The following is one of series of excerpts posted here from the business book Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness, by John Phyper and Paul MacLean (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). Paul MacLean is President of ÉEM, a Nimonik affiliate partner.

Green marketing is about success in driving sales of one or more of the following:

• Corporate virtue/performance. Companies whose activities directly or indirectly impact the environment, including populations near and far, seek to counter or mitigate this perception. These companies have reputations to defend that, if adversely affected, can have financial repercussions. Wal-Mart’s proactive drive to green its supply chain (e.g., reduce product packaging, seek certification of forest products) successfully repositioned the firm as a sustainability leader.
• Design/technology. As consumers seek next-generation products that are more and more energy efficient, companies seek to be perceived as design leaders. For example, in the current competition among the major automobile manufacturers to cleanse motorized transportation, they compete in parallel on communicating their progress to the marketplace.
• Products. Consumers seek products that do not entail massive environmental and social impacts along the supply chain. Companies whose activities are known to impact the environment (e.g., paper-making, oil and gas production, metal mining) seek to be perceived as leaders in preventing, mitigating and compensating for these impacts.

However, the path to achieving success in green marketing is not easy and false claims have led to deep cynicism about green claims among consumers, and apparent general misunderstanding among marketers about the nature of this quickly evolving and young marketplace.

So, armed with an understanding of the strategic importance which green has come to assume in all facets of business, what does the business leader need to remember when preparing a green marketing strategy? Above all else, he/she should remember that the market is ready for truly green products, but also, that it has, in recent years, become informed and cynical.

Focus on product, not green. Green should become normal. Maturing of the green marketplace will help this happen. Consumers will always be sold on the ensemble of benefits that a product presents, with green being only one of these. It must be part of the thinking from the design stage. A good product is one that meets sustainability requirements. The manufacturer should therefore attempt to join non-green with green benefits in its messaging, e.g., sell the benefits of performance, longevity and cost efficiency, alongside reduced environmental impact.

Sustainability does not equal sainthood. Business leaders should be clear that there is dual motivation for going green: profit and sustainability. There is no need for pretense to sainthood or being the planet’s savior; in fact that position is ill advised, as it can have unintended consequences. Profit and sustainability are necessary and worthy goals when pursued together. Ultimately, companies should be thinking about competitive advantages enabled by taking a leading position on sustainability in their sector, such as the opportunity to drive or influence government regulatory agendas.

The days of a “slap on the wrist” are a thing of the past with seven figure penalties being assessed even against companies that inadvertently contribute to water pollution.

- By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – A Nimonik affiliate

Along with acting against other pollution issues, the federal and provincial governments are cracking down on water contamination caused by industrial, agricultural and municipal sources. Not only is Ottawa pouring more money into dealing with water pollution, it’s nearly doubling the number of inspectors and enforcement officers to more than 320.

Unlike water itself, it is increasingly difficult for businesses to drip through the cracks as anti-pollution laws and regulations covering water get tougher – and fines get steeper. The days of a “slap on the wrist” are a thing of the past with seven figure penalties being assessed even against companies that inadvertently contribute to water pollution.

It’s happening because environmental experts agree that the best way to tackle pollution is through something called “polluter pays.”

Basically, this means that whoever causes pollution pays for the clean up, in numerous ways:

• Tanker owners must buy insurance covering the cost of any oil spill cleanup.
• Factories using rivers must have water inlet pipes downstream of their effluent outflow pipes, so if they cause pollution they are the first to suffer.
• Even shoppers pay, being charged for plastic grocery bags – now required in Toronto – to encourage recycling and minimize waste.

Ultimately, polluter pays is designed to deter people from polluting by making it less expensive for them to be green. Continue Reading Here.

The following is one of series of excerpts posted here from the business book Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness, by John Phyper and Paul MacLean (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). Paul MacLean is President of ÉEM, a Nimonik affiliate partner.

