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."

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

Links: Carbon Footprint Calculators, Other Calculators & Carbon Offsets

Environmental Defense PaperCalculator - Calculate the environmental impact of the paper products you use.

The Carbon Diet - Track your carbon footprint every day and compare your footprint with those of your friends.

NativeEnergy - Carbon offsets and a travel carbon calculator.

The Nature Conservancy Carbon Calculator - Another carbon footprint calculator.

BeGreen - A carbon calculator and information resource that also offers carbon offsets.

zerofootprint - Helping individuals, organizations, and cities reduce their environmental impact (their goal is to get 1,000,000 people pledging to reduce their environmental footprint by 10% in one year).

Yahoo! Green Carbon Footprint Calculator - Another carbon footprint calculator.

Ecological Footprint Quiz - Find out how much “nature” your lifestyle requires.

terrapass - A carbon offset company that has an emissions calculator.

50 Ways to Green Your Business - Part IV

31 One initial problem with Staples' new emphasis on recycled paper: less durable products. The solution? Reinvent paper. The company's hanging file folders now include 50% regenerated cotton (aka "denim"), and its "carbon neutral" notebook paper is 90% bagasse, a sugarcane by-product the company buys from Argentine farmers who would otherwise burn the spent cane, polluting their own communities.

32 Talk about turning garbage into a useful resource: The University of New Hampshire signed a deal this year with Waste Management Inc. to get 80% to 85% of the power and heat for its 14,000-student campus, using methane piped in from a nearby landfill. UNH must build a 12.7-mile pipeline to carry the gas, but the $45 million project is expected to save enough to pay for itself in 10 years.

33 Take the foodie trend of consuming only locally grown products and apply it to sportswear: That's what Nike (NYSE:NKE) has done with its Considered line. The company has committed to sourcing as much of the products' raw materials as possible--recycled polyester and rubber, organic cotton, hemp--from within 200 miles of the factory, cutting the environmental and financial costs of transportation. Of course, the finished goods still have a long trip to market; the Considered line is made in China and Thailand.

34 If flying is the new smoking, fractional jet companies are the eco-equivalent of Philip Morris. But this fall, Warren Buffett's NetJets begins hitting its clients with a healthy dose of guilt serum: $5,000 extra a year, to pay for carbon offsets.

35 Surfers are generally pro-environment; their petrochemical-based gear is not. Patagonia is looking to change that. Its latest wet suit is made of Japanese neoprene, unbleached New Zealand merino wool, and PVC-free kneepads; and it uses 80% less petroleum than its competitors. Better yet (for surfers), at 3 millimeters thick, it produces the same warmth typically associated with 5 millimeters.

36 Emissions aren't the only enviro-scourge of the air-travel industry. U.S. airlines throw away enough aluminum cans every year to build 58 new 747s. At the urging of its own flight attendants, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) launched an on-board recycling program this past summer in a few of its hubs. In the first three months, flight attendants, who sorted cans, newspapers, and plastic, collected 60 tons of recyclables. The program will expand to all domestic flights by the end of 2008.

37 Not content to confine its green efforts to recycling, Delta has also become the first U.S. airline to offer its passengers carbon offsets for their trips at the same time that they buy their tickets. The offsets--available only at Delta.com--cost $5.50 per roundtrip domestic ticket, and the money goes to the Conservation Fund's Go Zero program.

38 Paper or plastic? The unsatisfying answer is neither. Retailers including Ikea and Trader Joe's sell heavy-duty polypropylene sacks designed to be reused. But how do you get convenience-obsessed American shoppers actually to use them again? Timberland's (NYSE:TBL) "Trash Is My Bag" totes (made from recycled plastic bottles) cost $5.50 each or come free with a $100 purchase; to encourage reuse--and more shopping at Timberland--each bag doubles as a 10%-off coupon through the end of 2008.

39 Speaking of reuse, Target (NYSE:TGT) has slashed its waste by 70%. The company has applied its signature craftiness to taking advantage of every opportunity to recycle. Last year, it recycled or refurbished 47,600 broken shopping carts, 2.1 million pounds of broken plastic hangers, 4.3 million pounds of shrink-wrap from distribution centers, and more than 10,000 pounds of rechargeable batteries.

40 Knocking down drywall and rebuilding the office every time your workforce shifts doesn't exactly square with running a sustainable business. Enter Steelcase's (NYSE:SCS) new Pathways Privacy Wall, a 10-foot-high steel-frame reconfigurable wall that also happens to be the first of its kind that's "cradle-to-cradle" certified--meaning the entire structure can be economically (and easily) disassembled into component materials for recycling. What's more, it contains 30% recycled materials to begin with.

From: Fast Company