When Is Green Really Green?

If you've been paying attention, you've likely noticed lots of companies talking about their green efforts. Even my business shared how we changed all of our lighting to energy-efficient bulbs (and then had to explain our recycling of those bulbs, as they contain mercury).

But when is green really green? It's relatively easy for a business to say it is doing what it can to protect the environment; it is much more difficult for a company to do what is necessary to invest in good environmental practices. Such things as available technology, industry practices, budgets and current manufacturing processes get in the way, often necessarily.

This morning,  an American Management Association (AMA) seminar in New York focused on how companies can comply and turn sustainability into a competitive edge. Implementing Sustainability Strategies will be offered at AMA Conference Centers in several cities in 2008.It was developed to help companies better understand sustainability issues and more easily transform them into improvements to impact their triple bottom lines—economic, social and environmental.

The AMA offers the following five tips:

1. Understand how global trends affect your business, and then analyze align, and strategize these trends to create your company’s sustainability policy.
2. Learn how to measure performance and develop a cost/benefit analysis.
3. Identify key internal and external stakeholders and employees—and then enroll and engage them.
4. Measure and benchmark energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Be completely honest about your company’s policy.

I would put number 5 first. Without honesty, there can be no trust and credibility. And it only takes one or two companies exaggerating or lying to destroy the credibility of all businesses touting green practices.