,,Weil es sich gehört” … David Cheesewright, gegenwärtiger President und CEO von Wal-Mart Canada, in einer Antwort auf die Frage ,,Weshalb ergreift Wal-Mart Grüne Initiativen?” begann sorgfältig zu erklären, dass sie so viele Grüne Chancen haben, um Rentabilität zu steigern, welche in weniger als drei Jahren Rendite bringen, dass sie gar keine Projekte unterhalten, die mehr Zeit brauchen.

Der Grund weshalb Wal-Mart seine Grünenden Initiativen prioritisieren kann, besteht darin, dass sie unverblümt ihre Analysen machen, die erforderlich sind, um die ,,niedrighängende Früchte” zu identifizieren. Diese offene Analyse oder Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung organisiert die riesengroße Zahl von Grünenden Chancen, um die Rentabilität zu verbessern, indem Geschäftsfälle geschaffen werden, um Investitionen zu legitimieren.

Die Durchführung einer Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung versorgt das Unternehmen mit einem soliden Verständnis ihres Grünen Status, und wie man, Grüne Absichten verfolgend, größere Rentabilität erreicht. Das Erzielen des Erfolgs beruht auf der Prioritisierung von Grünen Verbesserungen mit den schnellsten Ivestitionsrenditen, die auf der Höhe der Anstrengungen, Kosten, Zeit, und Gefahren basiert ist. Während anfängliche Erfolge verzeichnet werden, baut sich durch das Unternehmen hindurch der Schwung auf, und vorher undenkbare Ziele werden erreichbar.

Eine gründliche Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung sollte eine umfassende Rezension Ihres Unternehmens sein, flexibeler Natur, um für neue Gelegenheiten verantwortlich zu sein, während die Geschäftslagen sich verändern.

Eine Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung durchzuführen stellt wirklich nicht nur einen Geschäftsfall und Investment-Strategie zur Verfügung; es stellt auch einen Maßstab zur Verfügung, um sich zu vergleichen, während progressive Verbesserungen zur Nachhaltigkeit gemacht werden. Dies kann verwendet werden, um wirkliche Ergebnisse Ihrer Erfolgen an interne und externe Miteigentümer einschließlich Ihrer Kunden mitzuteilen. Positiver von Angestellten mitgeteilter Fortschritt verbessert durch die ehöhte Produktivitätdie die Bilanz eines Unternehmens. Auf Tatsachen basierte Außenkommunikationen schaffen eine glaubwürdige Botschaft; dadurch wird das Greenwashing vermieden. Sobald ein Unternehmen sich in Greenwashing verstrickt, wird es sehr schwer sein, Vertrauenswürdigkeit wiederzugewinnen.

Eine Nachhaltigkeit Bewertungs Kombination aus Grüne Initiativen und einer Grundlinie für die quantitativ bestimmbare Darstellung des Fortschritts ist mächtig. Es versorgt ein Unternehmen mit einem Wettbewerbsvorteil in der heranwachsenden Grünen Wirtschaft und inszeniert sie für weiteres Wachstum und für wachsende Rentabilität.

There is a monumental shift taking place that is bringing businesses, environmentalists, and governments into the same room, reading from the same page, and using the same language.

Reviewing the history of the environmental movement and how we got to where we are today, it started as a reaction to the unparalleled wave of mining, forestry clearance, and land drainage of the Industrial Revolution 1730-1850. According to Andy Reynolds’ “A Brief History of Environmentalism” a few scattered individuals began to speak out. But it took over 150 years for environmentalism to mature to the public movement we know today. The focus of environmental concerns has changed over the decades, but one debate has barely altered what is the reason for protecting the planet? For some it’s for the benefit of humans, for others it’s because nature, like a work of art, has its own value.

Many of us have lived long enough to remember the TV commercial where an aboriginal elder is by the road side, shedding a tear as an unseen person tosses litter out the window of a speeding vehicle onto the ground near the elder’s feet. There was a line drawn between those with and without respect for nature. Pollution, pesticides, species extinction these are things most of us heard from early scattered individuals” speaking out. They became known as environmentalists. Read the rest of this entry »

Saint John, N.B., February 02, 2010 — Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions, CBC/Radio-Canada, interviewed Greenomics President, Erich Schwartz, to discuss the creation of the consultancy Greenomics and how Greenomics the Game was created. This insightful 10 minute interview reveals the life changing catalyst that made Erich change careers from being a globe travelling IT executive to the founder of a Sustainability Consultancy. It divulges the thinking processes that merged Erich’s science background with his business acumen. It also uncovers some of the challenges businesses face when pursuing Sustainability as demonstrated in the manufacturing of Greenomics the Game.

Convinced that leading by demonstration is more credible than just talking, great efforts were made to make the game 100% sustainable. While unusual, the goal was to enable people to toss the game into a composter at the end of its lifecycle to be converted into soil. We hope you enjoy this interview on Steven Webb’s morning show Information Morning. (Please note, we’ve compressed this file to make the download faster, so you will have to download then launch. Sorry for this inconvenience.) Alternatively, you can stream it from CBC Radio.

While listening, please add your comments and questions to our blog.

Friends of Greenomics were asked to provide their sustainability predictions for 2010. We captured their comments and thoughts and present them here. You’ll find some optimism and some pessimism, but they are all interesting tidbits. Enjoy, have a great holiday season, and see you in 2010!

1. Cap and Trade in North America

A federal-level cap-and-trade system will be implemented in the U.S. and Canada. It will be watered down, not nearly aggressive enough, and not enough credits will be auctioned off, but it will be a start.

Bob Willard, Speaker and Author

2. Commitment to Action

Companies will start moving from “sustainability commitment” to “sustainability action” with a focus on how to integrate sustainability considerations into their governance, products, services, operations, and day-to-day decision making. This means that finance becomes sustainable finance, insurance becomes sustainable insurance, retail becomes sustainable retail and transportation becomes sustainable transportation.

Coro Strandberg, Principle, Strandberg Consulting

3. Finding Sustainable “Sweet Spots”

This will be the year when we begin to understand and focus on sustainability “sweet spots” … those opportunities where fiscal, environmental and social/culture components of sustainability intersect.

Dave Butler, Director of Sustainability, Canadian Mountain Holidays

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Greenomics the Game started as an educational tool to augment the Greenomics Sustainability Workshop. After repeated play it evolved into an entertaining board game. Based on the enthusiastic responses received during more than a dozen focus groups, we decided to put the game into production. Now, others can enjoy it at home and educators can use it to make their courses and programs about sustainability more engaging.

 We formed a virtual team to design and build the game. This included our own sustainability consultants, graphic artists, printers, and researchers. We had fun, learned a lot, and achieved most of our goals. To make the game we had to live by our own principles of sustainability. We had to walk the talk.

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