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FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE WITH A ‘STUFF TAX’
June 25, 2010 | GreenBiz.com 
By Stephen Linaweaver
"The United States is now facing three systemic, growing, 21st century challenges: a huge deficit, high unemployment and climate change. Leaders from Des Moines to DC are asking how they can provide necessary services without raising taxes, get more people working again, and get the energy they need without succumbing to King Coal or crapping all over the Gulf of Mexico.” Stephen continues, “There is a way out of this. Why not tax consumption, instead of production?"
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"Obama’s BP Speech: Long on Vision, Short on Specifics"
June 17, 2010 | HBR
By Andrew Shapiro
"[President Obama] has an inspiring vision - a clean energy future — but he needs to outline supporting goals that are concrete and whose success can be measured.” Andrew continues, “Consider Obama's references to World War II and the race to the moon. Both embodied inspiring visions — freedom everywhere, international leadership — but also very clear goals that drove change and transformation in manufacturing, education, government, and the military, just to name a few. The goals were measurable: we won the war, we got to the moon."
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"EARTH DAY – A MODEST PROPOSAL (WITH APOLOGIES TO JONATHAN SWIFT)"
April 21, 2010 | Huffington Post
By Andrew Shapiro
"So the real question is not "Should we abandon Earth?" -- the advantages of trading a sick planet for a healthy one are clear - but rather, if we get to start from scratch, how do we want to live? We have an opportunity to reset, rethink, and reinvent. Can we do really things differently and more sustainably?."
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"SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE ON THE SMART GRID"
April 17, 2010 | Marc Gunther and The Energy Collective
By Nicholas Eisenberger
"In recent years, the vision for a smarter electricity grid has been painted vividly by a broad spectrum of academics, entrepreneurs and utility company executives. By now, the story’s familiar: Improving the grid with intelligent infrastructure – in turbines, transmission lines, toasters and everything in between – promises to greatly reduce the nation’s energy consumption and carbon emissions, spur the growth of renewables, enable the broad use of electric cars, and save Americans billions.
The vision is compelling…but the job of making it real is enormous."
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"FENDING OFF THE 'NEW BARBARIANS' WITH A CULTURE OF INNOVATION"
March 17, 2010 | GreenBiz
By Truman Semans
"In his March 3 column, "A Word From the Wise," Tom Friedman recounted a recent speech Intel's Paul Otellini gave at Brookings that points out how desperately the U.S. needs to re-build its capacity for innovating and commercializing new technologies, as a foundation for economic competitiveness. Otellini painted a grim picture of declining conditions for innovation in the U.S. relative to, among others, China and South Korea.
There is a critical parallel between a national-level need for innovation and new technology and what is needed inside U.S. organizations. This is especially true of incumbent companies in the energy industry (oil and gas and electric power) that want to be competitive in a changing marketplace."
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"THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY"
March 5, 2010 | GreenBiz
By Stephen Linaweaver
"The last two articles have covered the importance of transparency, and how it involves developing knowledge, honing communication, and identifying why you are opening up, for whom, about what, and through which mediums.
All of that is well and good and necessary in the fishbowl that is the modern marketplace. These actions should help companies improve or protect their brand reputation and build equity with customers, particularly in the event of a mishap. At the same time, there are unintended consequences of transparency that companies should recognize."
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"THE SECRET TO MOVING BEYOND YOUR CSR REPORT"
March 1, 2010 | GreenBiz
By Stephen Linaweaver
"Your sustainability report is critical, but it should be your encyclopedic record of strengths, weaknesses, and achievements for your narrowest, most discerning audience, not your beacon of transparency for who you are and who you want to be."
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"SUPER BOWLS AND FLOOR MATS IN THE AGE OF TRANSPARENCY"
January 29, 2010 | GreenBiz
By Stephen Linaweaver
"Spending time and money on transparency is an investment. It is about who you are now and who you want to be. It is accretive. The more you learn about what goes into your products, about how your products are made in parts of the world you can't spell, about how your products perform under conditions you could not have predicted -- the less you have to pay later to figure these things out. The work Timberland , SC Johnson , and Nike have done to show 'what goes in' creates a platform they can build on for years, not a campaign to stand behind for months."
