The Truth About Green Business (Paperback)

Everything you need to know to green your business and grow your profit.

• The truth about what climate change means for your business

• The truth about running lean and green

• The truth about future proofing your business

Simply the best thinking

THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

This book reveals 52 PROVEN GREEN STRATEGIES and bite-size, easy-to-use techniques that get results.

 “This little book is inspiring in its range and practicality—not just for CEOs, but for every member of the enterprise…an exceptionally useful guide for ‘going green’ at any scale of enterprise.”

CHIP CONLEY, CEO, Joie de Vivre Hospitality

“In a world where green business advice is rampant, this is the one resource you need: a field guide that combines insight and inspiration with a solid, actionable path forward.”

JOEL MAKOWER, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com

Introduction     ix

Part I: The Truth About Green Business

TRUTH 1: What is a green business?      1

TRUTH 2: Why green your business?      5

TRUTH 3: How to approach greening your business     9

TRUTH 4: Why now?      13

TRUTH 5: Climate change and your business     17

Part II: The Truth About Green Strategy

TRUTH 6: Profit and purpose     23

TRUTH 7: How green is good enough?      27

TRUTH 8: Green regulations     31

Part III: The Truth About Green Operations

TRUTH 9: Secrets hiding in plain sight     35

TRUTH 10: Eco-efficiency: Good for business and the environment     39

TRUTH 11: Waste? Not! Eliminating non-product      43

TRUTH 12: EcoAudits can guide your course     47

TRUTH 13: Running lean and green     53

TRUTH 14: Carbon footprinting     57

TRUTH 15: Reducing your carbon footprint     63

Part IV: The Truth About Green Marketing

TRUTH 16: Green branding and messaging     67

TRUTH 17: Creating strong EcoLabels     71

TRUTH 18: Green marketing claims     77

TRUTH 19: Reaching conscious consumers     81

Part V: The Truth About Green Products and Services

TRUTH 20: What makes a product green?      85

TRUTH 21: Product take-back     89

TRUTH 22: Product to service     93

TRUTH 23: What makes a service green?      97

Part VI: The Truth About Green Design

TRUTH 24: Biomimicry–learning from life    

TRUTH 25: Reducing your product footprints     105

TRUTH 26: Cradle to cradle     109

TRUTH 27: Design with nature     113

TRUTH 28: Innovation is at the heart of greening     117

Part VII: The Truth About Green Procurement

TRUTH 29: Environmentally preferable purchasing     121

TRUTH 30: Supply chain management and partnerships     125

TRUTH 31: Supplier scorecards     129

TRUTH 32: Clearing the rising bar     133

Part VIII: The Truth About Green Buildings

TRUTH 33: LEED standards for green buildings     137

TRUTH 34: The cost of green building     141

TRUTH 35: Green buildings improve productivity     145

TRUTH 36: Integrative design for green building     149

Part IX: The Truth About Green IT

TRUTH 37: Computers and electronics     153

TRUTH 38: Creating more effi cient data centers     157

TRUTH 39: How IT can drive greening     161

Part X: The Truth About Green Management

TRUTH 40: Engaging employees     165

TRUTH 41: Engaging stakeholders     169

TRUTH 42: Keeping score     173

TRUTH 43: Employee incentives     177

TRUTH 44: Environmental management systems     181

Part XI: The Truth About Green Finance

TRUTH 45: Profit, value, and risk     185

TRUTH 46: Reality-based accounting     189

TRUTH 47: Investing in green and attracting green investment     193

TRUTH 48: Carbon trading and offsets     197

TRUTH 49: Fiduciary duty     201

Part XII: The Truth About Green Futures

TRUTH 50: Certainty in the face of uncertainty     207

TRUTH 51: Scenario planning     211

TRUTH 52: Future proofing     215

APPENDIX A: References     219

Acknowledgments     228

About the Author     229

Note: Appendix B is available online at no charge at www.informit.com/title/9780789739407.

APPENDIX B: Resources

Gil Friend is founder, President, and CEO of Natural Logic, Inc. Natural Logic provides advisory services in strategy, implementation, and performance measurement that help companies and communities prosper by embedding the laws of nature at the hearts of enterprise.

A systems ecologist and business strategist with nearly 40 years experience in business, communications, and environmental innovation, Friend combines broad business experience with unique content experience spanning strategy, systems ecology, economic development, management cybernetics, and public policy. Tomorrow magazine called him “One of the country’s leading environmental management consultants–a real expert who combines theoretical sophistication with hands-on, in-the-trenches know-how.” He is a founding board member of the Sustainable Business Alliance, Sustainable Berkeley, and the California Sustainable Business Council and serves on the executive board of OpenEco.org and the advisory boards of CleanFish, WattBot, Green World Campaign, and (past) San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Clean Tech Advisory Council. Friend served in the California Governor’s Office, developing early sustainability policies and programs, was a founding board member of Internet pioneer Institute for Global Communications, was founder and Executive Director of Foundation for the Arts of Peace, and was cofounder and codirector of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a leading urban ecology and economic development “think-and-do tank,” where he pioneered the current “green roof” trend more than 35 years ago.

Friend lectures widely on business strategy and sustainability policy and writes “The New Bottom Line” (www.natlogic.com/new-bottom-line) offering strategic perspectives on business and environment. He has contributed chapters to several books, including Worldchanging: A User’s Guide to the 21st Century, Sustainable Enterprise Report, Sustainable Enterprise Fieldbook, Sustainable Food Systems, and Stepping Stones, and is the author of the forthcoming book Profit on Purpose: Risk, Fiduciary Duty and the Laws of Nature. He holds an M.S. degree in systems ecology from Antioch University, has a black belt in Aikido, and is a seasoned practitioner of “The Natural Step” environmental management system.