Super Eco

Photo credit: kevindooley, Flickr

How do you value your company's sustainability program? A recent analysis (.pdf file) suggests that companies committed to sustainability practices are doing better than average in the depressed financial marketplace.  This explains the rise of a new green collar executive, the Chief Sustainability Officer, or CSO.

How do you get a green collar management job like that? It helps to work for a firm that has a commitment to long term growth rather than short term gains. An investment in sustainability is a long term investment. But if your company's leadership has not made the connection regarding sustainable practices and future growth, perhaps you can be the one to educate them.

If you want to be on the sustainability team in your company, you have to let people know about your ambition and you must have something to offer. Two great resources for the self taught sustainability leader are The Natural Step and Peter Senge's book, The Fifth Discipline. If you can apply these tools to the challenge of sustainability in your company, then you can join the team that moves your company toward sustainable practices.

Your team should drill down to the specifics and set goals. To assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with your products, processes, or services, conduct an EPA Life-Cycle Assessment:

• compile an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases;
• evaluate the potential environmental impacts associated with identified inputs and releases;
• interpret the results to support a more informed decision.

When your team has set its environmental goals your next big task will be to measure progress. There are several enterprise software packages that can help you measure progress by tracking greenhouse-gas emissions, water and energy use, and energy efficiency. By tracking this data you can create progress reports and fine-tune your sustainability program over time.

Good luck. Your success will go straight to your company's bottom line, and it may save the planet.