Measure your carbon footprint
here to help cut carbon emissions
http://wi.footprint.wwf.org.uk/

21 Jul 08
Brands can gain the upper hand in difficult trading conditions by overcoming the tension between sustainability and value. This means engaging consumers and offering choices that provide both.

As the harsh effects of the economy take hold, household budgets are tightening, creating uncomfortable trade-offs between emotional desires and a rational perspective of what's left in the wallet. Consumers' principles on the environment are also being tested, due to the perceived lack of good value sustainable products on offer or practical solutions that can save money.

This growing tension between value and sustainability calls for brands to take a fresh look at the value equation to see how sustainability can be integrated. Those that succeed could see a sustained brand loyalty that will prove to be important in these tougher times.

Brands need to show an appreciation of the "cultural capital" where the economic constraints affecting the social context of life today rival the impact of decisions on environmental issues in the longer term.

Consumers don't live in a vacuum, their consumption and behaviour is naturally affected by what is going on around them. The credit bubble seems to have burst with house prices predicted to drop by 9% this year, the cost of food basics rise by up to 20% and fuel prices going up on a weekly basis. Rising food prices are partly blamed on global food shortages as a result of climate change and the demand for biofuels, bringing environmental issues to the fore.

There are obvious signs of changing behaviour as consumers come to terms with their options; to simply consume less of the same quality, demand more for less or even make new and different choices altogether. Growing your own vegetables is a rising trend, with the Horticultural Trades Association reporting a 31% increase in the sales of vegetable seeds against a corresponding 32% decline in the sale of flower seeds. This, coupled with the fact that 65% of consumers feel they shouldn't have to pay more for sustainable products, suggests the need for brands to respond to growing consumer demands for value or for sustainability.

Even in today's climate it's not just about price. Perception is key: what's relevant and meaningful to one person will be utterly different to another. Indeed, for 35% of consumers who claim they would pay more for ethical products, value could mean meeting their emotional desires of that more expensive item against their rational needs for better quality. Similarly, in the supermarket sector, rewards for shopping green, local sourcing and reduced packaging emerge as the most valued and motivating sustainable initiatives to drive loyalty.

Value is achieved when the product benefits or quality experience outweigh the negative detractors in relation to the price. Added Value research shows a correlation between a brand's responsible behaviour and its value. Indeed, sustainability can act as a benefit or by its absence create a detractor. Supermarkets are seeing a lift to their brand value as a result of their sustainable initiatives, as are those brands taking action in the lower interest utility sector.

It's about process not just productReframing what is valuable about a product or brand offers a new way to talk about value, and becomes especially pertinent in the context of sustainability. For example, energy saving appliances reduce carbon emissions, but importantly reduce energy bills. Better quality fashion is more durable than "disposable" options, creating savings in the long run.

Finally, look at how to bridge the gap between sustainability and value in a way that fits seamlessly with the core positioning. Beauty brand Aveda claims to be the first in its sector to manufacture with 100% wind power, with the launch of its Smooth Infusion range. Creating value with sustainability by drawing on the product benefits detracts from the higher price tag, a much harder task in the price driven retail sector.

Supermarket giant Wal-Mart has firmly aligned sustainability to its value proposition of giving customers the best price with their tagline "Save money. Live better" supported by regular product offers which "Save money. Save energy. Save the environment". Whereas Sainsbury's uses its "Try something new today" tagline with affordable recipes that will feed the family for £5. However, could a sustainable message have added a further dimension to value by enhancing perceived product quality?

Editor's Comment
This article is highly relevant to the OP marketplace even though it uses examples of beauty brands and supermarket giants. The BIG point is that in the OP market during an economic slowdown customers are looking for value comparisons. New Brother muti-function printers (pic left) are TCO99 compliant i.e. low emissions and bidegradable equipment.

Progressive local dealers have the opportunity of a lifetime, to provide extra value by matching and beating big box players with single source local service. This effectively 'cuts costs and cuts carbon' for dealers and their customers. Commercial Group of Cheltenham in UK have been the eco champions for independent dealers and a great example to follow (read their story in Proficiency Profiles)

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Talking Green

Everyone's on it...

but do they get it?

Beware the Greenwash Bandwagon

9 July 08
Pick up any magazine today…read any press release from a manufacturer, dealer group, wholesaler or big box player and they all seem to be talking green. The bandwagon is rolling…

Scanning through the details the focus seems to be on recycling content of product or packaging…very little about process or distribution.

There is also the issue that has become the popular perception that going green costs more i.e. using recycled materials is more expensive. As a result, many initiatives get killed at birth or are described as a fad…the initiative of tree huggers.

The truth is today the attention has moved from green product 'micro' issues to sustainability… to eco friendliness…from corporate social responsibility to corporate responsibility…to becoming good citizens in the local community. Today the issues are about people processes, about what distributors and users can do together that won't cost the earth.

More precisely, what can we do together to effect climate change. How can we cut energy, how can we cut carbon? The answer is that when we cut costs…we automatically cut carbon, therefore eco-productivity solutions do reduce costs. The opposite of the mainstream perception.

Meanwhile, all the ads you see use the same old images "saplings growing out of a globe'…butterflies…earth images in the palm of a hand…trees and grass etc. Really unimaginative and very 'me-too' marketing.

Where are the original images depicting what companies are doing in practice. This is what will resonate with users, rather than the current view, which is that too many marketers don't get it and are simply jumping on the 'greenwash bandwagon'.

So what should marketers do about it?

Review actual practices/plans…
market authentically

Let's start with manufacturers. The thing we notice most is the adding af 'earth symbols' to product images and using as much green ink as possible to wash the ad page, making it difficult to pick out why users should choose the promoted product.

Take a leaf out of some of the best marketers in the world when they advertise. Brands like Honda focus on the ergonomic comfort of people not the car; Arcelor Mittal on 'boldness' in choosing their wind turbine blades; HP highlight low printing cost per page; Brother on the biodegradability of their printers; and GM on their new fuel efficient cars.

OP manufacturers in the latest editions of magazines typically don't highlight the eco benefits, don't highlight specific cost savings…packaging reductions…biodegradability. They all look the same.

We love the 'yoyo paper always come back' ads from PaperLinX inviting users to get involved with the 'see how much your business can save' calculator featured on their website. Simple, specific and superb.

We like the Pilot ads stating the specific recycled content of each pen in the BeGreen range. Avery has promoted recently that their labels are the first to be FSC certified…the sustainabilty aspect needs to be explained simply so users get it, rather than just parading an industry badge.

Dealers have been slow to get involved with eco developments with the notable exception of UK leader Commercial Group in Cheltenham. Commercial get it BIG time. Simone Mann, sales director has driven a low carbon agenda since February 2007 involving Carbon Neutral Co., suppliers, employees and customers in a joint programme to reduce emissions. This has been very effective in reducing energy consumption, costs and given Commercial a substantial competitive advantage. That's authentic.

Narrow the focus from general recycled products to more specific eco-actions

Rather than jump on the bandwagon and paint the market green, manufacturers should focus on the specific actions they are taking to improve productivity in the office. By improving productivity i.e. saving time, money and space for users they will be making a positive 'green' contribution. Less energy expended, time saved, space maximised are all benefits to be highlighted not the features of a product.

Just look through some business, trade and user magazines and catalogues even…see how many times the user benefits stand out. Not many.

Highlighting recycled content, biodegradability, packaging reductions is terrific stuff, but marketers need to satisfy the what's-in-it-for-me attitude of users. Yes we know that recycled content has been more expensive, but manufacturers are making progress and cost comparison differences are closing.

Set a clear eco-productivity agenda
For dealers, going green should be an easy decision to make. Fears of recession too should help them to switch their obsession with low prices and high discounts to a 'lower cost' selling approach.

Do businesses want lower costs or lower prices? Yes, I know they want both. We need to train sales people how to sell in single source systems which are personalised to each client. By consolidating purchases of a wider category of products, dealers can offer savings to clients in acquisition costs and match current suppliers prices. The perfect cost saving agenda.

The huge publicity surrounding climate change/global warming highlighted by the Katrina and Asian Tsunami disasters plus Al Gore's Oscar winning movie 'An inconvenient truth' have made a deep impression on the world's leading economies. Reducing carbon emissions is now high on business leaders list of priorities.

Now dealers that want to understand the need to work together to reduce carbon emissions have a ready made motivation and a more important, a customer that will listen from the top management down. Dealers too have the added perception advantage with customers that they are local and therefore distributrion costs and carbon emissions will be lower.

