CORPORATIONS



“We look forward to the day when our factories have no smokestacks and no effluents. If successful, we'll spend the rest of our days harvesting yesteryear's carpets, recycling old petro-chemicals into new materials, and converting sunlight into energy. There will be zero scrap going into landfills and zero emissions into the biosphere. Literally, our company will grow by cleaning up the world, not by polluting or degrading it. We'll be doing well by doing good. That's the vision. Is it a dream? Certainly…Everyone will have to dream this dream to make it a reality, but until then, we are committed to leading the way."

Ray C. Anderson
Chairman, Interface

Ray Anderson is the CEO we want to clone. His company is the world’s largest producer of commercial floor coverings. You’re thinking oodles of petroleum, noxious chemicals, emissions and shag scraps in our landfills, right? Nope. Interface is working towards “Mission Zero,” a pledge to eliminate any environmental impact their company has on the planet by the year 2020. Awesome. Inspiring.
 
If Interface can do it, so can others. Heavy industry produces just under 50% of our total greenhouse gases.  Still other companies indirectly produce emissions by using mega-amounts of electricity to make stuff.
 
It’s time to clean up. Some companies are in denial.  Let’s bang them over the head until they get it.
 
Some other corporations started going green long before it became trendy (like Interface). Still others have just recently jumped on the bandwagon (like BP).
 
BP (British Petroleum) isn’t just about oil. Way back in 1998 they voluntarily set their own greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2010.  Then met those targets nine years ahead of schedule. BP is a world leader in the production of solar panels. In 2005, they launched BP Alternative Energy and are planning two full-scale hydrogen power plants set to open in 2011. Is BP perfect?  Nope.  But compared to ExxonMobil, which spent $14 million debunking the “science” of global warming—or Canada’s oil lobby—they look pretty damn good.



Honda and Toyota just topped the Union of Concerned Scientists’
Automaker Rankings 2007: The Environmental Performance of Car Companies. If you have to drive, you might want to look to these guys. Their cars produce the lowest greenhouse gases and smog-forming pollutants. Ford, GM and Daimler-Chrysler were the worst, too busy fighting tough emission controls to notice that hey, consumers want them! And why not. We’ve got the technology to make cars cleaner. There’s a whole bunch of things we need to change about our car-crazy culture.  One of them is the kind of cars we drive.

How can the wee citizens possibly change the Big Suits in lofty towers? We just need to talk to them. If they don’t listen, make some more noise. Just behind these industry leaders are other big guns who are at least willing to acknowledge that we have a problem.
 
Conoco Phillips is the third largest U.S. oil company behind ExxonMobil and Chevron. It just signed on to the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, which is a serious move. For an oil company to not only acknowledge global warming but to say they want to be part of the solution? Good news. The U.S. Climate Action Partnership is a group of concerned businesses and environmental organizations that are calling on the U.S. federal government to form legislation that would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Other companies to sign on include AIG, Alcoa, DuPont, BP America and General Electric. They do care.

Too bad Canada doesn’t have an equivalent body to the U.S.-CAP program. Yet.

Yet we do have some really stellar leaders.

A couple of Canadian banks are putting their money where their mouths are.

Citizens Bank of Canada has an ethical policy about environmental issues. It’s the first bank to pledge zero emissions by 2010. And it’s already carbon-neutral.  Whatever CO2 they can’t neutralize, they’ll offset by contributing to local sustainability projects. They provide a Clean Air Auto Loan towards the purchase of a low-emissions or hybrid vehicle. Their brand-new Green Mortgage for homes in Ontario makes it much easier to secure a home and realize energy efficiency potential to boot. If your bank doesn’t, ask why.  And remember—you’ve got the green they really care about.


RBC was the first Canadian bank to have an environmental policy back in 1991, covering risk management in lending activities.  Over the years, the company’s suite of environmental initiatives grew significantly, including the introduction of paperless banking, the purchase of renewable energy for all new branches, and product incentives to help clients go green. The RBC Environmental Blueprint, released in 2007, was the company's formal commitment to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions and energy use, and a roadmap on how they will approach environmental issues and opportunities.

RBC has been named one of Canada's top top corporate citizens, and is on the Climate Disclosure Leadership Index, a prestigious honour roll of world leaders at understanding and managing the financial risks and opportunities resulting from climate change. In 2008, RBC was named one of top 100 sustainable companies in the world, and is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Jantzi Social Index, recognizing the world's financial, social and environmental corporate leaders.

Okay, so if those guys can face the music and initiate change, how can we make other corporations follow suit?  Simple.  By putting our money where our mouth is.  And making the CEOs work as hard for our business as we should make politicians jump for our vote.

And here’s a short list of suggestions to get you started, Mr. Corp. Inc. Ltd. We’re all in this boat together.  Yup, around the boardroom table, too.

Measure your greenhouse gas output and make a real action plan to lop it down: the first and most important step. Get some professionals in to take stock of your buildings, your systems, your assembly line. Everything in any business—no matter the size, whatever the product—can be made smarter, stronger and more sustainable, from cradle to grave.
 
Start a procurement policy.  Businesses don’t just sell things.  They buy things, too.  So start creating green markets of your own for renewable energy, things built locally or sustainable forest products.
 
 

Steam billowing from factories -that's basically wasted energy! Tons of places in Europe already capture or recycle that energy. That's saving businesses big bucks. Businesses have to start to retrofit offices and factories to make them more energy efficient. Replacing outdated chillers, boilers and heating and cooling systems; installing solar panels; updating lighting systems based on sensors and computer controls; there are more options and reasons to go green than ever. Check out Cool Companies for some ideas.¹

Stop developing in vulnerable ecosystems and along coastlines. And for that matter, don’t fall into the trap of thinking the problems are always somewhere else.  Sprawl around Canadian cities is a big climate-killer, too.  Green spaces are our friend.  It’s time we built smarter, instead of expanding everything out.

Invest in alternative energy. Whether you're Big Oil or Mom and Pop Shop, you can hook into clean energy, or front some serious cash to help it grow.  You know it’s coming.  Why risk playing catch-up?  The sooner you start, the easier it gets.

Participate in the buying and selling of carbon offsets and credits. Visit the Carbon Neutral Company. They're THE go-to people for cleaning up your mess. As a matter of fact, you don't have to be a corporation to do this. If you, Joe Blow, fly regularly, you should think about offsets.

Don’t fight cap and allowance emissions trading systems, as Canadian businesses too often do.  They’re the solution to a global problem—and they are coming.  Their goal is to make it cheaper to clean things up than to keep polluting. They help businesses become part of the solution.  So come on—stop delaying what you know is coming, and start preparing for it.²

Join 1% For the Planet, a group of companies who commit to give 1% of their profits every year to environmental initiatives. Mountain Equipment Co-op signed on this year and will donate an estimated $2.25 million.



This is where YOU come in, empowered citizen. Think of some businesses you use: banks, clothing retailers, grocery stores, whatevs. If you know that they’re already kicking ass (like Citizens Bank, or Aveda, or Merchants of Green Coffee), then be sure to say nice things about them to everyone you know. They’re trying to save the world. If your fave store is oh, say, The Gap, The Bay, whatever, ask them how they stack up in the area of carbon reduction. Are they aware of their carbon emissions? What are their policies? If you don’t like what you hear, do something about it. Start with a letter.
 

“Our company will grow by cleaning up the world, not by polluting or degrading it. We'll be doing well by doing good. That's the vision.”
 

Until you can sound like this guy, Mr. or Ms. CEO, FLICK OFF.
 
 

^{1 Source: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/What_You_Can_Do/at_work.asp
2 Source: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/Solutions/Industry.asp}