Smart Solutions for Sustainable Business

Forbo Creates a Virtual Tradeshow Space at Greenbuild

Forbo surprised everyone today by announcing that they won't be attending Greenbuild this year - not in the usual tradeshow sense anyway; they'll be there all right, but with the lowest carbon footprint at the conference.

Forbo's announcement is very timely, just last week Treehugger wrote an article on using Life Cycle Analysis and video conferencing to lower emissions.

According to Forbo's press release, their booth is taking on a minimalist approach, focusing primarily on the floor. Local reps will be there for the face-to-face, but the hometown executives who usually would be burning up air miles, hotels and cars will be chatting virtually via Internet video conferencing. When it's time to go home, the flooring materials that were sourced through their local Boston distributor, will be donated to a local charity. By using local and leaving local, Forbo is minimizing the shipping impacts to and from the convention center.

"I think this is the way the tradeshows of the future should be run," Denny Darragh, the GM of Forbo told me recently, "I have meetings with people virtually all day long. Why not do it at a tradeshow as well"?

If you're heading to Greenbuild, be sure to stop by and talk to the talking heads who will be walking the walk and boothing the booth.

Contributed by Mary Hunt.

The Greening of the Office Lease

Ellen Sinreich, President Green Edge, LLC reporting

 

In order for a commercial office building to achieve the most in terms of sustainability, the landlord and its tenants must partner in working toward that goal. In the case of the landlord and tenant relationship, the governing document is the lease. If the landlord and the tenant agree that the property subject to the lease should be constructed, operated and occupied in a sustainable fashion, that should be reflected in the lease.

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What Should a Green Lease Cover?

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A “green” commercial office lease should incorporate the agreed upon sustainability goals for the building and the rights and responsibilities of each party necessary in order to achieve those goals.  Typically, sustainability goals for a commercial office building would include one or more of the following:

 

- Goals for reduced consumption of energy, water, and other natural resources;

- Goals for minimizing waste and diverting both construction and operational waste from landfill – in other words, recycling goals;

- Goals for creation and facilitation of superior indoor and exterior environmental quality; and 

- Data collection, sharing and use as between landlord and tenant.

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After these goals have been agreed to, the lease should be clear about the level of commitment on the part of the parties to achieve them.  One suggestion is that landlord and tenant agree in the lease to make good faith, reasonable efforts to achieve the stated sustainability goals and to reevaluate each of the goals periodically during the lease term.

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Reduced Energy and Water Consumption

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In order to make the goals of reduced energy and water consumption realistic and achievable, the parties must be able to measure their consumption.  After all, if you can’t measure it, you can’t fix it.  Thus, the green lease should provide for metering or submetering the tenant’s consumption of energy and water in its premises and should address the cost and responsibility of installing and periodically reading the meters.  The party responsible for reading the meters periodically should also be responsible for promptly communicating the information gleaned from the meter readings to the other party to the lease. 

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Equally important in a green office lease, the economic costs and benefits of reduced resource consumption should be allocated between landlord and tenant in a manner that both facilitates the goal of reduced consumption and compensates the appropriate party(s) for the cost(s) (if any) incurred to get to that goal.  Thus the traditional office lease arrangement whereby the cost of the energy and water consumed by the tenant in its premises is included in the base rent, with the tenant possibly paying its share of building wide cost increases over base year costs, needs to be examined and modified.  In the traditional scenario, the tenant typically has no knowledge of what it is consuming and it has no economic incentive to minimize that consumption.

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Finally, the green office lease should set forth milestone dates around which the parties agree to discuss how actual consumption compares to the sustainability goals set forth in the lease and to use reasonable efforts to correct any discrepancies. 

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Diverting Waste from Landfills

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It is hard to imagine a “green” office building that does not have a recycling program, including a reasonably convenient space for the collection and separation of materials to be recycled, and arrangements with third parties to pick up the materials to be recycled.   Thus, a “green” office lease should obligate the landlord and tenant to recycle both construction and operational waste and to keep track of and share with one another the percentage of that waste that is recycled and the percentage that goes to landfills.   Ideally the landlord’s recycling program will be a profit center and entitlement to those profits as between landlord and tenant should be spelled out in the lease. 