Eco-productivity is the real 'green' issue and something that local dealers can do something about. It will require understanding, the desire and energy to act, the investment in upgrading the sales and marketing approach and the persistence to follow through with clients right through to the users and chiefs. Progressive dealers in the US/Canada like Innovative, S&T, Garvey's, Mills and Monk get it, as do Commercial, Bluefish and Penketh's in the UK.

If manufacturers work in partnership with wholesalers and dealers on the eco-productivity agenda together to genuinely reduce costs and carbon emissions...if they truly get it...they will get the business and cut costs and carbon emissions for every participant's benefit.

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If you need help starting  your own Eco-Productivity Agenda
contact Peter Frost at peter@proficiencypost.com or call +44 1932 784887.

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EcoExpo'08 Tour Report #2

Be Innovative!

15 May 08

Over 200 customers and prospects attended EcoExpo'08 organised by Innovative Office Solutions in Minneapolis. The event hosted appropriately by Global was held in their beautiful showrooms featuring the LEED certificated and eco friendly furniture range Evolve.

The Expo ran from 10am through 2pm with all the leading manufacturers represented. Two remarkable features were displayed by Creative Resources and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Tremendous interest was shown in Creative's latest range of unusual 'green'advertising specialties including use of recycled materials for USB flash drives, cool water clocks, enviro charger for LED flashlights etc.

Also popular was the welcome K-cup of Fairtrade organic coffee by Green Mountain. These came in various flavours…the caffe americano (espresso) version was fantastic.

The eco-productivity seminars were oversubscribed so Innovative ran the programme 3 times. As usual, the opening question "How many of you know your personal carbon footprint?" evoked a "No" response. The interactive session helped customers calculate their personal carbonfootprint measurement. In the USA this has averaged 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person compared with the UK at 10 tonnes.

The 'Cut costs…cut carbon' seminar theme helped understanding of the mounting global warming problem, which a consensus of leading scientists believe is being caused in homes, offices and on the roads. Peter Frost encouraged guests to take the initiative and become the eco-champion in their business and set goals to 'reduce, re-use and recycle'.

Minnesota was acclaimed for its eco and sustainability commitment with the majority of the 19 Fortune 500 companies in the state. These of course include 3M and Best Buy who are exemplary in this regard

Innovative owner and eco-champion Jennifer Smith (see pic centre, with reps Kathy left and Kellie right) can be a proud lady. Apart from being one of the top 10 productivity dealers in the world $410,000/employee, Innovative is one of the lowest carbon dioxide emitters at 261 tonnes…way below the average of 400 tonnes for the equivalent size of business.

There was a tremendous response from all guests to the central 'Eco-SYNOPSIS' message of "Cut costs…Cut carbon" the 4 point plan where customers can become eco-productivity partners. This involves a mutually beneficial programme to

1. Single source total business supplies from Innovative
2. Maximise online ordering
3. Consolidate orders/deliveries weekly or 2/weekly
4. Source locally with Innovative

Guests were very enthusiastic and acclaimed the Expo a resounding success. The response since has been very encouraging with reps and customers exploring opportunities to source a wider range of products with their host. Not surprisingly, the audiences were dominated by women...probably as much as 85% of the total.

Be eco-productive…Be the eco-champion…Be Innovative!

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EcoExpo'08 Tour Report

Eco-productivity

drives west

Action Agenda advances
to cutting cost and carbon emissions

4 May 08

The 21 city EcoExpo'08 tour got off to a great start on Earth Day in Vancouver, Canada on Tuesday 22 April with leading local  OP dealer Mills Office attracting over 100 of its best customers to the show. The tour finally ends at Bluefish Office on World Environment Day on 5 June.

On Thursday, the fourth in the series reached Chicago via Victoria on Vancouver Island, and Minneapolis (USA). We report below highlights of each event starting with Mills, moving to fellow BASICS member Monk Office in Victoria, on to S&T Office in Minneapolis through to Garvey's in Chicago. Next week we visit Innovative Office Solutions in Minneapolis before returning to the UK via Florida.

The opening question raised with all attendees "How many of you know your personal carbon footprint?" The answer in 99% of the cases with 15 EcoExpo's organised over the past 2 years was "No". The least benefit promised from the Expo's was the personal footprint measurement. Both in Canada and USA this has averaged 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person compared with the UK at 10 tonnes.

There was a tremendous response from all attendees to the central 'Eco-SYNOPSIS' message of "Cut costs…Cut carbon" the 4 point plan where customers can become eco-productivity partners.

This involves a mutually beneficial programme to:

1. Single source total business supplies
2. Maximise online ordering
3. Consolidate orders/deliveries  weekly
4. Source locally with their host.

A consistent feature of the Expos so far has been the enthusiasm of guests to embrace the eco-initiatives displayed. Not surprisingly the average attendances have been dominated by women...probably as much as 85% of the total.

Mills EcoExpo in Vancouver (Canada)

Brad Mills (pic above right), CEO opened up the show in a great theatre style facility. Brad had been involved with Al Gore's visit to Vancouver in 2007. Mills have been committed to sustainability for some years and work with their customers and suppliers to minimise their carbon footprint. Amongst the 100 customers attending were companies like BC Hydro, Vancity, Citizen's Bank and Metro Vancouver all committed supporters.

Brad extended his commitment to social sustainability last year by opening up the H.A.V.E Café a culinary training society in the downtown eastside of Vancouver.

Committed green customers in attendance included Megson Fitzpatrick, UVIC, Thrifty Foods. Monk themselves support many sustainability causes and are enthusiastic environmentalists supporting Ecotrust and the BOMA Go Green initiative.

Acco, Avery, Esselte, Blueline-Rediform, Lexmark, QuoVadis and Sanford were among the manaufacturers supporting the Expo with displays of eco-friendly product ranges.

S&T Office, St.Paul, Minnesota (USA)

Vicki Giefer (pic left), VP marketing welcomed over 250 customers and prospects to a terrific show at the Sheraton Hotel, Minneapolis. There was an impressive representation of manufacturers eco-friendly products eagerly visited by the mainly women attendees.

Garvey's, Chicago, Illinois (USA)

Bernie Garvey, president welcomed the 250+ turn out of customers and prospects to their impressive new eco-friendly facility in Niles. He gave a brief overview of their rapid growth and plans to go-eco with enthusiasm.

Kevin Garvey (pic above left), VP sales and marketing, did a great job for the 20+ vendors in attendance by highlighting the eco-benefits of products on display. Leading manufacturers with eco friendly products on display in addition to those mentioned above included: Fellowes, TOPS, MeadWestVaco, C-line, Xerox, Pentel, Zebra, HON, Nu-Kote, Saalfeld, R3 Distribution and wholesaler United Stationers.

Sheila Gartland, one of the 6 siblings involved, plus their father, had organised a terrific show with an 'apple green' theme  for the café style setting, adjacent to the theatre style seating within the warehouse. The  whole Garvey's team  were kitted out in matching shirts issuing matching goody bags. A very authentic and impressive event sure to be repeated next year.

Now onto Innovative on Tuesday for another EcoExpo by one the USA's most progressive productivity providers.

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Today is Earth Day!

EcoExpo'08 Canada/USA/UK tour commences. The drive towards eco-productivity

22 Apr 08

Yes today is EARTH DAY the first of 2 big dates in the calendar to recognise the importance of our collective efforts to take responsibility for improving the state of our environment. World Environment Day is 5 June.

Today the programme kicks off in Vancouver with over 100 of Mills Basics customers attending the EcoExpo which will demonstrate their continuing efforts to drive sustainability programmes in their everyday trading practices.

Brad Mills, CEO of Mills is an enthusiastic driver of their sustainability programme. He said "Our efforts to go green have gathered pace since Al Gore visited Vancouver last year. We now focus on cutting costs…waste, packaging, using alternative fuels and recycled products. We have been able to reduce costs and reduce our carbon footprint. We have also started to sponsor local community projects e.g. H.A.V.E the Culinary Training Society"

Many observers feel that going green will cost more money and our cynical about attempts to improve the environment. Thr truth is that all the efforts of the 'tree-huggers' are starting to pay off and Canada and the USA communities particularly the west coast provinces/states of British Columbia and California…get it.

The Proficiency Group programme is about "eco-productivity…cutting costs and cutting carbon" states Peter Frost. "Last year we ran the first series of EcoExpo's inspired by Commercial Group's initiative in Cheltenham (UK) in February. Simone Mann their sales director, had attended an Al Gore seminar  organised by BSkyB one of their largest customers. From that point Simone enthusiastically drove Commercial's  efforts to reduce carbon emissions in conjunction with The Carbon Neutral Company.

