We moved into new, bigger office space on December 23. In an old bank building in downtown Stamford, our new space is open and light and, thanks to some serious cajoling on my part, has low-VOC carpet and paint.

After receiving the equivalent of a shrug in response to my initial request for low-VOC carpet and paint, I began, over the course of several conversations, extolling the virtues of sustainable building. I rattled off some ballpark cost-reduction/payback percentages and facts on tenant health and productivity for green buildings. Then I relayed a comment by Manuel Patino, Director of Strategic Planning at JP Morgan Chase, during a panel I had recently moderated, that went something like this: companies that don’t build to LEED standards better plan to hold those buildings for a very long time, because there will be no market for them. Having finally piqued his interest, I pointed him to the US Green Building Council website.

A couple of days later I was looking at samples of low-VOC paint and low-VOC carpeting made of recycled materials and with wind power. And the landlord absorbed the additional (albeit nominal) cost.

That experience illustrates a broader point: Companies will embed sustainability principles into their business only if it is shown to make economic sense to do so. And that is appropriate. But how will they know whether a particular activity, or an entirely different way of doing business, makes economic sense?

Data, data, and more data.

Yet finding creative ways to secure and present data on how sustainability efforts contribute to the bottom line takes time, thought, openness, and the will to explore. What’s the ROI on that?

For some creative data visualization, see below; click on the image to view it live.

Posted by: Kathee Rebernak

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