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Indoor Environmental Quality

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The “green” office lease should also cover indoor environmental quality.  Both landlord and tenants should be “obligated” in the lease to use low or no VOC materials in the construction of the interior of the building, as well as materials that are rapidly renewable, regionally extracted and manufactured, contain recycled content and are themselves recyclable at the end of their useful life within the building.  In order to facilitate this and make “going green” easy - especially if the tenant is doing any construction or fit-out work in the premises - a green lease should include an exhibit or be accompanied by guidelines that will educate the tenant about the green options for materials, mechanical and utility systems and contractors in the geographic location of the building.      

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There is not much precedent in creating a “green” office lease. Therefore it is an opportunity to be creative and responsive to the goals and realities of the situation at hand, rather than an opportunity to follow a pre-determined formula.  In other words, this is a chance for landlords and tenants and their real estate attorneys to break new ground and really make a difference.    

 

Ellen Sinrich, LEED AP

President/ CEO Green Edge, LLC

1755 York Ave., Suite 18C

New York, NY 10128

212-828-3840

Ellen@greenedgellc.com 

www.greenedgellc.com    

 

 

 

Unanimously Approved Consensus Green Building Investment Underwriting Standards

Dan Winters , Evolution Partners reporting...

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Members from the Capital Markets Partnership, overwhelmingly cast affirmative votes in support of the the Green Building Underwriting Standards.  These Standards were approved in four months which is record time and demonstrates the strong market need.

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In conjunction with this voting process, it was agreed that the following activities will be initiated – please let us know if you are interested in participating:

 

§  A Subcommittee will be set up to develop guidance on the use of the Green House Gas Protocol (GHGP) to track climate pollution reductions using the Underwriting Standard, and facilitate building owners monetizing these reductions through carbon or other credits including White Tags, with appropriate market trading institutions. 

 

§  A Subcommittee will be set up on Equivalency Applications pursuant to Section 5.0 of the Standard, along with any normalization activities that the Subcommittee / Full Standards Committee decide to initiate for the purpose of incorporating other approved industry standards into the Green Building Underwriting Standards.

 

Further, we are working with two leading financial institutions on their adoption of the Underwriting Standards, and on using the Standards for new financial product creation including Sustainable Building Securities (SBS) that will be discussed at an October 8, 2008 meeting at TIAA-CREF in NYC.  Please let us know of your interest in adopting them for your investment and/or other activities.

 

Dan Winters, Managing Principal

Evolution Partners

202.997.3922 - p

Dan@EvolutionPartners.com

EvolutionPartners.com

Time to Act

Labor Day vacation is over. It's time to get back to the very serious work of reversing the build up of greenhouse gases. The Weather Channel reports  (Aug., 29, 2008) should be enough to reengage us all. According to all accounts, our window of opportunity is closing.

 

"By absorbing increasing amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, the oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, weakening the world's coral reefs and threatening to unsettle the balance of entire ecosystems, experts say." 

 

And we thought rising shorelines were scary...

 

 "Eakin said the combination of increased acidity and warmer water temperatures could have devastating, potentially irreversible effects on the world's oceans and marine life."

 

 "Coral reefs are the lifeblood of our oceans and we depend on them for survival, said Suzanne Case, executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii."  

 

 "Without urgent action to limit carbon dioxide emissions and improve management of marine protected areas, even vast treasured reefs like the Great Barrier Reef (off Australia) and Northwestern Hawaiian Islands will become wastelands of dead coral."  

 

 "While the consequences of inaction are too depressing to contemplate, there is good news, Salm said.  Our workshop showed that there are some practical steps we can take to buy time for coral reefs while CO₂ levels are stabilized; that there is hope for coral reefs if we act now."  

This Weather Channel report is consistent with similar conclusions reported last August in Science Magazine documenting acidification and almost complete CO2 saturation in the Southern Oceans: 

 

Acting now according to the Weather Channel report, means immediate large scale climate pollution reductions (Honolulu Declaration on Ocean Acidification & Reef Management July 2008).  

 

This assessment is also consistent with the April 2008 Bush White House Report showing that climate damages are expected to have an overwhelming devastating global impact.

