A report in the Miami Herald notes that Interbrand’s recognition of Toyota’s green efforts goes beyond the Prius, its best-selling hybrid, and extends to “the company’s partnership with Tesla, Toyota’s company-wide environmental initiatives and energy efficiency programs as well.”

Joining Toyota in a Center-member sweep of the top three spots are 3M in second place followed by Siemens. According to the Miami Herald story, 3M earns plaudits in the report for “setting up an environmental policy in 1975, offering more eco-friendly brands to its customers and its energy management programs.” Siemens gets kudos for its energy-saving Green Buildings program and acquisition of renewable energy firms.

The four other Center members garnering spots in the top 10 list are HP (5), Honda (7), Dell (8) and Cisco (9).

The Best Global Green Brands report combines public perception of environmental sustainability performance with demonstration of that performance based on publicly available information and data. In a press release on the report, Interbrand states that “findings show that the strongest green brands consistently differentiate themselves and engage in green activities that consumers find relevant, as well as implement profitable green practices across their organization, from setting and executing environmental programs to effectively measuring and reporting their performance to the public.”

While the United Nations has officially declared water as one of the basic human rights, we still lack effective policies to protect this valuable resource for both people and companies. We have too many policies and regulations and too little coordination at federal and state levels. As Sally Yozell from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explained, there are 24 federal agencies and 140 laws regulating the oceans alone in the United States. A major step in the right direction was the establishment of the National Oceans Council and the signing of Executive Order 13547 by President Obama in 2010 to promote national ocean stewardship policy and better coordination among all federal agencies.

In the absence of effective policies on water, why should companies care and what should they do to protect this valuable resource? The pressures for more sustainable water resource management are growing every year – from increasing water-related costs, to water-related business disruptions, to changing expectations of stakeholders (e.g., water disclosure requests under the Climate Disclosure Project

Achieving water sustainability requires collaboration by government, business, NGOs and consumers. Much can be done today, as presented by David Brooks, senior adviser at Friends of Earth (FoE) Canada:

• Make ecological security an absolute criterion.
• Match quality of water to the use (e.g., you don’t need to use tap water on your lawns or to flush toilets).
• Plan backward – from the future to the present. How can 28 billion people live with the same water we have today?

FoE has done extensive analysis and found that Ontario can absorb industry growth for another 20 to 30 years without increasing demand, Nova Scotia can cut water use by 50 percent, urban water use can drop by 45 percent despite 50 percent growth in population, and new pulp and paper mills can cut unit water use by 95 percent.

Reducing water use is just one side of addressing water issues. The other is protecting our freshwater from numerous contaminants – more than 100,000 synthetic chemicals in manufacturing and products, contamination from personal care and cosmetics products, as well as pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants. This is an area where we still have limited knowledge but adopting precautionary measures is critical to ensuring clean water for future generations and long-term business growth.

Additional resources and steps that companies can take to address emerging water risks include:

• Measuring your company’s water impact (e.g., by using the Corporate Water Gauge tool developed by the Center for Sustainable Innovation.
• Assessing your company’s water-impact risks. The Global Environmental Management Initiative provides resources and tools on water sustainability, and presents “The Business Case for Pursuing Water Sustainability”.
• Reducing water use in manufacturing and operations (e.g., through recirculation, rainwater harvesting, or process modifications to reduce use).
• Educating consumers and empowering them to reduce water use, as Levi Strauss Co. has with its Levi’s WaterLess Jeans and “Care Tag for Our Planet” campaign.
• Educating employees and promoting sustainable water practices at home, similar to Wal-Mart’s Personal Sustainability Project.
• Engaging with government and NGOs to promote effective policies for water protection and conservation, as Coca-Cola did with its Community Water Partnership Program.

Seeking to eliminate the use of toxic chemicals in manufacturing and products in order to prevent the release of contaminants in the environment, including water.

The Clorox Company best known for making bleach and other cleaning products, launched its first CSR report in October 2010. The report was a result of a long journey to build an integrated CSR strategy that today is organized around five pillars: People, Products, Performance, Planet and Purpose. But what I found most exciting is the company’s commitment to developing “green” products and to becoming more open and transparent.

