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(If you are receiving this email for the
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copy of the next issue.)
What a remarkable time this is, at so
many levels:
The Election. For all its strangeness
(1000
news stories on the horse race for every one
on the issues), and duration (we take two
years to elect a president; France takes six
weeks) -- for all that , what a breathtaking
affirmation of the creative spirit at the
foundation of this country, and of how far
we've come.
The Meltdown. The bad news: this is
just one
of a cascade of crises staked up offshore --
credit, infrastructure, energy, carbon,
water, the list goes on. The good news: there
are things we can do about each -- or at
least most -- of these, and these crises
provide an opening for leadership, innovation
and, yes, investment in solutions. For
example:
The Climate. I just returned yesterday
from
the Governors'
Global Climate Summit, where
President-Elect Obama re-engaged the US with
the global climate challenge, endorsing
dramatic reductions in GHG emissions, and
where some 20 governors from the US, Canada,
Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia and China agreed to
to share technology and
policy expertise on how to measure and reduce
greenhouse gases. (Watch for a summary on my blog
in the next few days.) There are many battles
still to fight, but the sense that we've
turned a corner is overwhelming. The halls of
power are speaking what so many of us have
been saying for years. The task of convincing
is over. Now the hard work begins.
The Movement. We've been noting the
accelerating sustainability uptake in the
business community over the past two years,
but now we're seeing something new: our
clients are no longer dipping toes in the
water with an initiative here and a program
there; increasingly, they're asking us for
comprehensive sustainability initiatives.
Soup to nuts. Strategy and training.
EcoAudits and KPIs. Company and supply chain.
Call me today, if your company might be ready
to take the next big step -- and embrace
goals that are sufficient
to the challenges we face.
Read our Project Highlights below to find out
what we've been up to.
Hot Topics
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Surfing the Melt: Profit, Risk and Progress in Volatile Markets
Business is on a collision course,
Chauncey Bell and I wrote two years ago, with
a set of global shifts that almost no one has
adequately prepared for. These inevitable
surprises -- from regulatory shifts to
volatile energy prices, from peak oil to
climate change -- are coming fast.
Many of these shifts are related to
environmental issues (traditionally seen by
business as peripheral to mission, and as
costs to be minimized) that are increasingly
seen as material, and even strategically
significant. For those who are ready, these
shifts provide platforms for change; for
those who are not ready, they are traps.
The list is long:
* rising -- or at least volatile --
resource costs and reduced reliability of
supply (driven by the dual engines of
finitude and rising demand)
* the threats and impending monetization
of greenhouse gas (GHG) and other emissions
* the impact of shifting regulatory
requirements on the license to operate -- and
shifting market and procurement expectations
on competitive position
* competitive innovation
* dependence on subsidies that may not be
secure in volatile economic times
These risks haven't been adequately included
in traditional management conversations
because of several pervasive yet pernicious
myths -- of the market distortions called
"externalities " and the misguided notion
that environmental quality is a "cost" rather
than an investment.
Fortunately, this has been changing. The
phenomenal growth in attention to
green/clean/sustainable in the last two years
is an indication that businesses are coming
to understand the enormous strategic business
opportunity in acting, and the growing risks
of business as usual.
Many people ask us whether the financial
meltdown will slow business investment in
green, and President-Elect Obama's plans for a
new energy economy. We think not; the Melt
makes these concerns all the more relevant;
since this is precisely the time to invest in
real value.
So
I'd like to talk with your CFO.
Yes, I know she's got some other things on
her mind
this month -- but it is his job to value
forward risk, and I'll wager that there are
material risks and opportunities that either
are absent from her analyses, or incorrectly
valued.
Fortunately, there are reliable ways to
assess the situation and prepare -- to
design new ways to build profit, resilience,
competitive position, share value, and
satisfaction for shareholders, customers and
employees -- all at the same time.
Would
you be willing to make the introduction?
