CORE Blog

2012 Sustainable Opportunities Summit/ GAMIFICATION: An alternative approach to employee engagement

CORE — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:22:27 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE Volunteer

Aaron Dignan, CEO of Undercurrent & Author of "Game Frame", presented his theory that bringing those exciting and engaging characteristics of games into our sustainability work will create more productive employees and projects. Rather than saying, ‘produce less waste’, create an Iron Chef game: ‘create something with this one lobster!” In other words, make it into a game!

Ever wonder why we have to “work now and play later”? Aaron Dignan argues that maybe we should just play all the time. Bring the structure and satisfaction of games into your every day work, life, and sustainability programs, and we’ll be even more productive than ever before.

At the same time that more people seem to be bored or unsatisfied at work, the popularity of games has increased dramatically. Some examples: More 2-5 year old kids know how to open a browser than know how to swim, play with an app than tie their shoe, play a video game than ride a bike. High school grads go into college with 100,000 hours of video game experience. Executive businessmen play Angry Birds in the first class section of an airplane. You might not even consider yourself a “game person,” but you’re probably engaged in games in some way.

What do games have that life doesn’t, that get us so excited about them? Aaron argues that games have 2 things that life doesn’t: structure and satisfaction. So, How is it structured? Why is it satisfying?

Games let us:

- Learn – almost all specifies play as a way to test boundaries and learn how to survive. Humans are the only
ones that separate play from our work of survival.
- Take risks (without dying) – Innovating allows you to become a version of your best self.
- Work together – The most popular games are the ones where you are engaging with others.
- Find a State of Flow – Games create a challenge that is just above your skill, so you push your limits, but
can still succeed. You loose sense of time and place. Isn’t this what we need at work?
- Activate our wanting circuitry – As opposed to the liking circuitry (which releases a calming sensation), the
wanting circuitry releases a sense of accomplishment and drive to get you what you want.
- Grow our skills- Who doesn’t like to get better at what they do? Being the best at angry birds still feels
great, even though it doesn’t mean anything – perhaps we need to find this feeling in our everyday work.

Games are great, but how do we turn work into play? Boring desk jobs into games? Here’s 3 criteria to make something into a game (think Nike run tracker):

1. Includes activity that can be learned

2. Player can be measured

3. Feedback delivered in a timely manner (fast!)

Our work will be judged by our ability to engage and empower a network. Games are a great way to do it. Are we going to use them to get people to buy stuff or to make people and organizations better?

Application to sustainability:

Rather than say “do more with less”, create an iron-chef scenario: “Make something with this Lobster!”.

Here is a list of products or technologies based on this gamification:

• my energy

• practically green

• mutual

• terracycle

• recyclebank

• closet swap

• nest

• smart gage

2012 Sustainable Opportunities Summit/ Green Jobs in the Colorado Economy

CORE — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:07:22 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE Volunteer

Panelists: Brian Lewandowski, Research Associate, Busienss Research Division, CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business; Paul Rochette, Partner, Summit Economics; Hunter Lovins, President, Natural Capitalism Solutions; Moderator: Tom Morgan, Director of Colorado State Energy Sector Partnerships, Colorado Department of Labor & Employment

Synopsis: Green or sustainability jobs are likely to grow and could change the economy. The panelists presented research about the key drivers and numbers of green jobs, debated the definition of green jobs, and discussed tools to enable further green job growth.

What is a Green Job?

A green job is one that works on a product or service that expands renewable energy, supports environmental sustainability or increases efficiency (Lewandowski). OR is it any job that makes the planet more livable in the future (Lovins)? The formal definition includes jobs in pollution, waste reduction and management, energy efficiency/conservation, alternative fuels, education/regulation/compliance, sustainable agriculture and resource conservation. The new definition would include even more jobs, such as accountants doing sustainability score-cards, for example.

Facts and Figures:

Lewandowski:

-2.8% (60,000) of CO jobs are green compared to the regional average of 3.2%.

-9.4% of companies are involved in green activity.

The highest involvement industries are construction, real estate, and agriculture and the least are finance and information.

-Green job drivers: consumer demand, tax reductions, access to capital, public marketing, training

-Green job deterrents: profit-margin, capital financing, knowledge/time

Rocheette:

-Average green job wage: 40-50K

Lovins:

-9% of jobs are manufacturing in the U.S.; 25% of manufacturing jobs are green.

-Between 1998-2007 green jobs grew at 10% and Colorado solar jobs 10%.

-Sustainable companies are out-performing competition.

-Investing $1 in clean energy creates 10X the number of jobs than the same investment in coal and oil production (South West Energy Efficiency Project).

-Energy Efficiency costs 2-3 cents per kwh; running coal plant costs 4-6 cents per kwh; new coal plant costs 10cents kwh; wind and gas are somewhere in- between.

-If clean technology increases similar to information technology, there will be an unimaginable number of jobs.

Lovin’s proposed solutions:

-Train every employee to become a sustainability officer.

-Use German model of feed-in tariffs (also in Vermont and Florida) for green energy to create 2.5 million jobs in the U.S.

-Use PACE Financing to improve energy efficiency and drive jobs and prosperity.

- “We will go green, or we will not have an economy”.

2012 Sustainable Opportunities Summit/ The Future of Water

CORE — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:01:23 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE Volunteer

Panelists: Will Sarni,Director & Practice Leader, Enterprise Water Strategy, Sustainability and Climate Change, Delloite Consulting LLP; Stacy Tellinghuisen, Senior Energy/Water Policy Analyst, Western Resources Advocate; Michael Glad, Director, Water Resources and Real Estate, Molson Coors Brewing Company; Moderator: Lyle Whitney, Water Conservation Supervisor, Conservation Division of Aurora Water Department

Synopsis: Panelists discussed the issues created by the expected water shortage (40% by 2020) and potential solutions.

Facts, Figures, and Ideas

-Taxpayers will foot the bill to overcome the expected future gap in water

-Agriculture makes up about 80% of the state water use

-Water is viewed at cheap or free, but the value of water has nothing to do with price (right to operate, consistency, operations)

-Managers should know how much, where, and how efficient water sources are

-Water is a factor in business decisions (Coors factory location)

Solutions

-More efficient technologies

-City could buy-options from agricultural partners for drought times

-Demand Side Management: costs about 1/10th of the price of new projects

-Create more meaningful engagement between water utilities and business sector to drive efficiency

-Different (and renewable) energy production with less water footprint

-Recycle, diversify sources, conserve, protect

-Engagement and communication : example, the Coors “Beer Print” looks at 6 principles of CO water mandate looking at direct operations, such as 1) transparent reporting 2) community engagement 3) Education and outreach

-Other resources: www.everydropeveryripple.com, www.redleafproject.ca

2012 Sustainable Opportunities Summit/ Energy 5-year investment outlook

CORE — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:49:23 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE Volunteer

Panelists: David Gold, Lead Partner for Clean Technology Investments, Access Venture Partners; Ashley Grosh, VP & Senior Project Manager for Environmental Affairs, Wells Fargo; TJ Deora, Executive Director Colorado Governor’s Energy Office; Moderator: Trent Yang, Director of CU Cleantech, Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, CU-Boulder’s Leeds School of Business

Synopsis: This session discussed the future trends in the energy market with a focus on the promising future of energy efficiency as well as the challenges with and advantages of alternative transportation fuels.