In its simplest form, a company’s management system can be described as a framework of procedures and processes used to ensure that the organization can fulfill all tasks required to achieve its objectives. Typically this framework covers a four-step process—plan, do, check, act—known as the Deming Cycle. Like any facet of business, management systems can suffer from weaknesses in design, development, implementation and maintenance. They can be crippled by a lack of support or poor infrastructure. In the case of systems designed to ensure environmental compliance, they are often not considered a priority, and consequently become isolated from the other systems used to manage the company and, in some cases, become a hiding place for business risks.

The most common pitfalls related to management systems that companies encounter as they try to align their organizations to address changing environmental issues are

• a failure of management to embed environment within general management processes and to commit resources to it
• absence of a robust framework to ensure compliance with rapidly changing legislation, published guidelines/standards, commitments and customer requirements
• absence of ownership of key issues and collaboration between various functions/departments and with suppliers/customers
• a lack of basic functionality within information systems to ensure proper management of environmental data, reports and risks and product lifecycle management (PLM) principles

Let’s look more closely at ownership, collaboration and communication on environmental issues. Five key questions should be asked of any organization.

1. Who has overall responsibility for environmental issues at the company?
2. What function owns key components of environment programs: SD, CSR, facility emissions/discharges/waste, climate change, energy conservation, or eco-design and green procurement?
3. What is the relationship/overlap between programs established for these key components?
4. How are these programs integrated into general management system processes and procedures, e.g., research and development, procurement, manufacturing and logistics?
5. How is the company collaborating both internally and externally on environmental matters?

Unfortunately, the answers to these questions may not be what some executives expect them to be. Many companies have not assigned owners (assuming someone is taking care of the issue) or, in other cases, are embroiled in turf wars over environmental issues. The end result is dysfunctional systems that are inefficient and do not address business risk or opportunities.

The allocation of responsibility is a cornerstone of a good management system. It is also important that “owners” of key components are included in all aspects of plan-do-check-act, including the strategic planning process and assessment of business risk/opportunities, from which they are often excluded.

More and more, companies are creating collaborative partnerships with suppliers and environmental NGOs, sometimes called “green alliances,” to encourage sharing of ideas that address environmental problems, which result in operational efficiencies, new technologies and marketable “green” products (see chapter 4). The particular approach used is dependent upon existing procurement systems, relationships with suppliers, the competitive nature of the business and the willingness of the company to share information with NGOs. (see chapter 5).

Interactive marketing agency imc2 recently looked at the eighty-six companies on the S&P 100 that have some level of sustainability communication, concluding that companies would benefit from increased stakeholder engagement and transparency. Key areas of improvement that imc2 identified include the need:

• to cover environment as well as employees, products and community issues
• for messages to be weaved into a company’s overall identity, not relegated, for example, to a hard-to-locate portion of a company’s website that seems disconnected from its other messages
• to provide constant flow of information to both draw in new stakeholders and keep existing stakeholders informed
• to use a mixed bag of tools: online tools like blogs, newsletters and news releases can provide regular updates, while an annual sustainability report with updates throughout the year can show the big picture of a company’s sustainability efforts
• to leverage interactive features on websites to provide more chances for stakeholders to provide input, whether it is adding comments about certain practices or asking questions others might also want to ask.

By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada Inc. (www.compliancesolutionscanada.com).

Ottawa is getting serious about “hidden” air pollution, taking a tough new stance on invisible particulates that are as deadly as the thick, brown haze that used to hang over cities all summer. New generation gas detectors will keep businesses compliant without adding to costs.

There was a time when smog not only was a major health threat, as far back as the 1960s and 1970s it was often the source of jokes on late night comedy shows. While much of the visible smog – that thick, brown haze that hangs over cities on hot, sticky days – has been reduced, hidden air pollution remains a thorny problem with negative effects on health, climate change and everyone’s quality of life.

Much of it comes from a wide range of often colourless, odourless gasses and, finally, Ottawa is taking steps to rein in the pollution they create.

In late spring, Environment Minister John Baird unveiled an action plan targeting three specific areas:
• Introducing concentration limits of volatile organic compounds in 98 categories of consumer products including personal care items like nail polish, adhesives, sealants, caulking and other miscellaneous products.
• Establishing concentration limits for 49 categories of architectural coatings such as paints, stains and varnishes.
• Establishing limits on 14 types of coatings and surface cleaners used for refinishing or repairing painted surfaces of automobiles, trucks and other vehicles or equipment.

