The 4-day conference, promises a schedule packed with compelling speakers and events, while attracting bona fide leaders in the sustainability field. Listen to and mingle with chief sustainability officers from companies like BMW, Ford, UPS and many more. Find out what leading companies are doing to stay ahead of the competition as sustainability becomes an unavoidable operational metric.

Click here to register, and use the following code for a 20% discount on registration: NWccountsSB13

Leaders from the business community made one thing clear when they came together on Wednesday toannounce a 100-day corporate campaign in support of climate change policy: This is not a right or left issue. It is not about appealing to a base of liberals or conservatives. According to signers of the campaign, it is about tackling one of the greatest economic challenges and opportunities of the 21st century.

“The longer we wait, the higher the risks will be to our business, to our consumers and to society as a whole,” said Betsy Blaisdell, Senior Manager of Environmental Stewardship at Timberland. “We’re motivated to see progress made on the issue of climate change, and it will take everyone to get it done.”

Guest Post By Cory Lowe of Whirlwind Steel Buildings, Inc.

Nowadays, we have come to rely on energy for many different things. From providing us with light and warmth to powering our vehicles, energy has become an essential part of our lives. However, our use of energy has grown way out of control. As such, it is important for us to support energy efficiency.

Cleaner Air

There are many benefits to becoming more energy efficient. However, perhaps the best benefit is that conserving energy can help to provide us with cleaner, healthier air. Nearly half of the electricity used in the U.S. is generated from power plants that burn fossil fuels to produce energy.

When these fossil fuels burn, harmful gases are released into the air. These gases can be quite damaging to your health and the health of the environment. In fact, air pollution is a serious concern when it comes to the ecosystem. Furthermore, pollutants can linger in the air for extremely long periods of time and travel for miles before dissipating.

Less Chance of Diseases

Being more energy efficient can actually reduce your chances of becoming ill as well. When you keep your appliances clean and well-maintained, you will help them to work properly and prevent them from becoming a breeding ground for disease-causing bacteria. Additionally, when appliances work properly, air will circulate better reducing the possibility of diseases.

Save Money

Choosing to use energy efficient products and appliances can help you save money on your utility bills. Some of the products that can help you save cash include energy-saving heating and air units, light fixtures, refrigerators, hot water heaters and televisions. Low-voltage light bulbs can help as well. Since they have a longer life span, you will not need to replace them as often.

Leave a Good Impression

If you have a business, you can make a good impression by being energy efficient. When you care enough to try to help save energy, you are in a sense telling your clients that you care about our environment as well. Even if you do not have a business of your own, being energy-conscious at home, sets a good example for your children, grandchildren, nieces or nephews.

What Can You Do?

There are many steps you can take to help conserve energy. This includes installing energy efficient windows, programmable thermostats, energy-saving heating and air units, and better insulation. You can also consider purchasing energy efficient refrigerators, hot water heaters, televisions, stoves, light bulbs and light fixtures.

Look for ENERGY STAR certified products when shopping for electronics and appliances. In this way, you can be sure that you are buying the most energy efficient products available. When shopping for vehicles, make sure you find out about the fuel efficiency information for the car or truck you are considering.

You Can Make a Difference

In closing, changing some of your behavior patterns can help save energy as well. Simply turning off lights, computers and office equipment when you are done with them can help a lot. These are just a few of the steps you can take to becoming more energy efficient, saving our resources and saving money.

Whirlwind Steel is a manufacturer of metal buildings and components. As part of their commitment to reducing the impact of building construction on the environment, they produce energy-efficient metal roofing that is cost efficient and durable.

This article first appeared in the Guardian on Tuesday, March 26.

A young girl with a unique name made headlines last week when 12,000 people signed her petition to keep climate change in the UK national curriculum.  For Esha Marwaha, a 15-year old west London student, climate change isn’t just an environmental cause; it is the unwelcomed burden of cleaning up after the crotchety old bastard who dumped trash on her lawn.   In her eyes, it would be illogical to leave the problem to fester unattended in hopes that her future children would one day properly dispose of it.

How is it that a teenager can be so clued in to a macro concept like climate change while government leaders and titans of industry remain blissfully impotent on the subject?

