2Sustain

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…)

Corporate Responsibility Magazine announced its 12th annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List last week.

The magazine rated every company in the Russell 1000, the highest ranked stocks in the Russell 3000 Index of publicly held US companies, according to more than 340 data points of publicly available information.

This year, the overall average improved from 2010, and several companies made significant jumps in the rankings.

For instance, Johnson Controls received first place honors, moving up from 22nd place last year.  Campbell Soup Company finished in second, up from 12th place in 2010. Third place went to IBM, which moved up one, from fourth place last year. (more…)

A diverse collection of some of the world’s leading companies have joined forces to create the Sustainability Innovators Working Group, an organization that will work to define and develop new approaches to environmental management and corporate sustainability.

Esty Environmental Partners (EEP), the organizer of the group, and IBM, a participant and supporting partner, announced the launch of the group last week.

The Sustainability Innovators Working Group –which includes global corporations such as Boeing, CH2M Hill, Coca-Cola, Delhaize Group, Disney, Diversey, Dow Chemical Company, FedEx, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc., Shaklee, Unilever, and Xerox — will define a new set of management systems and tools for achieving greater value from sustainability strategy.  Each company will be able to apply the best practices from this collaboration within their own organizations not only to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness in their operations, but also to better identify and develop related opportunities for innovation and growth. (more…)

Last week, IBM announced that its first-tier suppliers will now be required to establish and follow a management system designed to address their corporate and environmental responsibilities.

IBM runs one of the world’s largest and most complex supply chains, spanning some 28,000 first-tier suppliers across 90 countries, and like Walmart, Ingersoll Rand and others , the company recognizes the enormous potential of this supplier network to advance sustainability initiatives.

Specifically, IBM suppliers are now required to: (more…)

Are companies tuning into water conservation –what eco-experts believe could become the most critical green initiative of them all?

Yes…and no.

IBM recently asked more than 100 public and private sector executives about their companies’ water challenges, and even though about 77 percent of those surveyed felt that water management was extremely critical to their business, more than half (51 percent ) said they lacked formal guidelines for implementing it. An additional 63 percent of executives said they lacked access to integrated water management systems.

So, what can your company do to boost water conservation awareness and action? (more…)