In 2007, 8 UK dealers were involved in the EcoExpo's and since five have gone on to register their carbon cutting campaigns with organisations like carbon Neutral: Bluefish Office Products in Northampton; Anglo Office Productivity in SE London; Penketh's Office Productivity in Liverpool, Allens in Cardiff and RedBox in London.

In 2008 USA dealers are starting to get it. "Last year, I spoke at many  US dealer group and wholesaler conferences and eco-productivity was low on the agenda. What a transformation! Interest and more important….action has taken off,"continued Frost.

Footprint' focus… the first step in cutting carbon emissions
A popular feature of the interactive presentations last year, was the opportunity for guests…for the first time, to measure their personal 'carbon footprint' against the UK average of 11 tonnes/person. This exercise proved to be an inspirational first step in tackling personal carbon emissions. The presentation evoked a strong sense of determination to work with their office supply partners to improve eco-productivity using single source systems, webstore purchasing, consolidating orders and local supply.

EcoExpo'08 confirmed dates are as follows:

• Today 22 April Earth Day - Mills in Vancouver, BC, Canada
• Tomorrow 23 April – Monks in Victoria, BC, Canada
• Tuesday 29 April – S&T Office, St.Paul, MN, USA
• Thursday 1 May – Garveys, Chicago, IL, USA
• Wednesday 7 May – Innovative, Minneapolis, MN, USA
• Thursday 5 June – Bluefish OP, Northampton, UK

During May a number of UK dealers have set dates to be confirmed.

Monks on Victoria Island are expectiong 300 customer through their Expo tomorrow, a tremendous response for their first event.

Make sure you follow reports over the next few weeks. GoEco is the call. If you want to get started call Peter Frost on +44 1932 784887 or email: peter@proficiency2020.com

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The green bottom-line

For this is the favourable balance sheet that can be drawn up by UK's firms and public bodies which have taken concrete steps to consciously regulate the way they do business in order to minimise their impact on the environment - and opened their books to independent scrutiny in order to verify their figures.

Every year the Energy Saving Trust (EST), through the Fleet Hero awards, honours those firms and corporate and public sector bodies which have achieved some spectacular results.

Leading leisure company the Whitbread Group - it's in the hotel and coffee house business - reckons to have saved almost £2m as a direct consequence of running an environmentally friendly fleet, reducing by 25 per cent the average amount of CO2 produced by its fleet - from 8.35 tonnes to around six tonnes for each vehicle between 1999 and 2006. The firm garnered an Outstanding Achievement award at the 2007 Fleet Hero awards.

It's not the only Fleet Hero. Supermarket giant Sainsbury's saw its online division win an innovation award for deploying the first of its zero-emission electric delivery fleet with each van saving an estimated five tonnes of CO2 per year. All Sainsbury's online delivery vans operating in towns and cities will go green by 2010.

 
How do they cut energy costs
How do they do it? Can any business achieve the same results? What concrete steps are involved and is it all plain sailing? As with all balance sheets, the devil is in the detail as a closer inspection of one firm's green journey reveals.

The Kent-based James McNaughton Group (now part of Antalis) of companies is a major supplier of office and graphical papers, board, plastics and print-related products in the UK and Ireland. It is responsible every day for the delivery and distribution of 800 tonnes of paper, board and display products to around 2,000 customers.

In addition to its heavy-duty lorry deliveries, the firm also runs 231 cars for staff including executives and sales representatives working from 18 centres around Britain and Ireland. Howard Browning, the group's director for corporate responsibility, was given the task of greening the fleet.

'Our main board had taken considerable steps towards implementing a groupwide policy of environmental responsibility - renewable energy supplies, paper from sustainable sources, a serious attitude towards recycling and so on - but when it came to our fleet, we didn't know where best to start,' says Browning.

'Then I discovered the Energy Saving Trust's website and was impressed with the range of issues on which it offered help and, in particular, its experience of transport issues.'

From website, to case-study downloads, to phone calls and then face-to-face meetings with an EST account manager, followed by a green fleet review paid for by the trust - 'that's how we got started. It was all very easy and efficient.' What wasn't so comfortable was the spotlight that the EST review turned on the group's lack of fleet management information.

'The EST needed to study our figures covering petrol consumption, mileage and so forth,' Browning recalls. 'I was surprised to discover that we just didn't collate and analyse such information. The only thing we really noticed were the increasing fuel bills going into our accounts department. That was the first and probably the most important lesson we learned from the EST: what you don't measure, you don't monitor.'

McNaughton Measures results
Browning can now call up spreadsheets displaying facts and figures for every car in the fleet; the miles-per-gallon achieved, individual and combined carbon emissions; the number of petrol station stops per month, the price paid at the pumps and the average cost per mile - all with comparisons to previous periods. The first key policy change was the insistence that any new vehicles under the company's car ownership scheme had to be capable of a minimum of 37mpg (due to rise to 42 mpg for 2008/9) and driven by diesel, biofuel or hybrid combinations.To date, over 70 vehicles have been changed and the fleet is now 60% diesel-driven.

In addition, McNaughton Group produced an annually-updated, in-house drivers' guide with 30 EST-inspired points aimed at promoting safer, greener and cheaper driving, as well as reporting the previous year's fleet performance statistics.

The combined result of these efforts? An initial average increase of 20 per cent in the fuel efficiency of petrol cars - up from 25 to over 30 miles per gallon. An average increase of 31 per cent in the fuel efficiency of diesel cars - up from 30 to over 39 miles per gallon. Total business mileage reduced by 107,000 miles - despite an increase in the fleet size from 214 to 231 vehicles.

This means that in 2006/7 the company saved more than £21,000 in annual fuel costs - 'something for which we have to thank the Energy Saving Trust,' says McNaughton Group financial director Ian Pinks - as well as an estimated 138 tonnes of CO2 emissions, based on EST calculations. Current figures show car fuel costs were further reduced by more than £86,000 - implying a fall in fuel expenditure of up to £2,500 per car - and an estimated 245 tonnes of CO2 emissions cut in 2007/8.

McNaughton Group was the runner- up in last year's Fleet Hero awards business mileage category. 'We were delighted to have been nominated and with the fleet's continued improvements last year we'll certainly be entering again this year,' says Browning.

Commercial cuts carbon

Another firm recognised by the EST for its emissions-reduction efforts was Gloucestershire- based office solutions company the Commercial Group, the largest independently-owned office services company in the UK and one of the first of its kind to become (in October 2006) certified as carbon neutral. In February 2007 the company embarked on an ambitious three-year plan to reduce its total annual emissions of 1,078 tonnes of greenhouse gases by 75%.

Accomplishing that means tackling its fleet of 54 company cars, 12 vans and 13 grey-fleet vehicles. Including commuting mileage, transport accounted for an astonishing 89 per cent of Commercial Group's emissions.

'We had already taken robust steps regarding the fleet,' says Commercial Group environmental strategist Simon Graham. 'By installing vehicle trackers and through rigorous supply chain and delivery planning we were able to increase business, but reduce mileageper- vehicle so eliminating an entire van route which had carbon and cost economies elsewhere. But we knew there was more we could do and all our inquiries pointed towards the Energy Saving Trust as the organisation which could aid us.

'An initial audit followed by a green fleet review was able to verify the steps that we'd already taken and point out other areas and procedures where we could improve. For example, we hadn't considered our grey fleet. The review showed how to encourage company car drivers into low-emission vehicles and the need to establish fit-for-purpose pool cars; driver training; tackling the question of commute mileage and so on.'

Then there was the question of alternative fuels. 'It was a measure we'd been considering but our EST account manager was an expert in the field and encouraged us to push ahead,' Graham says. The Commercial Group's fleet was switched to run on waste vegetable oilbased biodiesel - 'it's not an agrofuel, but made from products that would have been destined for landfill,' Graham adds - and the company installed a bunkered fuelling station at its Cheltenham headquarters which is supplied with locallysourced biodiesel.

The group is aiming to cut over 700 tonnes of CO2 emissions from its fleet operations by 2010 and one year following its green fleet review, Graham says that it is already 'well on its way'.

'We have invested to do this. New vehicles and facilities cost money. But I believe that within the three-year programme we will see our investment back with a profit. I believe we will see savings to the tune of around £50,000 per annum.'

But it's the company's mission to become a socially responsible, environmentally- aware organisation that has driven this process, and within that, it's the 150 staff who have delivered. 'I'm delighted by our Fleet Hero award (runner- up in the fleet size 25-100 category).

It's a real accolade for all the employees who have really made this happen. It is a mark of what they've achieved and an encouragement to go further. I want to win next year, and so do they.'

