Is Business Getting Greener?

This week's issue of the Economist (cover pictured here) has more than a dozen articles looking at what businesses are doing to combat climate change. The cover story asserts that businesspeople are falling over each other to prove their greenness.

Several reasons are cited for the change in attitude among businesses. First, the political climate in the U.S. has shifted dramatically toward doing something about climate change. Second, there's money to be made investing in and developing clean technologies. Third, the technological advances are driving down the cost of greening up your business. In many cases, it even saves companies money.

Another article in the same issue suggests that there is also a combination of moral and economic pressures driving businesses to be greener. Even power generators now seem to be in favor of government controls, even if it largely to avoid a patchwork of state laws.

Other articles in the survey look at the carbon market, lighting, wind and solar power, and much more. If you don't have an online subscription the Economist and are unable to read these links, go get the issue. Every article is worth the read.

The greening of Wall Street

Two more major banks announced green initiatives today. First, HSBC announced that they will spend $100 million on four initiatives to combat climate change. Complete details of what they're calling the HSBC Climate Partnership are on their web site. Judging from the release, HSBC is receiving public relations support from Hill & Knowlton through Will Safer. A Google search on the day of the announcement brought up 95 hits.

Later in the day, Wachovia revealed that they will only build "green" financial centers and plan to build at least 300 of them between late next year and 2010. An announcement is expected tomorrow, so nothing is posted on the company's Environmental Stewardship page yet.

As at least one story mentioned, Wachovia and HSBC follow green commitments from other banks, including Citigroup and Bank of America. Hat tip to Wall Street Journal's Energy Roundup blog for the stories here and here.

Which begs the question: why are banks greening up faster than my garden in early spring? Could it be the double ROI one receives from properly executed green initiatives? By double I refer to the two ways an investment in green initiatives pays off. They typically pay for themselves in lower operating costs while providing a valuable enhancement to the company's reputation.

Look at Wachovia. Their greener bank branches are $80,000 cheaper to construct and operating costs are 20 percent lower. So, Wachovia is getting good press and saving money. That's a double return on investment that would look attractive to any financial institution.

GM = Green Machine?

The Wall Street Journal published a piece by Neal Boudette today looking at GM's green corporate makeover. According to the article, GM kicked off a drive to hire 400 technical experts to work on fuel-saving technology and other innovations, and became the first auto maker to sign up for a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions. The auto-maker is also working on more fuel-efficient vehicles, like the Volt. (Read more on the environment page of their web site in the corporate responsibility section).

Why the change from SUVs to FFVs? From gas guzzling to green touting? Could it have something to do with the fact that GM was recently eclipsed by Toyota as the world's No. 1 auto maker? One quote from the journal article was particularly illustrative:

"We saw how quickly the mantle of environmental leadership had been seized by Toyota because of the Prius," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said in an interview. "The board knew that if Toyota continued unchallenged [as the industry's technological leader], then this would sooner or later doom our sales."

In other words, to be seen working on the cars of tomorrow will help you sell the cars of today. By tying their corporate mission more closely to the public's growing concern for the environment, a greener GM can boost its sales.

You can't please all the people all the time

In an interesting article for the Dallas Morning News, columnist Cheryl Hall documents what many companies will run into when they start touting their green credentials. While discussing companies that "going green" she says that Wal-Mart's stated goals are nothing short of awesome: to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment.

No one could possibly disagree with that. Right? Wrong. Hall cites "detractors" who say that Wal-Mart's effort is a public relations ploy to offset its less-than-shiny reputation as an employer. There will always be "detractors" but companies shouldn't let that stop them from talking.

A 2004 study from Cone is instructive. It reaches the conclusion that companies must talk more about their cause-related efforts. It bases that conclusion on their finding that 86 percent of Americans want companies to talk about their efforts; but only four in ten say companies are doing that well. The company mentioned most frequently in the survey as a strong corporate citizen? That's right. Wal-Mart.

In Hall's article, the co-chair of Texas Business for Clean Air said in response to the critics of Wal-Mart: If Wal-Mart going green is a way to improve the company's public image, more power to them.

Nathan Schock's Bio

NOTE: This post is the BIO of Greenway Communique author Nathan Schock (pictured here). It will be updated regularly.

Nathan Schock is a digital advocate of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He wants to help communicators improve their delivery of this information to the public in order to drive social change. Although he monitors communications from all sectors, his primary focus is business, because it it the only institution with the resources necessary to implement the lasting changes needed to preserve and protect the environment.

