CRO Tool Time at Spring Conference
Speakers, panelists address ways to implement sustainable practices across businesses
By Danielle Lee
The elusive “future” is always a key element in any sustainability discussion, and the panel discussions at CRO’s Spring Conference in New York, covering everything from the water crisis to paper use, were no exception.
In fact, the sustainability experts assembled at the Union League Club March 27 stressed the future’s very imminence.
They also talked frankly about corporations’ need to address the crises of climate change and resource depletion for reasons beyond general goodwill.
John Davies, Sustainability Analyst for AMR Research, noted during an afternoon panel, “Sustainability Deep Dive: Looking Outside for Untapped Savings,” that 22 children die per second because of lack of access to water, adding that technology will play a big part in the solution. Davies pointed to Procter & Gamble’s invention of a water purification process.
“They sell it to NGOs for a profit,” Davies said. “Why? Because they can’t sell products to dead people.”
Less grim were the solutions Davies and fellow panelist Chris Spain, CEO of water management company Hydropoint, offered to the corporate responsibility officers and other executives in attendance.
They mentioned the Internet and self-service technology, in particular, as necessary tools to solve the world’s problems, including the stress on the globe’s infrastructure.
The lack of water itself isn’t the only problem, Spain said. But, its mismanagement leads to pollution; overcharging and high water bills; injuries and brand degradation.
Mismanagement of water, caused to some extent by automated irrigation timers, can rack up costs of five to 10 times the amount of water bills themselves, the panelists revealed.
These realities have led Spain, in his consultation with corporations like AIMCO and Coca-Cola, to sell the companies not on “green, but pure ROI.”
Spain said that water management is the most powerful green initiative with the fastest payback, usually one to two years.
During their “Corporate Sustainability Case Study: Office Depot and Domtar Paper,” Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot, and Guy Boucher, Vice President of Sustainability for Domtar Paper, highlighted the impact of today’s sustainability focus on another industry: waste management, which ironically now brings in its biggest revenues through consultation on how to reduce it.
The paper manufacturer and supplier have also made reductions at both of their posts within the supply chain.
Domtar, which has reduced the size of paper packaging and is using recycled wrappers, is now making full-truck deliveries instead of half-full hauls in an attempt to reduce some of the $30 million it spends on transportation costs.
Office Depot introduced its first LEED-certified store at a prototype level, to be used in the construction of stores in the future.
Both companies, however, acknowledge that the quality of the paper is still a priority, meaning the quality of recycled content can be challenging.
Siddiqui also noted that inconsistencies of sustainable practices can be found on the most micro levels.
“Rubbermaid did not use recycled content for their recycling bins” offered at Office Depot stores, he said. That mixed message has since been remedied, he said.
The companies also rely on third-party certification from organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council.
“All things being equal,” Siddiqui said of Office Depot’s selection process, “the greenest supplier is taken.”
Sustainability experts, such as ERS Global’s CEO Susan Graff and Senior Associate Robert Kenney, who spoke on a panel, “Sustainability Keynote Discussion: A Strategic Business Approach to Climate and Sustainability,” urged companies to translate sustainability’s expanded influence into results.
Companies should start at a tactical level, they said, viewing sustainability as a growth strategy. Certain “keystone” companies mimic keystone species and improve the overall health of an ecosystem. These companies have a positive impact on the sustainability performances of other companies. Wal-Mart and General Electric, for example, have adopted certain principles, such as a zero-waste model (pioneered by Henry Ford) and the authentication of green products, throughout their supply chains.
Transparency, stressed Graff, is also vital.
“Before, why would you ever show data on greenhouse gases,” Graff said. “Now, the risk is greater if you don’t tell your story. Tell your own story before someone else tells it for you.”
The keystone companies were early adapters of both disclosure and green initiatives, while the next tier of companies find themselves in more of a crisis mode, said Graff. Still, this should not lead to blind adoption.
“Suppliers can check the box that they meet the minimum requirements, or they can really innovate things,” Graff said.
Midsize companies are starting to take this advice, implementing offensive strategies that strengthen their brand and have less risk.
Despite all the signs of progress articulated at the conference, that oft-mentioned “future” is still precarious.
“The entire global model might not be sustainable,” Graff said. “We need to bone up on a new concept of the steady state of economy. We are running headlong towards a wall that is going to touch all of us.”