Moreover, just last week the feds took action on bisphenol A – a serious industrial contaminent – and introduced tougher food and product safety legislation.

Widespread problem

Some 308,000 tonnes of fine particulate matter were emitted into the atmosphere in 2006, the last full year for which numbers are available. Residential wood burning and industrial activities accounted for 72%.

Roughly 1.9-million tonnes of volatile organic compounds polluted the atmosphere the same year. Industrial activities, transportation, and paints and solvents accounted for 71% of this total. Meanwhile, about 2.3-million tonnes of nitrogen oxides were emitted to the atmosphere in 2006. The transportation and industrial sectors accounted for 68%. And some 1.9-million tonnes of sulphur oxides were emitted the same year, 69% of it from industry.

Where there isn’t always a direct correlation between levels of air emissions and smog, it often happens because they either move in from other areas or from chemical interactions between airborne pollutants. At the same time, a decrease in one pollutant can actually lead to an increase inothers. For example, ground-level ozone combines with nitrogen oxides reducing ground-level ozone, a process called “ozone scavenging.” But in some parts of Canada, lower levels of nitrogen oxides have actually resulted in less ozone scavenging and thus higher levels of ground-level ozone.

Breathe more easily

There is a way to both reduce the pollution problem and meet the tougher new rules coming from the government. A combustible gas detector will sniff out a wide range of gases including some that are toxic as well as so-called nuisance vapours.

For example, it can sense everything from natural gas and propane or butane to methane, acetone, alcohol, ammonia, carbon monoxide, gasoline and jet fuel, hydrogen sulfide and smoke as well as solvents, thinners and naphtha.

One of its key benefits is that it offers both audible and visible alarms by using a low power semi-conductor sensor that picks up as little as 50 parts per million of methane. While it takes five minutes to warm up, once the unit is humming the response time is less than two seconds when something foul is in the air.

As negotiations begin this fall to replace the Kyoto Treaty, provincial and federal government ministries are going to be taking an increasing hard line on pollutants that harm health and the atmosphere. There are new ways for businesses to deal with the problem without taking a chunk out of profits even as they take a chunk out of air pollution.

E-mail Isaac at irudik@csc-inc.ca or phone him at 905-761-5354.

The list of environmental problems is long and deep, but the largest and most daunting is the state of our oceans and lakes. The fish stocks are disappearing at an astounding rate, leaving dead ecosystems, fishing communities devastated and countries turning to illicit means of income (drug trafficking, pirating…). Leading experts predict the oceans will be empty as soon as 2050, empty.

As highlighted by an earlier post on our site, the current situation bears many traits a tragedy of a commons – but one of international proportions and cataclysmic consequences. People are starting to take note, but not nearly enough. End of Line, a new documentary on the state of the seas, has received strong praise and will hopefully act as a catalyzer for change. See trailer below.

To have a serious impact on the current rape of the seas, countries and large companies must act boldly. Modelled after the Forest Stewardship Council for wood products, an international framework for sustainable fishing has taken root, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certifies fishing operations as responsible. You can consume MSC certified fish or seafood products certified with a clear conscious. A major problem with FSC has been the slow adoption of retailers and consumers, while many companies claim to have FSC wood in stock, few do and those that do, have little on the shelves. Most importantly, consumers are not demanding FSC wood.

For MSC to work, both companies and consumers must strongly endorse the framework. Ideally, but perhaps too optimistically, governments would force fishing companies to adopt the framework. For now, it is up to the private sector and consumers to lead the charge.

Wal-Mart, the Goliath of retailers, has set an ambitious goal for converting all their fish products to Marine Stewardship Council certified by 2012, Loblaw’s will follow in 2013. Consequently, Canadian fisheries are scrambling to get certified (CBC article). Let’s wait and see if they can achieve those lofty goals and how it affects the ocean’s, fishermen and ecosystems.

A promising start to one of the largest problems humanity faces.

End of Line Trailer: