Identifying and implementing changes in environmental policies are not simple tasks. Yet pressures from customers, shareholders and competition show that progress is required. Part 2 of Brandi McManus' four-part series "Growing a Green Corporation: Meeting the Next Great Disruptive Challenge of the 21st Century" details how to assess such pressures and act on them.
Assessing the Business Impacts of Environmental Pressures
Identifying, planning and implementing changes in your environmental policies are not simple tasks. Yet, clear pressures from customers, shareholders and competition show that progress in this area is required. So what do you do? How do you measure success? An increasing number of international companies are considering measurement on a "triple" bottom line. This is the measurement of three key metrics -- organizational success, environmental success and economic success.
| Growing A Green Corporation |
| This four-part series covers ... • Reading the Signs of Change • Assessing the Impacts of Environmental Pressure • Investing in Sustainability: Shades of Green • Building Your Green Team |
Organization success includes human capital, or people, and measures fair and beneficial business practices towards employees or the community. These metrics can include: employee training, charitable contributions, community involvement and labor practices. Environmental success is measured by the practices that limit impact on the environment including energy management and manufacturing waste disposal.
Economic success is the profit that all businesses are accustomed to measuring. While measuring the economic or financial bottom line is tangible and easily monitored, social and environmental issues may seem more difficult to monitor and measure. Additionally, many environmental actions can even deliver a significant return on investment.
When it comes to understanding the true impact of energy and the environment, only limited data is available to CFOs. They still need that data translated into actionable information to make informed decisions about their business. This article will discuss the soft and hard assessment on a company's environmental practices.
Motivators and Consequences
Drawing on Daniel Esty's and Andrew Winston's book, "Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage," the following table lists the top five environmental issues and their consequences.
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