Sustainability and sustainable business practices continue to gain traction in the U.S. and global marketplace. These practices are inextricably intertwined with energy and other resource consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission management, two crucial elements of the emerging low-carbon economy. AMR Research has been tracking, understanding, and advising companies that are actively pursuing sustainable business, sustainable products, and sustainable or green technology innovation and process/product development for several years and the demand keeps growing. On a society-wide basis we are migrating quickly towards a low-carbon, energy-efficient, green era, and business is paying attention.
But who is doing it best? Which companies are the role models? What are the best practices to which we should be paying attention? To answer some of those questions, AMR Research once again presents its annual Leadership Award for Sustainability. But since sustainability covers such a huge and increasing swath of territory, this year we sought candidates in the three categories of sustainability: internal efforts, external innovation, and contributions to the development and incorporation of clean technology into business practices. Here are those categories, the criteria used for judging, and the top nominees (in alphabetical order) in each area.
Operational Sustainable Performance Award
This award recognizes companies that have incorporated sustainable business practices into their core strategic and operational activities to create authentic sustainability. Areas examined include energy efficiency and emission reduction programs, anticipation and engagement with the emerging carbon credit marketplace, product and process design for environment efforts, sustainable sourcing strategies, waste minimization and byproduct utilization, supply chain collaboration, and customer and supply chain education initiatives.
Of the nominees in this category, the following companies stand out (in alphabetical order):
Dell
A consistent leader on our Supply Chain Top 25, Dell strives to incorporate sustainability into every facet of its business, fully integrating design for environment into its products, services, and operations, and even accounting for when the life of those products comes to an end. While not without its critics, in the past 12 months Dell has succeeded in claiming status as the first (operationally) carbon-neutral high-tech company.
Dow Chemical
Last year’s award winner, Dow Chemical is a top nominee once again for being an early mover in recognizing the importance of sustainability even in energy intensive industries. With energy consumption greater than the entire country of the Netherlands, Dow has had a keen focus on cutting energy costs and related emissions, making it a vital part of its operational and strategic planning. Beyond business as usual, Dow has spun out specific innovative sustainable products and services. Highlighted on this list is the first generation of solar roofing tiles to bring solar energy to the masses.
SAS Institute
Long a software industry leader, SAS Institute has fully embraced sustainability throughout its facilities and in its policies globally. In December 2008, SAS switched on a 3.5-acre solar farm at its North Carolina campus. Pragmatic to the end, SAS has managed to marry the efficient harvesting of the sun’s rays and excellent business practices.
Sustainability and Innovation Award
This category recognizes companies that have used the transformational nature of sustainability and the emerging low-carbon economy to foster innovation of products, byproducts, and services that deliver efficiency and sustainability elsewhere across the economy. Nominated companies have made efforts in areas such as product design aimed at reducing energy use and GHG emissions, active innovation for sustainability in products, packaging, and performance, and actions designed to maximize and deliver the opportunities presented through the transformation to the low-carbon economy.
Of the nominations we received, the following best exemplify these ideals and one will be chosen for our leadership award:
Hewlett-Packard
HP’s sustainability efforts have been well publicized, and for good reason. Whether slashing the environmental footprint of printing, pushing the boundaries of notebook battery lifespans, or reinventing 21st-century packaging, HP has recognized the strong link between product and business performance, sustainability, and the low-carbon economy.
IBM
While some companies try to adapt products or services, few come close to the scale of IBM in those efforts. For IBM, the concepts of a globally integrated enterprise stretch into delivering an entirely new and innovative Earth, via its Smarter Planet initiative. Rolled out just a few months ago, the Smarter Planet program promises to transform IBM as a future-facing, global leader of the low-carbon economy. The program seeks to foster technology as the driving force behind increased efficiency across various areas of the global service and manufacturing economy.
Interface
World-class sustainability doesn’t have to come in big packages as Interface shows. While magic carpets may have been the stuff of legends, this innovative carpet manufacturer is now rolling out 100% recycled products. It’s just one example of a vast portfolio of innovative products that reaches deep into the company’s operations. For example, beyond a conventional business model, Interface’s innovation now stretches to such areas as the capture of landfill methane gas for use in power generation. Interface proves that sustainability is not just for those with the deepest pockets.
Clean Technology Award
This award recognizes those companies that are trailblazers in clean technology development. Green manufacturing and green technology are transforming the U.S. manufacturing landscape and serving are a central element of future economic development. This award seeks to recognize these efforts more widely. In the context of the award, we define clean technology in the broadest sense to include alternative energy, clean tech market service provision, grid delivery systems, smart technology and information, energy storage devices and platforms, and other enabling technologies.
Among the nominations in this category, the following stood out above the rest:
Better Place
Media darling Better Place is promising to change the way you drive or at least what you drive with its innovative initiative to reinvent the electric car industry with cars that run on batteries that can be changed out at a network of “filling stations.” Is Better Place creating the next Beta-VHS battle among electric passenger vehicles, or will we look back and recognize Shay Agassi’s vision as the Standard Oil of our time? Only time will tell, but Better Place is pushing the boundaries of clean and other technologies, forcing us to imagine a different world and a different way of getting around.
ClearStandards
Being the first doesn’t always mean being the best. In the case of ClearStandards, however, the first tangible enterprise carbon management application rapidly rose to the status of best of breed and set the benchmark for organizational carbon accounting, reporting, and analysis. So impressive was its work that SAP just snatched up the startup as a core element of its sustainability technology product map.
TRIRIGA
The future is not just about nanotechnology, solar panels, and as-yet unimagined energy and environmental technologies. For the next few decades, energy efficiency is the most important technology for reducing the potentially dangerous impacts of severe climate change. Beyond transportation, buildings represent the most significant source of energy demand within the economy. TRIRIGA's TREES product sets the benchmark for efficient, fixed-asset management, and allows real estate intensive companies to save significantly and create energy efficient and sustainable operating performance.
Leadership in many packages
These companies are pursuing the ideal of truly sustainable business practices and deserve the recognition. We’ll be presenting the award to one of them in each category at the awards dinner, which opens our annual Supply Chain Executive Conference. Besides sustainability, we’ll be recognizing leaders in corporate social responsibility, supply chain leadership among small and midsize businesses, and those companies making the best use of technology (look for the top nominees in this category next week). We hope to see there.
If you’d like more information from our Sustainability Strategies service, we recommend the following research:
Start Quantifying Risks Associated With Supply Chain Carbon and Climate Change
Green Shoots: Is Change Coming to America?
Has Harley-Davidson Gone Green?
