Going Green and Sustainable Measuring, Marketing and Making Money

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Going Green and Sustainable Measuring, Marketing
and Making Money

• Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
• Greensboro, North Carolina
• August 20, 2008

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Todays Panel

• Aaron Nelson, IOM
• President and CEO, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber
  of Commerce
• Executive Director, Foundation for a Sustainable
  Community
• Jonathan Estes
• Partner, Strategic Measures, Inc
• Author, Smart Green How to Implement Sustainable
  Business Practices in Any Industry And Make
  Money (2009)

• Chris Carmody, MBA
• Director, Sustainable Business Initiative,
  Foundation for a Sustainable Community
• Doug May
• Director of Major Accounts, Cary Printing

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A Mega-Trend
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In recent business news
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The Old Model
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New Model An Intersection of Interests
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Green and Sustainable
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What is Sustainable Enterprise?

• Sustainable enterprise employs profitable
  strategies that approach social and environmental
  challenges as business opportunities and minimize
  negative social and environmental impacts.

Sustainable enterprises measure success in terms
of triple bottom line value
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Sustainability Strategies Sources of Competitive
Advantage
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But How Do you Measure it?
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So How do We Measure and Benchmark

• Using Metrics
• Individual Level
• Community Level
• Organizational Level
• Using Analytics
• Focus on Organizations and Systems
• Focus on Choices and ROI

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Measuring Community Sustainability

• Focus on more than one thing at the same time

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(No Transcript)
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Organizational Sustainability

• Goal Improve the way that individuals and
  organizations engage their community and their
  environment and make them more successful for it
  (Foundation for a Sustainable Community and the
  Institute for Sustainable Development)

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Institute for Sustainable Development

• Unique Public Private Partnership
• Connect University Research to the People and
  Institutions of our Community
• Create and deploy a tool for small employers
• Access to a network of employers across the
  country
• A program of the Foundation for a Sustainable
  Community

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Small business Demand and Attitudes in the
triangle area

• 180 Triangle businesses participated
• 84 of businesses said they had a responsibility
  to protect the natural environment
• 83 of businesses said customers are more or
  much more likely to support a business that is
  known to have green practices.
• Over 88 said customers are more or much more
  likely to support a business that reinvests in
  its community
• 84 said there was some or great competitive
  advantage to being known as green
• Over 75 believed that adopting sustainable
  business practices would make them more
  successful in the long run
• But 89 of survey participants were unaware of
  any online tools to assist them in becoming more
  sustainable

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A Certification Tool
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What is Green Plus?

• Green Plus is chamber of commerce developed tool
  for small businesses in conjunction with Duke
  University and the UNC Chapel Hill
• Designed to Educate, Motivate and Reward Small
  Businesses
• Actionable Information on Improving Performance
• Access to Social Network both specialists and
  business peers tackling similar issues
• Rewarded with Brand and Marketing Support

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The Green Plus Tool includes descriptions of best
practices and links to resources

• Performance
• Accounting principles and financial practices
• Risk management and strategic planning
• Succession planning and transition guides
• Planet
• Environmental tax breaks for small business
• Saving money through effective environmental
  management (water, waste and energy)
• People
• Simple community service projects for small
  business
• Employee benefits employer transportation
  initiatives

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Elements of the Green Plus
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Specifics from Green Plus

• Economic
• Planning
• Business Plan
• Succession Plan
• Marketing Plan
• Strategic Plan
• Performance
• Investing in Capital
• Growing Profits
• Positive Cash Flow
• Practices
• Employee Professional Development
• Standard Accounting Principles

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Specifics from Green Plus

• Environmental
• Energy
• Review Gas and Electric Bill for the purpose of
  reducing consumption
• Adopt written goals about reducing energy
  consumption
• Water
• Review monthly bills for the purpose of
  conservation
• Install new or retro fit appliances
• Waste
• Measure production
• Purchase/sell products with reduced packaging
• Reuse items and recycle as much as you can
• Transportation
• Incentives/Reduce barriers for use of alternate
  modes of transportation
• Explore telecommuting/online meetings/teleconferen
  cing

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More Specifics from Green Plus

• Social Responsibility
• Family Friendly Policies
• Paid or unpaid leave for birth/adoption of a
  child
• Paid or unpaid leave for care of a dependant
• Provide a group health plan for employee
  participation
• Civic Participation/Corporate Responsibility
• Make cash or in-kind contributions to local
  non-profits
• Match Employee contributions to local
  organizations
• Internship opportunities for local youth
• Volunteerism
• Give employees time off to volunteer in schools
  or with agencies
• 100 of senior management serve on the board of a
  local non-profit.