Last week, Apple applauded itself for reducing energy usage by 21.5 percent per dollar of revenue since 2008.  Meanwhile, the company’s absolute emissions rose 34 percent in 2012 alone.   As a wise man once said, if you’re heading toward a cliff and you reduce your speed from 100 km/h to 50 km/h, you haven’t done yourself much of a favor.

One might argue that Apple’s only sin is making investors incredibly wealthy by way of creating a universe of i-crazed gadget mongers.  Indeed, there is no crime in being profitable – the world needs stuff, just as people need jobs; Apple provides a great deal of both.

But the world also needs its most recognizable brand and modern-day mecca of innovation to demonstrate at least token leadership on a daunting societal challenge like climate change.

Four years after resisting initial shareholder calls to develop a company-wide sustainability report, Apple continues to defy trends toward transparency and corporate climate leadership by:

1) Refusing to disclose emissions performance to CDP (more than 80 percent of Global 500 companies currently disclose voluntarily);

2) Replacing its founding CEO Steve Jobs with Tim Cook who pledges eco-responsibility, yet remains mute in calling for federal carbon policy, and

3) Coming in last out of 15 technology companies on the 2012-13 Climate Counts company scorecard for having a less-than-stellar, company-wide carbon strategy

Leadership is a 15-year old who petitions her government, not a global behemoth that slinks down the hallway with his hands in his pockets.

So how does Apple compare to, say, the likes of Yahoo Inc. when it comes to addressing climate change?   Last year Yahoo made impressive strides on their 2014 goal to reduce the carbon intensity of their data centers 40 percent from 2009 levels.  The company also stood alongside Nike, Stonyfield Farm, and Levi Strauss, among others, to support the extension of a federal wind energy production tax credit in the U.S.

But Yahoo’s recent announcement to ban the practice of employee teleworking drew the ire of working mothers, pajama-wearing tech geeks and environmentalists alike.  Isn’t it considered a step backward for a hip, leading-edge internet company to force employees to endure rush hour twice a day?  Isn’t Yahoo’s own chief, Marissa Mayer, a freshly minted working mother?

To be fair, greenhouse gas emissions from employee commuting and business travel only accounts for about 55,000 metric tonnes of Yahoo’s greenhouse gas emissions, compared to the 370,000 metric tonnes needed to power Yahoo’s data centers (according to the most recent emissions data on CDP).  However, the move to eradicate employee telecommuting flies directly in the face of rational decision-making from both a cost and carbon management perspective.

Depending on the study, employee productivity is said to increase 10 – 50 percent from teleworking while companies save $10,000 per employee per year from reduced energy and office management expenses.  On the emissions side, with 3.9 million Americans working from home at least once a week, teleworking leads to nearly 840 million gallons in reduced fuel consumption – the equivalent of taking two million cars of the road each year.

But none of these numbers matter if the CEO lacks perspective, and, somewhere along the line, perspective on our little climate debacle became muddied by politics and abstraction.  Today, it isn’t enough to say that the burning of fossil fuels is disrupting the natural balance of our atmosphere and we need all leaders on deck – corporate leaders, government leaders, movies stars, porn stars, sports heroes, music icons and leaders of the Esha Marwaha variety– to stop it.  How can that be?  This isn’t about some no-name species of fish heading for extinction; this is about a massive upheaval of our earth’s ecosystem.

As with Apple’s Tim Cook, Marissa Mayer has a job to do that dictates her priorities as a leader; a job that is more apt to carry with it the mantra “stop the bleeding, right the ship” than the more utilitarian “move mountains, save the world.”

If Mayer is to fare better in her role as CEO than her predecessors (since 2005, Yahoo has had seven different CEOs), she’s faced with a short runway to gain the respect of employees and the confidence of shareholders.  Similarly for Apple, Tim Cook wants to show that a Steve Jobs-less Apple can make the same hay as its founder.  But should that preclude these highly visible members of society from personifying top-down leadership on climate change and sustainability?  Not in the least. In fact, it might be a welcome differentiator when it comes time to assess their legacies.

In our hyper-paced world, constant noise provides good cover for those who aren’t willing to stand and be counted.   Perhaps someday, when Esha Marwaha is CEO, this will no longer be the case.

