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There are some questions every sustainability manager or CSO is going to encounter along the way. What's interesting is that more and more managers are asking these questions of themselves and then are going out to find the answers. In the "early" days (that could be seven years, five years or one year ago depending upon the circumstances), one or more of these questions might show up unexpectedly in your inbox one morning, particularly after your CEO or another executive returned from a thought-provoking conference or trade show.
One measure of success in those days was how quickly you could put together an intelligent response, and so to make it a little easier for companies to get out in front of the tough but inevitable questions for corporate sustainability projects, here are the 10 questions you should be prepared to answer at some point along the sustainability journey of your enterprise.
1. What's our carbon footprint? Since carbon dioxide has become something of a surrogate for environmental impact, this is the question most executives are asking. Do not be surprised if this question is accompanied by another more academic one, namely "what is a carbon footprint anyway?"
2. How "green" are our products? This question tends to follow very quickly since products are the lifeblood of any company. Again, the likely follow-on is something like "exactly how do we determine if our products are green?" As Greenbiz has reported, the area of product standards and ecolabels is rapidly changing.
3. Where do we stand relative to our competitors? A frame of reference is always important and most companies tend to look to competitors, customers and similar companies (i.e. size, revenue, location, industry) for benchmarks. Thanks to the internet and the growing trend towards corporate reporting, this task of benchmarking has become much easier.
4. How do we become a greener company? This is the question you have been waiting for because it is starting to look and feel like a commitment to enhance sustainability is being made. It is also the most complex in many ways since the answer can literally involve every part of an enterprise and its supply chain. This is also a question that involves both near-term tactics and project management as well as longer-term program development and strategy.
5. How educated and engaged are our employees? This is another question that signals a sustainability journey is maturing since the conversation is expanding beyond the small knot of key managers and executives to the entire workforce. Attaining some real amount of cultural transformation is also extraordinarily challenging in many organizations, particularly larger ones. Your answer to this query should definitely include a recommendation of patience and staying power.
Carbon footprint
I think carbon footprint could be described as a result of our choices, choices to continue using fossil fuels and buy or own energy parasitic equipment. Its also our choice not to be energy efficient, for example in our homes and places of work. As a result we contribute to the concentration of carbon dioxide and other green house emissions that continue to imbalance our ecosystem. Our bad choices could be as simple as leaving the T.V. on when you go to bed or fast acceleration at a traffic light. Many of us think carbon footprint is a government problem; the word carbon footprint is too complicated for average citizens. It involves a thought and translation that many do not have the patience for. Compare swine flue to carbon footprint. The best way to educate people is to name it simple. A 2nd grader knows what swine flu is yet carbon footprint will or has a bigger damage value.
Carbon Footprint
This was a very good list. It is not easy to get the question "how do we become a green company" or something like that and in the position of sustainability manager/environmental manager you must be prepared for anything.
Carbon footprints is something of a pet peve of mine. It is an easy to grasp concept, but is still very complex and somewhat difficult to calculate. A service-company, like a bank, might have very little clear impact from products, production and paper, and may have to put more focus on the employees commute and choice of printing and computing equipment. Especially the commute is often overlooked. On the other hand, a production company like Volvo, GM, or Ford have more eye-catching emissions.
I will continue to read your articles. This was very interesting.
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Fredrik
www.commutegreener.com