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"COCA-COLA GOES GREEN: AN INTERVIEW WITH CEO AND CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER MUHTAR KENT"
January 29, 2010 | Forbes
By Andrew Shapiro
"Muhtar Kent, the chief executive officer of Coca-Cola, knows the planet as few CEOs do. When I met him in Atlanta recently he was just returning from a global tour that included Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico. Such is life for the head of what is arguably the most global company in the world. The son of a Turkish diplomat, Kent has the qualities of an ambassador. He's worldly, personable and polished. He also is a dedicated believer in sustainable business who told me that he considers himself Coca-Cola's 'chief sustainability officer,' saying, 'I have not appointed another one and never will. That's me'...."
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"IN COPENHAGEN, FOLLOW THE MONEY"
December 18, 2009 | GreenBiz
By Truman Semans
"There's an old expression that I have heard comes from Texas: 'No
matter what we're talking about, honey, we're talking about money.'
That's certainly true about most of what we've been talking about in
Copenhagen -- even the negotiations around forestry (it's largely
about using carbon markets and emissions offsets as a last chance
opportunity to save the great forests of the world).
A few inconvenient truths about money and property underlie most of
the topics on the tongues of negotiators and business people alike --
and even the nonprofits and protesters..."
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"HOW BUSINESS CAN HELP SHAPE POLICY IN COPENHAGEN"
December 16, 2009 | GreenBiz
By Truman Semans
"In terms of the climate negotiations, a lot
should matter to business over the medium to long term. For companies
that have high emissions, or those with big opportunities to sell
products and services that reduce or capture emissions, the climate
negotiations are key to gaining certainty about how markets will
change. The big emitters need this so they know how much they need to
invest, and when, in low-carbon capital projects like clean power
plants.
Those with new business opportunities want emissions constraints to
transform markets as fast as their big customers can stand it without
reaching the point where policy causes major financial and political
disruption, and they want to know how heavily to invest in new clean
technologies.
The Copenhagen talks are not likely to reach a complete new global
agreement on climate, but it could frame out major pieces of a global
deal and propel further progress in the months ahead."
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"WHY BUSINESS LEADERS CAN IGNORE CLIMATE DENIERS"
December 16, 2009 | GreenBiz
By Andrew Shapiro
"The trumped-up 'Climate Gate' scandal has drawn an inordinate amount
of attention during the Copenhagen meetings, with climate change
deniers using fairly innocuous evidence of a few researchers
squabbling to question the integrity of all climate science. That has
led some reasonable people to ask: What if our planet is not faced
with the prospect of catastrophic climate change?
Business leaders and investors who have embraced sustainability can
rest assured: Even if the deniers were right - which they're not - the
business case for investing in environmental innovation still holds
up, as does the moral imperative."
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"COPENHAGEN: RALLY PEOPLE AROUND CLIMATE CHANGE WITH FRUIT, NOT MEDICINE"
December 16, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
By Nicholas Eisenberger
"If you want to motivate people to care about the future, to care
about the planet, if you want to give governments, businesses, and all
the world's environmental organizations the tools they need to move us
towards a low carbon, clean economy, the debate has to focus on what
really matters to people. We need to serve fruit, not medicine."
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"COPENHAGEN: SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS'S CHICKEN/EGG PROBLEM"
December 14, 2009 | Harvard Business Review BusinessWeek
By Nicholas Eisenberger
"While this tug of war is emerging as one of the consistent
conversations at Copenhagen, the future seems to lie in something more
collaborative and creative, where business and government play
complementary roles in leading us to a low carbon economy."
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"COPENHAGEN: CLIMATE TALKS ARE A SERIOUS CIRCUS"
December 11, 2009 | Harvard Business Review BusinessWeek
By Nicholas Eisenberger
"The climate of chaos here is indeed a hopeful sign of the growing
maturation of the clean economy. Some of the world's most powerful
leaders, most talented entrepreneurs, and well known creative types
see their future in solving this problem. Even agenda-overloaded
President Obama has agreed at the last minute to come for the last
day. Copenhagen may be cold, but this is feeling like the hottest place to
be right now."
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"COPENHAGEN, MEET COLUMBUS"
December 10, 2009 | The Huffington Post
By Andrew Shaprio and Dan Saccardi
"We must expand the scope of our efforts and remember that the future of our climate will not be determined solely in Copenhagen or even in Congress. Rather, it will be determined by how we integrate environmental innovation into our business practices and behaviors in every community in America and around the world."
