Environmental problems = business opportunity.
Global warming. Rising energy costs. Decreasing resources. Hazardous substances. Environmental changes today not only threaten our standards of living – they challenge longstanding assumptions about how profitable businesses should be run.
Yet the essential goals of business remain the same: Respond to market needs. Reduce costs. Increase profits. Get a leg up on the competition. Be a respected and responsible part of the community.
Regardless of the initial reason organizations implement sustainability initiatives, most have come to an important realization: implementing such practices can accomplish most, if not all, of the goals above. And these companies have gained a compelling advantage over competitors who are still doing business as usual.
Here are just a few examples of companies who have realized a competitive advantage and increased profitability by implementing sustainability initiatives:
Marks & Spencer launched “Plan A,” a 100-point plan involving suppliers, raw materials, internal operations, new products and customers. It will address climate change, reduce waste and safeguard natural resources, because this is now “the only way to do business. There is no Plan B.” Learn more…
Wal-Mart began an initiative with its 68,000 suppliers to reduce packaging and conserve natural resources. The projected 5% reduction is expected to save Wal-Mart $3.4 billion while reducing carbon emissions by 667,000 metric tons. Learn more…
The Hirdaramani Group, a leading textile and apparel manufacturer in Sri Lanka, launched a comprehensive Green Initiative that tackles issues including energy efficiency, carbon footprint, and reducing waste, water and packaging. Learn more…
Nike has pledged to reduce waste by 17% in footwear factories, decrease packaging by 30% and be climate neutral in its owned facilities while creating a line of sustainable products and system to evaluate the environmental impact of their designs. Learn more…
Columbia Forest Products developed PureBond™, a new line of formaldehyde-free plywood and particleboard. The new product line is a cost-neutral alternative to traditional plywood manufacturing using formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen, and helped the company create a significant advantage over competitors, particularly low-cost manufacturers in China. Learn more…
Xerox saved more than $2 billion through waste-free initiatives that diverted more than 2 billion pounds of electronic waste from landfills around the world. Learn more…
Collins Pine, a wood products company, implemented a sustainability project in one of its mills that saved the company approximately $1 million in the first year of implementation. Learn more…
S.C. Johnson recently completed a transportation logistics project that will save the company $1.6 million over the first year by removing 2098 trucks from the road, eliminating 168,000 gallons of fuel usage. Learn more…
Frito-Lay, which is already saving an estimated $55 million per year on resource conservation efforts, has launched its Net Zero plan to run its Casa Grande manufacturing plant on renewable energy and recycled water. Learn more…
What is “Sustainability?"
A common definition of sustainability is meeting the needs of today’s generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
A “sustainable business” is one that is able to operate profitably indefinitely. It is more concerned with maximizing total profits over time than maximizing profit today at the expense of profit – and possibly company viability – tomorrow.
“Sustainable business initiatives” are those that take global environmental problems into account in planning and operations. A sustainable company considers, for example, the realities of global warming and rising energy costs, just as it considers production cycles and competitor actions.
At its core, a sustainable business platform is simply sound business strategy with a few new tools to address environmental issues.