New report calls for 'extended leadership' on sustainability. Each year, the Worldwatch Institute publishes its flagship State of the World report.
The 2013 edition is organized around whether sustainability is still an attainable goal. In the opening chapter, Worldwatch President Robert Englemen asks starkly, "In the wake of failed international environmental and climate summits, when national governments take no actions commensurate with the risk of catastrophic environmental change, are there ways humanity might still alter current behaviors to make them sustainable? Is sustainability still possible?
" How much could your school save? Last week, the Center for Green Schools at USGBC released "Powering Down: Behavior-Based Energy Conservation in K-12 Schools," a toolkit that follows the experiences of five public schools that have reduced electricity use by an astonishing 20 to 37 percent through behavior-based strategies alone.
The paper, which was written with lead author Kate Crosby, looks to these schools as models for others and examines common strategies for every school to reduce its energy usage. Energy conservation presents a compelling and rich opportunity for K-12 schools. We've seen growing awareness that a focus on energy use in schools can produce many positive results beyond the utility bills themselves. Six steps to transform the way we do business. Drop the denial, embrace reality and accelerate sustainability. Six growing trends in corporate sustainability. 5 innovative ways companies can tackle climate change. With nations around the world largely failing to take the kind of action needed to head off dangerous climate change, it is becoming clearer that the dilemma will require innovation from all players, including governments, companies and academia.
Ann Dale and Rob Newell of Royal Roads University have studied actions of local governments as part of their project, Meeting the Climate Challenge (MC3). These valuable lessons, they say, also can be applied to for-profit businesses. "Our findings show that opportunities exist for communities to develop in innovative, collaborative and sustainable ways, and these opportunities extend to all organizations," Newell says. Here they provide five tips to help any company seeking innovative ways to address climate change. Are You Ready for the Energy Management Revolution? As GTM Research noted in its recent report, Intelligent Efficiency: Innovations Reshaping the Energy Efficiency Market, the energy efficiency landscape is changing from a capital-intensive, services-oriented model to a software- and energy-data-analytics-driven model focused on operational efficiency.
The report provides a comprehensive, industry-level view that confirms our experiences as more than a trend: the field of energy management is in the midst of a paradigm shift, and both energy users and providers of energy management services and technology must take note. However, even with this seismic shift in attitudes underway, we’re still not seeing quite the groundswell of energy management investments and related activity at the rate we’d expect. The state of ‘green’ business in america picture on VisualizeUs.
Trust, not green marketing, is key to driving sustainable consumption. What if all offices went green? [Infographic] Sustainability at Harvard. Green Offices at Harvard The Harvard Green Office Program is a four tiered, do-it-yourself program designed to be spearheaded by employees who want to take the lead on greening their workspace.
Green Offices result in direct savings to the University through resource, energy, and water conservation while engaging staff in Harvard’s sustainability goals. With your help, we can reach the University goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30% below 2006 levels by 2016 while using fewer materials and producing less waste. The Business Case for Sustainability ... Sites I like / Top 50 Sustainability Bloggers. Bold Action Needed by Companies on Climate Change. Bold Action Needed by Companies on Climate Change Having spent the last 4+ years deep in the sausage-making process that is federal and international climate and energy policy, I’ll admit that I’m biased: I firmly believe that climate change is the most important issue of our time.
Sustainable Business. Corporate responsibility: call for views - Consultations. Summary of responses to the call for views on corporate responsibility, and links to case study examples of corporate responsibility in practice.
Original consultation This consultation ran from 27 June 2013 12:00am to27 September 2013 11:45pm Summary Provides an opportunity to contribute to a framework of actions to realise the full benefits of corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is sometimes known as corporate social responsibility. This call for views seeks to gather your thoughts and ideas on aspects of corporate responsibility.
Mmunicating sustainability: how to educate, engage and inspire? - live chat. If we're going to make the world more sustainable, we will need to change the way we understand and behave in it. Businesses, brands and NGOs have an opportunity to help create this change among the customers, consumers and communities they reach, but how can they do it effectively? Join the experts for a live chat. Interdependence Day. Interdependence Day Last month saw the publication of Changing Tack, a report that is the final output of The Regeneration Roadmap, a project undertaken during the last 18 months by GlobeScan and SustainAbility to assess progress on sustainable development over the last 25 years.
9 Steps to a Greener Office. XLN Green Guide for Small Business. Walking the talk to sustainability. Bridge The Gap From Construction To Efficient Operations - Facilities Management Green Feature. By Jamie Qualk - January 2013 - Green StumbleUpon green building report, operations, energy efficiency, green Between the end of a facility's construction and the beginning of its operations, there's a substantial transition period where most, if not all, of the professionals who designed, installed and verified the initial conditions of the building cease to be involved.
A new team of people begins to run the building, taking on the phase with far greater costs and environmental impacts. This shift in personnel presents one of the greatest risks to a building's ability to bridge the gap from construction to efficient operations. Additionally, buildings naturally trend toward "performance decay," a phenomenon responsible for as much as 30 percent in efficiency loss in the first four years of operation, according to an article in the August 2009 issue ASHRAE Journal titled "Sustaining Our Future by Rebuilding Our Past" by former ASHRAE president Gordon Holness.
Transition Gap Comments. Should brands better communicate their sustainability performance? "Thou shalt not boast about thyself.
" In many corporate cultures, so runs the eleventh commandment. Strictly speaking, it should be more fully described as "Thou shalt not boast about thyself doing something good"; after all, companies boast about themselves all the time, whether it's their latest quarterly earnings, their new cutting-edge product line or their research expertise. Yet when it comes to the theme of sustainability, many become suddenly coy. Incorporating Green into Your Business Plan. Bill Gates Founder of Microsoft Sheryl Sandberg Facebook COO. Ask Doug and Polly: Being green, both in the wallet and environment.
Growing the will for sustainable change. The biggest obstacle to tackling environmental crisis, according to sustainability experts polled last year, is lack of political will. Filling the leadership void: how can sustainability leaders be successful? How can business engage employees in sustainability? - live chat. Sustainability is a word growing less alien in corporate boardrooms. Sustainable business has never been more important for corporate America. Those three numbers made news this spring. Successful Sustainability Strategy Leans on Innovation, ‘Gamification’ To survive and prosper in a rapidly shifting business landscape, companies must constantly evolve. MillerCoors Goes Landfill Free. Mandatory carbon reporting: can it address climate change? New regulations will oblige companies listed on the London Stock Exchange to measure and report on their carbon emissions from April 2013.
Sustainable Development Govern... How to hack it as a corporate treehugger.