3 Companies that Are Making Money by Embracing Sustainability
By Alex Perera, Co-director, Business Engagement in Climate and Technology, WRI
Superstorm Sandy and the subsequent Nor’easter were the biggest news this week and last. The combination of two powerful forces resulted in unprecedented and widespread damage. Our thoughts are with those who have been impacted.
I can’t help but draw the connection between our recent extreme weather and businesses today—corporations are increasingly recognizing that they, too, are navigating two powerful forces. One force demands financial results, while the other requires increasingly sophisticated techniques to respond to climate, energy, resource scarcity, and other sustainability risks. The ways businesses navigate both these forces will determine whether they are truly viable over the long-term.
3 Pioneering Businesses Focused on Profits and Environmental StewardshipOn the eve of Hurricane Sandy, I moderated a Net Impact conference panel titled “Driving Bolder Investments in Sustainability.” This panel brought together representatives from Waste Management, Intel, and Pepsi to discuss how sustainability is no longer an add-on, but is becoming core to business planning. These three companies are incorporating environmental initiatives in order to shield themselves from business risk and boost their profits.
Some of the stories companies shared included:
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Pepsi’s water conservation techniques have helped reduce water and energy costs in the company’s operations by $45 million since 2006. Working with NGOs and other local partners, Pepsi is sharing this expertise with its network of farmers to build a supply chain that’s less susceptible to water risk and more sustainable. The company also has a facility where it’s testing solar, biomass, and other renewable energy technologies, with the goal of learning what types of technologies it can apply across its facilities to reduce its footprint.
