- Email: [email protected]
CES tips from around the world
Tips from Around the World
CES Tips from Around the World
CES includes this section to give readers a snapshot
ofwws
from around the work! and
a forum
for readers to share infornaation, tools, and tips. Please continue to send infwmation for this section to Cl!?& c/o US
Editorial
Offxe,
Em
8th Street, Rl?Ij Tq, at epna@q!&&.
Frogram-l?P& NY 12180,
110
or via email
Source: ENN, Reuters News, October 2,200O.
We look f&ward to heating
fromyou.
Tools for Conference
company, Enerconcept Inc., sells and installs renewable solar and wind power systems in southeastern Quebec. “That’s the kind of world we live in.” These days, \iachon hands customers a brochure and sends them on their way. “When we talk business, we never talk about the environment,” he says. Forget about pollution and climate change; the masses aren’t interested. To make it in the renewables business you’ve got to sell your solar to Big Business. And industry is slowly warming up to renewable energy-not because it’s good for the environment, but because it’s good for the bottom line.
An Avalanche of Responsible Wood Policy
Sustainability-A
HARC
On January 29 and 30, 2001, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) will host the 8th Woodlands Conference. The theme of the event is “Corporate Capabilities and Tools: Making Sustainability Work in the 21st Century” and will convene at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, Texas. MYth an emphasis on the identification and development of organizational capabilities for sustainability, keynote speakers include: Peter Senge, Stuart Hart, and Paul Hawken. Please check the HARC website at www.harc.edu/cgs/conf_2001 .html for program updates and registration information or email them at [email protected]. Source: HARC, Septembq 2000.
Michael Brune, the Old Growth Campaign Director for Rainforest Action Network, the nonprofit group that convinced Home Depot, Menard’s, HomeBase, Lanoga, and Wickes Lumber to stop selling products made from remaining old growth forests says, “The end of old growth logging may soon be within our grasp, thanks in part to leadership from Lowe’s,” Lowe’s is the second largest U.S. home improvement retailer with over $4 billion in annual wood sales, and $15.9 billion in total sales for 1999. The company crafted its landmark lumber and wood product procurement policy in concert with environmental groups, scientists and suppliers. Mark Kauffman, Lowe’s senior vice president of Merchandising comments that some of these meetings represented the first time these groups were in the same room. “The result,” he says, “is a more balanced policy and what we hope will be a turning point for environmental discussions in the U.S.”
Renewable Energy: A Bottom Line Issue Christian Vachon dropped all the green slogans two years ago, when it finally dawned on him that people who buy clean energy really don’t care about the environment. “The bottom line is money,” says Vdchon, an engineer whose Canadian 330
In an Environmental Policy that goes further than any company has gone to date, Lowe’s will aggressively phase out the purchase of wood products from endangered forests and has expressed a strong preference for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, the most rigorous system in CORPORATE
ENVIRONMENTAL
STRATEGY
1066.7938/00/$-see frontmatter 02000 Published by Elsevmr ScienceInc.
Tips from Around the World
the world. Soon after this stunning announcement, 84 Lumber, the fifth largest U.S. home improvement retailer and one of the last to declare its position, announced they will phase out sales of products from endangered forests by the end of 2003. Then, in early September, sixteen Canadian companies, including Bell Canada, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Clairol Canada, and Citizens Bank of Canada, announced they would stop buying lumber and pulp forest products from ancient forests. Then, in mid-September, Andersen Corporation, maker of Andersen@ windows and patio doors, announced it will not buy wood from endangered forests and it will give preference to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or equivalent certified wood supplies in the manufacture of its products.
sulting firm. “Unless these changes occur within the next few decades, many opportunities now available will be lost,” the report says. World Energy supplies do not face physical limitations for at least another fifty years. But “today’s energy system is unsustainable because of equity issues as well as environmental, economic, and geopolitical concerns,” the report continues. The report was produced through a collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Energy Council, a body representing the world’s energy producing corporations and entities. Source: Reueters News Service, September 21,200O.
Source: Sustuinubkbusiwss.com, October 2,200O.
