GE's Mark Vachon Says Greentech Opportunities are in the Developing World Not in the US

According to Mark Vachon, a 29 year GE veteran and the leader of ecomagination, the best opportunities for greentech are in the developing world and not in the US. GE has adopted a business strategy that has invested $5 billion in clean tech research and development and generated $106 billion in revenues through 2011. Ecomagination is an innovative program that is crowdsourcing green ideas. The program is developing innovation and technology for alternative energy and eco-friendly solutions. Ecomagination underscores GE’s commitment to imagine and build innovative solutions to today’s environmental challenges while driving economic growth.

As reviewed in the Daily Beast, Vachon disagrees with those who say we have to choose between economy and the environment. We really do not have to make a choice we can have both.

The Growth of Sustainability as Revealed by 3 MIT Reports

According to three reports published in the MIT Sloan Management Review, businesses continue prioritize sustainability to be more competitive, improve their brands and be more profitable. The first study cited indicates that businesses are still investing in sustainability despite a sluggish economy. The second shows they are doing so to gain a competitive advantage and enhance their brands. And the third demonstrates that an increasing number of businesses are deriving a profit from integrating sustainability into their corporate strategies. 

Data Shows that Sustainability Pays

A large amount of data is now available as investors are increasingly demanding more transparency and greater corporate responsibility. A large and growing pool of data indicates that sustainability is a profitable endeavor. According to an article in the Harvard Business Review by Gerrit Heyns, a partner at Osmosis Investment Management in London, England, companies that invest in sustainability do better financially. According to the data cited by Heyns, sustainability focused companies outperform the market.

Bridging the Gap: A Financial Approach to Sustainability (White Paper)

"Do good and you will do well!" pundits and companies often assert. While the tagline sounds great, the reality is that many companies struggle to connect sustainability with core business goals such as increasing sales, reducing costs, or reducing risks. As a result, sustainability departments are often seen as tangential to the core business, and annual CSR reports are mostly filled with anecdotal feel good stories. More often than not, environmental impacts, costs, and risks are mostly hidden and do not show up in companies' main accounting systems. As long as a CFO or Procurement Officer does not have visibility on such costs and risks in financial terms, the environment will at best remain a Chief Sustainability Officer issue.

Slash Energy Cost & Reduce Budget Uncertainty

Here is a white paper on energy for big retailers sponsored by Verisae and published by Environmental Leader. In this special report you can discover energy management ideas tailored to the business of big retailers. New-store design, refurbs and retrofits may present the biggest and most obvious opportunities to make dramatic, long-lasting improvements in energy efficiency and budget certainty. But the weak economy has caused most retailers to cut way back on such projects. Energy-cost reductions can make a big difference for your company’s financial performance. After payroll, energy is among the largest operating costs for any grocery retailer. In fact, energy cost may amount to roughly half or more of net profit. A 10% reduction of energy cost can increase net profit by 5% to 10%. To download the white paper see below.