2Sustain

Data centers are notorious energy hogs. What's more, they emit enormous amounts of CO2. In fact, a McKinsey & Company report estimates that by 2020, the world’s data centers could surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter. Clearly, any comprehensive sustainability plan needs to include green data center initiatives, and that’s why I find myself forever on the lookout for companies that are finding ways to operate facilities like these more efficiently. (See posts here and here, e.g.) Earlier this week, news from California-based Fortune Data Centers caught my eye.

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Regular readers here  know that I use this forum to emphasize not only the risks, but also the opportunities, presented to businesses by climate change. With that in mind, I’m pleased to direct your attention to a new report titled, “Climate Disclosure Project 2008, FTSE 350, Building business resilience to inevitable climate change.”

This document, which was prepared by Acclimatise and sponsored by IBM, explores the climate change challenges facing businesses today and includes examples of best practices for coping with climate risks.

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Last week, Caterpillar released its fourth annual sustainability report. Caterpillar, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment and posted sales and revenues of $51.324 billion in 2008.

The 51-page report, titled “Big Picture,” outlines Caterpillar’s economic, environmental, and social accomplishments, and it lays out the company’s overall commitment to sustainability. For instance, a graphic on page 9 shows the six elements of Caterpillar’s sustainability strategy:

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A survey conducted a few months ago by the Boston-based company Cone adds to the growing body of evidence showing that consumers continue to buy environmentally responsible products, despite the downturn in the economy.

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Managing Director of Azul Partners and Editor of Spend Matters

Note from Tim:  Jason is guest blogging yesterday and today on 2Sustain, and offers his own viewpoint on the intersection of sustainability and politics.  Welcome, Jason!

Where did I leave off yesterday?  Oh yeah…I was about to define what Social Conservatism means to me:

Sustainable Conservatism – like all conservatism – is rooted in the behavior of the individual over the mandate of the state. For me, this means practicing what I preach – or at least would like to preach more of if anyone would listen. As an example, my wife and I own only one car as a family (despite the fact that both of us have very demanding jobs). We sacrifice time to take public transportation whenever possible – and have a Zip Car as a last-ditch back-up – even though both of us are busy entrepreneurs who value our time in the upper three digits per hour. In other words, we’re not just community organizers waiting for the bus and the next election cycle with nothing better to do until then. We have clients who pay us a lot of money to do what we do well. And our time truly is money.

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