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"COPENHAGEN: FOCUS ON THE (CARBON) NEGATIVE"
December 07, 2009 | Harvard Business Review BusinessWeek 2
By Nicholas Eisenberger and David Gottesman
"There are plenty of reasons to be disappointed with the Copenhagen climate talks that start today: the meeting will not result in a
binding agreement, the timeframe for such an agreement is potentially years away, and of course, neither the US nor China has committed to
binding reductions. While all this is certainly disappointing, the problem with the talks is actually much more serious. Even if the
meeting did result in aggressive, binding reduction targets, achieving those reductions won't reduce atmospheric CO2 enough to prevent
catastrophic climate change. The real reason to be negative: we can't get there from here. (At least, not on the route we're taking.)"
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"MANAGE YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS BEFORE IT HAPPENS"
November 18, 2009 | Forbes.com
By Stephen Linaweaver and Brad Bate
"The time to put together a management plan for handling all the negative press you get from an environmental or social crisis is before it happens, not after. Yes, you have a crisis management plan in a handbook somewhere, but how many of us know exactly what we would do if our plant in Juarez began leaching toxins into the water supply, or if a family in Phoenix were to discover banned substances in a toy you had sold them and the press or a nonprofit turned it into a national headline?"
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"GO SLOW, STAY LOW: A MANTRA FOR A GREENER ECONOMY"
November 02, 2009 | GreenBiz
By Stephen Linaweaver
"The growth economy as we knew it may be a relic of history. Our current jobless recovery could become a growthless "recovery." Companies with executives holed up in board rooms, contemplating 2010 forecasts and strategies, need to consider what their businesses will look like in an era of moderate to no growth. This is not an altogether bad thing. Companies will continue to add value through goods and services, and citizens will benefit. Some companies who think ahead, who thoughtfully evaluate the scenarios they face and their current capabilities, or lack thereof, and who rethink their business models and their contracts with their consumers -- they will benefit substantially. Others will slip off the S&P 500 without a sound. Sustainability, at a macro level, will be strengthened. Economies, like sitting canoes, are tippy. Stay low and go slow."
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"THE RIGHT GREEN METRICS - AND THE WRONG ONES"
October 06, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
By Nicholas Eisenberger and Mateo Bueno
"Newsweek and their Green Rankings partners deserve credit for taking a hard look at the environmental impact of companies, advancing the dialogue in this space, and inviting companies to compete around green. But we believe it's even more important that companies compete around the factors that will create long term, sustainable value (in all senses of the word "sustainable"). Rankings like this will only be effective at driving true sustainability when they measure a company's ability to innovate, integrate, and influence — not just their ability to reduce, reuse and recycle."
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"OREGON BREWERY'S SOLUTION TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: FREE BIKES"
August 17, 2009 | GreenBiz
by Stephen Linaweaver
". . . What if there was something you could do at your workplace to improve employee productivity and overall disposition, boost customer satisfaction and reduce your carbon footprint? Exponentially increase your advertising outlets, improve your public relations and reduce your health premiums? At the same time alleviate traffic and parking challenges near your office, restaurant or retail outlet? What if the government subsidized all of the above? Best of all, what if the solution was not a form of complicated clean-tech wizardry in beta phase in a warehouse in Silicon Valley with frighteningly high costs for early adopters, but rather a simple device, invented in the 1700s and readily available today? For less than $400?