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Awareness Building

• Vision and Value Statement
• Workplace Dialogue
• In service Training
• Marking your Efforts and Success
• Forming Community Partnerships

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The Business Model
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The Future of Green Plus

• Fall 2007 - Business Plan (UNC Kenan-Flagler
  Business Schools Center for Sustainable
  Enterprise)
• Summer 2008 - Beta Test with 150 businesses
• Fall 2008 - Regional and Multi-State Roll Out
• Spring 2009 National Launch

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Some Websites

• www.SmartGreenInc.com
• www.StrategicMeasuresInc.com
• www.SustainableFoundation.org
• www.GoGreenPlus.org
• www.smallbiz-enviroweb.org

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Measuring the Business Impact of Sustainability

• Jonathan M. Estes
• Strategic Measures, Inc.

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Smart Green

• Taking the First Steps Toward Sustainability

• The Entrepreneurial Spirit
• Smart Green Companies
• Smart Green vs. GreenSmart
• Getting Started
• Measure ROI SOI

• Jonathan M. Estes
  Strategic Measures, Inc.

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The Entrepreneurial Spirit

• Attributes of Entrepreneurs

• . . . And Sustainability

• See a need to fill
• Self-starter, independent
• Desire to grow financially
• Thrive with change
• Make connections few others see
• Driven to persevere
• Aware of strengths weaknesses

• Green Rush
• Trillion energy market
• Public/Private Partnerships
• Vision for People, Planet, Profits
• Awareness of Systems

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Smart Green Companies

• Voices from the Trenches

• What is Smart Green?
• Balancing behavior, actions, and impacts on the
  community, the environment, and profitability
  through
• Preparation
• Planning
• Measuring
• Marketing Transparency
• Reflection

• Right thing to do.
• Customer demand profits
• Cost savings in long run
• Megatrend, not a fad
• Personal conviction to business imperative

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Smart Green vs. GreenSmart

• Smart Green

• GreenSmart

• Plan at level of ability

• Act now, plan later

• Measurement of ROI

• Spray and Pray

• Transparency

• Controlled image

• Systems view

• Self-preservation

• Incremental growth

• Fast growth

• Triple bottom-line

• Financial bottom-line

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First Steps

• Reflection
• Education
• Networking
• Saving costs

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Step 1 Reflection

• How do I define sustainability?
• What are my tipping points to change my behavior,
  actions, and impacts?
• Where can I get reliable information?
• How will I maintain my focus?
• What are my risks opportunities?

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Step 2 Education

• Become Green-aware
• Become Bio-aware
• Become Socially-aware
• Become Energy-aware
• Become Regionally-aware

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Step 3 Networking

• Examples
• Join local Chamber of Commerce
• Seek out public/private partnerships
• Become active in select sustainability
  organizations
• Join online social networking groups
• Subscribe and/or start your own blog

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Step 4 Save Costs
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Step 4 Save Costs
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Step 4 Save Costs
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Measure ROI SOI
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New Metrics

• Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line

Revenue growth Productivity Profit margin Return
on Investment Cost of capital Risk
Management Valuation of enterprise Appeal to
investors
Energy, Water Materials, Emissions and Waste,
Operational and Design Efficiencies, New Project,
Service Opportunities, Life Systems Impact
Community and Social impact Health and
safety Fair compensation Equality opportunity
education Recognition
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Green-washing Pitfalls

• Examples
• Hidden trade-offs i.e. Organic fruit from Peru
• No proof Need 3rd party verification
• Over-generalized terminology green, eco-,
  natural, earth-friendly sounds suspicious
• Fibbing Jumping the gun on your certification
• Lesser of two evils ie lemon-scented ammonia

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Take-aways

• Start small, at the level you can maintain the
  effort
• Go through all the steps of planning Prepare,
  Plan, Measure, Market, Reflect
• Take the time to become Aware
• Measure Cost Savings and ROI
• Avoid pitfalls of Green-washing

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An Exceptional Example
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