To that end, Nathan sees his role as a digital curator of news, information - and especially - best practices for green communications. Daily, he wades through hundreds of news feeds, tweets and podcasts to find the best information and serve it up to the readers of his personal blog, Greenway Communique, Twitter and his reading list. That work led Greenopolis to name Nathan to their list of The Top 50 Green Folks on Twitter. Nathan has been published in PRSA Tactics magazine, the Public Relations Strategist, O'Dwyer's Magazine, the Green Economy Post, Sustainable Life Media, Triple Pundit and his writing is featured in the blogs of The Inspired Economist, Renewable Energy World, Sioux Falls Green Project and 3BL. He is also a regular contributor to the Thoughts Leaders series from Sustainable Industries.

Over the past decade, Nathan has held a variety of communications roles that required work in renewable energy, manufacturing, electoral politics, food, financial services, software, health care and entertainment. Over that time, he developed a passion for green communications and cleantech.

In his current role as the director of public affairs and corporate social responsibility for POET, Nathan oversees media relations, community relations, social media and a variety of other aspects of communications for one of the largest producers of biofuels in the world. Nathan is a frequent contributor to the company's two blogs, Rhapsody in Green and Project LIBERTY. Through Nathan's leadership, POET has become well-known as a socially-networked biofuels company with presences established on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, FriendFeed and many more. Much of the content is aggregated on the company's news page. Nathan is also a member of the committee that drives POET's sustainability initiative, Ingreenuity.

Nathan is the chair of the Public Relations Committee for Industrial & Environmental branch of the Biotechnology Industry Organization and contributes to their blog, Biofuels & Climate Change. He is co-chair of the Communications Committee (REComm) at the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). Nathan is President of the South Dakota Communicators Network. He is on the board of LifeLight Communications and volunteers as their communications director. His work for LifeLight, which puts on the largest free music festival in the country, won praise from PRWeek.

Nathan resides in Sioux Falls, S.D. To find him elsewhere on the Internet, go to http://www.nathanschock.com.

Last update: 2/22/12

Be Consistent

The excellent Target Green Blog, which is maintained by prolific PRWeek blogger Keith O'Brien, has an agency Q&A with Julie Batliner, senior principal and chair of the Living Well group at Carmichael Lynch Spong.

Among other interesting observations, Julie offers this piece of advice to Don’t try to be more environmentally friendly than you really are. Pay attention to how deep your green efforts really go. Maybe you have one aspect of your business that is green; however, what are the areas that are not green that could be called out? I couldn't agree more. In green communications, it is crucial to be consistent. Just ask Al Gore. The entire interview with Batliner is worth the read.

Equally interesting to me was the fact that the Living Well group was not mentioned on the Carmichael Lynch Spong web site. Batliner's profile the site lists her as the chair of the food industry group. In the Q&A she said that they "have been counseling clients in the green arena before green was the new black." It wasn't easy to find those clients on their web site.

If they're going to counsel their clients to talk about their green credentials, don't you think it would make sense for them to do the same? Maybe it's another case of the cobbler's kids not having any shoes?

Oh well. It was still an interesting article and worth the read.

Dispatches from the Front Lines of Green Communications

Welcome to Greenway Communiqué. I have been providing public relations services for alternative energy companies for a few years and have watched "green" or "cleantech" communications explode. I am the director of public relations for an alternative energy company, but this blog contains thoughts and opinions that are solely my own.

I have been blogging about these issues on my Myspace blog for a little while, but thought I might have more to contribute to the discussion. So I decided to start Greenway Communiqué. It's goal is to provide dispatches from the front lines of green communications, just like the title of this post indicates. From time-to-time, I will offer thoughts based on my own experiences and I will highlight other communications on alternative energy, cleantech and other green initiatives that I find particularly interesting.

I don't want this blog to be a monologue. I will link to blogs that can add to the conversation on green communications. I encourage your comments. If you have examples of good marketing in this space you think I should be aware of, please contact me.

Why Greenway? Well, there is a dual reason for the name. First, there is a green way to do communications. It's important for companies that are changing the world to tell the world what they're doing. Second, alternative energy brings economic development opportunities to rural America. My ancestors are from a place near Greenway, S.D. ... a town that no longer exists. By bringing economic development to rural communities, alternative energy may be able to keep future Greenways on the map.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, I invite you to join the conversation. I know I'm looking forward to it.