In 2008, Clorox launched its Green Works line of natural cleaners in response to an emerging demand from consumers for natural household cleaners. Its acquisition of Burt’s Bees was another indication of its interest in offering natural products. Clorox’s entrée into “green” showed them the importance of transparency. At the time, Clorox recognized there was consumer confusion of what “natural” really meant. That’s why, at launch, Clorox listed Green Works ingredients on product labels and on its web site.

Clorox applied this approach to product transparency to the rest of its cleaning, disinfecting and laundry products, and voluntarily disclosed the ingredients of its products online as a way to stay ahead of government regulations and industry peers. Clorox’s CSR team also collaborated with its R&D team to provide a user-friendly glossary of terms so that consumers were able to understand the function of each product ingredient.

According to the Center’s 2010 Profile of Practice study, just 23 percent of companies surveyed reported that R&D folks work with the CSR team. At Clorox, since product safety is an integral part of its CSR strategy, the CSR team works closely with the R&D group to understand and be able to report publicly on product ingredients and the human and environmental health safety processes of its products.

While Clorox’ first CSR report provides limited quantitative data, it follows the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework, meeting a GRI-checked application level of “B” and includes specific goals and targets. Its issuance demonstrates the company’s commitment to become more transparent and report on its progress toward CSR goals in the future.

The next step for Clorox and everyone interested in social responsibility and performance is to move toward integrated reporting where the CSR and financial report are integrated into one overall report that provides investors with critical information about long-term business risks and opportunities. With the formation of the International Integrated Reporting Committee in August 2010, the process for developing an integrated reporting framework had moved a step further. Recognizing this important development, Clorox made the decision to issue its first CSR report, titled “Be Well, Every Day,” at the same date it issued its annual financial report titled “Perform Well, Every Day”. “We felt it was important to establish a standalone corporate responsibility report since we had a significant amount of content and data to share,” said Kathryn Caulfield, vice president, Global Communications and Corporate Responsibility. “However, we issued our CR and financial annual reports simultaneously to demonstrate the integration of CR in our business.”

The EPA defines green chemistry (also known as sustainable chemistry) as “the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.” There are 12 principles of green chemistry such as prevention of waste, design for energy efficiency, and design for degradation and use of renewable feedstocks, among others. Through its Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards program, the EPA recognizes and promotes innovative chemical technologies that prevent pollution and have broad applicability in industry. Since 1996, many companies and other organizations have received the prestigious award. Among the 2010 award recipients honored for their collaborative innovations are Dow Chemical and BASF, Merck & Co. and Codexis, and Easel Biotechnologies LLC and the University of California at Los Angeles.

After some networking and informal discussions the New England Forum attendees broke into several focus groups to discuss specific aspects of green chemistry such as education, business models for green chemistry, examples of commercialization, and the role of investors, among others. The focus group on business, which I attended, included companies such as Church & Dwight, Dow Chemical, BAE Systems, Seventh Generation, ITW Plexus and Cytec Industries, among others, as well as regulators, educators and research organizations. Everyone agreed that there is a clear business case in applying green chemistry principles and several participants shared their success stories.

Berkeley Cue, founder and President of BWC Pharma Consulting LLC and formerly with Pfizer, told how implementing green chemistry principles saved the company $15 million annually and reduced pharmaceutical waste from 100 kilograms for each kilogram of drug developed to less than 10 kilograms for each kilogram of drug. Considering the timeframe to develop a new drug is seven to 10 years, the savings are significant. While the business case is clear, focus group attendees outlined some barriers to greater adoption of green chemistry such as the compliance-focused regulatory system, the lack of market demand, the lack of awareness among top executives, investors and new graduates, and the inertia faced when attempting to make a change.

The focus group addressed the question of how to turn these barriers into opportunities for business and others involved in green chemistry. Several main strategies were identified to work on in order to advance green chemistry strategies:

• Definition: Clearly defining green chemistry is and how it differs from sustainability;
• Education: Promoting greater awareness of green chemistry principles and success stories both among businesses and students;
• Communication: improving communication of success stories using social media, collaborations between business and academia and greater media involvement;
• Regulation and funding: improving the regulatory framework to eliminate barriers to innovation and provide more information about available funding from investors and government;
• R&D: Providing technical assistance and funding to boost further investments in R&D of green chemicals and processes.