“Environmental sustainability is a core principle for LG. As a long-time ENERGY STAR partner, LG is committed to delivering innovative energy efficient products to the market as quickly as possible and helping educate consumers on how ENERGY STAR products can save them both energy and money,” said Wayne Park, president and CEO of LG Electronics USA. “We are extremely honored to be recognized by the EPA as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year and look forward to continuing our industry leadership role through our environmental initiatives.”

The 2013 Partner of the Year Awards are given to manufacturers and retailers that successfully promote and deliver ENERGY STAR qualified products, saving consumers money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Award winners are selected from the nearly 20,000 organizations that participate in the ENERGY STAR program. LG’s accomplishments will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on March 26.

2012 LG ENERGY STAR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Over the last 20 years, with help from ENERGY STAR, American families and businesses have saved more than $230 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 1.8 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EPA.

In 2012, LG increased its total number of products available for sale in the United States that earned the ENERGY STAR Label – the government-backed symbol of energy efficiency – by more than 140 percent and increased its total sales of ENERGY STAR qualified products by more than 15 percent, compared with 2011.

LG also embraced the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient program, the groundbreaking new EPA initiative that recognizes the most energy-efficient products in their categories among those that have earned the ENERGY STAR label. More than 60 LG products – including the most refrigerators and washing machines in the industry – earned this coveted recognition for 2012. American consumers purchased more than 1 million LG products awarded the 2012 Most Efficient designation.

LG also invested in programs designed to change consumer behaviors, activities driving increased sales of ENERGY STAR-qualified products and enhanced employee and sales training, and technology leadership.

In 2012, LG reached more than a billion consumers with a nationwide public education and community outreach campaign about ENERGY STAR, designed to help consumers change behaviors.  A key component of this effort was LG’s support of EPA’s new Team ENERGY STAR campaign — a Lorax-themed educational initiative designed to engage youth to get involved in cutting their energy use at home. The company collaborated with EPA and DoSomething.org on the “Team ENERGY STAR Challenge,” in which nearly 500 youth submitted energy-saving stories for a chance to win prizes from LG.

SAVING ENERGY THROUGH INNOVATION

LG offered consumers nearly 1,000 ENERGY STAR qualified models in 2012 across consumer electronics, home appliances and commercial air conditioning systems.

As a company that thrives on innovation and is committed to enhancing consumers’ lives, LG strives to develop the most energy efficient products possible, while ensuring that consumers don’t have to sacrifice performance or style. Examples of energy efficient products that LG introduced in 2012 include:

• Mega-Capacity TurboWash™ Washer: Recognized as ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2012, this washer is the industry’s largest capacity washing machine* designed to save consumers a full 20 minutes per load** – addressing American consumers’ desires for saving time and energy.
• French-Door Refrigerator: Received the top rating by a leading consumer magazine for its features as well as being recognized as ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2012 due to the design of its linear compressor.
• 3D Smart TVs: Earned the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2012 designation by combining smart energy-saving features such as Intelligent Sensors and power-saving modes with a cinema-quality 3D experience and the advanced interactivity of LG Smart TV.

BRINGING ENERGY EFFICIENCY TO LG’S OPERATIONS

LG’s ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year recognition is in line with other LG sustainability initiatives, including LG’s corporate campus project in Englewood Cliffs as its new state-of-the-art North American headquarters designed to be a showcase for environmentally friendly design, promoting energy efficiency, water conservation and reducing carbon emissions.

The new green corporate campus is expected to be certified under the EPA’s ENERGY STAR Commercial Buildings Program, and LG is aspiring to achieve LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The new headquarters is also integral to helping LG achieve its industry-leading pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its U.S. operations by 50 percent by 2020 (from a 2007 baseline).

About LG Electronics USA

LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $49 billion global force and technology leader in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. LG Electronics, a proud 2013 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, sells a range of stylish and innovative home entertainment products, mobile phones, home appliances, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and solar energy solutions in the United States, all under LG’s “Life’s Good” marketing theme. For more information, please visit www.lg.com.

