2Sustain

New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that electric vehicles are not just environmentally friendly; they also have the potential to improve the bottom line for many kinds of businesses.

Granted, the up-front costs of electric vehicles can be significant. A company looking to purchase an electric-powered delivery truck today will likely have to shell out nearly $150,000 –compared to about $50,000 for the same kind of truck with a standard internal-combustion engine.

But, the researchers at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) found that electric vehicles used to make deliveries on an everyday basis in big cities can cost 9 to 12 percent less to operate than trucks powered by diesel engines. What’s more, as battery costs continue to drop, the business case for electric vehicles will only get better, according to Jarrod Goentzel, director of the Renewable Energy Delivery Project at CTL and one of four co-authors of the new study.

The CTL study was conducted using data collected by the international office supplier Staples, as well as ISO New England, the nonprofit firm that runs New England’s electric power grid.

Using that data, the researchers modeled the costs for a fleet of 250 delivery trucks, and they examined alternate scenarios in which the whole fleet used one of three kinds of motors: purely electric engines, hybrid gas-electric engines and conventional diesel engines.

The researchers analyzed outcomes if the trucks in the fleet were driven 70 miles a day for 253 work days per year, with diesel gasoline costing $4 per gallon. They found that: (more…)

After an in-depth study of 17 global IT services firms across 52 different criteria, the independent analyst firm Verdantix concluded that Accenture, Deloitte, IBM and Logica now lead the way in the highly competitive sustainable technology services market.

According to the Verdantix report, these four firms have distinguished themselves with superior corporate sustainability strategies and stronger commercial expertise across advisory and systems implementation capabilities for:

• renewable energy
• facilities energy management
• sustainable data centers
• environmental compliance
• sustainability performance management
• low carbon transport
• smart grid
• smart meters
• climate change IT services

In addition, the analysis revealed that: (more…)

Last month, Kraft Foods shared results of a pioneering survey that measured the company’s impact on climate change, land and water use.

The multi-year footprinting project—in partnership with Quantis Inc. and reviewed by World Wildlife Fund and academics at the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment—showed Kraft that its environmental impact goes far beyond the company’s walls.

For example, based on the results of the analysis, Kraft, learned that more than 90 percent of its carbon footprint is outside its plants and offices. Nearly 60 percent is from farm commodities.

The company doesn’t own farms, but the survey certainly supports the work of Kraft’s sustainable agriculture efforts on key commodities to improve crop yields, reduce environmental impacts and improve the lives of farm workers and their families.

In addition, the footprinting work revealed that: (more…)

Consumers are increasingly focused on corporations’ sustainability practices. But, how well do public perceptions align with firms’ actual performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues?

New research suggests that there isn’t much alignment, at all, and that, unfortunately, many companies are facing reputational risk if they don’t better coordinate their branding, communications, reporting and stakeholder engagement processes around emerging ESG priorities.

The new study, Sustainability Research Report: Measuring Perception vs. Reality, provides a quantitative analysis of sustainability and corporate citizenship performance of 100 leading multinationals.

Conducted by the brand consulting firm Brandlogic and CRD Analytics, the study surveyed 2400 supply chain managers, investment professionals and graduating college students from the US and abroad about their perceptions of the multinationals’ ESG efforts. Then, researchers compared those perceptions against the performance data from 175 performance metrics and five key ESG performance indicators.

Data from the study showed that: (more…)

Working within the framework of the World Ports Climate Initiative, six European ports have collaborated to launch an initiative to reward ships that cut emissions.

Beginning in January, the ports of Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre will offer financial incentives to ships that perform better than the emissions standard adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) back in 2008. The cornerstone of this new initiative is the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), which essentially calculates a ship’s green performance. (more…)