Investment outlook

Energy Efficiency is a top area for venture investments because companies can create rapid, scalable growth. Disruptive technologies such as taking low-grade waste and transform it into energy serve as an example.

Transportation fuels or vehicle parts are more difficult for venture capitalist because they require a large amount of up-front capital and take significant time to make money, such as in case with Tesla.

Corporate outlook

Energy Efficiency is the first place to gain cost savings from an initial baseline assessment. Wells Fargo is looking at several opportunities in this area: using smart grid to manage buildings remotely, taking advantage of government Energy Service Contracting opportunities, sensors, digital EMS systems, and even keyboards that sense body temperature and change accordingly.

Wells Fargo is also focused on transportation because transportation costs are so significant. By offering alternatives to employees (bike share, zip car), they can also start to integrate sustainability into the culture.

Government outlook

The Energy office is looking to unlock investment potential of all actors in the energy economy. Their programs that are less about picking company and technology winners and more about driving performance in the market and deployment.

In energy efficiency, the GEO provides financing and makes the business case for energy efficiency, i.e.increased property value. Internally, they use Energy CAP to look at energy billing data across the state fleet.

In transportation fuels, GEO is active in all vehicle and fuel types. One example is the multi-state Memorandum of Understanding to demonstrate demand for CNG to original equipment manufacturers.

2012 Sustainable Opportunities Summit/ Sustainability Leaders Council Roundtable

CORE — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:15:54 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE Volunteer

Panelists: Marylyn Johnson, Director of Corporate Sustainability, HIS; Claudia Capitini, Sustainability Maven, Eco-Products, Inc; Megan Bloomer, Director of Sustainability, DaVita; Moderator: Ellen Feeney, VP of Responsible Livelihood, WhiteWave Foods

Synopsis: The panelists discussed the big decisions for and key measurement tools in successful sustainability as well as the issues of transparency and supply chain management.

Trade-offs: What trade-offs do you/your companies make to be successful in sustainability?

-Personal: How can you go to sleep at night working for a company that has a huge environmental footprint? DaVita`s perspective: making a difference in a big company means every step is a step in the right direction that can educate and improve others.

-Corporate: is it better to make a plastic recycled cup or optimize a foam cup? Eco-Products decided to focus on the recycle resin cup, which has a large carbon footprint (made overseas), but creates a new market and consumer dialogue.

Supply Chain: How do you influence the sustainability of a supply chain?

-Work with suppliers to find win-win projects; for example, DaVita helped one supplier recycle delivery containers to save millions.

-Even if you are a small company with limited factory influence like Eco-Products, find friendly suppliers and continually try to create a new conversation about sticky issues to create a new way of thinking.

Transparency: How do you motivate transparency on tough issues?

-Transparency is more difficult than it sounds, but it provides increased communication with suppliers on key issues and decreased risk of bad press.

-Prepare and engage: DaVita prepares a list of their key activities in biggest areas of impact (water-use), then engages any opposition in coming up with a solution.

Measurement tools:

-DaVita does annual staff survey of sustainability plan. Staff can get cash prize for new sustainability ideas.

-Eco-Products focuses on product measurement; they use micro-scale diversion rates and a conversion rate to understand their role as a small actor in the large-scale industry and set realistic expectations.

Education/integration:

-Increase employee sustainability IQ to integrate sustainability into business decisions..

-Persistence and patience – long-term view that is translated into every-day practice for every employee; personal for each person.

-Right people with the right passion matters as much as money.

2012 Sustainable Opportunities Summit/ Keynote Address

CORE — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:36:57 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE Volunteer

John J. Viera, Director, Sustainability and Vehicle Environmental Maters, Ford Motor Company

Synopsis: While the keynote featured Ford Motors’ alternative fuel strategy and sustainability initiatives and across the auto-manufacturing line, Mr. Viera challenged the audience to consider one question: How do you drive sustainability into all the company operations?

Key take-away: Make the business case and implement sustainability initiatives that improve your business, focus on areas with the greatest impact, and create a better product or service for your customer.

As auto-manufacturers, Ford’s environmental performance is driven by reducing CO2 of car products. Ford has slowly developed away from fossil fuels towards electric and fuel cell vehicles, while providing a variety of affordable options. The “Power of Choice” strategy uses the standard Ford Focus model for all cars, but changes the drive train to create options with varying degrees of fuel efficiency and price points.

Mr. Viera also reviewed Ford’s initiatives in major sustainability areas:

Materials: With an 85% recycle rate, cars are the most recycled products in the world. That’s ahead of newspapers and pop bottles. Ford’s materials are no different. One materials innovation was using old denim jeans for stuffing in the truck of the car.

Energy: To stay ahead of the market, Ford invested in 500 solar panels, on-site electric trucks, and build their alternative fuel vehicles in the same factories as ICE vehicles.

Water: Water is a big focus due to their growth in water-scarce Asia. For example, when Ford built a facility in the dessert, they ensured the surrounding community benefited from their imported water.

Social Sustainability: Ford sets standards for human rights, such as their corporate code of working conditions. This is particularly important in nations without any such standards, and is particularly challenging since many minerals necessary for car production come from conflict areas.

Business case: To integrate sustainability, you have to make the business case. For example, for Ford’s working condition standards, the business case is decreased risk and increased productivity of workers. If a supplier in Bangladesh is found using child labor, the headline is not about that supplier, but about Ford Motors.

Sustainable Accounting: How Sustainability Has Expanded the CFO`s Role

CORE — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:10:38 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian

Have you ever read a corporate sustainability report and thought ‘This company sounds great!” A few minutes later you wonder: ‘wait, where did these numbers come from? How do they compare? Is this report even true?’ At this month’s CORE breakfast, experts from four different perspectives –investor, accountant, corporate, and academic- explained the progress and challenges of exactly this: corporate sustainability reporting.

The Investor Perspective

Steve Schueth is the President and Chief Marketing Officer for First Affirmative Financial Network, a financial investment firm focused on creating sustainable and socially responsible investment portfolios. As such, Steve has significant experience evaluating companies based on more than the traditional financial metrics, but also how the company manages its relationship with the community and environment. He is seeing more and more investors and company analysts asking the important question that he asks everyday: Is this company making money off the back of society or is this company supporting society in its work? Investors are starting to care about sustainability.