It is the bicycle, and it is (hopefully) coming to a business near you. . . ." [ full text]
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"HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF WAL-MART'S 15 QUESTIONS FOR SUPPLIERS"
August 17, 2009 | Industry Week
by Duncan Cheung
". . . If you are a Wal-Mart supplier just beginning to think about environmental impact, or even if you are already recognized as a leader in the space, you can use this as an opportunity to create or enhance your sustainability strategy, and create value for your company. Perhaps most importantly, the 15 questions offer an opportunity to partner with a key retailer, gain insight into its processes and enhance your market position. Depending on where you are on your trajectory, the following guidelines will help you frame your thinking around the Index . . ." [ full text]
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"COMMENTARY: MAKE EVERY JOB A GREEN JOB"
August 13, 2009 | CNN
by Andrew Shapiro, Brad Bate and Ted Grozier
". . . When the public debate is focused around the precise number of green jobs created in, say, a solar panel factory, we miss the opportunity as a country to think more broadly about greening the economy -- and building a foundation for real growth and competitiveness. The aspiration to create "green jobs" should really be seen as shorthand for two public priorities -- immediate job creation and long-term transformation of the economy for sustainability and prosperity -- and both goals can be addressed simultaneously. However, in judging our progress, a simple tally of jobs in "green sectors" is only a partial indicator of the impact and thus can be misleading. . . ." [ full text]
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"DEFYING THE DOWNTURN: HOW TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS THROUGH SUSTAINABILITY"
August 11, 2009 | GreenBiz.com Reuters
by Mateo Bueno and Elise Richards
". . . Steve Fludder, vice president of ecomagination at GE, and Paul Ligon, managing director of GreenOps at Waste Management, made a strong case for their organizations' integrated approach during a webinar hosted by the EcoStrategy Alliance, a new online community for executives who manage sustainability, launched by LRN and GreenOrder. (Disclosure: GE and Waste Management are clients of GreenOrder.) Both Fludder and Ligon have worked to create business cultures of environmental innovation that yield value. Together they offer compelling examples of how sustainability can integrate into the fabric of an organization, set a strategic direction, and support growth throughout an economic downturn. During the webinar, Fludder outlined success factors for GE, including the critical alignment of environmental and business goals that proves to customers, shareholders and employees that, in the words of GE CEO Jeff Immelt, "green is green. . . ." [ full text]
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"GO SOUTH, GREEN BRAND: LESSONS FROM THE FRONT LINES OF GREEN MARKETING"
August 08, 2009 | GreenBiz.com Reuters
by Stephen Linaweaver
". . . This "North vs. South" division has existed for decades in development and macro-economic circles, but has yet to strongly enter the corporate sustainability lexicon. Dividing the data this way can be instructive, as it unveils regional attitudes based on culture, geography, and level of economic development. Respondents in BIC countries were twice as likely to spend more money for "green products" in the next year than those in the North. This makes sense for three reasons. Firstly, those in "less-developed" countries have not been hit as hard by the recession. Secondly, those who are less well off are typically more affected by their immediate surroundings, and therefore a marginal increase in the quality of their environment has a greater impact on their quality of life, increasing their willingness to pay. Thirdly, there has yet to be a backlash against the saturation of green marketing in these countries that we have experienced in the North. . . ." [ full text]
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"FOUR STEPS TO BECOMING A SUSTAINABLE 21st CENTURY ORGANIZATION"
July 06, 2009 | GreenBiz.com
by Stephen Linaweaver
". . . Today Chevron faces a $27 billion lawsuit by 30,000 Ecuadoreans regarding the waste pits. The arguments of indigenous groups battling Chevron can be found easily on the web, and the suit has been covered prominently in the Financial Times, The Economist, and Business Week. Type "Chevron Ecuador pollution" into Google and you get 60,000 hits, a concept that did not exist for anyone pumping oil for Texaco in Ecuador in the '60s and '70s. It is a concept very real to those in San Ramon in 2009.
