WHY BUSINESSES ARE GOING GREEN 2010
The EcoChamber is a global green chamber of commerce whose mission is to help the environment while helping grow the economy and jobs. We do this through a few key tactics: 1. Facilitate more and more companies to adopt environmentally-friendly practices in their everyday activities in a way that improves their bottom lines. 2. Support companies that are green to help them network and get more business from across the globe. 3. Work with governments to create legislation that is both good for the environment and businesses.
INTRODUCING THE ECOCHAMBER
The EcoChamber
In addition to helping businesses, the EcoChamber is involved in many other worthy causes which you will be supporting by joining or donating to the EcoChamber. The Holtz/Jackson Pediatric Integrative Research Center The EcoChamber has partnered with one of the largest pediatric care centers in the United States to create the first and only Children’s Alternative and Complimentary Research Center - Discovering and proving what natural remedies can help prevent and cure illness. Research includes important initiatives such as childhood heart disease, diabetes, autism and more. • Pan American Development Foundation The EcoChamber is supporting initiatives with PADF to provide sustainable solutions to impoverished regions in the world such as bringing clean water and reforesting Haiti and helping displaced families from the conflict in Colombia regain their livelihoods through organic agriculture. • EcoSchools The EcoChamber is working to provide healthy and earth-friendly environments for our children through organic food lunch programs and school greening initiatives.
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ECOCHAMBER INITIATIVES
Supporting important causes
You are in great company with the EcoChamber
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Company perceptions In a large number of smaller companies, they do not feel the need to be green because they feel it does not apply to them if they do not sell green related products or services. Green is Good Business • Drives sales and customer loyalty • Saves money • Improves employee morale and loyalty • Feels good to do good The best companies can use the environment to do more than just stay competitive: they can use it to crush the competition. How Business Saw the Light, Time, By BRYAN WALSH / TOKYO Friday, Jan. 05, 2007
WHY COMPANIES GO GREEN
Green in the business world
Green is not a phase or trend but a new way of life and business. Green values — efficiency, reducing waste, managing carbon — have increasingly become standard practice for any smart business. Wasteful processes that might have mattered little in a booming economy could doom a company when the economic pie starts shrinking. We're finally coming to grips with the financial and environmental cost of waste. Smart companies know that managing carbon will soon become a fiduciary responsibility. Joel Makower www.Greenbiz.com
COMPANIES NEED TO KNOW
Companies need to know...
• The most progressive companies are talking about a triple bottom line — profit, planet and people • A Goldman Sachs study found that companies with a strong emphasis on sustainability outperformed the market, often by a large margin. • PricewaterhouseCoopers report said companies that report sustainability data get better returns on their assets than those that don't. However - there is still much need for adoption and improvement Only 59% of the 1,000 largest U.S. companies have publicly available environmental policies. Fewer than 8% of companies go to the trouble of having a third party verify their CSR reports.
BUSINESS TRENDS
Keeping up with the Joneses
• 34% said they were more likely to buy green-tinged products under current economic conditions • TMore than 6 in 10 Americans have bought organic products since January. • Nearly 40% said they purchased a product in 2009 because they liked the social or political values of the company that produced it. • Nearly half of Americans said protecting the environment should be given priority over economic growth — and this comes in the midst of a recession and historic unemployment • Among younger and more affluent people, living in a green manner is viewed as an important element of a satisfying, well-lived life • Fostering a green image provides "an extra little boost" to spur shoppers to action. Core, LLCFor American Consumers, a Responsibility Revolution, Time, By Richard Stengel Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009
CONSUMER TRENDS
Green brings and keeps customers
The current economic mess may end up being a boon to environmentalism — by forcing change. Green tech will be to the 21st century what high tech was to the last. Both Winslow Green Growth and Winslow Green Solutions have outperformed the S&P 500 tin 2009, with gains of 39% and 26%, respectively. Pax World Global Green, meanwhile, invests primarily in companies that provide environmental services in the areas of water, energy and waste. It was up 32% in 2009. New Alternatives ranks in the top 15% of Morningstar's World Stock category, with an average annual return of 6.47%. Time, Will Green Progress Be Stalled by the Bad Economy? BRYAN WALSH Nov. , 2008 Wall Street Journal, The Price of Green, Anna Prior, 10/5/2008
THE FINANCIAL COMMUNITY AND INVESTMENTS
Green Investing
• The "Responsibles” represent 38% of Americans 18 and older, or about 86 million people • More likely to be female, married, and college-educated • They tend to be well-off but not wealthy • While they are particularly concerned about the environment, they are much more willing than the others to pay more in federal taxes to deal with social issues like universal health care. • They do not fit neatly into any political category: a third are liberal, 37% are conservative, and 28% are moderate. • They look more like what America will look like in 20 or 30 years. For American Consumers, a Responsibility Revolution, Time, By Richard Stengel Thursday, Sep. 10, 2009
THE GREEN CONSUMER PROFILE
What does a green person look like?