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4 April 08
At the recent World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 20 sessions focused on environmental issues. In January a group of top guns at leading technology companies, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, and Intel Chairman Craig Barrett, met to talk about the possibility of coordinating their efforts to pursue more sustainable practices.

These recent examples of public steps by major corporations—surely in part marketing moves to seem committed to taking action in terms of 'green' practices and policies—align with some of the key points in three recent reports, published by leading research and management consulting firms Forrester Research, Gartner, and McKinsey.

The reports highlight the costs and savings possible from implementing green strategies— and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Containing a blend of ideas, warnings, and analyses, the reports are aimed at technology companies (and, in the case of the McKinsey report, governmental, private, and other groups) looking to develop more environmentally friendly policies—both within their own organizations and for their customers. Each document has its merits.

What Is Green IT?
The Gartner report, "Green IT: The New Industry Shock Wave," by analyst Simon Mingay, doesn't provide hard data but instead offers definitions and prescriptions that might prove helpful for companies looking to create a green IT strategy.

First, the report attempts to articulate just what "green IT" means. Mingay acknowledges there is no precise definition, before continuing with the jargon-rich, "optimal use of information and communication technology (ICT) for managing the environmental sustainability of enterprise operations and the supply chain, as well as that of its products, services, and resources, throughout their life cycles."

The report goes on to define the key words in Gartner's definition, from "optimal" to "life cycle." While long-winded, the details—too long to go into here—could aid executives looking to understand some of the buzzwords of the eco-friendly movement.

Measuring carbon emissions
Gartner's attention to detail, while helpful, can also get head-spinningly complex. The real value of the 10-page report is its list of practical tactics for greening a company's IT program. These include the development of environmental metrics, which Gartner recommends should focus on more than measuring a corporation's carbon footprint or making PR statements about ambitions to go carbon-neutral by a certain date, à la Google or Dell.

Instead, Gartner advises devising metrics to assess energy use, material selection, supply chain compliance, and staff engagement—as well as carbon footprints. The report doesn't say what a company should do with these measurements, but the guidelines could prove helpful for those starting from scratch in terms of creating greener IT practices. And the lack of a "one-size-fit-all" prescription indicates companies should find sustainable actions that are appropriate and practical. There are also simple, take-action-now suggestions, such as purchasing devices with eco-labels including the new Energy Star 4 label.

"Green Progress in Enterprise IT" was published by Forrester in December, 2007. The report features data from an October, 2007, survey of 130 executives in charge of IT operations and procurement at a variety of unnamed U.S., Canadian, and European companies.

Environmental awareness soaring

The report is short—only seven pages—and its value is found primarily in comparison with data from a similar survey of 124 respondents conducted just six months before. While the earlier report did indicate that participants included large corporations such as Advanced Micro Devices, Cisco Systems Dell, IBM, Intel and HP. The more recent report did not disclose details on the types of corporations surveyed. The companies were not the same group approached in April, according to a Forrester spokesman, so readers should be aware that the later report's portrayal of a direct comparison between the data is not entirely accurate.

But all companies were from the technology industry, and in the six months between the two surveys, there were marked differences between the executives' assessment of green IT activities. For example, 38% of those surveyed by Forrester in October said their companies were following "environmental criteria" when evaluating and purchasing IT equipment. That's up 13% points since the April, 2007, survey. And 29% of respondents said they had "high awareness" of whether their potential IT purchases were designed or marketed as environmentally friendly, up 14 points from April's survey (57% of respondents in both reports said they had "limited awareness" on this issue).

Still, in the December report, only 15% of the respondents said their companies had a specific strategy for buying and using greener IT devices or engaging in other environmentally friendly activities relating to IT. And only 25% said their companies were actively creating a plan to do so. While 22% said their corporations had absolutely no intention of buying greener IT, 39% said even though there was no environmental policy in place, their companies would consider implementing one. On this point, Forrester doesn't provide comparative data for the April survey, which would have been helpful to further gauge how corporations are altering their behavior and policies regarding green IT.

Whereas Forrester and Gartner's reports concentrated on green IT, the McKinsey report focuses on a broader sense of energy efficiency, to include office buildings as well as devices and products. The authors argue that implementing such energy efficiencies could offset 85% of projected energy demands by 2030. That's considerably more impact than increasing fuel efficiency in vehicles, replacing industrial equipment and industrial processes that are not energy efficient, planting forests and improving soil, or shifting toward renewable energy sources. Citing projections from the Energy Dept., the report's authors state that overall energy use in commercial environments is predicted to rise at 1.6% each year for the next 22 years. The energy used in offices full of PCs and power-guzzling devices is expected to grow at twice that rate.

What each of the three reports share is statistics that make it clear reducing expenses is the leading reason corporations are seeking more eco-friendly practices. Forrester's report, for instance, states that 55% of those surveyed see reducing their energy-related operating expenses as the main reason for pursuing more sustainable IT operations—above "doing the right thing for the environment," the top motivator for 50% of those polled. In the Gartner report the authors estimate that "potential power cost and CO2 emission reductions of 50% are available" by better managing the power usage of PCs, monitors, and printers—for instance, simply encouraging employees to turn them off.

Going green cuts cost

And the McKinsey document, helpful as a macro-view of how the U.S. can adopt more environmentally friendly practices, concludes that corporations, governments, and individuals alike can slash greenhouse emissions 50% from projected levels in 2030 by using technologies that already exist—as well as those in the pipeline. The report also says 40% of the recommended practices would save companies and organizations money too.

In other words, going green can mean dollars saved—clearly a motivating factor for the tech companies already pushing for more earth-saving IT policies, not to mention for those corporations outside the realm of tech that look at such reports to gauge how policies are evolving—and how to emulate them.

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23 Mar 08
Climate change has been billed as the biggest, most urgent challenge facing the world this century; it also presents each individual consumer with a number of complex choic

Research by Starcom MediaVest Group reveals the latest insights on the dynamics of attitudinal change, explains why brands who lead consumer behaviour will win their support and loyalty, and identifies the moments at which people are most receptive to green and ethical messaging.

All consumers are on a green adoption curve, albeit travelling at different speeds. Four types of consumer were identified according to what they do for the environment rather than how they think: the Advocates, the Abiders, the Disciples and the Detached.

Advocates, comprise 10% of the population and are highly motivated - the only group of people who regularly campaign, blog and boycott. They are often uncompromising in their attitudes and can be intolerant of those with less passionate views.

Abiders make up 24% of adults; they are positive without being political; they aspire to being greener and more ethical, often seeing it as a signifier of social status.

Disciples are the majority of the population at 41%. They tend to be more green than ethical and they feel that they ought to get more involved but are often not sure how to. They are happier to defer to sources of authority rather than actively seek information and are particularly in need of leadership from brands.

The Detached, 25% of the population, are more apathetic than actively anti-green, but have nevertheless formed a powerful set of barriers to adoption.

Demographically, attitudinally and in terms of media usage and participation, these consumer groups can significantly differ. For example, 28% of Advocates read blogs or take part in discussion forums compared to 9% of Abiders. This limits communication between groups, but more importantly cultural factors can restrict the trickledown of influence.

Usually we see word of mouth as more important than media as an influencer of behaviour, but with green or ethical issues the opposite is often true. Only one in six Disciples - the majority of the "involved" population - have regular conversations, and over two-thirds say the media is more influential than their friends.

This means that brand communication should be weighted toward pinpointing a target audience, rather than trying to influence the influencers. An influential green and ethical opinion leader within each social group just doesn't exist.

The exaggerated influence of media on all segments can present problems for brands. People are willing to defer to expert opinion filtered through the media, which is seen as more of a neutral ally. Where the media challenges brands (as with the recent Channel 4's food fight programming), brands must be prepared to take on the recommended challenges. Simultaneously, building positive word of mouth can help brands to harness their agenda and tackle negative media coverage.

Brand leadership by example
To earn and protect consumer trust it is important that brands lead by example in affecting their customers' behaviour change. Brands are expected to take responsibility - 67% of respondents expect brands to take responsibility for promoting green and ethical purchasing, over and above government action. Only a third of respondents expect brands to be 100% green and ethical, but increasingly brands are being held responsible for making choices on behalf of their customers. Two brand initiatives that have done this - Sainsbury's decision to sell only fairtrade bananas and M&S's Plan A campaign - were cited in the study.

Taking a lead means particular care is required when communicating green and ethical credentials. Irrespective of content or tone, consumers believe that serious issues underpin green or ethical communication, and therefore, brands should avoid communicating in media and environments where consumers expect to enjoy their leisure time. Instead brands should use media where consumers expect stimulation or are seeking information.