About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR was introduced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1992 as a voluntary market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased energy efficiency. Today, ENERGY STAR offers businesses and consumers energy-efficient solutions to save energy, money, and help protect the environment for future generations. Nearly 20,000 organizations are ENERGY STAR partners committed to improving the energy efficiency of products, homes, and buildings. For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov or call toll-free 1-888-STAR-YES (1-888-782-7937).

*Model WM8000. Based on ENERGY STAR qualified, front load residential washers as published by the DOE January 30, 2013 and manufacturers’ published specifications.

**20 minute savings based on AHAM HLW-1-2010 test protocol, Cotton / Normal or comparable cycle at default settings, 8lb load, front load washer only. Excludes other LG manufactured products. Excludes quick wash or other comparable cycles intended for small lightly soiled loads only.

SOURCE LG Electronics USA, Inc.

This article first appeared February 26^th on Huffington Post

If you’re an optimist about the state of green business, don’t read this.

Shit. You’re still here.

To put it bluntly: it’s not working. That’s the rose-colored takeaway of last week’s GreenBiz Forum in New York City.

We’ve succeeded in building an entire industry of sustainability professionals, individually doing yeoman’s work to further the cause, but collectively falling short in how we validate our work beyond our bubble. When Sandy Frucher, Vice Chairman of NASDAQ, says that adopting sustainability reporting standards by the world’s stock exchanges is the “right thing to do,” it insinuates that such practices don’t lead to higher returns. Mr. Frucher admits as much when he notes that, until one investment analyst poses a single question about a company’s sustainability performance, we should be content with relying on corporate goodwill as a driver of sustainability – not because operating sustainably mitigates risk, but because of the warm fuzziness of taking the moral high road.

When Jeff Rice, Senior Director of Sustainability at Wal-Mart, confesses that consumer response to their progressive environmental strategy is virtually non-existent, the reality becomes clear that, more than 10 years into the modern sustainability movement, we are pedaling uphill, against the wind.

To echo the thoughts of another conference goer, “We’re all getting really good at operationalizing sustainability and filling out surveys, but at the end of the day, we’re just a small universe, talking amongst ourselves.” What really drove this home is when, upon my return to the office, I discovered a flyer for the upcoming FUSE event in Chicago on brand strategy and packaging. The word ‘sustainability’ appeared not once on the agenda. In fact, I would bet my mule that sustainability doesn’t even get uttered at FUSE.

So, where do we go from here? To borrow from Timothy Westbrook, the quirky, undeniably talented low-impact artist-in-resident at the posh Pfister Hotel, we need to turn our paradigm on its head. More so than looking at a Coke can and seeing a pair of aluminum shoes, we need to blow up our tidy little world of “green bizzers” and explore more effective ways of becoming inclusive of the everyday Joe. Joe Marketer, Joe Consumer, Joe Investor, Joe the Plumber… all the Joe’s and all their female, inter-racial, socially-conservative, LGBT counterparts.

To start, we need to take Amy Harzler’s advice from Free Range Studios and become sustainability “mythmakers.” If we’re spending millions of the company’s money on low-carbon energy solutions, we need to be a hell of a lot better at framing it with a compelling story, replete with sexy men and women, little puppies and all the other surefire ways of getting people’s attention. It needs to go beyond the enterprise, down to the brand and product level. And, as much as we enjoy seeing our initiatives represented in the traditional CSR media outlets, these things need to be Super Bowl ad-worthy.

During their sneak preview of the latest Ernst & Young/GreenBiz Group survey results on sustainability risk management, Brendan LeBlanc and his band of EY consulting dudes contended that the increasing materiality of resource scarcity and extreme weather is steadily growing the demand for environmental risk management, which, in turn, is driving the inclusion of the CFO as a stakeholder in the sustainability discussion. This is good because it helps to sell upper management on the business case for the next solar project, but it does little to get consumers to join us as a dance partner in saving the world.

Outside the fraction of light and dark green consumers who shop on eco-values, the rest of society still shops on price, quality, fashion, taste, etc. Understanding this to be true, it’s time we up our game, pool our resources and begin telling people the story of not just how green we are, but what’s in it for the consumer, what they should do about it (see Amy Harzler’s piece on empowerment marketing).

