In my first post, I said that Green is good for business.

That thought is now more widely shared than ever. But decision-makers I have dialogued with are frozen with fear of being labeled a poser, greenwasher, or too preachy and the result is many are not taking any risks in acting and promoting a relevant green agenda. Any business regardless of size and industry can make strides and be proud of what they accomplish. This can be in the following areas:

Strategic Planning: senior management can kick start the whole thing by developing or revising sustainability goals to align with their core business.

Supply Chain and Operations: environmental audits of all practices can point out cost-competitive improvement strategies.

Green Real Estate: a business' physical footprint and practices can create value in real estate.

Renewable and Cleaner Energy: yes swapping out lightbulbs is step one but there are much deeper programs for renewable and cleaner energy projects.

Greenhouse Gas Management: this requires an audit of greenhouse gas emissions to arrive at cost-effective strategies to reduce or offset impacts related to manufacturing, operations, and travel.

Understandably this is an investment but one that will pay off in may ways. Thoughts?

Posted on February 5, 2008 7:50 PM | Permalink

Andrew Shapiro of GreenOrder recently spoke at an event on Corporate Image and stated that we are currently using our resources as if we had 1.25 earths. A chilling and very simple description of the challenge before us. Check out more at www.greenorder.com and share your comments.

Posted on February 8, 2008 8:31 PM | Permalink

Green was once associated with sacrifice - it was painful to be green if you were a business. We associated green with extra cost, extra effort, questionable impact and return, compliance, and sacrifice. That is no longer the case. Green is now associated with strong and important branding, increased revenue, price premiums and deeper customer loyalty. Now green forces you to be better at everything you do. It is an extra lens that promotes greater innovation and awareness of impact. Think of the Lexus Lhs luxury hybrid that is priced at $125,000 and promises (according to their literature):

• A Powerful Statement
• Three Operating Modes
• Responsive Performance
• Fuel Efficiency
• Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV)

This is a great example of an industry player adjusting their practices to fit today's reality.

Have you any other interesting examples or comments?

Posted on February 13, 2008 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hotels have been struggling with a green agenda.

There are those bathroom cards saying that linens will not be washed unless requested. These are truly early efforts in the industry. The hotel industry has been largely slammed for greenwashing (no pun intended). It is making some better moves like championing waste management programs, sourcing renewable energy, and leading some ecological preservation. Some cool examples include:

• The Ibis Porte de Clichy has a façade covered in photovoltaic panels, which convert sunlight into electricity


• San Francisco's Orchard Garden Hotel rooms have the city's first door-key-card controlled electricity system—remove your card when you leave and the whole room automatically "turns off" (something that Europe has had for some time)


• Hotel Triton has decorated a room on each floor using environmentally safe paints, furniture created from salvaged forest-fire wood, and organic hemp towels and sheets

It also appears that a new player is to make its presence known. Starwood Hotels who brought you the W format is now planning One Hotels which will be upscale and green. Do you have any suggestions for Starwood on how to devise a truly green hotel?

Posted on February 18, 2008 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We know that going green is good for the earth and we are quickly learning that it is increasingly good for business. But how sustainable is sustainability as a business differentiator? If everyone is doing it - where is the competitive advantage? Green is quickly becoming tablestakes - there may be more risk in not doing it than benefits in doing it. If you agree, how can companies benefit and differentiate in green going forward?

Posted on February 22, 2008 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)