2Sustain

The New York Times has an excellent recap of yesterday’s hearing of the Congressional subcommittee that’s investigating the Salmonella outbreak which has killed eight, sickened more than 600, and spawned one of the largest food recalls in U.S. history. Even though the tainted peanut products have been traced back to one manufacturing plant in Georgia, the entire peanut industry is now reeling (some estimates say sales of peanut products are off 25%). From a supply chain perspective, there’s a critical lesson here: even a single source supplier can send shock waves through a diverse network of supply chains, or even through an entire industry, as consumers react prudently.

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Earlier this week, A. T. Kearney, Inc. released a study titled “Green Winners: The Performance of Sustainability-Focused Companies in the Financial Crisis.” If you’re still of the mindset that there is a fundamental conflict between sustainability and the bottom line, I encourage you to read this analysis. It shows that even in this tough economic climate, companies with a commitment to sustainability tend to outperform their peers.

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Over the past few months, I have read plenty from experts who are pondering whether or not companies will curtail their green initiatives because of the global economic crisis. Then, yesterday it struck me: while the analysts are debating, many, many businesses are simply moving ahead with their environmental sustainability plans. I stopped to jot down a list of new programs that I have heard about in just the past couple of weeks, and I'm pleased to tell you, it’s an impressive collection.

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Over the weekend, I ran across two articles that offer interesting insights about how differently Pan Asian countries can view green initiatives, such as those currently under consideration by the Obama administration.

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I’m always on the lookout for the latest in sustainability metrics, so I was intrigued when I heard that there was a new tool available to measure corporate water footprints.

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