With so much energy in the room, participants expressed strong interest in meeting again in the first quarter of 2011 and creating an online group to continue the conversation.  With its more than 350 corporate members and strategic location at the Carroll School of Management, the Center can play a key role in raising awareness about the benefits of green chemistry among companies and students and link them to advance education, collaboration and ultimately development of new talent and business strategies for a sustainable green future.

Sign up for the call by emailing csrinfo@timberland.com. Be sure to register by Sept. 24!

Hear podcasts from previous calls and see more details at http://earthkeeper.com/CSR/Stakeholder-Engagement-Calls.

At Cummins Inc. they found a solution not by making a choice but by facing a challenge.

On the occasion of the company’s 90^th anniversary in 2009, 62 teams of Cummins employees from 11 different countries accepted a challenge to develop projects to improve the environment in their community.

The projects ranged in sophistication from simple recycling efforts to complex carbon footprint reducing initiatives.  When all was said and done, the 62 projects conserved an estimated 538 tons of greenhouse gases, the equivalent of 54,000 gallons of gasoline.

Cummins is a Fortune 500 company that designs, manufactures, sells and services diesel engines and related technology around the world. With headquarters in Columbus, Ind., Cummins serves its customers through its network of 500 company-owned and independent distributor facilities and more than 5,200 dealer locations in over 190 countries and territories with 40,000 employees worldwide.  Cummins focuses its corporate responsibility efforts on three priority areas: the environment, education and social justice/improving the human condition. The 62 projects that were part of the company’s 90^th Anniversary Environmental Challenge managed to hit every priority.

Here’s a sample of how:

• In India, the Kolha Rural Electrification team developed a way to power a rural village of 65 households by using Cummins generator sets running on locally available renewable energy — vegetable oil — produced from the Pongamia trees. The system at Kolha also holds the potential to create demand for greater quantities of vegetable oil for sale, creating an additional income source for villagers. The plan is to replicate this project in collaboration with the government in many remote Indian villages. 
• In Kent, England, the Inspire Orchard Project turned a 300-year-old disused orchard into a sensory and teaching garden for 120, disabled, deaf students. When completed, the work will allow plant life, wildlife and learning to flourish, giving some disabled students their best opportunity to experience nature.
• Problems with scarce drinking water were addressed by a project at the Wagholi School and Orphanage near Pune, India. Approximately 50 Cummins volunteers used rain water and ground water harvesting technologies to increase the level of the water table and make the surrounding areas greener. The project also simultaneously reduced the school’s economic burden and carbon footprint by providing an alternative to bringing in water tankers. 
• Cummins employees teamed up with the Parkview Villa affordable housing community for seniors and people with disabilities in Fridley, Minn., to increase recycling efforts by 50 percent. Working with residents to determine what they needed to participate in recycling, Cummins employees learned that connecting proceeds of recycling to the local Humane Society provided an additional incentive. And as the program grows, it can provide more employment opportunities through Rise, a local non-profit whose mission is to support people who have disabilities and other barriers to employment.

Cummins’ Environmental Challenge projects remind us that environmental issues and social problems all exist in the same world. It just takes an innovative approach to find where they intersect. It’s often the same place where solutions can be found.

A few key findings:

• Each company started by establishing goals, which were concrete, measurable and realistic given their company and industry environment.
• Each company engaged with stakeholder groups interested in environmental issues rather than keeping them on the sidelines. This helped to gain new perspectives and allies in their environmental improvement efforts.
• Each company had to take a “step back” away from how the business was currently run to look at how things might change systemically to create new environmentally-progressive practices. For real change, it’s not about switching to new lightbulbs, it’s about doing business differently.
• Customers and consumers are increasingly demanding to know what companies are doing to be more environmentally-minded, but large and systemic changes are much more difficult to communicate.

So much to add… Center members can view their presentations in the member community.

