PETALUMA, Ca. – In these tough economic times, a new HydroPoint Data Systems Inc. survey noted that implementing sustainability programs can help organizations achieve their financial and environmental goals.
The company’s annual Green Leaders Survey interviewed over 500 chief responsibility officers, chief sustainability officers and other executives from leading organizations within the public and private sectors who shared their insights into best practices for designing and implementing sustainability programs that achieve their financial and environmental objectives.
Nearly 77 per cent of respondents believed that environmental issues posed an economic threat to their businesses. As a result, more than two thirds of companies indicated that they were moving forward to implement a range of conservation practices that they believed will lead to significant financial and environmental gains.
71 per cent of respondents expected ROI within five years and 35 per cent said within 24 months.
Eighty-seven per cent of respondents currently implement green practices with 11 per cent planning on doing so by the end of 2008.
“Ninety-eight per cent is an extraordinary number,” said Chris Spain, chairman and chief strategy officer with HydroPoint during a Webinar discussing the survey results. “Green practices have a very broad definition and a host of respondents highlighted that defining what green is was probably the biggest challenge but also the biggest value add for any intelligently executed program.”
The survey suggested that the government sector was leading the sustainability charge with 100 per cent of respondents working in government report that their organizations have personnel dedicated to environmental responsibility and currently deploy green products. Non-profit followed at 98 per cent. Overall the public sector was keener in implementing green initiatives than their private counterparts.
“The public sector has shareholders to answer to & and policy can also play a huge role in accelerating green initiatives and their adoption,” said Spain.
Some examples of green initiatives that Spain gave was buying local products to reduce carbon footprint, replacing light bulbs with energy efficient ones and stay-at-home work programs.
However, when it came to deploying green products such as CFL bulbs, solar panels, low-flow toilets, only 75 per cent of respondent were already doing so.
“Green products have started turning the curb from being a premium priced offering but still has a ways to go. Volume and mass adoption will bring prices down. Everyone wants to be green but the final decision is still going to be an economic [one],” explained Spain.
The survey noted the reasons why green programs fail was because of poor program design, no executive sponsorship, little or no accountability and lack of measurement and reporting.
“If you approach [green programs] as a messaging initiative or a PR opportunity rather than as a real business initiative, you are not following any of the tried and true best practices for any business initiative which is executive sponsorship, accountability, measuring and reporting,” said Spain. “One of the struggles people had in moving beyond messaging was defining what was green and have an intelligent and specific agenda of what components green organizations are trying to address and attack. Once you have that picture and have a comprehensive overview of what you are trying to do, it then ripples down to execution components.”
Some best practices for green success include implementing results-oriented programs and gain executive sponsorship.
“This is one of the big takeaways of the survey,” observed Spain. “If you don’t have [executive sponsorship], you should be conservative in what you implement until you get it. Spend a little time with the executive to find out why you are not getting sponsorship, what are their main concerns then develop proof points or small programs to address those concerns in a meaningful fashion.”
Other best practices include aligning green programs to operations and IT organizations; provide program participants with feedback about consumption to inspire greater conservation; and demand returns comparable to those achievable through any other business-critical initiative.
The survey also noted that 59 per cent of respondents already have a senior position that is dedicated to sustainability or responsibility while 11 per cent have plans on establishing a position by the end of 2008 and 20 per cent plan on doing so next year. However, Spain said these roles are relative new to a company.
“A lot of these people while they have experienced backgrounds, they are coming into a position that is being defined on the fly and they may not have budget allocated or historical precedence in regards how to best execute [green initiatives] within an organization,” he added.
This column was written by Vanessa Ho of ConnectIT, an IntegratedMarCompany
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