The Consultant/Assurance Perspective

John DeRose, a member of Deloitte’s National Sustainability Advisory team, provided life-cycle assessment and governance advice to a wide-range of companies that are working on some aspect of sustainability including reporting, assurance, compliance, or goal/metric development.

There were several pieces of good news in John’s presentation. For one, companies from all industries are actively reporting on sustainability and the absolute number of companies reporting is increasing. While North America lags behind Europe in terms of numbers and maturity of reporting, these increases in reporting are still significant. Deloitte is also helping The Global Reporting Initiative develop the next round of reporting standards.

The second piece of good news is that companies aren’t only creating those glossy reports to make you, the consumer, like them. Wait, then why are companies reporting? Here are some other reasons:

• Mandatory requirements, including SEC environmental disclosures

• Transparency expectations of investors/stakeholders

• Understand ESG performance and respond to ESG activities of the competitors

• Achieve greater credibility among employees, business partners, and government regulators

• Meet supply chain requirements

• Improve position or score on various ratings

• Respond to questionnaires

• Avoid risk

The Corporate Perspective

Lara Hussain is the woman who brought Texas Instruments (TI) into the sustainability reporting fold. A company that once asked why it was necessary to spend so much time, resources, and employee effort to produce a quality sustainability report, now reports consistently. While you may be thinking high school calculator, keep in mind that TI is a business to business company. Meaning they are not customer facing, but instead produce parts used for other purposes. They are the 2nd largest semi-conductor company and 4 largest global semiconductor manufacturer.

TI started releasing a “citizen report” in 2005, combining the EHS report with employee, community, and environmental performance. The two primary reasons TI reports are a) stakeholders requesting transparency and b) understanding new aspects of the company drives higher performance. If that’s not enough, the report also inspires and engages employees, attracts/retains employees, enhances reputation, gains analyst coverage and endorsement from interest groups, meets customer information needs, and identifies performance gaps. Despite the rigorous application process, TI also pays attention to third-party rankings, such as the Dow Jones, CRO, or CDP, to gain analyst perspectives on important drivers and gaps.

Some of the “deal breaker” sustainability indicators the company tracks are climate change, water use, conflict minerals, legislation that impacts disclosures, and human rights.

The Academic Perspective

After researching the state of agriculture and the drastic effects of temperate increases, droughts, and limited natural resource, Kristine Brands devoted herself to making inroads in the field of corporate sustainability as a professor at Regis University and board member of the Institute of Management Accountants. According to her research, we are witnessing a paradigm shift whereby companies are moving from solely financial quantitative metrics to a holistic understanding of the company across management, governance and remuneration, environmental & social, financial standards. Companies are setting goals to trace impact on people and planet and achieve long-term performance.

Further, there are several positive trends. The International Integrated Reporting Council developed a framework for integrated reporting, the UN is proposing mandatory sustainability reporting for companies, and tools like the Balanced Scorecard are being developed to help companies integrate financial, social, and environmental data.

Report Assurance Discussion

In the meeting, we also learned that 90% of companies report, but only 60% seek assurance on reports. So how do we know all this information is even true?

TI is one of the 40% that does not seek assurance because they would rather invest in improving performance. Further, Lara argues that the report doesn’t lose any truth without assurance. The subject matter experts, lawyers, and executive management, which rigorously review every detail in the report, would never allow inaccurate documents to be publically released.

From the investor perspective, false information is not as big of an issue as we might think- companies are attempting to be forthcoming with accurate information. Assurance just gives an added level credibility to a small, but growing, portion of investors.

On the other hand, an auditor will almost always find something wrong in a report. If there were ever a scandal in this regard, there may be more focus on assurance.

Overall, the exciting news is that companies are voluntarily reporting even after a huge recession, information is increasingly available, and the right people are involved in the reporting discussion. Now, it’s time to work on gaining more transparent data, involving more companies, and establishing a clear reporting standard. Sustainability reporting is here to stay, but still evolving.

Please visit www.corecolorado.org/downloads for presentations and resources.

Change Is For The Better; Managing Organizational Change For Sustainability

CORE — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:05:04 GMT

Written by Dena Zocher, CORE volunteer

Whether starting a new job, giving up an old habit, or transitioning a relationship, we all know from experience that change can be challenging. It seems like part of the human condition to resist change, even if we think it’s a good thing.

So it’s no surprise that facilitating change in organizations consisting of tens, hundreds or thousands of individuals has its pitfalls. Managing organizational change for sustainability entails the usual obstacles, often with whole new sets of business processes, job requirements, and reporting demands.

Successful organizational change is a journey, not a destination. Making the changes necessary to enable successful sustainability efforts is a transformational process for the enterprise.

The panel at the November CORE breakfast held at the Boulder Outlook Hotel gave real-life examples of how planning for and managing change can help any organizations make its sustainability initiatives more successful. Taking the time to engage people across the organization early in the process, enabling employees to succeed, and communicating accomplishments help create positive sustainability outcomes.

5 Key Factors for Organizational Change: Chris Hoffman, Whole Systems Consulting says moving an organization in the direction of sustainability means incorporating both systems change and behavioral change to get from the current state to the desired state. The fact is, organizational change is dependent on individual change. Successful efforts are driven by five key factors: linkages that create strength in numbers; energy, the momentum to get to the desired state; focus, the ‘why’ that fosters urgency, excitement and positivity; skills, the ability to execute; and anchor, the organizational structure to support the end state.

Sustainable change in a small city government department: Aimee Kane, City of Boulder, Department of Community Planning & Sustainability shared how her team achieved its vision of a more sustainable department by planning and implementing both a program to make planning board communications paperless and a sustainability training initiative during the process of the City consolidating several individual departments into a single department. The group's emphasis on collaboration, training, leveraging resources and communicating successes continues to have a positive impact on the success of the department’s sustainability initiatives culture.

Grass-roots employee engagement at Boulder`s first zero-waste hotel: For Dan King, Ambassador of Cool for Boulder Outlook Hotel & Suites, having an appointed sustainability champion, along with a strong culture of employee engagement are the keys to the success of his business’s sustainability initiatives. “It’s at the staff level that change happens,” says King. When a new initiative is launched, the hotel not only trains employees to work with it, but also incorporates opportunities for their families to participate and learn. The hotel became fully committed to achieving zero waste in 2006 – since then, better information, technology and planning have helped Ron and his team continuously improve their efforts. King says that just proves sustainability is “a marathon, not a sprint.”