It can be argued that a corporate sustainability program will only go as far as its meager budget allows. How can we be asked to change how consumers behave and investors invest? Compared to the folks in marketing, the annual corporate spend on sustainability is a mere drop in the bucket. But as someone so wisely quoted of David Mitchell at the forum, “What is an ocean, but a multitude of drops?”

Mike Bellamente is the director of Climate Counts, a consumer outreach organization that rates corporations on how well they measure, reduce and report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In February 2012, Bellamente was named to Ethisphere’s 2011 list of 100 most influential people in business ethics.

By Climate Counts Intern Ben Trolio

Two wheels, moist gallons of sweat, thousands of calories, open road, and limitless energy to fight climate change—all things required by biking.    Before my internship at Climate Counts, I spent consecutive summers biking to build the movement away from fossil fuels. Pedaling for the planet connected to my values while allowing me to meet leaders solving our crisis in New England and the Gulf Coast.  These nomadic summers instilled in me the values I embody in my work with Climate Counts.

After traveling through the Gulf Coast and the state of New Hampshire, I reached another intersection of climate biking in my work with Climate Counts.  The latest development related to this two wheeled hobby is the Climate Ride.    The nonprofit puts on two rides in the East and West Coast to grant resources to organizations fighting climate change.  Climate Counts is privileged to fall into the category of beneficiary organizations for this event.

While I won’t be straining my quads from New York City to D.C. this coming fall, I want to chip in my two cents on why biking for the climate is a worthy use of time.  The Climate Ride funnels money to organizations including Climate Counts that fight for a low carbon future. The journey through California or New York to DC reaped $300,000 for climate organizations last year.  Without the support of this effort, Climate Counts would not be able to produce scorecards or leverage the power of the consumer. The East Coast ride ends at Capitol Hill giving riders the opportunity to meet with their elected officials.  The riders arrive at a centerpiece to advocacy work that attracts millions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry.  The fundraising potential of this ride is a counterbalance to the influence of vested interests in DC. 

Financing the movement away from fossil fuels can start from fundraising on two wheels.  The money created by the Climate Ride effort builds people power by giving nonprofits the resources to win the climate fight.  Consider supporting our efforts here at Climate Counts by checking out the ride http://www.climateride.org/.

While the New Year brings with it a sense of optimism, for those of us in the climate change business it means another year competing against any schnook with money and a billboard to address the American people (see the Heartland Institute).

When it comes to the climate debate, those who invoke socialism and scientific conspiracy (see Fox News) have demonstrated the highest degree of effectiveness.  At the very least, they have succeeded in clouding people’s common sense on the climate issue.  At most, they’ve upped the ante on a game of chicken that pits the long-term best interests of humanity against an unforgiving Mother Nature.

So this year, when someone says that the science is inconclusive about whether humans are causing climate change, or that carbon dioxide is a “harmless gas” (see Congresswoman Bachmann), take the following five steps before nodding in agreement and moving along with your day:

1) Consider the Source:  If someone decries climate change as a hoax, they tend to base their information on distorted facts cherry-picked from the press rather than their own experience, say, as a trained scientist who has spent their career analyzing climate data.  As Dr. Cameron Wake, climate researcher at the University of New Hampshire states, “because of the complex nature of climate change, it is much easier to sell the lie than it is to sell the truth.”

Sources commonly cited by skeptics in support of their stance include: “Climategate” – a series of emails between scientists taken woefully out of context (several independent investigations have since been conducted – all have absolved those involved of any scientific misconduct); the Oregon Petition – a collection of 30,000 signatories claiming that there is no scientific evidence to support human induced climate change (apparently all you need is a degree in basic science to sign on); and anything supported by the Koch brothers, Charles and David, who have spent billions on climate denial to protect their investment in the oil industry.

For more on this, see Media Matters November 2012 piece: Meet the Climate Denial Machine.

2) Know Your Stuff:  It’s true; climate science doesn’t exactly lend itself to a quick study on the bus ride to work, but there are basic components of climate change even the least scientifically-inclined person should have in their back pocket:

· The Greenhouse Effect – the primary reason that temperatures on earth remain livable, the greenhouse effect is responsible for trapping heat from the sun in a way that keeps conditions comfortable for all living things.  This natural phenomenon has been thrown wildly out of balance by the steady output of greenhouse gas emissions to support our society (for example: electricity from coal-fired power plants to heat and cool our homes, and gasoline to power our cars).   For an interactive crash course on the greenhouse effect, visit National Geographic.