What, then is the strategy? How do you manage relationships with stakeholders that are at times both ubiquitous and distant? Do you engage everyone, from a three-person green activist group in Mendocino to seven nuns in Dublin to a mutual fund representing $20 billion in investment? And if you do engage them, what do you say? You may not have inherited a legacy of oil ponds in Ecuador, but every industry, and every company, has its impacts, unintended or otherwise. And every company can benefit from thinking strategically about how to engage. . . ." [ full text]
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"CONSPICUOUS, BUT NOT CONSUMING: WHY FACEBOOK IS MORE IMPORTANT TO THE ENVIRONMENT THAN SOLAR PANELS"
June 20, 2009 | GOOD
by Stephen Linaweaver, Brad Bate, and Michael Keating
". . . Are people becoming less conspicuous? Hardly. Is this a response to the recession? Partially. A conscious effort to curb the environmental crisis? Unlikely. It may be, in fact, that houses, cars, clothes, and other traditional means of distinguishing oneself are no longer the best tools for the job. Much has been said about how Facebook, Twitter, and blogging have revolutionized social networking and connectivity. But just as importantly, these channels for self-expression represent a new way to be conspicuous without the consumption. Take Twitter, for example, which expanded at a rate of almost 1400 percent in February 2009. Its sole purpose is to facilitate conspicuousness, allowing users to provide followers, many of whom are strangers, with minute-by-minute updates. . . ." [ full text]
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"WHY THE ETHANOL DEBATE ISN'T HELPING ANYONE"
June 3, 2009 | GreenBiz.com
by Noam Ross
". . . Yet this debate is just so much fiddling while Rome (or maybe Indonesia) burns. The crux of the problem is not in how we measure the impact of ethanol, it is that developing world farmers clear and burn forests so they can plant more crops. Ethanol is just one of the pressures that speed the disastrous destruction of these forests. The rest is just an accounting exercise. Farmers in the developing world burn forests because it is the most economical, and often only, choice they have. They often can’t afford fertilizers, equipment or high-yield seeds. They have limited access to informational tools like education, soil tests and precision agriculture technology that would allow them to produce more crops in the same place. Without these resources, the only choice is to find new land. . . ." [ full text]
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"THE GREEN FUTURE OF THE 'NEW GM'"
June 3, 2009 | GreenBiz.com
by Joel Makower
". . . Over the past year, and especially over the past six months, GM stepped up its outreach to the major environmental groups, engaging them several times in conference calls and face-to-face meetings, seeking their support during the federal government's deliberations over its fate. GreenOrder, the sustainability strategy firm with which I am affiliated, helped facilitate many of these calls, which included Elizabeth Lowery, GM's Vice President, Environment, Energy, and Safety Policy, and -- on two occasions -- Rick Wagoner, GM's now-vanquished CEO. The calls offered an opportunity for GM's leadership to engage directly with one of its key stakeholder groups to describe its vision and plans, field questions, and listen to concerns . . ." [full text]
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"INNOVATING FOR THE FUTURE - SUSTAINABLY"
June 3, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
by Nicholas Eisenberger, Andrew Glantz, and David Gottesman
". . . Corporate activities such as internal recycling programs, voluntary emissions reporting, purchases of renewable energy, and "me-too" green marketing are no longer sufficient to propel companies to leadership within their industries, among consumers, enterprises, or the NGO community. In order to lead on sustainability issues, businesses have to innovate along their product lines, seize new markets, forge strategic partnerships, create industry dialogues, and engage in progressive public policy. Most importantly, in a time of increasing transparency and fast-changing headlines, if a company doesn't lead with a strategy that is real, relevant, and tied to the core of its business, it won't resonate in the marketplace, at least not for long. . . ." [full text]
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"USING GREEN TO GROW (NOT JUST CUT COSTS)"
May 18, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
by Nicholas Eisenberger and Ted Grozier
". . . For society and business, this crisis presents the rare chance for deep, fundamental, and significant change. Leading businesses, then, will look beyond cost-cutting. They will use sustainability as a lens to find ways, even in today's economy, to grow their top line — and to be poised for breakthrough success when macroeconomic conditions improve. Smart businesses will emerge from this downturn stronger than their competition by focusing on their customers' changing energy and environmental needs, preparing for a new policy landscape, and investing in tomorrow's clean technologies. Here are three ways to start . . ." [full text]
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"CAN OBAMA BECOME THE GREEN LEADER WE NEED?"
