters, poisons politics with its dirty money and opposes every single effort to curb climate pollution."

As well known author and New York Times journalist Thomas Friedman said, "All shareholders should be asking CEOs why they still belong to the Chamber."

The Chamber has opposed every piece of legislation designed to slow the onset of global warming—in recent months it has tried to block the EPA from enforcing the Clean Air Act, arguing that global warming would be “on balance beneficial to humans” because fewer people would freeze to death and that in any event “populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.”

The US chamber of commerce spent 132 million dollars on lobbying in 2010. The Chamber gets more than half of its funding form 16 anonymous corporate donors. Of the companies that donated to the Chamber, $1 million came from the Fox Broadcasting Network. Fox host Glenn Beck urged his viewers to donate to the Chamber—and a US Chamber official called in to his program to thank him for his support.

Of the 32 million dollars the US Chamber of Commerce spent on the 2010 midterm election, 90 percent went to Republican candidates who are climate deniers.

Historically the Chamber has been on the wrong side of some major issues. They supported Joseph McCarthy in perpetuating the red scare, they also fought against American involvement in World War ll, civil rights, disabled rights and now clean air.

Local business chambers are increasingly at odds with the US Chamber. Local chambers of commerce have cut their ties in cities like Seattle, New York, and San Francisco as well as states like Florida, South Carolina, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Washington.

More than a thousand businesses have also abandoned the Chamber, they include a wide range of companies from small businesses to international corporations like Apple, Nike, Microsoft, Levi-Strauss, Best Buy, and General Electric. For a map of businesses who are saying that the US Chamber of Commerce does not speak for them click here.

When Nike relinquished its position on the Chamber's board of directors it said, "We fundamentally disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce on climate change." When Apple resigned their position on the Chamber's board of directors they released the following statement, "Apple supports regulating greenhouse gases, it is frustrating to find that the Chamber at odds with us in that effort." Click here for a complete list of statements from those who disagree with the US Chamber of Commerce.

For more information read Bill McKibben’s Huffington Post piece on the US Chamber “The Gang That Couldn’t Lobby Straight”

Its time to develop a national movement and strong political voice for sustainability-minded companies. Responsible and sustainability minded companies can play a major role in making the argument that emasculated regulatory agencies, corporate oil and gas subsidies and tax cuts for millionaires will neither generate jobs nor foster a competitive economy. Join 350.org in standing with small business owners, local chambers of commerce and people all over the country. Sign up to the 350 campaign to say, "The US Chamber of Commerce Doesn't Speak For Me."

Become part of the American Sustainable Business Council to help build a more vibrant, just and sustainable American economy or join the many other organizations that are working at the national, state and local level.

To find out more about what businesses can do click here. You can also start or join a local team and recruit local businesses to declare, “The US Chamber Doesn’t Speak For Me.”

See the facebook page for The US Chamber of Commerce Doesn't Speak For Me and post the following Tweet on Twitter The US Chamber Doesn't Speak For Me http://t.co/i7jbw0v.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Small Business Guide to Social Media

May 17, 2009 1 Comment Edit

Dell is a leader in social media and a good example of the trend towards increased corporate environmental stewardship. Like many other firms, Dell has been hit hard by the global recession. However, despite a halving of profits, Dell's commitment to the environment represents the kind of positioning that can help many companies to weather this historic downturn.

Dell's environmental programs, "conserve product energy consumption, reduce or eliminate materials for disposal, prolong product life span and provide effective and convenient equipment recovery solutions. By streamlining business steps and processes to be as efficient as possible, Dell helps minimize stress on the environment while achieving speed, responsiveness and cost savings that are passed along to customers."

Based on Dell's conversations with customers, they have created a series of social media guides. Each guide includes an overview of the approach, the opportunity, tips for getting started, examples of best practices and case studies.

1. Listening to customers, prospects and influencers is the foundation of all successful social media programs. By listening to online conversations happening in blogs, forums and social networks, you can bring the voices of your customers directly into your organizations.

Download the guide

2. Many people equate "PR" to "digital PR" or "digital influencer relations." While they are similar in many ways, there are some important nuances to consider. Most importantly, online conversations are much more direct and personal, requiring the highest level of transparency and candor.

Download the guide

3. Twitter is fairly new to the social media scene, but many companies have already found ways to use it for business, from announcing new products to helping out customers in need.

Download the guide

4. Crowdsourcing is the process of enabling your customers to play an active role in creating a new product or service, or in some cases, solving a business challenge for your company. Let's face it – our customers know what they want and need better than anyone.

Download the guide

5. Facebook is the fastest growing social network in the world with more than 100 million active members. Facebook offers a variety of solutions for small businesses to connect with customers and prospects more deeply and leverage the huge, viral potential of this community.

Download the guide

6. Photos and videos can engage customers and convey more about a company and its people, products and services than text alone. Today, new technologies and Web sites like Flickr and YouTube have made it easier than ever for businesses to produce and share multi-media content.

Download the guide

7. It's important to understand how a social media program is performing against specific business objectives in order to maximize the impact and justify further investment. The beauty of social media is that it is highly measurable using tools like Google Analytics.

Download the guide

By following these guides you can use social media to grow your businesses and better serve your customers.
______________________________________

Next: Shortening Your Sales Cycle With Social Media / Twitter / Social Media and ROI

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