Brands should take a lead and contribute to solutions on green issues, share a vision and bring consumers on the journey towards it, strike partnerships and work with other bodies for mutual benefit, and finally arm consumers, in order to help them justify decisions to themselves.

Not only that, but brands should always answer the "what's in it for me?" question from consumers - brands need to show how their customers are also benefiting. The study also shows that they should not expect to borrow values from ethical media - that right must be earned in the eyes of consumers. Neither should they fake ethical grassroots as it is easy for customers to spot manufactured buzz, and messages work better in environments where people are in an active frame of mind.

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8 March 08
Next time you're in a shoe store, pick up a pair of clogs or leather walking shoes from Timberland (TBL). Inside, right by the heel, you'll find a single number that tells you how "green" the shoe is. This number is explained in a card in the shoe box that provides a 0-to-10 carbon rating. A zero means less than 2.5 kilograms of carbon and other greenhouse gases were emitted when the shoe was produced and shipped. And a 10? That's a whopping 100 kg, roughly equal to the carbon released if you drive a car 240 miles.

There's a simple premise behind the new label. Our everyday activities, whether making pancakes or jetting across the sky, are linked to the combustion of fuel, which releases gases that contribute to global warming.

Timberland believes climate-conscious shoppers will buy shoes that help them cut their carbon count. And those same customers will feel more loyal to the brand because Timberland respects their wishes.

Sixty different Timberland products sport such numbers. They reflect both the "carbon footprint" of the shoes and other factors, such as the quantities of harmful chemicals used to make them. By 2010, Timberland plans to put the labels on all its shoes and clothing, and others companies are set to follow its lead. The goal, says Timberland CEO Jeffrey Swartz, is "to arm consumers with as much information as we can."

How will consumers respond?
But will shoppers really be able to interpret such information? And even if the tags catch on, will they make a difference in reducing greenhouse gases?

Experts are divided on these questions. Climate scholars point out that it's almost impossible to distill into a single number the intricacies of carbon chemistry, manufacturing processes, supply chains—and how they all affect global warming. And the very idea of doing so is controversial.

Last spring, Britain-based Tesco, the world's third-largest retailer, announced plans to make public how much carbon is released in the production, transport, and consumption of all 70,000 products on its supermarket shelves. The plan immediately drew howls of protests from manufacturers, who thought the burden of measuring emissions would land on their shoulders.

Global environmental groups declared labels a distraction from more important corporate efforts to improve energy efficiency. Shoppers, meanwhile, seemed confused by the first such tags that appeared on store shelves, except when they were part of a larger education campaign. "It requires leadership, commitment, and pressure to make something like this happen," says Edgar Blanco, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has studied carbon labels. "The truth is, no one knows how to educate consumers about this, or how it will work."

The skeptics certainly have a point. Yet many shoppers are eager to understand how their own activities affect the environment. In a survey last summer by AccountAbility, a nonprofit that advises corporations and governments on sustainable business practices, nearly half of 2,734 U.S. and British consumers polled said they wanted to know which products caused the least harm.

The pioneering players
Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy pushed carbon labels into the public spotlight in January, 2007, when he talked about labeling everything sold in its Wal-Mart  -like stores, from bags of parsley to flat-panel TVs. "Customers tell us they want our help to do more in the fight against climate change," Leahy said in a speech announcing the plan.

The idea was that the solitary numbers on the labels would make it easy for shoppers to compare products. In fact, each number represents a bewildering maze of "inputs," such as how much fertilizer must be produced and spread to grow a bunch of parsley, how much gasoline is used to transport it from the farm, and the electricity required to make the plastic packages.

Companies have different ideas about how to present this information. Walkers, a unit of PepsiCo took an approach similar to Tesco's. Acting on its own, it put a simple label on its 35-gram bags of cheese and onion potato chips that says "75 grams of CO₂." Boots, Britain's largest pharmacy chain, took a different tack last summer. Experimenting with labels on its Botanics shampoo, it used signs in its stores to provide the explanation—much as Timberland relies on fact sheets in the shoe box.

Pioneers like Tesco and Boots understand they're in the midst of a Europewide crackdown on greenhouse gas emissions, and that if they don't act on reducing carbon, they could get slammed with punitive regulations. Since 2005 major carbon emitters such as power plants and oil refineries within the European Union have been forced to curtail greenhouse gases.

This summer a climate change bill is expected to be signed into law, making Britain the first country in the world to introduce legally binding CO₂ reduction targets. The new law, aimed at lowering Britain's emissions 20% by 2010, will extend the cap on carbon to large, non-energy-intensive businesses such as retailers, hotel chains, and banks. Retailer Marks & Spencer, for one, has an ambitious plan to become carbon-neutral and send zero waste to landfills by 2012.

Carbon labels were a logical outgrowth of the crackdown on greenhouse gases, which is also playing out in Washington and many state capitals. Timberland, for example, is pushing other shoemakers to agree on an industry standard. But companies heading down this path might learn from the challenges encountered by the pioneers.

The highest hurdle is simply obtaining an accurate carbon count on different goods, a laborious process that may initially cost $10,000 or more per item. In most countries, each manufacturer figures out for itself how to gather the data that become the number on the label. Britain is trying to hash out a national standard for measuring the greenhouse gas associated with each product and service, working with the Carbon Trust, a government-funded nonprofit. That should bring down the cost of counting carbon over time; the standard should be ready by June.

Labelling labour
Even with a standard, counting can involve mind-boggling complexity. Unilever, a top supplier of household products to Tesco, operates 260 factories in 70 countries and works with more than 10,000 subcontractors. With a supply chain like that, even labeling a line of packaged noodles is a chore. Say Unilever decides to shift production of the noodles from Poland to South Wales to save money. Because of fuel consumption and other factors, that change has a big impact on the carbon tally, even though the same recipe is used.

Unilever worries that Tesco may ask it to recalculate the carbon footprint for such products each time it moves production, which might be as often as once a week. If asked, "we couldn't do it," says Gavin Neath, Unilever's senior vice-president for global corporate responsibility. "Our supply chain is constantly changing." Tesco admits there are difficulties to work out. Says David North, Tesco's director of government affairs: "We have to bring suppliers with us on this journey. It is early days."

Once the labels are in place, companies find, it's hard to tell if consumers get the point. In a survey PepsiCo's Walkers commissioned from researchers Populus, half of the 1,000 people interviewed said they were more likely to buy a product with a carbon label. But such numbers, while well-intended, may not convey much. "What does it mean to say a bag of chips contains 75 grams of carbon?" asks Steve Howard, CEO of the Climate Group in London. "I have a PhD in environmental physics, and it doesn't mean a thing to me."

Diversions?
There's another complication in labeling products: By focusing consumers' attention on this one issue, the retailer risks undercutting other store programs that are also socially responsible. When Tesco unveiled its carbon program, as an interim step it put little airplane stickers on products that were air-freighted, to alert shoppers that more fuel was burned in transport than for goods shipped by boat or truck. CEO Leahy's announcement prompted protests from governments of developing countries, including Uganda and Kenya, which felt Tesco's plans unfairly punished producers there. "The moment consumers looked at this sticker, they would stigmatize those products," says Abraham Barno, agricultural attaché at Kenya's embassy in Britain. Tesco has promised to work with developing countries to promote their products.

Demonizing imports while favoring locally grown food is, in any case, overly simplistic, argues Hilary Benn, Britain's environment minister. Studies have shown that Britain's local produce has a large carbon footprint because of the country's heavy reliance on fertilizer. Manufacturing that fertilizer takes far more energy than what's consumed on a small African farm. And the disparity persists even when you factor in the jet fuel burned to bring the vegetables to Britain. One study estimated that a consumer boycott of air-freighted African produce would reduce Britain's total emissions by less than 0.1%. "We need to cut our huge carbon footprint, not force Africa to cut its tiny one," says Benn.

Big benefits long term
Despite the controversy surrounding labeling, and the challenges in counting the carbon, defenders, including PepsiCo, say there are big side benefits. In times of $100-per-barrel oil, most companies want to be more energy-efficient, and calculating a carbon footprint is one of the best ways to find "hot spots" where energy is wasted in the production and distribution network.

Retailers such as Tesco and Boots say they'll continue to experiment with carbon labels and reap whatever rewards they bring. Some are unexpected. Last year, Boots ran a detailed, two-month analysis on the carbon footprint of its shampoos, including the carbon emitted during both production and use of the shampoo. Boots found it could reduce the production footprint by 20% when it bottled the soap in recycled plastic and made a few other packaging and transportation tweaks. But the biggest component in the overall carbon count, Boots discovered, was the amount of hot water people used during their showers. Last summer it posted signs in 250 of its stores. If you really care about your carbon footprint, the message said, use cooler water when you wash your hair.