 

Importantly, this Bush White House Report brings the federal government in line with the impending climate crisis projected by the UK, NASA, IPCC, State of California, Moody's, Mortgage Bankers Association, & Chief Reinsurance Risk Officers, as recognized in the peer reviewed Report which is a Background Document for the National Consensus Green Building Underwriting Standards©:  Creating an Economic Stimulus & Stopping Climate Credit Risk / Irreversibility©.

 

There are now no credible dissenters to the global consensus to expected near term adverse and substantial climate impacts without action, and the resulting economic stimulus by stopping Imminent Irreversible Dangerous Climate Change.

 

The White House Report lists pages and pages of devastating levels of climate impacts to all aspects of society:  the economy, food supply and agriculture, fires, disease, droughts, storms, floods, weather and climate prediction, insurance, public health, species diversity and abundance, environment, transportation, social systems, the oceans, fisheries, energy, infrastructure. 

 

The capital markets do not like to talk about these issues and are in survival mode over the credit crisis.   However, capital market leaders can easily act now on a sustainable investment market shift to stimulate the economy and prevent the climate crisis from overwhelming society which could occur in the near term.  

 

Such capital markets action will also stop the adverse global inflationary impacts from long term conventional energy price increases noted repeatedly by the Fed, and as shown by globally validated data in the Green Building Value Rating System & Appendix 2.0© (Appendices), and the National Consensus Climate Neutral Building Standard© 

(Appendix) which are additional Underwriting Standard Background Documents:   

The Creating an Economic Stimulus Report© sets forth the level of climate pollution reductions needed by 2015 to stimulate the economy & stop Imminent Irreversible Dangerous Climate Change:

• 2.5M Green & Climate Neutral Buildings
• 1.5M certified sustainable products 

Congress has not been able to act on climate change due to longstanding severe opposition, has no firm plans to act, and would likely not be able to stop Irreversibility in time. Thus capital markets' action is imperative, and based on successful precedent, would be very fast, profitable, and improve investor confidence and liquidity.  

 

For more infomation on the Capital Market's Initiative go here:  http://mts.sustainableproducts.com/capital_market.html

MTS has a New Website

The Market Transformation to Sustainability has a new website and more information on SMaRT sustainable product standards, The Capital Markets Partnership and Climate Neutral Buildings.There are pages on how to get your product certified as sustainable, Integrative Design and how you can become a member. Go here and see for yourself.

 

How to Pack Marketing into Your Green Packaging

The packaging industry is often chastised for having unfriendly environmental policies. I'm not here to debate this point, but I do want to talk about using environmental issues in a positive and realistic manner.

Let's take the word "green" as an example. Obviously, we think of the color first, but what about the variations of the definition that relate to packaging? How green is your packaging world?
•    Green could mean less damage to the environment.
•    Green could imply producing packaging from renewable resources.

•    Green could connote the use of less material and recyclable and degradable materials.
•    Green should entail designing products for environmental sustainability and that includes the packaging.

Once you have a certified sustainable product, then it can be maximized for branding purposes in a host of different ways.  If you have a "green" packaging product, what ways are you capitalizing on the current media exposure? (In addition to sending out a press announcement.) Here are a few points to consider:
•    Did you support or promote participation in any Earth Day activities?
•    Do you belong to one of the many organizations that support "green" and the environment?
•    Did you orchestrate your new packaging introduction to coincide with the aboves events?
•    Have you submitted your green product to the numerous packaging associations that offer opportunities for environmental awards?
•    Have you submitted your package to any of the non packaging related organizations that have "environmental" awards?
•    Do you have a plan in place for your staff to understand and utilize in order to build your "green" brand?
•    Do your employees believe in being "green?" (This is a very important buy in.)
•    Have you looked at any websites such as Treehugger.com or Sustainable Life Media to see what they are doing?

Sustainable packaging goes hand-in-hand with a sustainable product. For a primer into this green packaging check out Sustainable Packaging - From Green to Great. It's a overview at what works in green packaging and what does not.

 

Your product might be the most sustainable thing on the planet, but if you packaging doesn't carry through on the promise, you've lost your sale before it starts.