Sustainability requires a suite of change management approaches: Jeff Yorzyk, Senior Consultant, PE INTERNATIONAL & Five Winds Strategic Consulting says driving sustainability requires developing and implementing a suite of change management approaches coordinated by a comprehensive management system. Top management support is a critical success factor, along with creation of organization-wide goals. For larger enterprises, its important to analyze sustainability risks and opportunities, and do a thorough inventory of ongoing initiatives that are headed in the right direction. The quality of employee engagement and ongoing communications about internal sustainability initiatives can make or break a good strategy before it even gets off the ground.

To download presentations, please visit our Downloads page, to see more photos of the event, please go to our Facebook page.

“A spark becomes a wildfire,” driving behavioral change

CORE — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:03:43 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE`s Communications Coordinator

When it comes to sustainability, there is no silver bullet: the challenges are vast, the journey is long, and the destination is somewhat unknown. At this month’s Wirth Sustainability series, CORE (Connecting Organizations for a Responsible Economy) engaged 3 of its star corporate members, Eco-Products, Shaw Construction, and CH2MHILL, in a discussion about the journey towards sustainability.

This is the last of the three blog posts,in which we explored each company’s strategy to overcoming barriers to sustainability, including impact analysis, relationship development, and behavioral change. Each strategy uniquely designed to address the challenges of particular products, missions, and industries. As evidenced in these stories, every company has room for improvement, and CORE is here to help.

With clients that span the globe and industries, CH2MHill constantly struggles to incorporate the 4 million definitions of sustainability into a coherent corporate strategy. Under the direction of Sustainability Manager, Lindsay Ritter, CH2MHill has already overcome significant challenges, implementing a successful pilot program. Now, the company continues to tackle a new host of challenges in making that “spark” a real sustainable “wildfire.”

The pilot program was ambitious in and of itself, as CH2MHill sought more than just “green outcomes,” the ultimate objective was behavior change. The challenges and solutions are demonstrated in Lindsey’s 3-step process to engage 45 clients in the western region:

• Find champions for sustainability: The first successful champion was just an administrative assistant, but she

had the devotion, passion, and time necessary to spearhead the movement.

• Develop sustainability plans: Clients initially did on-off projects such as habitat restoration, water education,

effluent reuse, storm drainage murals for costal quality, eco-systems enhancement.

• Monitor projects: CH2MHill’s measured and monitored effluent re-use, waste reduction, gallons of chemical

reduced, recycling, kwhs saved, volunteers, personal impact, and $1.2 million of savings.

Perhaps it was the $1.2 million in savings, or perhaps it was the pressure to be a leader in the field after winning the “Leader in Sustainable Engineering” award. Either way, the success of the pilot program lead to the development of a highly ambitious strategic sustainability plan for 2015. The new objective: infuse sustainability into the entire business.

Moving from a small pilot to a corporate-wide program brought four new challenges:

• Sustainability education

• Strategic planning

• Large-scale measurement

• SCALE: including training, centralization, and software solutions

Lindsay and her team are hard at work figuring out how to overcome these challenges to reach the next level of corporate sustainability. As Lindsay said, “it’s a journey that comes with many rewards.”

Depending on the unique situation of your company, you may wish to consider any of these approaches: impact analysis, relationship-building, or behavioral change; or a combination of the 3.

Shaw Construction – Building relationships from “Random acts of sustainability”

CORE — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:51:49 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE`s Communications Coordinator

Over the next 3 blog posts, we’ll explore each company’s strategy to overcoming barriers to sustainability, including impact analysis, relationship development, and behavioral change. Each strategy uniquely designed to address the challenges of particular products, missions, and industries. As evidenced in these stories, every company has room for improvement, and CORE is here to help.

Story #2: Shaw Construction is a general contractor providing professional construction services throughout Colorado and Wyoming. While Shaw has yet to reach the ultimate goal of an integrated sustainability strategy, this CORE member participates in random acts of sustainability in a particularly meaningful way.

Vice President, Dave Thorpe, shared the significant challenged faced by a general contractor such as Shaw:

- Client sustainability values vary: Each client places a different level of value on sustainability. Since clients hire

Shaw for a particular process or output, Shaw has to cater to particular needs, which sometimes results in

unsustainable projects.

- Fragmented industry: contracting faces a particularly tight market and unemployment pressures. Since

sustainable solutions are not always the lowest cost options, other priorities win out.

- Municipal standards, historic preservation, and beautification priorities are often in conflict with sustainable

options.

Despite these challenges, Shaw has the distinct advantage of being a relationship driven company, placing the most value on creating a great relationships with each client. While this requires Shaw to meet the client at their level of sustainability (even it’s low), it also allows Shaw to influence a whole new scope of organizations

that might not otherwise engage in substantiality at all. If Shaw can prove something is cost-effective or more efficient, a client may be willing to invest in the “greener” solution. Further, Shaw invests in building relationships among employees, which will allow a new sustainability culture to develop at a grass-roots level.

Moral of the story: Building relationships around sustainability may take longer, but could be a key to long-term sustainability.

Eco-Products: Matching strategy to products through impact analysis

CORE — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:58:18 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE`s Communications Coordinator

“There is no purity test – If you want to be loved, join CORE.”

-Pete Dignan, Executive Director

Over the next 3 blog posts, we’ll explore each company’s strategy to overcoming barriers to sustainability, including impact analysis, relationship development, and behavioral change; Each strategy uniquely designed to address the challenges of particular products, missions, and industries. As evidenced in these stories, every company has room for improvement, and CORE is here to help.

Eco-Products: Matching strategy to products through impact analysis

Eco-Products is a small Boulder-based firm that manufactures compostable and recycled-content foodservice products (i.e. cups, napkins, utensils, etc). With a name like Eco-Products and some of the ‘greenest’ products in town, you’d think Eco-Products could call it a day when it comes to sustainability. But Eco-

Products won’t stop at just a green product. With the hard work of Claudia Capitini, the “Sustainability Maven,” Eco-Products seeks to create green strategy to back up the green product.

During her presentation, it became clear that, even with a green product, creating a green strategy is a major challenge. Claudia faces three major challenges:

The environmental difference between regular plastic cups, foam cups, and compostable corn cups can be harder to determine than you might think.
Consumer behavior is different than the science – not everyone recycles or composts, or does it right.
Competitors are also selling “greener products” on much larger scales – albeit interspersed in their large portfolios of traditional plastics and foam products.

Eco-Product’s solution: Impact Analysis. Eco-Products gathered extensive information about all their products by conducting one of the most extensive cradle to grave life cycle analysis in the market. Not only that, they share this information with the consumer! On every product, you’ll find a “footprint” label, which is literally

an image of a foot with a breakdown of how their products impact the environment. Further, the company purchases carbon offsets and strives to move towards better carbon management.

