GREEN BUSINESS VIEWS

Okay, so far Going green has been a lot like a karaoke night at your favorite bar.  Talented or not, people set up to the microphone to “give it a try.”  We all can laugh and poke fun because this is not a serious performance where people paid money to hear great music.  Frankly, expectations are low, and anyone who might have talent seems like an unexpected surprise.

So far, Green and Sustainable efforts have been inclusive of very bad performances, amateur efforts, and guesswork investments into the mysterious world of Green.  As the world evolves, it is becoming evident that our early efforts have been embarrassingly weak and sometimes out of tune with the level of environmental commitment that this world problem demands.

We are now seeing an emergence of a standard for sustainable compliance that has been long overdue.  This standard of performance has been recently seen in the latest executive order that President Obama signed in late 2009.  Executive Order 13514 has set a simplistic format to sustainable business that now applies to governmental agencies.  This same set of standards seems destine to grow and pass over to corporate America as well.

The central aspect of this order is the requirement of a sustainability report.  The sustainability report seems to be the benchmark of a truly environmentally-committed business.  The development of a sustainability report is not a random amalgam of Green ideas.  The sustainability report is a comprehensive review of all factors that impact a company’s environmental plan.  In other words, please realize that the carbon emission is not the singular issue of an environmental plan.  One issue, like recycling is not a plan.  As the executive order illustrates, each of these good ideas are just one of a dozen broad topics that should be considered.

The key to this new reality is that a Sustainability Plan is the primary criteria for a serious business in this new era of Green.  This stands in contrast to the piecemeal approach that has been prevalent so far.  A sustainability plan is not a speculative concept as seen via the demands of the executive order.  It seems that we now have a floor in place that the smart Green professionals have been searching for so long.   Green certification is not merely putting forth a Xeroxed checklist from a local community project.  Any Green program must be a tailored for every company drawing from a reliable set of core disciplines.

Therefore, the way forward now seems much clearer.  A company needs two key items.  First, is installation of a sustainability or Green officer.  Second, the sustainability officer needs to produce a comprehensive sustainability plan that has the scope that has a breadth of environmental considerations and a timeline for implementation.   Such a plan is a graduation of any business from its meandering period of environmentally childhood where guesswork substituted for a knowledgeable plan of action.

Like a tailored suit, the pieces are all known; but the skilled tailor knows how to make it fit the customer.  There is no universal formulation though there will often be common elements seen in each program.  Nonetheless, the sustainability plan is destined to be the new and recommended discipline for the Green business of the future.

The Green Business League has predicted this move to a sustainability plan for more than a year.  This signals the end of many of the mock programs that have been termed “Easy Green.”  Websites that have touted Green business certification by self-assessment program will certainly want to ignore this trend toward honesty and audited results, but the marketplace cannot long endure the “gaming of the system.”  Self-assessment invites abuse and abusive people whereas audited programs are the only way to assure honesty.

Presently, there is one organization that has a trained field force of Certified Green Consultants that conduct an audit of the business each year.  The Green Business league took the long view to this industry and invested heavily into trained consultants who were trained to do life assessments, prepare sustainability reports, and conduct annual audits.  The validation of the Green or sustainable will be the audit of the performance of the sustainability program.  We are beyond the day of good intentions and marginal commitments.  If any sustainability plan is not willing to allow an audit of the results, it is likely that it cannot be considered worth the effort.

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