 

Contact JoAnn Hines at PackagingDiva@aol.com

http://blip.tv/file/1163738/

 

We Welcome Your Comments

 

 

Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States

Is this in your Sustainability Library yet? The 271 page White House Report came out in May 2008, but it never received much press other than it took four years and a court order before it was released to the public.  

The Executive Summary in the front captures why we must work very fast on developing a Climate Change management solution. The extended report is loaded with facts and charts that you'll find useful in your next presentation on how Climate Change will impact your industry. 

You can download your own copy here:

Download scientific_assessment_full_report.pdf

Patagonia: Providing Continuing Ed for Voters

All that rock climbing must be what makes Patagonia fearless in the business world.

Today they announced that they'll be using their retail reach to encourage individuals to "Vote the Environment" and are using You Tube to get the message across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW3V6ThF6dc&feature=user

Casey Sheahan, president and CEO of Patagonia says, "We're using our story-telling and marketing expertise to get this message out during a critical time in our country's history. We know that some customers may be put off by the strong environmental message. Not all our customers are environmentalists. But we are."

That last line is the most telling about Patagonia's brand, they stick to their mission regardless of who may not agree. That's being authentic at at a time when trust in corporations is at an all time low.

Patagonia understands its responsibility to not only make a profit, but to use its advertising and retail distribution connections to provide continuing education to the masses. If repetitive advertising can change a buying behavior, then it also can change a social responsibility behavior.  

It's hard to tell where the .com stops and the .org starts.

Patagonia has already given over $30 million to grassroots environmental activists since 1985. These are mostly micro projects, such as cleaning up a local river or bringing an environmental education class to a small town. Those actions don't make the big press releases, but are the ultimate in consumer engagement. It must be working, they crested $280 million in sales last year.

What I appreciate most is their ability to educate their base on both the micro and the macro issues impacting the planet. To do so they hold their own story up to scrutiny. Their "Footprint Chronicles" provide a retail-lite, Life Cycle Assessment. It falls short on quantified numbers, but does give a nod to the good and the bad of each product. That's a big step towards transparency.

"Vote the Environment" doesn't pick a party, it provides educational links for individuals to use and decide for themself who will do a better job. In the primaries, according to research by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the environment was #18 on the list of top voter concerns across party lines. With this new initiative, Patagonia is hoping to put environmental issues into the #1 spot.

contributed by Mary Hunt. Contact Mary at Mary@InWomenWeTrust.com

We Welcome Your Comments

The Challenge of Ethical Consumerism

The world is shifting, companies will take note and drive sustainable change or they will become part of (what one of my former supervisors deemed) “the Left Behind Series.” In other words, companies not communicating their environmental and social progress will lose out to their competitors that do. 

Imagine what would happen if all consumers looked at all their disposable income and decided they were going to only purchase products that supported a sustainable, healthy and socially just world? Imagine what your business would look like if you weren't prepared for that day.

 

According to a recent poll conducted by the Global Strategy Group, 87% of consumers are more likely to buy products from a retailer that is committed to environmentally sound practices.

 

With this increased awareness, the question for many companies becomes, how to achieve the maximum economic benefit from environmentally and socially responsible products and practices while at the same time increasing shareholder value and increasing stakeholder trust?

 

Looking Up and Down-Stream

 

·         In 1960 we were generating 2.7 pounds of waste per person PER DAY.

·         In 2006 that number is 4.6 pounds of waste per person PER DAY. 

·         By the time that waste fills 1 garbage can, 70 garbage cans of manufacturing waste were created upstream to make the stuff that is now junk.

                   Source:2006 EPA Facts and Story of Stuff

 

(Read that last bullet point again. From the source of the product through the sale-use, disposal and or reuse it takes 70 times the resources to produce that one can of garbage! That's a bad ROI - Return on Investment or ROJ Return on Junk, any way you look at it.)

 

Jared Diamond in, "What's Your Consumption Factor"? expands that “1 can” to its worldly impact, "The average rates at which people consume resources like oil and metals, and produce wastes like plastics and greenhouse gases, are about 32 times higher in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia than they are in the developing world.” 

 

When we talk to consumers about greening up their life, usually it's in terms of what they can do after the fact or "downstream" from their point of contact, i.e. bringing down the size of their 1 personal can of trash. How do you think they'll react when they know that 70 more cans were created prior to reaching them? Will they get angry, or will they just give up? 