Going after more than the low hanging fruit, leading companies have used innovation and integration to build truly sustainable environmental strategies with bottom line benefits. In a breakout session at the 2010 International Corporate Citizenship Conference, executives from three leading companies will share how they built competitive environmental strategies. Riding the Green Wave: Making Environmental Strategies Work, will feature Michael Dupee, vice president at Green Coffee Mountain Roasters; Bruce Klafter, senior director of EHS & Sustainability at Applied Materials; and Stan Mierzejewski, senior manager, Sustainability & CSR, at Tennant, who will offer their insights on strategies to overcome challenges and build a successful environmental strategy. Vesela Veleva, research manager at the Boston College Center, will discuss how business attitudes and actions toward environmental sustainability have changed over time.

Don’t miss the chance to get involved in the conversation and learn how to build a successful environmental/sustainability strategy in your company.  Learn more about the conference here.

Case in point: alternative fuel vehicles. UPS would love to have 100% alternative fuel vehicles in our fleet of package cars. But the reality is that the math doesn’t work. Most alt fuel choices cost 30-100% more than traditional diesel. The fuel savings usually doesn’t equal the extra costs, even over a decade.

That doesn’t account for the operational shortfalls of the new alt fuel technology: some don’t work well in cold weather; some have higher maintenance costs; others have limited mileage ranges; others haven’t proved to be reliable. And in many parts of the country, the fueling infrastructure isn’t even available. That would require a major capital expenditure.

Then there’s the risk of obsolescence to think about: if you planned to keep your vehicle for 20 years (UPS does), which technology would you choose. Propane, CNG, electric, electric hybrid, hydraulic hybrid? We have all of those today. And then, you have to compare each to diesel vehicles with advances in fuel efficiency and emissions that are quickly closing the gap between the alternatives.

Nevertheless, UPS still has the largest private alternative fuel/advanced technology fleet in the shipping industry (1,200+ package cars) deployed around the world. And compared to our competitors, no one has the diversity of advanced technology we are operating today.

We’ve decided it’s worth the investment to help us plan for the future and test the viability of these emerging technologies on real-life road conditions. In fact, after testing CNG vehicles, for example, we bought 300 last year. And we were the first in the industry to buy hydraulic hybrids.

But will UPS have a 100% Green Fleet anytime soon? Not if we stick with our philosophy of balancing the social, economic and environmental aspects of our business. And not until the technology is reliable AND the cost of the vehicles shows a good ROI. As Kermit says, it’s not easy being green.

What kinds of green projects would you like to do…but find the economics just don’t work?

Recently CVS pharmacies introduced an initiative to reward members of the company’s loyalty program with $1 cash bonuses on their CVS cards every four times they buy something but don’t request plastic bags. Next week, Target is launching a policy to give customers a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag they use to pack their purchases.

According to USA Today, Americans are recycling more plastic bags than ever. The newspaper reports that EPA statistics show 380,000 tons of polyethylene bags, sacks and wrap were recycled in 2007 compared to 80,000 tons in 1996. But it’s still a fraction of the estimated 90 billion plastic carryout bags produced annually in the United States.

While incentive programs by retailers may have a long way to go to cut down on plastic bag waste, such moves are an indication that businesses are recognizing the value of aligning with customers’ attitudes on the environment and sustainability.

In a survey of more than 700 executives from U.S. companies of all sizes, the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship found a growing effort by businesses to offer sustainable products and services and communicate about them. Here’s a sampling of what the 2009 State of Corporate Citizenship survey found about how American companies are increasingly bringing corporate citizenship strategies to market:

• 41 percent of U.S. companies (compared to 35 percent in 2007) design products and services that take into consideration impacts throughout their life cycle;
• 43 percent (compared to 37 percent in 2007) advise their customers about sustainable choices of products or services;
• 37 percent (compared to 29 percent in 2007) track what their competitors are doing regarding sustainable products and services;
• 31 percent (compared to 24 percent in 2007) offer products that are certified and labeled as environmentally friendly or sustainable;
• 26 percent (compared to 23 percent in 2007) invest R&D resources into new, more sustainable products and services.

Clearly there are still many businesses that have yet to buy into the notion that protecting the environment provides bottom line benefits. That also goes for their customers who add to the piles of plastic in landfills with each trip to the supermarket or shopping mall.

But for those businesses that connect their products and services to the value placed on sustainability by many consumers, the move to greener operations is already in the bag.