The moral of the story: Through impact and life cycle analysis, companies and consumers can understand the “green” behind the products and strategies they use.

Occupy and Sustainability

CORE — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:16:43 GMT

As the head of a business sustainability-focused non-profit and as a small business owner, I’ve been watching the Occupy Wall Street movement with great interest. Some of my colleagues have expressed fear, frustration or dismay that the Occupy movement seems to be anti-business, painting all companies and their leaders with the same broad brush.

That’s not the message I’m hearing. The people I’ve talked with, some of whom have been active in Occupy Denver, have no beef with businesses that exercise social and environmental responsibility.

The complaint I’m seeing and hearing is with the top management of a small percentage of very large businesses, especially financial institutions. It’s a frustration over the co-opting of politics by moneyed interests, the judicial notion that companies are “persons” and money is “free speech.” It is righteous indignation over the fact that Fortune 500 CEOs are paid almost 350 times what a typical American worker earns.

In fact what the participants in the Occupy movement are calling for has much in common with sustainability. They’re suggesting that we recognize our deep interdependence, and that we work actively to make our economy reflect this interconnectedness. They are pointing out that it is in the enlightened self-interest of business owners and business leaders to pursue a triple bottom line of people, planet and profit; to be as deliberate with social and environmental capital as we are with financial capital.

That’s a message I can get behind.

Maximizing LEED Certification

CORE — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:14:18 GMT

Written by Lauren Quillian, CORE`s Communications Coordinator

The nearly finished Conference Room in the 1900 16th street building in downtown Denver was an apt setting for this month’s CORE breakfast meeting. In fact, the setting nearly taught the lessons we were about to learn in green construction. The copious sunlight, open air, and efficient energy systems evidenced progress towards a sustainable built environment, but construction signs visible through the windows alluded to the work that remains to be done in green construction.

An increasing number of buildings are earning that shiny LEED certification plaque, but is that enough?

Earning the Plaque: Requirements and Advances in Green Construction

What do you have to do to get a plaque?

Graham Cottingham of Saunders Construction explained that sustainable construction means considering the environmental impact of the building across several criteria:

- Location: Is there access to transportation? Does the building improve urban density?

- Material Life cycle: Are materials locally sourced and disposed?

- Waste Management – How much content is recycled? Do workers know what materials can be recycled?

- Indoor Air quality- What off-gases are produced from insulation, paints etc?

- Water Use: How are you using this limited resource?

- Energy Management: How will the building reduce consumption? Are the electrical systems tight?

With the exception of some mechanical systems and low-water use fixtures, implementing these sustainability criteria do not come with a cost premium. Perhaps due to the achievement of these criteria, sitting in the conference room, with lots of natural light and open air, almost felt like sitting outside.

Advance 1: Green construction is an increasing portion of the industry

The fact that we were sitting in a LEED certified building, adjacent to DaVita’s neighboring LEED certified building in-construction made it easy to believe the facts presented by Saunders representatives Graham Cottingham and Alyssa Rossnagel:

• In 2010, 35-45% of construction was verified as sustainable

• Green contracting currently represents 39% of the industry

Advance 2: Internal Sustainability practices

In addition to improving construction processes for the built environment, Alyssa demonstrated how companies like Saunders Construction are making internal changes to improve sustainability. Due to the new demand for green construction, Saunders has successfully implemented, and profited from, new sustainable practices:

• Electronic Documentation: Save on courier fees and paper as well as increased efficiency at the worksite

• Sourcing recycled materials: Save on material costs and reduce waste

• Purchasing environmentally friendly disposable cups: Reduce waste

• Using programmable thermostats and lighting: Save on energy costs and decrease carbon footprint

• Respond to natural disasters: Utilize expertise in construction services to help communities and increase brand value

Advance 3: Overcoming cost barriers and myths

Brian Dunbar explained how developers and decision makers are finally realizing the value in attaining LEED certification. For example, Brian proved that the difference between “building to” LEED standards (which many developers have done) and building a certified building can be less than $10K, and the certified building comes with the assurance of future performance that will easily recover that cost. Further, these projects can come in at budget and create savings: the Fort Collins Fossil Ridge High school cost $135 per sq foot to construct with LEED certification, and the school uses $110,000 less money on yearly expenses than schools built to code.

The point: Green construction has grown significantly, with an increasing number of buildings displaying LEED Certification plaques. Now, what do we do with it?

Maximizing the Plaque: Operating a LEED Certified Building

It’s easy to promote the shiny LEED plaque, but like most sustainability initiatives, the true victory is only achieved through behavioral change and education. Megan Bloomer of DaVita suggested that the heart of green construction starts with the plaque, but lies in the future tenants. Everyday occupants of the building, from the janitor to the CEOs, must know how to operate and maintain the building in a way that maximizes the sustainable performance, or else “we’ve missed the point.”

To maximize performance and achieve cost savings, operators must engage and educate every user of that building on how to operate and love its virtues. For the hourly work, this means explaining why they should use air hand-dryers rather than paper towels. For operators, this means understanding that this is not business as usual and learning the new requirements of the building. Notably, Brian Dunbar pointed out that even Natural Resource students at the University of Wyoming needed training on how to live and work in their new LEED certified building.

The final gap that needs to be filled in the Green Building industry is the hand off between construction teams and operating teams so that operators can maximize the environmental performance envisioned in the design. LEED certified buildings are automatically enrolled in LEED for Existing Building Operations and Maintenance, but the requirements to maintain this certification need to be enforced.

Sustainability Spells Opportunity for IT

CORE — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:20:01 GMT

Written by Dena Zocher, CORE Volunteer

On September 21, CORE and the Colorado Technology Association co-hosted a breakfast presentation on the sustainability opportunities driven by green IT. The breakfast was held at the Canadian Consulate in Denver. Four speakers offered diverse perspectives on sustainability opportunities throughout the IT lifecycle, including virtualization (such as virtual severs and cloud computing), energy efficient data centers, sustainability management and reporting software, and IT asset procurement and disposition.

For information technology-intensive businesses, implementing green IT practices can save money, reduce risk and enhance top-line growth. In fact, as early adopters have proven, green IT practices drive measurable financial and environmental benefits. Now companies are making green IT initiatives a higher priority.

Opportunities for IT will continue to grow as the drive for sustainability becomes more of a multidisciplinary effort across companies.

Why Green IT matters

Rod Taylor, IT Service Delivery Director at Istonish, noted that for most businesses, regulatory compliance, cost savings and revenue opportunities are the three top motivators for adopting sustainability practices. IT organizations can do a lot to help by considering the advantages of virtualization, addressing user needs more efficiently, and applying sustainability practices to managing facilities and processes. One easy way to sort it out is the CLEAR approach: Craft a strategy for sustainable IT practices and processes; Lead the initiative; Embed sustainability in the organization’s strategy and culture; Analyze results; and Renew efforts based on what is working.

