Newsletter // GreenBuzz :: GreenBiz Intelligence Survey, Good Green Bosses, a Wealth of Water Studies and More

Is green leading companies into the black?

That's an intriguing thought gleaned from our most recent GreenBiz Intelligence Panel survey, which found that large companies are planning to increase their headcount and budgets of their environmental and sustainability departments. " These are promising findings that the emerging green economy may be outpacing indicators of a broader recovery," says my colleague, John Davies, who runs the Intelligence Panel.

The GreenBiz Intelligence Panel consists of nearly 2,500 members. Each month we ask panel members about a wide range of issues and trends. Roughly a quarter of the panel members responded to this most recent survey, conducted in late July and early August.

One of the questions we asked this time was "Will your environmental health and safety (EHS) spending for 2009 be greater than 2008, equal to 2008, or less than 2008?" Forty-one percent said that EHS spending would grow this year, up significantly from 28 percent late last year, when we asked the same question. The 13 percent differential corresponds directly to those saying that 2009 EHS spending would equal last year's, which dropped 13 percent, to 33 percent in our July-August survey from 46 percent in November-December 2008.

Remarkably, those two answers -- that EHS spending is either level or growing -- remains at 74 percent for both surveys. That's a vote of confidence in companies' environmental departments, even during this time of severe corporate cutbacks. 

By the way, if you are interested in joining the GreenBiz Intelligence Panel, click here.

LinkedIn Milestone: Speaking of joining a growing community, we're pleased to report that our GreenBiz LinkedIn group has now surpassed 15,000 members, making it the largest LinkedIn community for green business professionals. Under the leadership of Hugh Byrne, the group has blossomed into a robust networking platform, with hundreds of new queries and discussion threads added each week. (More than 500 discussions were initiated last week alone, the dog days of August.)

The New Site: Thanks for all your great feedback on the new design of GreenBiz.com and its sister sites. We simultaneously introduced a new publishing platform for our editors, an improved search capability for site users, and other enhanced features -- and not without some kinks. Please bear with us while we work through them. Meanwhile, keep those comments coming!

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature identify 16 initiatives or tools, driven by business leaders, civil society and governments, which have emerged since 2006.

This report from Rebecca L. Grant of the Lexington Institute explores how the power of national policy and commercial ingenuity can smooth the way for smart grid, which will not just transmit power, it will distribute it from many sources and allow expanded supply and demand from the grid.

GoingGreen West is where cutting-edge greentech CEOs meet the movers and shakers from the biggest industries on earth