April 29, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
". . . On this occasion, as on so many before, Obama advocated many of the right positions and used nearly all the right words. Yet something was still missing. In my view, the president has yet to find his true voice on these issues — the voice to inspire others, including some who don't agree with his green agenda. To connect effectively, he needs to make green issues more personal, for himself and the American people. An interesting example is Michelle Obama's passion for sustainable food, which has been captured simply and powerfully in scores of news stories and photos of her planting an organic garden at the White House with local children. Maybe the president similarly needs a personal, symbolic experience to build upon. . . ." [full text]
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"ENDANGERMENT AND DANGEROUS REGULATION"
April 27, 2009 | GreenBiz.com
by Truman Semans and Rebecca Lutzy
". . . By moving forward on the EPA front, the Obama team is cracking the whip on resistant members of Congress. "The race is clearly on, and time is of the essence," Jackson said. "We're in the middle of a public comment process right now … that would then launch months of work to get to proposed rulemaking." The CAA would be a blunt hammer, and the U.S. needs a flexible, tailor-made set of tools. . . ." [full text]
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"ECO:NOMICS -- A LUXURY OR NECESSITY? PARTICIPANTS UNRESTRAINED AT SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE"
March 17, 2009 | How Online
by Nicholas Eisenberger
". . . This year’s conference was held in a dramatically different context — a global economic recession and significantly lower fossil fuel costs on the one hand, and a seismic shift in U.S. leadership and policy on the other. So I was curious: Would the assembled business leaders see sustainability as a luxury at a time when many companies are struggling to survive? Or would pursuing more sustainable business models be viewed as a fundamental part of the solution? . . ." [full text]
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"WATER BASICS: YOU CAN'T MANAGE WHAT YOU DON'T MEASURE"
March 16, 2009 | GreenBiz.com
by Andrew Collier and Andrew Glantz
"As if curbing our greenhouse gas emissions didn't present a big enough challenge, some businesses are feeling the additional burden of water scarcity. Depending on where your company is located, you'll either face water shortages now or, if increasingly dire water predictions hold true, in the not-too-distant future . . ." [full text]
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"TAKE ECO EFFICIENCY TO A HIGHER LEVEL"
March 03, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
"A silver lining of the economic downturn is that efficiency has moved to the top of the business agenda. The recently enacted U.S. stimulus package includes more than $11 billion in funding for energy efficiency that will hopefully achieve the trifecta of saving energy, money, and jobs. And companies of all types are embracing . . ." [full text]
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"GET STIMULUS READY: HOW TO WIN IN THE OBAMA GREEN ECONOMY"
January 31, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro and Rebecca Lutzy
"Less than two weeks into his presidency, it's clear that Barack Obama means business - green business, that is. The President is rolling out an array of spending and regulatory initiatives to jumpstart our ailing economy and create millions of jobs while reducing our dependence on foreign oil and working to avert climate change. Clearly he believes that a green stimulus is the best way to heal our economy, put people back to work, and protect our environment for decades . . ." [full text]
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"KICK-STARTING ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND GREEN BUILDING IN THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR"
January 30, 2009 | GreenBiz.com
by Pete Atkin
"As the draft stimulus package (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan) winds its way through Congress, experts are noting that as expected there is a strong emphasis on energy efficiency and green jobs in the package, with a number of items directed at the building sector. Laudable as the proposals are, incentives targeting energy efficiency improvements in the commercial building sector seem to come up short . . ." [full text]
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"WANT HIGHER SUSTAINABILITY RATINGS? INCREASE YOUR TRANSPARENCY"
January 22, 2009 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro and David Gottesman
"When the U.S. automakers lobbied for a bailout late last year, all aspects of their business - even their executives' travel on private jets - were thrust into the public eye. And while Ford, GM, and Chrysler came under particular scrutiny because of their requests for government funding, you don't need to be in front of Congress to know that large companies are being watched more closely than ever . . ." [full text]
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"THE GREEN STIMULUS PLAN: HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED"
December 15, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro and Truman Semans
"President-elect Obama has now made clear that his economic stimulus package will be very big -- he called it "the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s" -- and also very green, with emphasis on clean energy, efficient buildings and transportation, and green jobs. The stimulus plan will have broad impact on our economy, so it's no surprise that leaders of diverse enterprises are trying to figure out what it means to them . . ." [full text]
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"YOU CAN'T GO GREEN WITHOUT ADDING A LITTLE BLUE"
December 15, 2008 | GreenBiz.com
by Andrew Collier
"If you're seeking the green holy grail called sustainability, you'd better be sure it's filled with water. Many companies are hyper focused on carbon footprinting, green buildings, and energy saving treasure hunts; however, the sustainability landscape is evolving, and these green issues will become table stakes. A new, blue dimension of sustainability -- one that affects capital costs, consumer values, and environmental integrity -- is on the horizon and rapidly approaching: water . . ." [full text]
