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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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