 

Today, the majority of products' environmental and social impacts are hidden from our view. Consumers don't ask because they really don't know to do so, or perhaps they don’t want to know what's behind the curtain - either way, with more awareness, Ethical Consumerism is on the rise. It's a movement based on purchasing products that have been ethically produced - products that have been made without harming the environment or exploiting individuals and animals.

 

Defining exactly what is or isn't ethical will be one of the most difficult issues of our economic times.

While many new labels have come to market recently, they have not yet matched the impact of programs such as ENERGY STAR. This is one label that has become a simplified clear choice, but it only represents one aspect of the product's value - low energy.

 

The acceptance of the labels with the highest recognition in today's market follows closely to what impacts the consumer interests the most, i.e. Energy (personal cost), Recycling (cost and handling issues), USDA Organic, (safe to eat), Fair Trade (safe for global workers). They follow the same path as what makes a company tick – profit, lean-manufacturing, safety and happy workers. [SMaRT covers all four areas]

  

Does it Pay for Business to Be Ethical?

 

According to a recent study reported by the Wall Street Journal, moving your company to embrace more environmentally and socially responsible practices-that are third party certified would be a good investment. Green consumers may be willing to purchase unethically produced products, but at a steep discount.

 

The return on investment and profits of companies in the 21st Century are clearly rooted in social responsibility as noted in these results:

 

Reward and Punishment

 

What are consumers were willing to pay for a pound of coffee based on what they were told about the company's production standards?

 

Ethical standards . . . . . . . .  $9.71

Unethical standards . . . . . .  $5.89

Control (no information) . . . $8.31

Source: “WSJ-Does Being Ethical Pay”

 

A recent survey by BBMG indicated that 35% of all Americans have avoided a product because of a company’s practices. “People may not pay more for green products, but they may punish products and companies perceived as not socially or environmentally responsible.” Andrew Winston,

 

With the rise of social media including blogging, if you're lucky, your consumers will punish you by not buying the product. If you're unlucky, they'll punish you by putting up a bad review on the Internet that will follow your company and the product around for decades.

 

What Now?

 

Sustainability is becoming less "optional" and is already becoming a necessary part of every business strategy.

 

So, how will we conduct business in the 21st Century where the consumer-becomes a conservative-ethically minded conscious-consumer and actually practices the art of buying and spending less?

 

The competitive advantage of the 21st Century has arrived, be aware, educate yourself and your teams

formulate eco-strategies to save energy, lean up waste, stop the pollutants and take care of  workers producing your products. Those are the top areas that will resonate with consumers.

 

What else can you do?

1.) Not only understand but, “own” your product's life cycle. This is a mindset shift at the design level. Lifecycle includes understanding and owning the environmental and social impacts along the supply value chain.

2.) Choose products that can be authenticated to the source. Independent Third Party Certification of Accredited Standards e.g. SMaRT, Organic, Fair Trade, etc.

 3.) Educate your purchasing agents, consumers and investors. Focus on energy saved, waste reduced, pollutants eliminated and workers rights issues. Be prepared to link to a source that can prove all of the above statements and tell the whole story across the supply chain. Note both the successes and the places you have to improve. Talking up the good and leaving out the bad is ok when talking about your family, but not your products. Truth and proof is the new marketing mantra.

4.) Keep your eye on the future. Plan now. Should consumers opt to buy less and they will, how will this affect your business model?  Will you be offering more services to offset the lower product sales?

If you have a plan in place you will have the 21^st Century edge.

Write Coral at Coral@eco-textiles.com

We welcome your comments.

 

How to Earn a Sustainable Social Media Relationship

Can you be transparent? It's difficult to do especially if you built your business by ducking and weaving around the competition. Keeping the kimono open leaves some business leaders, well, cold.

I just returned from BlogHer 08, a national conference of women bloggers. It was my 5th BlogHer conference in 3 years and it was remarkably different from the others. Blogging has gone mainstream and companies who "get it" willingly opened up their ad budgets to these highly influential women bloggers.

What was so different about BlogHer this time?