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Gore's $100M+ carbon cutting campaign

Can a big ad campaign turn awareness into action?

Expect to see television commercials, newspaper spreads and Internet ads popping up in a few months time. Funded by donations and proceeds from Gore's 2006 "An Inconvenient Truth," the campaign will focus on convincing people that they can do something about global warming.

We have the technology to cut carbon
"It's about communicating the urgency and solvability of the climate crises," said Brian Hardwick, a spokesman for the Alliance for Climate Change, an environmental group founded and chaired by Gore. "So [people] will demand the kind of change we need."

The campaign won't focus solely on energy. It will most likely also address other factors, from deforestation to methane from cows, that contribute to global warming. But carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas, and most of the carbon dioxide emissions generated by humans come from burning fossil fuels.

The ads won't endorse any specific legislation in Congress - such as bills to raise fuel economy standards, cap carbon emissions or require utilities to buy a certain percentage of renewable power.

Rather, it will attempt to convince people that global warming is not an unstoppable phenomenon that is now out of their control. It will aim to convince people we have the technology and the ability to avoid global warming and the disasters that scientists say it will create, like crop-killing droughts, city-destroying floods. The hope is to motivate people to pressure their political and social leaders to make the necessary policy changes. "We have all the answers we need," said Hardwick. We want to "reframe the issue as an opportunity, not a sacrifice."

Make the ads personable
"It's a big purchase, people will see it," said Matt Creamer, editor-at-large at the industry journal Advertising Age, although he added that even $200 million was small compared to some big corporate campaigns, which can cost as much as $1 billion.

How small business can slow global warming
He pointed to the rationing drive during WWII, which gave people specific instructions on how to conserve. "You have to communicate exactly what to do," he said. "Give me the language I need to explain exactly why I'm not [driving over] for Thanksgiving."

It might be necessary to go after people's pride, much the way the "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign got people thinking that littering was somehow un-Texan, said Sue Alessandri, a professor at Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications."It'll have to almost associate using energy with a character flaw, something that makes it very personal," said Alessandri.

Recent polls show 92% of the American public supports raising vehicle fuel efficiency standards, and 64% would pay a higher gas tax if the money went towards renewable fuel research, said Kateri Callahan, president of the Alliance to Save Energy.

Callahan credited the public support partly to education, outreach, and other publicity campaigns.  She said the Alliance has been trying to raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards for the last 10 years, but it was only this year that Congress is seriously considering a bill along those lines."Now we can do it," said Callahan. "The political will is there, the constituents are there."

Editor's Comment
Congratulations to Al Gore on a remarkable year of recognition. We feel he has done a remarkable job in bringing the problem of global warming to everyone's attention.

As the UK has proven…you can cut costs and cut carbon emissions at the same time. The UK's productivity will have increased by 50% between 1990 and year 2010. Meanwhile carbon emissions will have been cut by 25%.

Now he is taking the initiative again a nd putting money where his mouth is. Marketing the issues is definitely the way forward.

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With "carbon offsetting," individuals and companies can fund green projects. Feel-good fad or dedicated drive?

19 Sep 07
It has never been so chic to be eco-friendly. Former U.S. Vice-President and 2000's unsuccessful Presidential candidate Al Gore nabbed two Academy Awards on Feb. 25 for his documentary on global warming. Politicians are falling over themselves to establish their "green credentials," and banks are plowing money into developing trading platforms for carbon credits, or the right to emit specified amounts of greenhouse gases.

Now, awareness of global warming and climate change is starting to migrate from governments and big corporations down to individual consumers. The buzzword of the moment is "carbon offsetting," or compensating for the environmental impact of activities—whether driving a car, taking a flight, or shopping at a department store.

Nowhere is this popular movement more pronounced than in the UK, where carbon neutrality has become the rage. Worried that your 4x4/SUV is polluting the environment? No problem: Just pay the CarbonNeutral Co., Climate Care, Global Cool, or any number of other "carbon offset providers" a fee to fund a hydroelectric program, tree planting, or wind power program, and you can put your mind at ease.

Not Simply Words Now
There are even Web sites, such as www.carbonfootprint.com, that let people calculate the environmental impact of their lifestyles and make monetary contributions to eco-friendly projects to neutralize the effect.

Carbon neutrality also is becoming a catchphrase for image-conscious companies. On Jan. 15, for instance, venerable British retailer Marks & Spencer committed to becoming carbon-neutral within five years by cutting energy use, reducing carbon dioxide emissions from its delivery trucks, and even using less air freight. As a last resort, it will buy carbon credits to offset lingering environmental impacts.

"Marks & Spencer is taking a leadership role, very much in keeping with its image" says Rita Clifton, the London-based chairman of branding consultancy Interbrand. Unlike in the 1990s, she says, when companies "jumped on the bandwagon and said symbolic things about the environment," today they "are backing up their words with actions."

Real Benefits?
The same goes for banking and financial-services giant HSBC which has adopted offsetting practices and went carbon-neutral last year. So, too, Rupert Murdoch-owned broadcaster BSkyB which went carbon neutral in 2006. The media company mitigates its CO₂ emissions by funding a hydroelectric project in Bulgaria and a wind farm in New Zealand.

Even airlines, whose environmental impact is becoming a growing public concern, are trying to polish their green credentials. New transatlantic business carrier Silverjet, which debuted in January, includes in the price of each ticket a mandatory carbon offset contribution. Customers can choose to reinvest earned "Carbon Points" into a number of climate-friendly projects around the world in partnership with the CarbonNeutral Co.

Such moves sometimes have a genuine environmental benefit, but they're also designed to attract eco-conscious customers. And that, invariably, prompts questions over whether carbon offsetting is just a feel-good fad—the eco-equivalent, say, of jogging for a half-hour to compensate for eating a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

No Standards Yet
Indeed, some environmentalists have their reservations. Friends of the Earth, for instance, says it does not advocate carbon offsetting because widespread use of the tactic could shift focus away from developing alternative low-carbon technologies. "Offsetting looks like a way to carry on with the polluting activity because you can buy your way out of the problem," the group says. Friends of the Earth also is concerned about the environmental credibility of many of the offset projects, which often are unaudited.

Also, with carbon offset schemes, it's difficult to calculate the actual damage caused by polluting activities. The amount of carbon emitted by an airplane, for instance, varies depending on its age, the number of passengers on board, and the route taken, among other factors. The price of carbon offsetting also varies widely among intermediaries. The CarbonNeutral Co., for example, calculates it costs $34.78 to offset the emissions for a round-trip flight from London to Los Angeles, while rival Climate Care puts the price at $37.08.

Sue Welland, who co-founded the CarbonNeutral Co. 10 years ago, originally as Future Forests, concedes there's potential for confusion about how the "virtual product" served up by offset providers is analyzed and measured. To help solve such questions, Britain's Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs Dept. plans to come out later this year with a set of standards for the types of carbon credits that can be used in carbon offsets.

Little Impact So Far
Even then, doubts may linger about the integrity of independent carbon offset providers or the validity of corporate carbon neutrality claims. To assuage such concerns, the CarbonNeutral Co. is audited quarterly by consultancy KPMG and another independent group. But many offset providers lack such controls. The lack of standards and audits "is an issue because we don't want anything to shake business or consumer confidence in carbon offsetting," CarbonNeutral's Welland says.

And for all the visibility carbon offsetting has attained, it may not amount to much as long as it's largely voluntary. British Airways for instance, introduced a consumer-focused scheme on its Web site 18 months ago that lets passengers calculate how much they need to pay to make their flight carbon neutral. The airline uses British intermediary Climate Care to spend the money on sustainable development projects.

But customer uptake, at less than 1% of passengers, has "not been as high as we would have anticipated," says company spokesman Paul Marston. The airline is now trying to increase the visibility of the program on its Web site, where it may get lost amid special offers and other promotions.

The ultimate lesson of BA's experience may be that for carbon offsetting to have a meaningful impact on the environment, it can't rely on the sometimes fickle awareness of consumers. Rather, the cost of carbon—like that of taxes or health benefits—has to be built into the price and treated as a cost of doing business.

Editor's Comment
There are many cynical observers about trying to discredit moves by Tesco's, M&S and BA towards carbon neutrality. Is it 'greenwash' or a genuine long term commitment. We believe most carbon cutting projects are genuine and results prove that cutting carbon emissions effectively cuts costs in parallel.

For example, the UK is forecast to achieve a 50% improvement in productivity between 1990 and 2010….meanwhile, it will have cut carbon emissions by 25%...progress has gone hand in hand.

