2Sustain

The risk of natural resource shortages, coupled with changing customer and employee expectations, is likely to impact core business objectives in the coming years. Exactly how global companies have been addressing impacts like these has been somewhat murky –at least until now.

Results from a 2011 Ernst & Young LLP/GreenBiz Group comparative survey, “Six Growing Trends in Corporate Sustainability,” determined an increasing financial focus by executives on corporate sustainability efforts affecting core business objectives.

For example, the replies of 272 sustainability executives from 24 industry sectors provided several illuminating statistics centered on six major trends: (more…)

American consumers buy 320 million cleaning products in trigger bottles each year, and millions of those plastic containers end up in landfills. SC Johnson, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of household products, wants consumers to consider a different option to “spray and throw away.”

In response to consumer demand revealed through earlier focus groups and a study with GfK Roper examining green attitudes and behaviors, SC Johnson has announced the expansion of its Mini line of concentrated cleaners. This new product line allows buyers to combine one bottle of concentrate with regular tap water in a reusable trigger bottle, eliminating the need to buy new trigger bottles of the same product.

The Mini line includes five of SC Johnson brands: (more…)

If gas prices continue to climb, will you consider making significant changes to your driving habits? Will you consider buying a different car, or maybe even abandoning auto ownership all together?

Interesting new research from Oliver Wyman and the ESB Business School Reutlingen in Germany reveals that for many urban dwellers in Western Europe and Asia, the answer to all of those questions is a resounding “yes.”

The “Future of Mobility” found that, if fuel prices rose significantly by 2030, more than three-fourths (77 percent) of the 3,000 people polled would change their mobility behavior by:

• switching to a smaller car,
• switching to an electric car, or
• abandoning car ownership entirely and replacing it with a mixture of transport modes.

Survey respondents in Shanghai (91percent) and France (82percent) were particularly open to changing their mobility patterns. High-income respondents (71percent) were the least likely demographic segment to consider a switch.

The survey also asked respondents to predict how their behavior would change under a more aggressive “sustainability mobility” scenario. For this particular scenario, those polled were asked to imagine a 2030 with fuel costs at 4 euro/liter (the equivalent of about $20/gallon), more traffic congestion, better quality public transport and the possibility of planning multimodal trips using smartphone apps. Under this “sustainability mobility” scenario: (more…)

The world’s leading chemical company, BASF, has announced new ambitious environmental, health and safety goals.

Since BASF operates in an energy-intensive industry, it makes perfect business sense for the company to mitigate its energy and raw material risks by focusing on energy efficiency and then broader sustainability goals.

For example, by 2020, BASF wants to:

• Increase its energy efficiency –defined as the amount of sales products in relation to the primary energy demand – worldwide by 35 percent, compared to the previous goal of 25 percent.
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions per ton of sales product by 40 percent compared to 2002.
• Reduce carbon emissions related to the amount and distance of transported natural gas by 10 percent compared with 2010.
• Reduce by half the current amount of drinking water in use for production compared to 2010.
• Establish sustainable water management systems at all production sites in areas of water stress.

These new ambitions mesh well with BASF’s past progress. As of last year, the company had: (more…)

Communications conglomerate AT&T, in collaboration with global sustainability consultancy Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), is continuing its march on environmentally-conscious business practices with the release of a new eco-rating system for its products.

In just a few months, consumers will find AT&T eco-ratings on simple, easy-to-read-and-understand labels included with AT&T-branded mobile devices.

As a recent Deloitte study showed, sustainability is becoming increasingly important for consumer purchasing decisions. In fact, more than half (54 percent) of surveyed shoppers said they consider sustainability to be one of their top decision-making factors.

To provide consumers with information so they can make more educated and environmental decisions, AT&T’s new eco-rating system will cover attributes such as: (more…)