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"SUSTAINABILITY 101: THE HUMAN PROBLEM"
December 08, 2008 | GreenBiz.com
by Stephen Linaweaver
"These are indeed difficult and extraordinary times for businesses, and the natural reaction is to cut back on areas such as sustainability, which are not quite yet an established function in most companies, don't necessarily bring in direct revenue, and are not core competencies for many . . ." [full text]
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"THE FOUR SIMPLES STEPS TO PITCH-PERFECT GREEN MARKETING"
November 24, 2008 | GreenBiz.com
by Joel Makower
". . . Too many green strategies, and the messages behind them, are variously vague, vapid, or vacuous. How do you avoid this fate? To answer this, I turned to my colleague Andrew Shapiro, founder and CEO of GreenOrder, the sustainable business strategy firm with which I am affiliated. I've learned a lot hanging around Shapiro, managing principal Nicholas Eisenberger and their team for the better part of a decade, but what sticks most is GreenOrder's framework for crafting green strategies and messaging that work . . ." [full text]
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"HOW DETROIT'S FATE IS LINKED WITH OURS"
November 24, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
"In the recent debate over whether Washington should bail out the US auto industry (including GM, which is a client of my firm GreenOrder), there's been plenty of blame and finger pointing. The automakers' top brass have not surprisingly received the most criticism, but there have also been brickbats aimed at labor unions, the health care system, and elected officials . . ." [full text]
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"FOUR LEAN, GREEN STRATEGIES FOR AN UNCERTAIN ECONOMY"
October 29, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro and Noam Ross
"In my last column, I talked about how the economic crisis will weed out superficial green efforts and differentiate the real ones. But even serious green business plays are facing challenges these days. Both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times recently reported that the renewable energy industry is facing challenges in a tight credit market because of the high capital costs of technologies like solar and wind. Yet some green strategies have a lot to offer in this risk-averse, credit-scarce environment. Here are some ways to make lean, green initiatives part of your company's belt-tightening efforts: . . ." [full text]
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"WILL GREEN SURVIVE THE MELTDOWN?"
October 08, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro and David Gottesman
"If your company is responding to the financial crisis by cutting forecasts, scaling back operations, or slashing jobs, greening your business may not seem as high a priority, especially if your sustainability strategy calls for new capital investment. Yet today's economic turmoil should shine new light on what really makes a business sustainable (the nearly spontaneous combustion of huge institutions founded 100-plus years ago will do that), while differentiating true leaders from charlatans and copycats. Here are some thoughts on what will change, what won't, and how to stay the course . . ." [full text]
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"THREE STEPS TO A GREENER IT SYSTEM"
September 09, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
"It's no secret that data centers and computer networks account for an exceedingly high percentage of many companies' total energy consumption, yet most business leaders are quick to chalk up the related financial and environmental costs as unavoidable and uncontrollable. Yet in the new "green is green" economy, information technology (IT) is increasingly a place where companies can save money and energy, while reducing their carbon footprint and preserving the environment . . ." [full text]
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"ARE YOU GREEN ENOUGH FOR YOUR WORKFORCE"
August 27, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
"In my last post, I wrote about green R&D as a driver of competitive advantage. Just as environmental innovation at the product level merits investment, the people behind the product also deserve company resources. This is not just a top-down issue: Employees are increasingly pushing their companies to define and act on corporate sustainability (see studies here and here). They want their employers to not just say the right things, but to practice what they preach . . ." [full text]
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"MAKE GREEN R&D A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE"
August 11, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
"Where does green value come from? For companies that want to make environmental leadership a source of competitive advantage, a key place to focus is research and development.
R&D, of course, is a core driver of product innovation and critical to staying ahead in any changing market. Sustainability, in turn, is a lens on innovation that is becoming increasingly important in diverse industries - from energy and transportation to consumer products . . ." [full text]
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"WHAT YOU NEED FROM YOUR COMPANY'S ECO-CZAR"
July 28, 2008 | Harvard Business Review
by Andrew Shapiro
"I got a call recently from the head of recruiting at a major company that has been searching high and low for a Chief Sustainability Officer. I asked what experience they were looking for and got an interesting answer: While deep knowledge of green was important, even more critical was experience "running a P&L" at a large company . . ." [full text]
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"WHAT A SILENT SPRING MEANS FOR BUSINESS RISK"
March 06, 2007 | GreenBiz.com
by Noam Ross
"The current catastrophic loss of honeybee colonies around the world may mean immediate bad news for agriculture, but it also offers an important lesson for companies that are not looking at their dependence on ecosystem services when examining risk or growth opportunities, Noam Ross argues.
If your business's only supplier of a key service folded all of a sudden, what would you do? . . ." [full text]
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