In the OP industry, Staples leads the way followed closely by Office Depot in its commitment to cut carbon emissions; Corporate Express have quietly been getting on with the 'greening' of it's processes; and Commercial Group in the UK has just announced a 10% reduction in it's carbon footprint.

These are all profitable pioneers and their work should be celebrated and supported by all manufacturers, wholesalers and the dealer networks. Carbon neutrality is not a fad it's a megatrend….get involved.

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Eco-friendly designed offices
Chicago based Christy Webber Landscapes 'LEED' the way

12 Aug 07
It's not so easy to find storage space for 75 trucks, plus a whole mess of leaf blowers, trimmers, and other equipment. But that, in addition to work and office space, was exactly what Webber needed for her 50-person landscaping business, Christy Webber Landscapes. She had been leasing space in several locations scattered across Chicago's West Side ever since founding her company in 1990. Eight years later, with 750 clients ranging from suburban homeowners to O'Hare International Airport, she started looking for a more efficient central office and storage area.

In 2003 city officials were seeking proposals to develop a derelict site on the West Side. They let Webber know they'd be interested in selling the site to her if she would take over its development.

Webber submitted a plan for an eco-industrial park, with her company as lead tenant. The city agreed, suggesting that Webber put up a green building there as her headquarters. In 2005 Webber bought 12.5 acres from the city for $700,000, with the stipulation that the city will get some of the proceeds from the site's further development. Then she hired Chicago architects Farr Associates, which specializes in sustainable design.

Farr designed a building that meets LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards at the Gold or Platinum level. Maple trees, grasses, and juniper bushes are planted on the roof for insulation, stormwater management, and to help extend the life of the roof. Rainwater collects in a central area, where it is pumped into trucks Webber's company uses to water nursery plants. Webber hopes the building will meet a significant percentage of its energy needs with its wind-powered turbine and solar water heater.

The 18,000-square-foot building, completed in December 2006, cost $3.2 million, about 20% more than a traditional structure would have. Webber expects the green features to pay for themselves in energy savings in eight years. And eco-thinking now pervades company planning: Converting trucks to biodiesel is on the agenda, as is a composting facility.

The building has become a showpiece for potential clients, government officials, activists, and others interested in becoming tenants of the eco-park. "This was a huge expense, maybe more than what we needed," Webber says. "But it will come back to us tenfold in goodwill."

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How to avoid
'green marketing' myopia
The 'what's-in-it-for-me' emotion must be satisfied

28 Jun 07
In 1994, Philips launched "EarthLight," an energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb with a clumsy shape that was incompatible with most conventional lamps; it had a confusing package—and a $15 price tag compared with 75 cents for the incandescent bulbs. Sales languished.

Smartly, Philips reintroduced the product in 2000 under the name "Marathon,"
to emphasize the bulb's five-year life.

A new design offered the look and versatility of incandescent bulbs. Marketing communications promised $20 in cost savings over the life of the bulb, and an Energy Star seal emblazoned on a redesigned package provided credibility. This new value proposition triggered sales growth of 12% in a flat market. Philips's experience provides a valuable lesson in how to avoid the common pitfall of "green marketing myopia."

While noble, the environmental positioning of the original EarthLight product appealed to only the deepest green of consumers. Inevitably, mainstream consumers ask, "If I use 'green' products, what's in it for me?" In practice, green appeals aren't likely to attract mainstream consumers unless they also offer a desirable benefit such as cost-savings or improved product performance.

To avoid green marketing myopia, marketers must fulfill consumer needs and interests beyond environmental requirements.

In 1960, Theodore Levitt introduced the concept of "marketing myopia" in a famous Harvard Business Review article that is still studied by business students. In it, he characterized the common pitfall of companies' tunnel focus on "managing products" (i.e., product features, functions, and efficient production) rather than "meeting customers' needs" (i.e., adapting to consumer expectations, anticipating future desires).

Levitt warned that a corporate preoccupation with products rather than consumer needs was doomed to failure because consumers select products and new innovations that offer benefits they desire.

Similarly, many green products have failed because of marketers' myopic focus on their products' "greenness" over the broader expectations of consumers or other market players (such as regulators or activists).

Another example: In 1994 Whirlpool launched the "Energy Wise" refrigerator, the first cooler free of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) chemicals and more efficient than the US Department of Energy's highest standard by 30%.

For its innovation, Whirlpool won the "Golden Carrot," a $30 million award package of consumer rebates from the Super-Efficient Refrigerator Program, sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council and funded by 24 electric utilities.

Unfortunately, sales languished because the CFC-free benefit and energy-savings did not offset its $100-$150 price premium, particularly in markets outside the rebate program, and the refrigerators didn't offer additional features or new styles that consumers desired.

Green marketing myopia can also occur when products fail to provide credible environmental benefits. Introduced in 1989, packages for Mobil's Hefty photodegradable trash bags prominently displayed the term "degradable," with the explanation that a special ingredient promoted its decomposition into harmless particles in landfills, "activated by exposure to the elements" such as sun and rain.

Because most garbage is buried in landfills allowing limited exposure to the elements, the claim enraged environmentalists. Ultimately, seven state attorneys general sued Mobil on charges of deceptive advertising and consumer fraud, and the company withdrew the product from the market.

Green product fiascos such as Energy Wise and Hefty bags have convinced many consumers to associate green products with inconvenience, higher costs, and lower performance. However, ironically, many consumers are in fact buying green products, sometimes at a higher price! How to explain this?

When consumers are convinced of "non-green" benefits, they are more inclined to adopt green products (whether promoted as such or not). The Marathon bulbs and widely successful Toyota Prius are two outstanding examples. Others are energy-saving Tide Coldwater laundry detergent, nontoxic Method cleaning products, recycled paper products, "shade grown" coffees, and organic food.

Add these to the list: super energy-efficient appliances that bear the US EPA's "Energy Star" label, super energy- and resource-efficient "healthy" building products for LEED certified buildings, passive solar heating, and heat reflective windows, certified sustainably harvested lumber, natural fertilizers, and mold-resistant drywall.

1. Consumer value positioning
2. Calibration of consumer knowledge
3. Credibility of product claims

Consumer Value Positioning

• Design environmental products to perform as well as (or better than) alternatives.
• Promote and deliver the consumer-desired value of environmental products and target relevant consumer market segments (e.g., target money savings benefits to cost-conscious consumers).
• Broaden mainstream appeal by bundling (or adding) consumer-desired value into environmental products (such as fixed pricing for subscribers of renewable energy).

Calibration of Consumer Knowledge

• Educate consumers with marketing messages that connect environmental product attributes with desired consumer value (for example, "pesticide-free produce is healthier," "energy-efficiency saves money," or "solar power is convenient").
• Frame environmental product attributes as "solutions" for consumer needs, for example, "rechargeable batteries offer longer performance." With indoor air quality a growing concern and fumes from paints, carpets, and furniture now linked to headaches, eye, nose, and throat irritation, dizziness, and fatigue, Sherwin Williams offers "Harmony," a line of interior paints that is low-odor, zero-VOC, and silica-free.

• Create engaging and educational Web sites about environmental products' desired value: e.g., Tide Coldwater's interactive Web site allows visitors to calculate their likely annual money savings based on their laundry habits, utility source (gas or electricity), and ZIP code location.

Credibility of Product Claims

• Make sure that environmental product and consumer claims are specific, meaningful, and qualified. Compare with comparable alternatives or likely usage scenarios. Recognizing the ambiguity of the term green, Toyota dismissed a slogan for Prius, "Drive Green, breathe Blue" in favor of "Less gas in. Less gasses out."

• Underscore credibility with product endorsements or eco-certifications from trustworthy third parties, and educate consumers about the meaning behind those endorsements and eco-certifications. Over 40 product categories can now bear the Energy Star seal.
• Encourage positive word of mouth via consumers' social and internet communication networks with compelling, interesting, or entertaining information about environmental products. Increasingly, consumers have grown skeptical of commercial messages, and they're turning to friends and peers for advice.
  
  The Internet, through email and its vast and accessible repository of information via Web sites, search engines, blogs, product-ratings sites, podcasts, and other digital platforms, has opened significant opportunities for tapping consumers' social and communication networks to diffuse credible "word-of-mouse" (buzz facilitated by the Internet) about green products.
  
  For example, the Web site for Tide's Coldwater Challenge includes a map of the United States so visitors may track and watch their personal influence spread when their friends request a free sample.