Shade-Grown Coffee, Not So Good? Energy Source Changes Needed to Lift Poor, Report Says A recent energy industry report says the time for improving power usage is draining away. The World Energy Assessment, a benchmark report on the world’s energy systems, is significant for having the worldwide energy industry sign onto a report advocating renewable fuel sources, conservation and new fuel-source technologies rather than specific scientific breakthroughs, analysts say. “It’s like a preview of a movie. Although there are reserves and a fair amount of energy around the world, things are going to get pretty difficult in a few decades and since energy systems are very complex and take time to change, we better start today,” said Jose Goldemberg, chairman of the World Energy Assessment initiative. “It is groundbreaking for companies to come out for conservation and alternative energy sources, but it has been pretty clear for some time that companies have echoed these kinds of sentiments and pretty well accepted notions,” about energy consumption, said Jim Placke, director of Middle East research at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Washington, an energy conVol. 7, No. 4 2000 1066-7938/00/$ - seefront
When Starbucks, the world’s leading retailer of specialty coffees, put shade-grown beans on its shelves in 1999, they sold out almost overnight. But coffee raised in the shade does not always make for healthy bird populations, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications. Sungrown coffee, which replaced traditional coffee methods beginning in the 1970s uses harmful pesticides and causes habitat destruction in some of the world’s most biodiverse areas, conservation groups claim. In 1996, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center brewed up the shade-coffee movement, gathering hundreds of environmentalists, farmers and gourmet companies interested in shade-grown coffee as a scheme to save hundreds of bird species. Yet, as Dina Roberts, lead author of the study, states, “Shade-grown coffee plantations work for some birds and not for others. The conservation benefits of shade-grown coffee are limited if the goal is to conserve forest biodiversity.” She continues, ‘You can’t use shade grown coffee as a panacea for the conservation of all bird species,” Roberts said, “I hope the people and conservation groups promoting shade grown coffee will read the report and take it into consideration.” Source: Envirolink, S+tember 2 7,200O. 331
matter 0 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Inc
Tips from Around the World
EPA’s National Performance Track-A Alternative
Environmental Regulatory
Building from the lessons and experience of the Common Sense Initiative and Environmental Leadership Program, the EPA has announced a pro gram that embraces more regulatory flexibility as a reward for firms that have shown and continue to show
332
solid compliance records and a commitment to performing beyond compliance. As EPA Administrator Carol Browner states, “The Performance Track opportunity will be offered to companies which have demonstrated true leadership and deserve the benefits. We’re highlighting such companies as models of a higher level of environmental commitment.” Source:EPA Press Release,June 26,200O.
CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY
CES Tips from Around the World
CES includes this section to give readers a snapshot
ofwws
from around the work! and
a forum
for readers to share infornaation, tools, and tips. Please continue to send infwmation for this section to Cl!?& c/o US
Editorial
Offxe,
Em
8th Street, Rl?Ij Tq, at epna@q!&&.
Frogram-l?P& NY 12180,
110
or via email
Source: ENN, Reuters News, October 2,200O.
We look f&ward to heating
fromyou.
Tools for Conference
company, Enerconcept Inc., sells and installs renewable solar and wind power systems in southeastern Quebec. “That’s the kind of world we live in.” These days, \iachon hands customers a brochure and sends them on their way. “When we talk business, we never talk about the environment,” he says. Forget about pollution and climate change; the masses aren’t interested. To make it in the renewables business you’ve got to sell your solar to Big Business. And industry is slowly warming up to renewable energy-not because it’s good for the environment, but because it’s good for the bottom line.
An Avalanche of Responsible Wood Policy
Sustainability-A
HARC
On January 29 and 30, 2001, the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) will host the 8th Woodlands Conference. The theme of the event is “Corporate Capabilities and Tools: Making Sustainability Work in the 21st Century” and will convene at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center, Texas. MYth an emphasis on the identification and development of organizational capabilities for sustainability, keynote speakers include: Peter Senge, Stuart Hart, and Paul Hawken. Please check the HARC website at www.harc.edu/cgs/conf_2001 .html for program updates and registration information or email them at [email protected]. Source: HARC, Septembq 2000.
Michael Brune, the Old Growth Campaign Director for Rainforest Action Network, the nonprofit group that convinced Home Depot, Menard’s, HomeBase, Lanoga, and Wickes Lumber to stop selling products made from remaining old growth forests says, “The end of old growth logging may soon be within our grasp, thanks in part to leadership from Lowe’s,” Lowe’s is the second largest U.S. home improvement retailer with over $4 billion in annual wood sales, and $15.9 billion in total sales for 1999. The company crafted its landmark lumber and wood product procurement policy in concert with environmental groups, scientists and suppliers. Mark Kauffman, Lowe’s senior vice president of Merchandising comments that some of these meetings represented the first time these groups were in the same room. “The result,” he says, “is a more balanced policy and what we hope will be a turning point for environmental discussions in the U.S.”
