Sustainable WNC

(From “Environmental Leader” On-Line Post)

Ninety-five percent of companies that consider climate change to present a commercial risk have implemented a GHG reduction program with a specific target and timeline, according to The Carbon Disclosure Project’s 5th annual global report which looks at the 500 companies ranked by the Financial Times newspaper as the world’s largest by market capitalization. The report is a collaboration of over 315 institutional investors with assets under management of more than $41 trillion.

In addition, 76 percent of responding companies (77 percent of corporations within the sample responded to the CDP questionnaire this year, compared with 71 percent last year) reported implementing a GHG emissions reduction initiative compared to 48 percent in last year’s CDP4 report. Eighty percent of respondents see climate change as presenting risks and opportunities to their business.

The S&P500 report finds that many leading U.S. companies are also assessing climate change and developing response strategies, but as a group are not as far along as the more international FT500 sample. More of the U.S. survey sample sees climate change as presenting commercial risks than opportunities. Only 29 percent of those survey respondents have implemented greenhouse gas reduction programs with specific targets and timelines.

However, the CDP5 response rate (56 percent of the S&P500 responded to the CDP questionnaire) increased in all 10 industry sectors of the S&P500, with 9 of the 10 having a response rate greater than 50 percent, suggesting to the CDP that U.S. industry has reached a tipping point in addressing the issue.

“Increasingly, investors view good carbon management as a sign of good corporate management,” said Paul Dickinson, CEO of CDP. “Our investors are using the quality of the disclosure as a very useful tool to assess how seriously a company is taking the issues of climate change. As CDP data plays an increasingly important role in informing investors on a company’s approach to climate change, the pressure is increasing on companies to respond. And by moving CDP data collection into company supply chain management, CDP’s reach will grow enormously.”

The CDP also launched a Climate Disclosure Leadership Index that CDP says is comprised of 68 FT500 companies that show distinction in their responses to the CDP survey based on their reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and assessment of climate change strategies.

Companies with leading disclosure practise highlighted in the CDLI include Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, Coca Cola, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Royal Bank of Scotland, Allianz and Unilever. The S&P500 report rates companies under the Climate Governance Index on disclosure, emissions reductions and strategy, with leaders including DuPont, General Motors, Consolidated Edison, Alcoa, United Technologies and 3M.

(From an Important Grant Thornton Report)
Sept. 11, 2007
[This is not a trend. We have the opportunity and responsibility to help our regional corporations follow suit.]

Company executives believe that corporate responsibility programs can positively impact their business and help achieve strategic goals, according to a survey of more than 500 business executives conducted by Grant Thornton LLP.While conventional wisdom might suggest that these initiatives will drain the corporate coffers, only a quarter of survey respondents agreed that profits needed to be sacrificed, while three quarters believed corporate responsibility could enhance profitability. As a result, 77 percent said they expected corporate responsibility initiatives to have a major impact on their business strategies over the next several years.

Seventy-seven percent of companies anticipate more spending on environmental programs, 50 percent expect greater allocation to social responsibility programs and 45 percent say economic/governance initiatives will see more funding. Respondents felt that tax incentives, customer support, and innovative technologies were most likely to prompt companies to invest more heavily in environmental initiatives.

Other findings in the survey include:

* Sixty-four percent believe that the human resources department should take on social programs, 50 percent say operations should be in charge of environmental initiatives and 57 percent say finance should be responsible for economic responsibility programs.

Sustainability Buzz Up 169%
Sep 04 2007 (From “Environmental Leader”)

(Note from Steve: The following article looks at national trends. By what percentage do you think the “Buzz” about sustainability has increased here in WNC?)

The term “sustainability” peaked on blogs, boards and discussion groups after the February 25 telecast of The Oscars as Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” took home the Oscar for Documentary Feature. Nonetheless, “sustainability” has remained a persistent issue in the blogosphere, with buzz levels on this term up 169 percent in July 2007 versus one year ago, Nielsen BuzzMetrics reports.

“Fueled by Al Gore, growing media attention, and other factors, these higher, lasting buzz levels suggest sustainability is further becoming a deep-rooted priority in consumers’ lives,” said Greg Thornhill, VP and Practice Lead, CPG, Nielsen BuzzMetrics. “For marketers, this new era of sustainability means they must prepare for rising consumer awareness and scrutiny in everything they do and how it relates to the future good of the planet.”

The top brands consumers associate with “sustainability” in natural online conversations tend to be nimble and independent newcomers, Thornhill added. For example, in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) category, some of the most popular brands currently discussed in connection with sustainability include: Seventh Generation, Shaklee, Method, Ecover, M.O.P., gDiapers and Greening the Cleaning.

In May, BuzzMetrics reported that Wal-Mart was the corporation most linked with blog posts that mention “sustainability.” Wal-Mart was mentioned in 1.77 percent of the 356,403 messages about sustainability measured between 3/15/06 and 3/15/07.

In a related environmental issue, online buzz about bottled water spiked 520% percent on July 27, following recent bottled-water bans in San Francisco and Ann Arbor, and disclosures that two major bottled water brands included only tap water.