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Going Green: How Sustainability Can Work for a Company

1. Introduction: What is Sustainability... Really? -- by David E. Kepler of The Dow Chemical Company
2. What “Going Green” Means for Us -- by Darren Hammell of Princeton Power Systems, Inc
3. Going Green: What It Means for Our Industry and Organization -- by Raju Boligala of HerbThyme Farms, Inc.

4. Conclusion: Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points

5. About the Authors

Conclusion: Ideas to Build Upon & Action Points

I. How Do the Authors' Companies Contribute to "Sustainability"?
II . The Bottom Line
III . Must-Have Practices to Create a Sustainable Company- and Global-Cultures
IV. The Golden Rules for Motivating Your Employees to Support Sustainable Strategies
V. Essential Take-Aways

10 Key Questions and Discussion Points

I. How Do the Authors’ Companies Contribute to “Sustainability”?

While the notion of sustainability addresses evironmental concerns surrounding the responsible use of resources, it must also encompass social and economic considerations, such as the importance of engaging responsibly with societies and communities and developing an economic model that can ensure long-term progress. In this report, the authors share how the following practices of their companies met all three requirements by:

Developing new methods for synthesizing products that use renewable plant resources rather than non-renewable fossil-fuel resources
Converting manufacturing plant operations to more energy-efficient systems and processes
Making the use of green and renewable energies, such as solar and wind power, more efficient and affordable
Deploying wind and solar systems as redundant energy sources for island communities (that are always at risk for hurricane-induced power outages)
Contributing to soil conservation through the use of organic farming practices

II. The Bottom Line

Adopting sustainable practices may all be well and good, but how can you make money with them — especially given that many of the raw materials

and processes are more expensive? Dow had the same question, but reported a return of $5 billion on a $1 billion investment when the company was only expecting to make $2 to $3 billion. When plotting bottom-line expectations for implementing more sustainable practices and products, key factors to consider include:

What are your current products’ actual environmental, social, and economic costs across their life cycle — and how would these change if they were manufactured using renewable energy and materials?
How can you determine the extent of your customers’ demand for sustainable energy and products? How much more are they willing to pay for such energy and products?
How can you “sell” sustainable projects and products to your customers in a way that illustrates an acceptable ROI, given their geographical location, economics of their power supply, and source of capital?
How can your company differentiate its products and services by actually improving the economics of buying more sustainable solutions?
What are your real savings in energy costs for deploying more energy-efficient manufacturing and testing systems?

III. Must-Have Practices to Create a Sustainable Company — and Global — Cultures

Now that “sustainability” is in vogue, there is some confusion over what it actually means. The term is not new, actually, having been coined in the late 1980s by the U.N.’s World Commission on Environment and Development. And it’s not synonymous with environmentalism or corporate social responsibility. When talking about energy resources, it also means different things to different people. This report’s authors recommend that companies can cut through the hype and actually address sustainability in the following tangible ways:

Selecting areas of focus from the U.N. Millennium Development Goals that are consistent with the company’s strategic goals and expertise
Educating the consumer about what “sustainability” actually means for your industry
Partnering with research and development groups (such as at universities) to set up pilots and identify best practices
Reducing energy output at company facilities, and stipulating to the power supplier that a specific amount of your power must come from renewable sources
Growing agricultural produce without chemical fertilizers or insecticides
Utilizing biodegradable packaging and shipping containers
Maintaining a “whole-picture” perspective on what constitutes sustainable practices and products in your industry, rather than following the latest trends

IV. The Golden Rules for Motivating Your Employees to Support Sustainable Strategies

While company leaders must provide the impetus, change can still be difficult to implement in an organization, even when it is perceived as positive. First, your people will need to understand the fundamentals — and the details — of why your sustainability initiatives are important. Effective approaches for advancing agendas of sustainability are:

Providing education about what are actual “environmentally friendly” practices in your industry — and what are just buzzwords
Encouraging people to stay informed about the technology changes (even those happening globally) related to sustainability that have already taken place — and what still needs to happen
Listening to their ideas about ways to innovate new or existing practices and products — even in areas that they are not directly working on
Offering monetary and recognition awards for employees who offer meaningful contributions in sustainability, environmentally friendly strategies, etc.

V. Essential Take-Aways

Sustainability must connect to the conscience of the organization, but, just as importantly, it needs to be seen as a platform for dynamic business growth and innovation. In other words, sustainability must be an integral part of the engine of product development, business strategy, talent development, and capital investment. Sustainable practices and products can, therefore, work for your company in the following ways:

They can promote safer workplaces, cleaner facilities, and more efficient energy use.
They can lower certain costs, such as for growing crops.
They can create new markets for your company’s products, services, and expertise.
They can lead to stronger relationships within communities where your company operates.
They can inspire improved product stewardship and accelerated innovation to solve some of the world’s pressing resource problems, such as water, food, housing, and health care shortages.
They can bring jobs, growth, and positive impacts to more local economies — including depressed economies.
They can serve to ease recruiting and increase retention of the best people.
They can enhance the image of your company as being instrumental in the improvement of the quality of the natural environment for everyone.

10 KEY QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION POINTS

What does “going green” mean for your industry? For your company? If these definitions are different, why is that the case? How have the definition(s) of sustainability and “green” changed over time? If not, why not?
What types of sustainability efforts has your company recently been involved in? What has been their degree of success? Who was generally responsible?
How are environmentally-friendly practices presently encouraged and nurtured at your company? Have policies related to such practices changed over time? In what ways could your company improve in this area?
What are your industry’s best practices for creating a sustainable and environmentally-friendly culture? In what ways does your company comply with these practices? What steps led to the evolution of these practices — both in your industry and at your company?
How are your company’s employees encouraged to support sustainability efforts at your company? What sustainability policies and/or trainings have been developed? How are they communicated? How effective have they been in changing behaviors and the ways people perform their jobs?
What are the top five ways that your company has “gone green” in the past two years? What make these the “top five”? How do these compare with innovations happening elsewhere in the industry? How have they benefited the company? Impacted the bottom line?
In the next 12 months, how do you plan to capitalize on sustainability efforts currently being developed within your industry? What type of changes will such efforts bring to your company? How will you prepare employees and motivate them to accept any changes?
What is the CEO’s role in promoting environmentally-friendly practices at your company? How is this role different than that of CEOs at comparable companies in your industry? How is it similar? What challenges are you likely to encounter?
What percentage of your time is spent researching sustainability options within your industry, and implementing it at your company? How has this percentage changed over the last five years?
In the next 12 months, how will your company become more environmentally friendly? What role will technology play? Innovations in infrastructure? Changes in transportation policy and means? Reducing carbon output? What is the anticipated response of people within the company toward the changes?

5. About the Authors

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