Last week's BSR conference was, as it always is, an energizing and enlightening event, with nearly 1,000 participants from around the world converging on San Francisco to cover a wide range of issues that fall under the broad umbrella of corporate social responsibility.
As part of the event, BSR and GlobeScan conducted a survey of participants -- or, at least, of the roughly one-fourth of the group that responded. As we report below, climate change loomed as a top business priority.
The significance of this is made clear only when one understands that the participants at the BSR conference are not primarily environmental professionals. They represent a wide range of titles, not to mention companies, sectors, and nationalities. They are heads of corporate social responsibility, labor practices, sourcing, human resources, philanthropy, and communications at their respective companies, in addition to those who head environmental affairs. That's encouraging, in that it suggests climate change (or global warming — exactly what to call it is a topic of my blog this week) is being seen as a cross-cutting business issue: it affects labor, production, distribution, sales, and all of the people involved therein.
This may be one place where the corporate community is well ahead of the public in understanding. That's a problem, but also an opportunity for companies to create awareness, connect dots, and build markets for energy-efficient products and services. Marc Gunther this week tells how one company, GE, seems to be doing exactly that.
Greening the Grid: Speaking of awareness and energy efficiency, this week's webcast, Strategic Management of Data Center Efficiency, will take a look at the latest tools, techniques and training being used by data center operators around the world. This free webcast is October 29 at 1 pm ET/10 am PT is a unique opportunity to better understand not just how to better manage your own company's data center, but to see how environmental and social considerations mesh nicely with economic considerations to create a triple-bottom-line win.
Green Confidence Index: On Tuesday, October 27, we'll be launching an exciting new product aimed at providing companies with a monthly metric on responsibility, information, and purchasing in the U.S. green economy. Stay tuned.