Renewable Energy: A Bottom Line Issue Christian Vachon dropped all the green slogans two years ago, when it finally dawned on him that people who buy clean energy really don’t care about the environment. “The bottom line is money,” says Vdchon, an engineer whose Canadian 330
In an Environmental Policy that goes further than any company has gone to date, Lowe’s will aggressively phase out the purchase of wood products from endangered forests and has expressed a strong preference for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification, the most rigorous system in CORPORATE
ENVIRONMENTAL
STRATEGY
1066.7938/00/$-see frontmatter 02000 Published by Elsevmr ScienceInc.
Tips from Around the World
the world. Soon after this stunning announcement, 84 Lumber, the fifth largest U.S. home improvement retailer and one of the last to declare its position, announced they will phase out sales of products from endangered forests by the end of 2003. Then, in early September, sixteen Canadian companies, including Bell Canada, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada, Clairol Canada, and Citizens Bank of Canada, announced they would stop buying lumber and pulp forest products from ancient forests. Then, in mid-September, Andersen Corporation, maker of Andersen@ windows and patio doors, announced it will not buy wood from endangered forests and it will give preference to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or equivalent certified wood supplies in the manufacture of its products.
sulting firm. “Unless these changes occur within the next few decades, many opportunities now available will be lost,” the report says. World Energy supplies do not face physical limitations for at least another fifty years. But “today’s energy system is unsustainable because of equity issues as well as environmental, economic, and geopolitical concerns,” the report continues. The report was produced through a collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the World Energy Council, a body representing the world’s energy producing corporations and entities. Source: Reueters News Service, September 21,200O.
Source: Sustuinubkbusiwss.com, October 2,200O.
Shade-Grown Coffee, Not So Good? Energy Source Changes Needed to Lift Poor, Report Says A recent energy industry report says the time for improving power usage is draining away. The World Energy Assessment, a benchmark report on the world’s energy systems, is significant for having the worldwide energy industry sign onto a report advocating renewable fuel sources, conservation and new fuel-source technologies rather than specific scientific breakthroughs, analysts say. “It’s like a preview of a movie. Although there are reserves and a fair amount of energy around the world, things are going to get pretty difficult in a few decades and since energy systems are very complex and take time to change, we better start today,” said Jose Goldemberg, chairman of the World Energy Assessment initiative. “It is groundbreaking for companies to come out for conservation and alternative energy sources, but it has been pretty clear for some time that companies have echoed these kinds of sentiments and pretty well accepted notions,” about energy consumption, said Jim Placke, director of Middle East research at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Washington, an energy conVol. 7, No. 4 2000 1066-7938/00/$ - seefront
When Starbucks, the world’s leading retailer of specialty coffees, put shade-grown beans on its shelves in 1999, they sold out almost overnight. But coffee raised in the shade does not always make for healthy bird populations, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications. Sungrown coffee, which replaced traditional coffee methods beginning in the 1970s uses harmful pesticides and causes habitat destruction in some of the world’s most biodiverse areas, conservation groups claim. In 1996, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center brewed up the shade-coffee movement, gathering hundreds of environmentalists, farmers and gourmet companies interested in shade-grown coffee as a scheme to save hundreds of bird species. Yet, as Dina Roberts, lead author of the study, states, “Shade-grown coffee plantations work for some birds and not for others. The conservation benefits of shade-grown coffee are limited if the goal is to conserve forest biodiversity.” She continues, ‘You can’t use shade grown coffee as a panacea for the conservation of all bird species,” Roberts said, “I hope the people and conservation groups promoting shade grown coffee will read the report and take it into consideration.” Source: Envirolink, S+tember 2 7,200O. 331
matter 0 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Inc
Tips from Around the World
EPA’s National Performance Track-A Alternative
Environmental Regulatory
Building from the lessons and experience of the Common Sense Initiative and Environmental Leadership Program, the EPA has announced a pro gram that embraces more regulatory flexibility as a reward for firms that have shown and continue to show
332
solid compliance records and a commitment to performing beyond compliance. As EPA Administrator Carol Browner states, “The Performance Track opportunity will be offered to companies which have demonstrated true leadership and deserve the benefits. We’re highlighting such companies as models of a higher level of environmental commitment.” Source:EPA Press Release,June 26,200O.
CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY