Green Ideas Take Root in Business

For U.S. companies, going green has never looked so good.In one of the most dramatic turnabouts in corporate America, previously environmentally apathetic businesses of all sizes and in all industries are rushing to portray themselves as Earth-friendly or touting the eco-friendly aspects of their newest products.

Hardly a day goes by without announcements hawking the latest green initiative, new store or design. Corporate executives are flocking to green-marketing seminars. Even the Business Roundtable, a group of 160 chief executives of major U.S. companies, recently sounded the alarm about the need to reduce greenhouse gases.

In Michigan, it's playing out in everything from landscape services selling special lawn-care programs to protect the watershed to energy-saving skylights and refrigerated cases at a new Wal-Mart set to open Wednesday in Livonia. A Grand Rapids firm has rolled out the first tradeshow exhibit system made of recyclable and renewable materials.

With rising numbers of consumers awakened to the threat of global warming, being seen as green has become a competitive advantage, some marketing experts say. "It's sort of sexy to be green," said Bonnie Carlson, president of the Promotion Marketing Association. "Corporations are jumping on the bandwagon because there's a real positive halo attached to that position."
At the same time, businesses' environmental records face more scrutiny. Climate Counts, a new nonprofit, has evaluated and ranked the climate-change efforts of 56 large companies. Consumers can download free pocket guides with the rankings.

The growth of green marketing
But image isn't the only motivation. Green products often command premium prices. And reducing energy usage helps companies save money. In addition, companies in certain industries such as oil and gas hope to stave off tough climate-change regulations by selling themselves as environmentally conscious, said Thomas Lyon, a professor of sustainable science, technology and commerce at the University of Michigan's business school.

Various industries are "now positioning themselves for a carbon-constrained world," he said. U-M also has tapped into this market. Lyon heads the school's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, which offers a 3-year program that allows students to earn a master of science degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment and an MBA.

"The challenge is to take something that is not naturally green and make it into a green product," said Sun Yu, president of Berkley-based Zen Design Group, which created a line of electronic toys that doesn't use disposable batteries.

Green marketing takes many forms, from traditional advertising to sponsorships of environmental groups or events such as the recent Live Earth concerts.

As it has spread, it also has become increasingly sophisticated. Gone are the days when companies simply labeled themselves or their products as green. Now, businesses must explain how they're green and advertise in multiple venues, not just television, said David Lockwood, research director at Mintel, a Chicago market research firm.

"Green awareness has progressed to the point where there is skepticism," he said. Lockwood and other marketing experts also warn that selling a product based on its green attributes alone often doesn't work. Ironically, to be successful, companies also must offer some non-green value, such as greater convenience or savings.

"The trick is to have products that are needed and to make them better," he said.

Companies' claims checked
The rise of green marketing has raised concerns about greenwashing -- companies exaggerating their products' eco-friendly attributes or making misleading claims about their environmental efforts.

"There are more and more pressures for companies to start appearing green," said Michelle Chan, Friends of the Earth's program manager for green investments. "Therefore, there are more and more promises."

But with technology, businesses could find it harder to get away with greenwashing than in the past. The Internet makes it easy for dishonest ad campaigns to quickly gain notoriety. And dozens of watchdog groups have sprung up to help consumers discern who's telling the truth. These efforts could ensure that green marketing doesn't lose its effectiveness and become a fad.
"If anything, it's overwhelming, this wave of awareness," said Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace. "Hopefully, this sticks around and is not just a phase."

New Service Launched to Help Customers Offset Shipping

A new service allows customers to calculate and offset the carbon impact of shipping individual packages.

ShipGreen uses a mathematical model to calculate the emissions of individual product shipment using the weight of each item, distance and means of travel, such as road, rail or air.

Similar services, the company claims, rely on flat rates or averages of all shipped products to calculate emissions figures and offset amount.

The service is geared toward online retailers, which can put a ShipGreen link on their websites that calculate of offset shipping. The ShipGreen service is free of charge for retailers.

During checkout, customers can choose an offset type, such as a wind, solar or forestry project. The company focuses on projects that are independently verified by third parties.

Projects include a hydropower plant in Indonesia, wind projects in Madagascar and New Zealand, a biomass facility in India, and a reforestation project in China.

ShipGreen co-founders Jason Sperling and Tim Buchanan also helped create the Prairie Tree Project in eastern Colorado, an afforestation venture that allows consumers personal offsets. The project also helps business audit their carbon footprints.

Arpad Horwath and Cristiano Facanha from the University of California, Berkeley, partnered with ShipGreen to create the emissions calculation model.

from: Climatebiz.com

Business pages get green makeover

Media reporting of green business stories has soared in the past year, according to new research released this week, and editors believe the trend is yet to peak.

The study from the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism in Arizona assessed the number of green business stories published in the top-10 US newspapers and found that the number published in 2007 was already double that for last year.

Examination of the content also determined that 81 of 154 business stories on environmental sustainability appearing since 2000 had been published during 2007.

The study argued that a "significant shift is underway in coverage priorities " with the increase in green business stories being driven by demand from both readers and advertisers.

"Coverage of business aspects of the environment is relatively recent, but the dollars involved and the public’s interest in it speak loud and clear," said report co-author Andrew Leckey, director of the Reynolds Center.

A small survey of 17 US business editors found that the trend is set to accelerate, with all respondents claiming that interest in green business stories had not yet peaked. However, they also agreed that coverage of green issues needed to improve, claiming that business journalists require more training in coverage of sustainability issues.

The report also said that the popularity of green business stories was having a knock-on effect on the global PR and communications industry and had resulted in the emergence of new PR departments and agencies "focused on getting 'green' press releases to business journalists".

From: BusinessGreen