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Taking Care of Business
By Joel Makower
I've long described the two business worlds in which I operate -- the greening of mainstream companies on the one hand, and the world of clean technology on the other -- as two circles that are trying to become a Venn diagram. That is to say, they are spheres trying to connect, overlap, and merge. For years, they've largely been separate spheres, with companies aiming to "green up" their operations having little to do with the emerging universe of companies developing and marketing technologies for clean energy, advanced materials, clean water, and sustainable mobility solutions. (This lack of overlap was, and largely still is, evident at conferences: of the people I see regularly at green business conferences, only a small handful can be found at cleantech events, and vice versa.)
At last, this is changing. I see the change amid the growing number of large companies entering the renewable energy business, from chemical companies (Dow, Dupont, BASF, etc.) to ag companies (Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, etc.) to retailers (Best Buy and Wal-Mart view solar panels and electric vehicles as ripe opportunities to extend their brands and offerings).
I see it in the companies that view the convergence of "green" and "clean" as strategic growth opportunities, including GE, which last week gave us the latest peek into its four-year-old ecomagination campaign. Products certified by GE as passing its "ecomagination" criteria jumped 21 percent over the past year to $17 billion, a hearty endosement of the power of green products during tough times, in my opinion. (Disclosure: GE is a client of GreenOrder, the sustainable business consultancy with which I am affiliated.)
We'll also see it in the coming years as the major car companies, both foreign and domestic, reinvent themselves as sustainable mobility providers.
I also see the convergence in the form of big names coming into the space. Two such names show up in stories this week: Buffett and Boone -- T. Boone Pickens, the oilman turned wind farmer, who's been pushing a vision for a clean-energy future, as Anna Clark reveals in our exclusive interview; and Warren Buffett, the iconic businessman/investor, who, as Marc Gunther point out this week, has been betting big on batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage.
These aren't easy efforts, despite both of these individuals' legendary track records for swimming against the tide. As Pickens tells Clark: "I go into a room anywhere in the country and I ask for a show of hands, 'How many environmentalists we got in here?' All the hands go up. ThenI ask, 'What if I told you it would cost you an extra $100 per month?'Suddenly those hands go down. People are still motivated by the priceat the pump. I don't know what it will take to change that."
No one said that shifting the global economy toward sustainability would be easy.
Still, there are many promising signs, these turbulent times notwithstanding. As the economy shows occasional, hopeful flickers of life, the key question among many of these companies and entrepreneurs is shifting from "Will we be able to remain in business?" to "How well can we be positioned to prosper when the economy recovers?" And, increasingly, some of them are eyeing green business and clean technology as keys to that strategic positioning -- trying, against the odds, to nudge those two circles merge into a singular vision of a more sustainable future.
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Steelcase's Vision for an Eco-Friendly Future: 'Radical Evolution'
By Leslie Guevarra
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The key to Steelcase Inc.'s business sustainability practices -- and its design strategy -- lies in its approach, says Angela Nahikian, the company's director of Global Environmental Sustainability. That approach may come as a surprise to some people who have tracked this industry leader and its nearly 100-year history of innovation. Nahikian tells GreenBiz Radio about her company's outlook and the concept of "radical evolution."... Listen
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