· Natural versus Human-Caused Climate Change – It is 100% true that the earth’s climate shifts naturally between warming and cooling periods (think Ice Age).   However, when looking at climate patterns over several thousand years, it has been the drastic rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) since the industrial revolution 300 years ago that is now causing man to play a role in this process.  For a slightly more involved understanding of the science at play here visit the OSS Foundation website on the natural cycle of global warming.

3) Look around You:  climate change is cool because everyone is talking about it.   Well, not everyone.  In fact, few people beyond Bill McKibben seem to be talking about it with any degree of regularity.  The fact is, though, a vast majority of Fortune 500 companies (oil and gas companies included) admit that society is contributing to global warming and agree that the best course of action is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  What follows is a mere smattering of companies that publicly address human-induced climate change on their website (caveat – even though these companies admit the importance of reducing emissions, it is not in any way meant to indicate they are faultless champions for the environment):  Shell Oil; ExxonMobil; Hess; ConocoPhillips;  The Clorox Company; Bank of America; PepsiCo; Citi; IBM; AstraZeneca; Unilever; LEGO; and Nike.

4) Don’t let politics and religion cloud the issue: As the adage goes, three subjects never to broach at the dinner table are money, religion and politics.   Not so discreetly, climate change is woven into all three, only adding to the taboo nature of the problem.

According to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, only 16% of conservative republicans think that global warming is caused by human activity.   Two things that make this moderately intuitive:  1) the face of climate change in the U.S. since 2006 has been a very polarizing Al Gore; and 2) at the very foundation of religion is the belief that God, not man, controls the fate of humanity and the planet we inhabit.   In many ways, this line of reasoning automatically hamstrings the level of accountability we have as a species to manage our destiny.

Exacerbating these two issues is the fact that conservatives tend to favor limited government and the ability of the free market to determine what is best for society – a notion not altogether unsound, save that the free market doesn’t account for environmental costs unless it is regulated to do so.

Policymakers on both sides of the aisle (as well as extremely powerful oil, coal and gas lobbies) realize that curbing greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change won’t come from voluntary carbon reductions, but rather from a government-imposed carbon tax.  To even hint at a tax in Congress, as was seen with the fiscal cliff negotiations, is the equivalent of jumping off the political career cliff, but that shouldn’t preclude us from understanding that a carbon tax is a viable solution.

5) Embrace Common Sense:  If it looks like caca and smells like caca, it probably is caca.  There is little doubt that no matter how perfect the science is, or how many celebrities work to advance the issue, or how many extreme weather events occur, there will always be a passionate contingent of climate skeptics ready to cast doubt and muddy the “debate” on climate.   When confronted by these folks, it is important to take this and the preceding four steps as a guide to disarming (not literally!) and educating people who remain skeptical about the causes of climate change.

A word to the wise: whatever you do, don’t go running around, arms flailing, screaming “Sound the alarms!  Climate change is going to kill us all!” — people tend to respond negatively to this type of behavior.  

As social issues go, climate change is about as sexy as a lesson in physics.  We have no fancy pink ribbons and there are no cuddly puppies to hand out as a reward for paying the problem any mind.   Evidence suggests, though, that the tides are changing in the forum of public opinion, and that people are recognizing that it will take a village to deal with the climate issue.

A recent survey from Yale found that one in three consumers rewarded companies taking steps to cut global warming by buying their products.  On the flip side, the latest results from Climate Counts ratings indicate that 66% of companies scored have a climate and energy strategy in place, up from 25% in 2007.

Of course there will always be schnooks to contend with when it comes to communicating a complex issue like climate change.  One hopes that the competition when next New Year rolls around will just be slightly less intense, and that we’ll have moved the needle slightly closer to the solutions piece of the puzzle.