• PR agencies were everywhere.
• Corporate sponsorships were way up from prior years. 
• Guy Kawasaki, the darling of modern evangelistic marketing, threw a party for members and friends of his All Top Blog site (In Women We Trust and SMaRT are part of the All Top group.)
• Twitter was the norm, not the weird. (Kawasaki has over 16,000 people following him)
• Michelle Obama submitted a blog post.
• The New York Times sent a photographer.
• NBC Universal put $5 million of venture capital into BlogHer and is linking them up with Bravo TV, iVillage and Oxygen networks.
• BlogHer now has 2200 bloggers in their blog ad network. [Compare this to a media group with 2200 publications.]

It's safe to say, this women's blogging thing has legs (and heads & hearts). Like Sustainability, it's not a trend, it's a direction.

So how can you earn a relationship? Start by being real, authentic and transparent plus have products that are the same.

If you pay a PR person to go make friends with bloggers, then hire someone who understands the nuance of friendship building and support their efforts to connect via lunches, cards, flowers, blogs, tweets, gifts, etc. Give them the time and space to be helpful and reciprocal.

What not to do

Can you imagine going to a business function and saying, "Sorry, I don't carry cards." Followed by, "I never give out my email address." Not only is it snobby, it's social media suicide. You need bloggers more than they need you.  How can that blogger trust you if you aren't willing to extend openness in her direction?

When I spoke with one PR person, she said just that, "I don't have any cards, but I'll take yours..." Oh pah-leese. She was there representing one of the sponsoring companies and she didn't carry cards during a green networking event where the point was to exchange cards? It was the biz card equivalent of don't call me, I'll call you. Not only should she have a stack of cards, but a stack of  very personal reasons why she is supporting the company. And the reasons shouldn't be "talking points," either, they should be from-the-gut reasons that she doesn't have to think twice about to say. 

If you want to earn a blogger's trust and friendship, be real and operate like a blogger. If you're afraid of being spammed or pummeled with email, then create a special email address and even a special phone just for public appearances. Bloggers put their heart and soul in print everyday. Think of the mixed message that's being received when they are putting it all out there and your company isn't even willing to expose an email address, let alone what your product's life cycle assessment looks like.

Speaking of corporate blogging - I met several women who were sent there by their corporations to learn what this women's blogging thing was all about. Each one said the same thing, that PR must oversee everything they say. That's not blogging, that's PR. Imagine a sales rep trying to talk to a customer with a PR person standing behind him. It's stifling and it's not real. If a company can train up a sales rep and turn them loose on customers and tradeshows, it can turn a company blogger loose who has to put everything in writing. Who do you think will be more careful, the shoot-from-the-hip sales rep or the person who has it in writing for everyone to link to? To think like a blogger, you have to have a blog. 

Transparency is the new green to put you back in the black.

In the July 21 edition of Ad Age, Jonathan Salem Baskin addresses a similar issue in his piece, "Corporation's duty is transparency, not charity." First he argues that, "There's no morality inherent in corporate functions. That's why we have laws, regulations and framed, inspirational posters. In spite of mission statements that can soar to the stars, the reality of capitalism keeps us focused on driving our competitors into the ground." On the positive side he then notes that, "It's the creatively destructive game that gave civilization indoor plumbing..."

That's true, competition is a very good thing. Baskin mentions laws and regulations, but he left out standards. Standards are what builds buildings, keeps the lights lit and that pumping working. They are also something that will keep our business and consumer conversations, transparent. If we are all following the same rules, there is nothing to hide and only competitive advantages to flag, like batting 350 instead of 200.

Where transparency in social media relations and sustainable products meet

Baskin comments, "In case you haven't noticed, consumers keep score... they don't want charity or better marketing. They want the truth."

As someone listening in on women's conversations daily, I can hardily agree. Women know greenwash when they see it. You should have heard the conversations going on about the water product served in corn-based plastic bottles. The green crowd wasn't happy.

Do you want to earn a Sustainable Social Media Relationship? Be sure to bring your truth and proof on what makes your product sustainable to the next networking event. Oh, and be sure to bring lots of cards with a personality as honest as those who you'll be meeting.   

Write Mary at Mary@InWomenWeTrust.com

We welcome your comments