Energy efficient data centers and cloud computing

U.S. data center energy use grew by about 36% during the last five years, consuming about 2% of the total electricity used by the nation. In fact, data centers are expected to eclipse the airline industry in carbon emissions by 2022 if the current rate of growth continues. Thomas Burns, founder and Vice President of business development for Green House Data, says it doesn’t have to be that way. Innovations in energy efficient data center design are reducing the energy waste and carbon footprint associated with data centers of the past. Some newer facilities even rely on renewable energy. These highly efficient operations are also able to extend convenient, secure cloud computing services to small and midsize businesses, passing along the energy benefits. Green House Data is pioneering energy efficient design and sustainable management practices that help drive customer satisfaction and growth. The company offers tours of its advanced facilities.

Reduce total cost of ownership while enhancing data security

Sustainability means more than just lower energy use, says Dag Adamson, founder and President of LifeSpan Technology Recycling. The key is to “think about the end at the beginning.” From the purchasing process through equipment disposition at the end of life, there are things you can do to both make a positive sustainability impact and reduce the total cost of ownership. But that means paying attention to the details and understanding your responsibility for user needs, compliance, security and reporting at each step of reduce-reuse-recycle. Doing it right can reduce risks and liability for environmental compliance and data security in equipment disposal. Following GRI reporting practices is essential for compliance and validation -- but don’t forget to communicate your measurable successes to your stakeholders as well.

Enterprise reporting tools for sustainable organizations

Today’s sustainability leaders are challenged by a multitude of reporting requests and requirements. The manual workload required to collect and verify data to generate credible, auditable reports can be daunting. Chris Thomas, Vice President of EcoSoftware for CA says enterprise sustainability reporting tools give IT the opportunity to provide a solution. Using appropriate software to automate sustainability initiatives and reporting can help accelerate corporate success. IT has a mandate to manage critical business services. Today, sustainability IS a critical business service. IT is well positioned to help enterprises strategically allocate the necessary time and resources and enable strategic innovations that will drive future competitive advantage. Says Thomas, “Call it ‘Green IT or ‘Lean IT’, it’s all just good business.”

Your Role in the Green Economy: A Few Ideas from the Urban Green Summit

CORE — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:41:07 GMT

On August 27, 2011, Pete Dignan, Executive Director of CORE and CORE Foundation, moderated a panel “Your Role in the New Green Economy” during the Urban Green Summit. As people working in the field of making our society and economy more sustainable, each of the distinguished panelists had great perspectives to share.

Think 3P: Professional, Political and Personal

Tanuj T.J. Deora, Director of the Colorado Governor`s Energy Office, suggested a framework for taking action on each of three levels: your professional self, your political self, and your personal self. Can you stop using plastic bottles and start carrying a reusable one? Check your personal action box. Can you think of any efficiency at work that will help your employer save energy, staff time and resources (set a copier to print double sided, enlarge margins, run the dishwasher twice a week as opposed to every day, stop buying paper cups and utensils for the meetings and switch to reusable ones?) This is your professional self in action. Are you supporting any political actions that will help your community get better transportation options, make biking safer, promote local food production, or create incentives for energy efficiency and renewable energy? You’ve got your political self covered!

Maximize Social Media

Andre Pettigrew, Executive Director of Climate Prosperity Project , pointed out that the most influential companies in the world, such as Google, Facebook, and Groupon, provide value to all of us through free service. So, how can each of us utilize these great tools for change? Why not use these and other social media platforms to drive sustainable lifestyle changes by sharing some tips and fun ideas with your friends and organizing people online around issues that matter?

Do What You Do and Do It Better

Helena Haynes-Carter, Director of the Minority Business Center, called for us to become better at what we do, while collaborating with others who compliment our work. “If what you do is X, do it the best of your abilities, and find another person who does Y to join forces and maximize your efforts”. Her advice can be applied in everywhere, but a sustainable economy and society needs this approach even more.

Listen & Respect Each Other

The environment is about nature, but it also is about people and how we treat each other. John Francis III, who did not ride a motorized vehicle for 22 years and voluntarily kept silence for 17 years while trekking North and South America, earning three degrees, and relying on many people for survival, has a few things to share about dealing with people. His wise suggestion was very simple and powerful: listen and respect each other. His call for all of us is to understand sustainability in relationship to one another, families, and communities.

Role=Responsibility

Gloria Cannady, with American Renewable Energy, offered a deep look at the meaning of the word “role” – a chosen effort to do something. She made a case that “role” equals “responsibility”, which serves as a great reminder.

The reality is that the business world is driven by short-term profits. And elected officials are driven by the short election cycle. So leadership for the long-term should come from you! If you figure out how to find win-win solutions that benefit your company and the environment, then your actions will have a triple-positive effect on the economy, the environment and society. Need some moral guidance and inspiration? There are many potential sources. Faith and spiritual communities… activists like Bill McKibben, Lester Brown, Van Jones, and John Francis… and events, such as Urban Green Summit are all possibilities.

The blog post is written by Natalia Korobova, Program Director for CORE and CORE Foundation

Shortening the distance between a person’s decision and their impact is key to sustainability

CORE — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:38:10 GMT

Blog post by Jennifer Roberts, CORE volunteer

This month’s CORE breakfast was at the Ball Corporation campus in Broomfield and was focused on greening purchasing. If I left with one overriding thought it was that businesses can have a much greater impact on sustainability through their purchasing standards than the products and services they sell. Purchasing decisions are able to influence the products and services that are produced and sold, ultimately having a very direct impact on the economy.

Use Purchasing to Drive Sustainability Into the Business

Jim McIntyre, Purchasing Director for the City and County of Denver, emphasized this point in his presentation. He suggested that within the existing framework of many purchasing guidelines lay the structure for supporting sustainable purchasing. The purchasing infrastructure with its embedded controls can promote an open and honest government that nurtures consistent and fair bidding. Jim believed that purchasers can use what might be perceived as stringent guidelines to their advantage to promote socially responsible purchasing.

Educated Purchasing

By holding all bidders to required specs, Jim stressed that the process could provide a lot of information to purchasers about products, the industry and other services they are researching. By asking questions, a purchaser can find out more about their suppliers and if there may be other areas in which a company may be operating sustainably. Because it’s not just about the immediate impact of the price that should influence a decision, but the impact on society and environment 5-10 years down the road.

Purchasing Power

Jim suggested that purchasers join city and county co-ops and seek to combine their purchasing power to achieve specific goals. Jim described a successful effort to purchase from local delivery companies versus big box retailers to help nurture local economies.