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Project Highlights
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News from the sustainability revolution
Here are a few of the clients we've had the
pleasure of working with recently (at least a
few of the ones we can tell you about):
We're in the second year of work supporting
the City of Los Angeles' "integrated resource
plan" for solid waste. Our current tasks:
helping develop policies to move the City
toward zero waste that business will support;
and developing models to support future
capacity planning by predicting the impacts
of those policies on future waste streams.
The California Department of General Services
(DGS) engaged Natural Logic to develop a
methodology and a working prototype of a
system for tracking and forecasting energy
usage in its state buildings. DGS is
responding to an Executive Order that
requires all state agencies reduce grid-based
energy purchases for state-owned buildings by
20% by 2015 through efficiency measures and
distributed generation technologies. Natural
Logic delivered the first phase of the
project in October -- a tracking, forecasting,
and reporting system for managing these
initiatives for state-owned buildings. DGS is
pleased (as are we) and is planning next
steps for extending this exciting project to
their fleet of 15,000 buildings. We think the
methodology and
tracking/forecasting/reporting tool we
developed for this project would be useful to
other organizations that want to track or
improve the energy performance of large
portfolios of buildings; please contact us if
you are one of them.
Natural Logic helped a national merchandising
company develop an on line sustainability
handbook to support design, procurement,
operations and marketing staff in making
better green choices. The resulting content
will be used to educate associates, develop
sustainability-related criteria for product
design and sourcing, and to increase brand
integrity by ensuring better-supported green
claims for their products.
We've begin work on developing sustainability
plans for the cities of Sonoma, California
and San Antonio, Texas -- the latter in
collaboration with our friends at Sustainable
Systems.
There are also a couple of food industry
EcoAudits
underway, even as we speak. And much more to
share with you that will wait until next time.
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Events
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Please join us! (And invite us to keynote your next conference.)
Gil's recent conference action
includes:
Measuring
What Matters workshops at:
UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and
The Presidio Executive Program
A panel at West Coast Green on measuring
sustainability for homes, businesses, cities
and regions, together with Peter Sharer of
AgileWaves, and Warren Karlenzig of
SustainLane.
The Catalyzing Conscious Capitalism with
Whole Foods CEO John Mackey.
Recent keynotes have included:
Contra Costa Council Sustainability
Conference, and the International Womens Forum
Operations Manager Benjamin Privitt
appeared
at Net Impact's annual conference in
Philadelphia on a panel titled "From Green to
Gold: For-Profit
Business Consulting" that
included representatives from Saatchi & Saatchi
S, AT Kearney, and Sustainable Business
Consulting. The discussion ranged from
current trends in the consulting industry to
the challenges facing companies to be
transparent, forward looking, and profitable.
Benjamin had lively exchanges with students
and professionals for over an hour after the
presentation, and attendees claimed this was
the best panel they had been to at the
conference.
Upcoming:
Gil will be moderating an "expert panel" on
"A Global Water Supply Crisis: The Impacts
for Business" at Corporate
Water Footprint, San Francisco 12/3/08
and delivering keynotes at:
Organicology,
Portland, OR 2/26/09
Electric
Utility Cost Group Annual Meeting, St.
Petersburg, FL 3/23/09
Green
Cities, Orlando, FL 3/10-12/09
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Special Offer: Sustainable Brands International in Miami Beach
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Join Gil in Miami Beach, Florida, at Sustainable Brands International,
December 9-11 in Miami Beach, and meet 300
sustainable product innovators and brand
experts from around the world to explore
global market trends and best in class
sustainable business ideas.
On Tuesday, December 9th, I'll be presenting
a half-day, hands-on workshop on
Measuring What Matters; we'll be
looking at how companies and communities can
select and use sustainability performance
metrics and incentive systems that profitably
drive performance toward
environmental, economic, and strategic goals.
Our network enjoys 25% OFF both the
conference and the workshop: use code
gilf128or by
November 24th.
Click here for details on speakers
and the full
conference program.
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