GREEN BUSINESS VIEWS

It seems that every original has its imitations. A genius idea will always generate a variety of look-alikes. The concept of a Certified Green Consultant was made popular by the Green Business League who has trained nearly 300 consultants in the US, Canada, and several countries. The Green Business League had the insight to file for the for the federal trademark for this concept, and now is the only company with rights to this name. A Certified Green Consultant is best defined as a trained professional whose primary task is to assist others to install Green practices. A Certified Green Consultant is not someone, like a LEED AP, who plans and promotes Green buildings. The basic task is to show any family, business, or agency how to practice Green in the daily operation or activities common to all of us.

It doesn’t matter if you own the building or not. What is happening inside and around that building is a huge factor in the over all Green impact of the community. Going Green is about people and how people behave. The Green consultant endeavors to change the behavior which is probably a little more difficult than planning a few Green improvements for the building. Changing our behavior is not as easy to fix as replacing a thermostat.

There are literally hundreds of Green Practices that can be integrated into any business, and many of them are not nearly as expensive as remodeling projects. Energy reduction can be accomplished by buying Energy Star equipment, tearing out old lights, and replacing them with new, more efficient lights. However, there is a good percentage of energy savings that comes from workers who are taught to be more diligent about power use. Failure to turn of lights and equipment when they are not in use is the result of lazy and untrained people. Even a powerstrip for a workstation does no good if the worker doesn’t use it. Dozens of power paks common to all workers steal power every day and add to the monthly electric bill.

A trained Certified Green Consultant uses an extensive assessment program to discover Green practices already in place, and to suggest other Green practices that can be accomplished without radically changing the business process. Just to clarify our terms, we see the Certified Green Consultant as the professional working with many businesses and projects in the community. The Certified Sustainability Officer is more of an in-house professional doing many of the same things as the Green consultant, but within the confines of his or her company’s limits.

Of course, we must mention the “other” look-alike program that crop up routinely on the Internet. Most of these programs offer little more than some online training and the opportunity to subsequently sell their line of Green products to others within the consultant’s influence. Any audit or assessment is merely a ploy to collect enough information to suggest the products that the Eco Consultant, Earth Consultant, or Green Consultant might have to offer. Any reasonable person must discount these programs as little more than a modern version of the old multi-level programs.

A trained Certified Green Consultant is not a product-pusher. He or she offers the initial Green assessment to discover the level of Green compliance already in place. Every Green application is assigned Green Points according to the value of the product or service. The Certified Green Consultant discusses some proposed ideas that will add enough Green Points to achieve a Green business certification using a nationally-recognized standard.  The GBL Green Point system prevents the cheating temptation known as Greenwashing.   This is a very prevalent practice where companies pronounce themselves Green because they install a few token Green ideas.  See the Green Pig Syndrome for further explanation.

Certified Green Consultants may be a new idea today, but the day is approaching when they will be as crucial to business as an efficiency expert or accountant.  There is simply too much involved to hand off this duty to the same person or committee that plans the company picnic.  To determine the effectiveness of the Green consultant or the sustainability officer, we find that the creation of a comprehensive Sustainability Report is the proof of quality of service.  This is echoed in President Obama’s executive order #13514 that requires this of all agencies using sustainability officers.

The fundamentals are now becoming clear for any Green business certification.  There is a need for:

1. Green business certification is proven by a live audit is required to eliminate Greenwashing
2. A Green Consultant or Sustainability Office is needed by all businesses
3. The Green or Sustainability Officer should produce a quality Sustainability Report
4. A Green business is not a static concept but is evaluated at least annually
5. A national standard must apply to all businesses claiming to be Green certified

While Internet logos are popping up nearly every month, only one Green business certification fulfills the spirit of EO13514 and meets the qualification shown above.  The Green Business League now fields more than 300 Certified Green Consultants trained and capable of performing Green assessment and audits.  There national standard cannot be fooled by Greenwashing tactics, and seems likely to endure as the only credible Green business certification in America and in international applications.

Comments are closed.