He said there are a number of ways for purchasers to influence and promote sustainable purchasing but to be wary of some of the more obscure certifications. A number of industries have their own certification and so he cautioned to do some digging to ensure that the products represented by the certification are fairly valued.

Supporting Local Jobs and Protecting the Environment

Mickki Langston, Executive Director, Mile High Business Alliance, was the second speaker and focused in on a topic of concern to everyone in the room, “How do we create jobs, good and services while not destroying the environment?”

She believes that local businesses are a key component to the health of a community because of relationships. Many small business owners work and live in the community; they’re close to the impact of their decisions. In larger corporations, the decision-maker is often far removed from the outcomes of their business choices. Mickki reminded us of the economic multiplier of spending locally, which is 3x the average. Those types of number encourage job growth.

Embedding the Sustainability Lens into Business Processes

Gerri Walsh, Director Sustainability, Ball Corporation, mentioned that Ball had had a formal sustainability strategy for about 4 years that covered five priorities:

• packaging

• energy

• water/waste

• talent management

• safety

But what was most revealing is how Ball changed the review process for any new capital projects. In the past, the focus was on the cost of the project and ensuring that it was under budget. They didn’t consider energy, waste or water costs. Now, Ball ensures that a sustainability lens in embedded into everything they do. Each project is reviewed for how it impacts Ball’s sustainability goals.

Purchasing Decision that Impact Social and Environment Goals

Gerri explained how a purchasing process tied to business goals could have a positive impact on both society and the environment. In the 90’s, Ball focused on supplier diversity and began tracking their spending to suppliers to ensure that their suppliers and contractors represented a diverse source for products and services.

Green Purchasing Means Something Different to Everyone

Deanna Bratter, Responsible Livelihood Manager at WhiteWave Foods posed a question: "How do you encourage people to care about sustainability?" She suggested one way is to make employees feel that their personal decisions influence business outcomes. Deanna believes that by shortening the distance between a person’s decision and the impact of their decision is key to sustainability.

Finding the “And”

She described how their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, waste and water expanded to more responsible purchasing and sustainable packaging. They began to leverage their existing metrics and guidelines to make sustainable packaging. But to begin that process they had to engage their supply chain: producers, manufacturers and distributors to find the “and”. The “and” was defined as a package that met cost, quality “AND” their corporate sustainability mission.

Deanna emphasized there has to be a balance and it’s not just about cost reduction. For example, they have purchasing standards and guidelines at Horizon that outline nine core principles that are followed on company–owned farms. They also use a tool called SIT, which is a sustainability impact tool that measures the impact of potential projects. Each element of their sustainability effort helps to drive their corporate mission and achieve the “and” in both their products and packaging.

Technology’s Impact on Corporate Sustainability

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:27:34 GMT

More and more businesses are realizing that implementing a more sustainable business model is not only good for the environment, but it is now an essential part of smart business. Going “green” now also means saving green. Companies are being challenged more than ever to find greener ways of operating.

Turning off lights, using recycled paper products and green cleaning products are some of the ways business offices can start to meet these goals. But, lurking in the background as the biggest challenge to achieving a sustainable business is actually IT Infrastructure and the energy demands it puts on both budgets and the environment. In fact, more than 70 percent of electricity consumed in the United States is used in office buildings. A significant portion of this amount comes from growing technology needs, especially server infrastructure.

As business leaders, it’s important to know that although servers are vital to our company, they are also huge energy consumers. In order to keep just one server running, it takes 7000 kWh per year to power and cool. That amount emits around 4 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the environment and costs approximately $700 each year.

What can you do?

Measure: A good start to make a corporate change is to examine current IT business practices to see where you’re using the most energy now. CORE offers assistance in this ares. Check their Sustainability Resources page (in the Energy Efficiency section) and the CORE Catalyst project, a sustainability assessment of member companies. Measuring first not only helps you see where you could save, it lets you see bottom-line benefits when you start implementing green IT practices.

Greener Enterprise Solutions: If you currently have an in-house data center or server room, consider purchasing certified green-e tags to offset the electricity used by technology. Also, modern servers have a much wider operating temperature range than their predecessors and can run efficiently at higher temperatures. Turning up the thermostat just one degree warmer can save 4-5% on overall energy consumption. Lastly, on a larger scale, installing an energy efficient cooling system in the server room can be very beneficial. This can save around 75 – 90% on the energy needed for cooling.

Cloud Hosting: The virtualization offered by cloud hosting has really opened the doors to truly greening a company’s IT because it allows for better utilizations of servers. On average, a dedicated server runs at only 8 - 15% utilized, however consumes almost 100% of the electricity that a fully utilized server requires. With Cloud hosting, server usage is upped to around 80% capacity without sacrificing speed or performance, thus allowing business to do more with less servers. For example, if a business utilizes 10 dedicated servers, they are going to pay approximately $7000 per year to power and cool those servers. If utilizing a cloud platform, their energy cost decreases to $700, a significant cost savings to the bottom line. Even better, this change would take away over 44 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions from our environment each year.

Outsource: Use shared data centers, hosted phone systems or cloud computing services. There are service providers to choose from that offer greener options. These data center providers spread energy usage and costs across multiple clients.

Green Colocation: If your company already owns server hardware, opt to colocate in a green data center. Look for companies that are powered by renewable energy, offer energy efficient data center design and power management services. If your current provider doesn’t offer a green solution, challenge them to make sustainability a priority or find another company that already does. Take note that choosing a green data center for these services shouldn’t cost more money. A solid data center focused on energy efficiency should pass on their energy savings down to their customers.

This post has spoken more about the bigger changes companies can make to impact their sustainability goals, but the smaller tasks can also bring change, even if on a smaller scale.

Additional ideas to green your IT:

Recycle or donate IT equipment
Set computers to go into a sleep mode after being idle for twenty minutes
Power down equipment when not in use
Keep your computer hardware longer, if possible
When buying new computer hardware, opt for Energy Star approved
Encourage telecommuting

There are many ways a business can green their technology, it’s all about starting. The use of the technology is exploding, but fortunately with these methods, the consumption of electricity doesn’t need to increase at the same pace.

Kristen Feichtner is a manager at Green House Data, an energy efficient, wind powered data center offering cloud hosting and colocation services.

It’s More than Giving - Sustainable Mission-driven Philanthropy

CORE — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:08:56 GMT

Note from a Sustainability Breakfast

Written by Jennifer Roberts

I attended my first CORE breakfast on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at Goodwill Industries. It was a packed event both in content and attendees. I arrived early because I wasn't entirely sure where I was going, so I showed up with plenty of time to sample the goodies and coffee that were available.