The public’s confidence in green • The Green Confidence Index has had a 5 percent gain since 9 months ago. • 82% of consumers are buying green despite battered economy • 50% say they are buying just as many green products now as before the economic downturn • 19% say they are buying more green products. • 65% say they are not willing to make major lifestyle changes to help the environment • 51% of adults believe major lifestyle cutbacks are necessary April 2010 Rasmussen Green Seal and EnviroMedia Social Marketing and conducted by Opinion Research Corporation Rasmussen April, 2010
GREEN CONFIDENCE
Green businesses mean successful businesses
Global Warming: • 33% blame human activity compared to 47% in 2008 • 43% now say global warming is not serious • 40% think a major energy bill aimed at reducing global warming will hurt the economy. • 56% of all voters say they are not willing to pay anything more in taxes and utility costs to generate cleaner energy and fight global warming. • 19% are willing to pay $100 more a year in taxes and utility costs Offshore Oil Drilling: • 58% of voters believe offshore oil drilling should be allowed. But that’s down 14 points from 72% just after President Obama’s announcement at the end of March that he was lifting the ban on offshore drilling for the first time in years. Rasmussen: April 2010
RECENT EVENTS: CLIMATEGATE AND OIL SPILL
Climategate and the Oil Spill’s affect on consumer opinion
Consumers are buying and thinking… • 60% of people are looking for minimally packaged goods • 58% buy green cleaning products • 31% buy green personal-care products
Research proves people want to do what’s best for the environment, but it needs to be easy and accessible.
Consumers cite perceived price premiums for green as their most frequent reason for choosing conventional over green products. EnviroMedia 2009
CONSUMER BUYING HABITS
The EcoChamber
Growth and Investments
GreenBizIntelligence
CUSTOMERS WANT
• Reducing green products' prices • Demonstrating their comparability to conventional products • Leveraging the buying power of consumer groups What are companies most commonly doing to go green • Real estate consolidation • Policies and procedures that support energy-efficient offices • Using telepresence technology that reduces travel between offices • More energy-efficient voice over Internet Protocol technology for telephony that supports our work-fromhome/telecommuting programs • Enhanced recycling programs • Updated supply chain policies to provide for more socially and environmentally friendly office products and materials • New programs to minimize waste in cafeterias and reuse organic material for landscaping.
HOW TO SUCCEED AS A GREEN COMPANY
How to effectively win in the green business world
• A McKinsey study found that a global effort to boost efficiency with existing technologies could have "spectacular results," eliminating more than 20% of world energy demand by 2020. • Efficiency guru Amory Lovins argues that today's best techniques could save the U.S. half our oil and gas and three-fourths of our electricity. That would mean no more imports from the Middle East, lower utility bills for everyone and a big step off our path toward a hotter planet. • Efficiency is the only cost-effective energy source that addresses global warming, energy dependence and volatile prices. It may not be a silver bullet, but it's the best bullet we've got. America's Untapped Energy Resource: Boosting Efficiency, Time, By Michael Grunwald Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008
FOCUS POINT: EFFICIENCY
Focus Point: Efficiency
Green Saves Money and Jobs Steven Kolbe installed systems and equipment that diminished his company's power consumption by more than 50% without limiting productivity. Not only were all jobs saved, but "we saved money," says Mr. Kolbe, who, after combing through the company funds post greening, discovered a surplus of $13,000. Wall Street Journal, How I‌Saved Jobs By Going Green, 10/15/2009 Duke Energy helped a beer distributor pre-cool his refrigerators overnight, saving him $150,000 a year while reducing Duke's peak loads.
CASE STUDIES
The EcoChamber
IBM itself has saved more than $100m since 1998 by conserving energy.
One facility in Florida, for example, cut energy consumption by 13 percent simply by more effectively controlling air conditioning and lighting systems. In 2008, the company as a whole increased its production volume by 20 percent while energy use remained virtually unchanged.
Since 2002, on a revenue-adjusted base, we have reduced our CO2 emissions by 31 percent, cut our energy consumption by nearly one- third and reduced the amount of hazardous waste we generate by 38 percent.
CASE STUDIES: ABB, BOEING, CA
Case Studies
We have received great feedback and gained more business just from us being active members of the Green Business Bureau. Our new energy efficient light bulbs in the office have been a great addition that has actually improved the moods of our workers. As a new startup company, it was important to be able to differentiate themselves from the rest of the financial community. GreenProfit Solutions Approved Green Business membership offered just what they were looking for: a “green� spotlight on our firm and our services; guidelines to help us become a certified green company and do our part for the environment; plus a continuing flow of information to keep ourselves and clients abreast on how sustainability can affect our own business models. In addition, several new clients advised they were attracted by our certification seal.
CASE STUDY: IBM
Case Studies