Note: This article is excerpted from "Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia: Ways to Improve Consumer Appeal for Environmentally Preferable Products" (PDF) originally published in Environment magazine, June 2006.
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For better….
for greener

'We're in this together' initiative by top UK brands

Extracts from interview with James Murdoch, BskyB chief

10 Jun 07
Many companies outside of the large polluters have thought for a long time that the challenges presented by catastrophic climate change are not about them.

A business focused on durable and meaningful customer loyalty needs to be on the same side as its customers, and in listening closely to our customers, it became increasingly clear that climate change was of concern to the many, not the few. Inside the Sky business we shared those concerns, so we responded.

Going carbon neutral
As well as a wide range of changes made to our own operations - for example buying power from renewable sources and using low-emission vehicles - we also felt there was an unmissable opportunity to amplify the impact of those changes many times over by supporting our customers' efforts to make green changes.

Last year we became the first media company in the UK to become carbon neutral. But, much more importantly, we have provided our customers with a range of practical steps that support and encourage them to make an individual contribution. For example, our latest Sky Plus and HD boxes now automatically put themselves "to sleep" when they need not be on. That feature alone will save 32,000 tonnes of CO2 this year - nearly as much as our entire organisational carbon footprint.

And here lies the challenge of business; to channel a passion for change in a way that also supports and inspires customers to do the same.

Hard truths about the climate challenge have a place in jolting people into awareness and a sense of real urgency. But solving the problem will also be about positive motivation on a long road to total victory. The accumulation of small victories, in all of our lives, will be a major contributor to this. This means that tackling climate change is an opportunity for consumer brands to find a new voice in encouraging meaningful engagement, helping drive momentum towards a tipping point where environmental awareness evolves into a mass consumer movement.

We're in this together

In addition to instilling a sense of vision and energy, we must also make it easy, affordable and desirable to do the right thing. One example is the We're In This Together initiative, in which eight major consumer brands - including Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sky and B&Q - have joined forces to help customers reduce their own energy use. These include simple measures that can be embraced by millions right now. These range from low-energy light bulbs, better deals for drivers of energy-efficient cars, affordable loft insulation, our own energy-efficient set-top boxes, and much more besides.

But ultimately low-carbon products need to be seen as inherently better that what's gone before, not simply greener. This shouldn't be a question of compromise. Rather, consumers should be motivated as much by their own self interest as they are by "doing the right thing". Take as an example the Eden Project's Sexy Green Car Show or the new electric Stealth motorcycle - these are examples of how to combine innovation in design with great execution in communications to deliver consumers products that aren't simply marketed as the "green option", but which excite and energise at a basic product benefit level.

If we are going to engage consumers at large in tackling climate change, then we are going to have to offer leadership of a different kind. This may involve communications that speak to their desires to have a positive role in society. But equally it could simply reflect the demand for products and services that are more innovative, attractive and of better value - and which also happen to be more environmentally minded. Better and greener should not be viewed as mutually exclusive.

The marketing industry, however, needs to be a driving force of this with both better messaging and creativity around the issue of energy efficiency. We must move away from the clichés of the rather apologetic "are you doing your bit?" to something much more aspirational - advertising that appeals to a sense of achievement and which encourages people to seek and demand change rather than react to it.

As in so many of the issues outlined above, the key to success for brands is not so much to react to change, to deal with it as it is done to you, but to bring change, to relish and thrive on change. The role for marketers has never been so compelling nor significant in delivering real and long-lasting social benefit.

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LEEDing to eco-friendly offices
How sustainable design in the US is
bringing the future office foundation

Extracts from Office Furniture & Design (OFDA April/May'07)

Many ordinances require that all public buildings comply with environmental design standards established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a coalition of building industry groups.  Many in the industry call it the "green design" revolution.

But "green design" is design that goes beyond being just efficient, attractive, on time and on budget. It is a design that cares about how such goals are achieved, about its effect on people and on the environment.

An environmentally responsible professional makes a commitment to constantly try to find ways to diminish excessive design impact on the world around us. It is also a smart way of doing business: sustainable design is the fastest growing segment of our industry, and BIFMA is anticipating that customer interest and demand for increasingly sustainable products will continue to grow.

GEEEN HISTORY
How did this segment grow so quickly within the industry? It wasn't that long ago that green design was considered a specialization within the industry, with only a few manufacturers and dealers even offering sustainable products.

All of that changed in November 2004 when the USGBC rolled out its Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for Commercial Interiors (CI), a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.

Although many in the architectural and engineering communities had been aware of the LEED New Construction program, the LEED-CI program suddenly offered the office furniture industry a way to distinguish themselves from the crowd. As the design community took a more active role in LEED certification, having products meet sustainability standards and showrooms that not only display that furniture, but also meet LEED certification themselves, they helped to make a compelling argument to use them as business partners.

COMMITMENT TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Now that the business sense of going green has been proven, it is difficult to find a manufacturer who has not made some type of commitment to developing this area further. In fact, most also have LEED certified showrooms that emphasize their dedication to the program.

In June 2006, Herman Miller's ( see chair mech pic below)New York City showroom (Office Furniture & Design, Vol.3, Issue 6) received the first LEED-CI Gold rating to be awarded in New York City.

"We want our customers to be inspired by this facility," said Ray Kennedy, Director of Corporate Merchandising, who oversees the development of Herman Miller's National Design Centers.

"This project has tremendous synergy with the environmental initiatives occurring in New York," said Rico Cedro, Director of Sustainable Design for architects Krueck and Sexton. "Carbon dioxide emissions and water conservation are issues of regional, city and state importance. We wanted the National Design Center (NDC) to demonstrate leadership in these areas."

Haworth (see Chicago showroom pic above) was one of the first companies to participate in a LEED-CI pilot project for their Chicago showroom. "It was a great manifestation of where the company was going, bringing in our dealers to be part of the effort, and where we could go as a group," stated Gary Scitthelm, vice president of global sales and marketing for Haworth. Today, Haworth has another LEED-Gold certified showroom in Los Angeles, CA, and two LEED-Gold applicants; one in Dallas, TX, and the other in Washington, DC (see page 14).

At The HON Company, commitment is also stated in a written policy for the public to see.  "Indoor air quality is not just part of a certification process, it's an important issue that we want to help our customers understand," said Mindy Billingsley, product business manager, The HON Company. "We are truly dedicated to providing our customers with safe, environmentally-friendly office furniture solutions."

SUSTAINABILITY AND THE DEALER
So how does the dealer fit into this quickly growing area of business? Front and center, of course. It is important that dealers are knowledgeable about LEED and certification programs in order to meet client needs. After all, a big part of being LEED-CI certified is documentation—something the dealer can provide.

"It is our hope that the dealer community is brought into the process early on to make the process more streamlined as far as LEED certification is concerned," stated Linda Sorrento, LEED program manager for CI at the USGBC.

There are also ways for dealers to partner with vendors to present clients with the best possible environmental solutions. Goodmans Interior Structures recently announced an exclusive local agreement with DIRTT Environmental Solutions to distribute the Canadian company's award-winning line of modular wall and floor systems throughout the Southwest.

"It's particularly important to us that DIRTT promotes sustainability by employing 'green' building materials and manufacturing processes that protect the environment," said Adam Goodman, president of Goodmans Interior Structures. "This is solidly in line with our commitment to working with environmentally conscious manufacturers, educating the design-build community about sustainable products and helping companies make environmentally sound choices."

Overall, it is up to office furniture dealers to work hand–in–hand with the design community to keep the momentum going on sustainable design. With the ingenuity of new designs and commitments from everyone in the industry, this "new" niche may become the gold standard for all offices in the future.

L E E D
As with any design specialty, green design needed its own standards. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based collection of national standards for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings and interiors. It has become increasingly recognized by professional designers as a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. Developed by USGBC, there are currently four available LEED standards: LEED-NC for new construction and major renovation projects; LEED-EB for existing building operations and maintenance; LEED-CI for commercial interiors projects; and LEED-CS for core and shell projects. USGBC also offers a comprehensive system of professional accreditation, training and practical resources.

What is it and What do I Need to Know About it?

When thinking about sustainable design, keep in mind the following:

·       Design flexible floor plans for multiple uses and easy future reconfiguration.

·       Arrange spaces to maximize the penetration of natural daylight and allows views to the outdoors from all  occupied spaces.

·       Anticipate future renovations and attempt to avoid them. Interior spaces are often renovated because they have become outdated, even though the materials are not worn. Discarded materials add unnecessarily to landfills.

·       Provide adequate space for inhabitants to recycle paper, glass, metals and plastics. Locate the recycling spaces in easy-to-use areas.

·       Specify carpeting manufactured from wool or recycled fibers. Consider woven carpeting with minimal backing material and avoid petroleum-based backing materials. ____________________________________________