A representative from Goodwill Industries gave a great introduction to the breakfast. He also reminded us all that Goodwill has been practicing sustainability for 90 years by investing in people and the community. Goodwill also has a strong commitment to recycling, as it was demonstrated during the tour of the facility.

Cristin C. Tarr, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Business Service Corps spoke about mission-driven philanthropy and how to build a socially responsible business. She stressed that philanthropy is best used as business strategy. Through incorporating your business’ philanthropy into strategic planning and measuring the results, you create value for society, the environment and your business. Please see her presentation.

Tammy Fernandez, Executive Director of Community Investment, University of Phoenix emphasized that corporate philanthropy is the new business requirement and sending the check in is no longer enough. She went in depth about University of Phoenix’s “Road to the Gulf” program that connected different school campuses with their local communities. Faculty, staff, and their friends and family joined together for various volunteer projects in the months leading up to the national conference in New Orleans, LA. The university partnered with the HandsOn Network for both their local volunteer projects and a large group service project in New Orleans.

Joyce Witte, Community Investment Advisor, from EnCana gave an engaging presentation about the strategy her company uses in philanthropic giving. She demonstrated a methodology that places a value on five different levels of engagement. Opportunities with the most value are those relationships where Ecana and the participating company derive shared value for the community, their people and profits. The more shared value derived, the more resources Encana devotes to the opportunity. Joyce also shared company`s four strategies for sustainable community investment, driven by a "Invest in results and outcomes, not mission and causes" motto.

If you want to know more about CORE or are interested to get to know the sustainability community in the Denver/Boulder area, I highly recommend you check out one of these breakfast presentations.

15 minutes with Pete Dignan, Executive Director at CORE

CORE — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:00:03 GMT

Pete Dignan spent a few minutes with Jennifer Roberts, CORE`s volunteer, answering questions about his involvement at CORE, how the definition of sustainability has changed, and the future of sustainability in Colorado. Read more about Pete Dignan on the CORE staff pages. (http://www.corecolorado.org/staff)

Tell me a little about your background and how it led to a role at CORE.

My education is in environmental science, and I started my career as a hydrologist. Then I took a long detour through the world of information technology, culminating with founding a company called ProtoTest in 1998. A couple years ago I found myself thinking about the role of business in solving some of our toughest social and environmental challenges. I took a sabbatical from ProtoTest and did a lot of self-directed study. When the CORE position opened up, I jumped at the opportunity.

How is CORE evolving as the sustainability industry changes over time?

Business sustainability is a fast moving field as large and small companies experiment with strategies and tactics. A benefit for CORE members is that we stay on top of the changes and present programs (via our monthly breakfasts and other events) to help members keep pace.

Have the ideas and definitions around sustainability changed in the past few years?

Yes, in a number of ways. First, there’s a shift from the idea of CSR as something ‘extra’ a company could do, to the idea of sustainability as the key driver of business strategy. This means engaging all employees so that every significant decision in a business is viewed through the sustainability lens. It’s a huge strategic and cultural change, especially for larger companies.

Second, the bar of “good enough” is rising rapidly as investors, customers and NGOs elevate their expectations. Public companies are in a race to achieve competitive differentiation via their sustainability commitments and actions. Smaller businesses often lead by baking sustainability into their cultures from the start, or by capitalizing on their nimbleness to shift operations quickly to a cleaner, greener direction. Other small and midsize companies are being pulled along as members of the supply chain.

What are the biggest challenges (or biggest benefits) facing companies around the question of sustainability especially here in the Colorado?

Ultimately all sustainability is local. I mean this in two ways. First, every region has its own special issues of concern. In Colorado we think about water scarcity and threats to tourism posed by climate change in our mountains. This means both challenge and opportunity for Colorado businesses. Solving, or mitigating, some of our unique local problems can be good business. I’m thinking of a company like New Earth Pellets, up in Silver Plume, that takes beetle-killed pine trees and makes wood stove pellets.

The second way that all sustainability is local is that each business needs to understand the programs and opportunities presented by their utilities and their governmental jurisdictions. Energy and water efficiency assistance programs and rebates vary widely; as do waste recycling and composting options. Many cities, counties and states have their own programs to assist businesses in becoming more sustainable. Even the opportunities for community involvement through philanthropy and volunteerism are unique to each locale.

CORE helps member companies frame their sustainability efforts in a local context.

How has the "Great Recession" impacted a company's interest and support for sustainability?

The response by business has been counter-intuitive, as investments in sustainability have grown, not shrunk, since 2008. This reflects a belief that sustainable businesses will have a competitive advantage even, or especially, in difficult economic times.

If you were talking to a company about joining CORE, what membership benefits would you mention? Why should Colorado companies get involved?

CORE has always provided tremendous benefits through the Sustainable Opportunities Summit and our monthly breakfast series. Right now we’re in the process of adding a couple of new programs. “Success Stories” is our effort to spread the word about sustainability projects our members are most pleased with and proud of. Watch for that to launch this month (July 2011). And “CORE Catalyst” is a program that matches teams of university students with member companies to perform baseline sustainability assessments and greenhouse gas inventories. The University of Denver (Daniels College of Business) and the University of Colorado Boulder (Leeds School of Business) are both engaged in CORE Catalyst, which is coming this fall.

And the best reason to get involved is for the networking and collaboration with other people and companies that share your vision for 21st century business.

Believing in Colorado

CORE — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:14:49 GMT

Blog Series - Sustainable Opportunities Summit 2011 Keynote speakers videos

The State of Sustainability in Colorado: Governor John Hickenlooper

Written by CORE volunteer, Jennifer Roberts

Believing in Colorado

Governor John Hickenlooper took the stage at CORE’s Sustainable Opportunities Summit and Expo to talk both about Colorado’s uniqueness and his effort to get people to believe in government again. According to Governor Hickenlooper, Colorado plays a unique role for the nation because of:

• Its location in the center of nation

• Its capacity for solar, wind, natural gas, oil, geo-thermal and coal

• Our state of the art airport

• Our intellectual capital and research facilities

Colorado has a richness of resources, Gov. Hickenlooper noted, but stressed we have to become more energy agnostic and business friendly. He wasn’t suggesting that business be given a pass to damage the environment but that policies that encourage business can have a positive impact on our communities and energy solutions that are cleaner for our environment.

Addressing these issues and getting people involved is seen as a critical element to success, according to Gov. Hickenlooper. He wants people to get over the hurdle of doubt and to believe that we can influence our system. He asks, “do we believe” that government can make a difference when it comes to creating a more sustainable future. Gov. Hickenlooper believes that future opportunities are related to attitude. Do you believe you can help government create a more sustainable future?

To access the video, please click here and enter a password from the Member Resources page.