]]> http://blog.climatecounts.org/2013/01/5-tips-for-handling-skeptics-in-2013/feed/ http://blog.climatecounts.org/2012/12/new-soaring-tier-unveiled-with-latest-climate-scores/ http://blog.climatecounts.org/2012/12/new-soaring-tier-unveiled-with-latest-climate-scores/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2012 12:00:55 +0000 admin http://blog.climatecounts.org/?p=180 Nike, UPS and Unilever lead charge to increase revenue, cut emissions; Apple continues to lag tech sector; Fast food companies fall flat

This article was originally published on Triple Pundit on Monday Oct 22

When an iconic figure makes a bold statement, conventional wisdom suggests that the statement is meant to be heard. Lady Gaga didn’t don a meat dress to the 2010 MTV music awards because it was high fashion, just as Iran isn’t necessarily enriching uranium to advance their stock in nuclear energy.

So earlier this month when Levi Strauss & Company (LS&CO) released their 2012 Climate Change Strategy (view announcement or download the PDF), it seems counter-intuitive that so little media fanfare accompanied the launch. Shouldn’t Chip Bergh, LS&CO’s CEO, be out seeking airtime with Good Morning America and the talk show circuit for recognition?

The unfortunate reality is that climate change remains such a high voltage issue for people that addressing it as a corporation can no longer be effectively marketed as a benefit to consumers. If “green” is the darling of eco-marketing, then “climate-friendly” is the egghead sister that no one wants to date. People don’t want to be saddled with the world’s problems when they are out buying jeans. In fact, consumer brands are more likely to risk alienating politically conservative consumers (53% of whom deny global warming) than they stand to gain in boosting sales for demonstrating leadership in corporate responsibility.

Why then, if not for publicity, would an iconic American denim company even bother to publish a climate change strategy? As Chip points out in his opening message, LS&CO. faces “significant business risks, ranging from disruptions to our operations, to the availability of water, and to potential impacts to cotton supply, our core raw material.” This sounds very little like leftist hippie hyper-alarmism and more like an even-tempered, inward-facing business decision aimed at protecting the long-term interests of the company.

But wait; isn’t sound corporate management generally aligned with conservative values? Ironically, the country has become so intensely blinded by political ideals as to recognize that the business community –which drives more than a few of the big ticket items central to the November elections (jobs, economic prosperity, etc.)–has already moved on to the solutions piece of the climate change puzzle, while more than a third of the country continues to denounce climate science altogether.

For its part, Levi Strauss and Co aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions tied to offices, retail stores and distribution centers 25% by 2020, while increasing renewable energy purchases by 20% during that same time frame. Similarly, consumer products giant Reckitt-Benckiser, with over a 100 brands including Clearasil, Frank’s Red Hot and Lysol, has committed to reducing its overall carbon impact by one-third by 2020 as part of its “better business” initiative.

Even companies normally seen as competitors (Nike, Adidas, and Puma for starters) are banding together to form alliances like the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, or, in the case of the beverage industry, the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER). More explicitly related to climate change is the BICEP coalition – Businesses for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy – led by Ceres, a Boston-based nonprofit. And, just to drive the point home, major oil companies like Shell and Conoco Phillips are even developing corporate strategies tied to climate change.

Companies the world over are assessing climate change risks and costs in manners that are material to their business. If severe weather threatens to disrupt distribution channels, companies need to ensure against such risks in the same manner that rising energy costs would drive the business case for maximizing energy efficiency.

But again, while multi-billion dollar, multi-national players are increasingly addressing climate impacts that may affect their bottom line, there is little motivation to shout their progress from the rooftops. In a world where the customer is king, demand for low-carbon products and corporate climate leadership is trumped mightily by traditional demand drivers like price, product quality and brand image.

If climate change were considered hip, companies would be tripping over themselves to share their climate change strategies with consumers as a way to sell product. Until that happens, though, companies will rightfully go only as far as good business dictates, while we the consumer continue being spoon-fed a more marketable and more attractive version of eco-friendliness: more green.

Mike Bellamente is the director of Climate Counts, a national nonprofit aimed at bringing consumers and corporations together on climate change. Bellamente has written extensively on environmental sustainability in the private sector and has appeared on Huffington Post and GreenBiz.com. In February 2012, Bellamente was named to Ethisphere’s list of 100 most influential people in business ethics.