2Sustain

As most of you know by now, sustainability is something I am passionate about, and have been for years. I spent most of the 1990s working in the nonprofit conservation sector in DC and Latin America. Back then we would have fallen out of our chairs if you’d told us how mainstream the notion of “going green” would become in 15 short years.

I have to admit, though, that even I am a little surprised by how mainstream the topic has become lately — particularly the business side of the equation. The consumer side is a bit more understandable given marketers’ agility and speed in using the latest “phenonena” to reach consumers and sell more products. But when terms like “greening the supply chain” start popping up everywhere (analyst reports, studies, surveys, newspaper headlines, blogs, etc) you know a sea change is underway. This was not the case a few short years ago. But, as more and more businesses take steps toward sustainability, other businesses and NGOs (and the media that cover them) are tuning in, looking to uncover new best practices and other market trends.

Recently, I blogged about the results of a PWW global survey on sustainability strategies and about findings from a GMC and PwC analysis of companies who report sustainability data. Now, this week, there’s yet another new set of study results to mull over.

Supply Chain Management Review (SCMR) and Logistics Management (LM) magazines recently published data gathered from an online survey about “The Green Supply Chain.” The study looked at a variety of topics, including: specific supply chain green actions either currently in place or planned for manufacturing, warehousing, and/or distribution, ROI on green initiative investment, level of collaboration, and a ranking of the most important environmental issues.

Some 250 readers, most of whom work in supply chain management and/or in logistics and transportation, participated in the survey, and I found a few of the key findings very encouraging. For exapmle:

• More than 50 percent of respondents said they have a documented corporate sustainability plan
• A total of 78 percent said they either had a plan in place or were evaluating green initiatives
• About 50 percent said their companies include a senior executive, often a vice president, dedicated to sustainability

The study also found that nearly two-thirds of respondents regard waste disposal and recycling as the most important environmental issue, edging out other concerns, such as conservation of natural resource, GHG emissions, and consumer buying preferences.

And, as you might expect, nearly two-thirds of those responding ranked cost justification as the primary barrier to sustainability initiatives. That’s not surprising, I suppose, since we’re all responsible to the bottom line. But, I can’t help but believe that the development of more useful green metrics will start eliminating barriers like this. There was also some evidence in the study that businesses are on the right track: of the respondents who have a sustainability plan, 60 percent said their companies also have a method for measuring return on investment for these initiatives. Pretty amazing stats.