Field 1	Last Name	Address	City	Phone	Email	Photo	Website, Blog or Social Media Link
	Carlstein	1 Pendennis Place	Cape Town	072 074 2144	ccarlstein@alive2green.com
test1	Standard Bank	1 Pendennis Place	Cape Town	021 447 4733	ccarstein@alive2green.com		www.standardbank.co.za

No record was found.

Initial Setup

There are several settings that must be set for many of the plugin’s functions towork. On this page, I will walk you through getting the plugin set up and running on your site. The first thing you will want to do is have a general idea of how you want the plugin to work, what information you need to gather and store and how your users will see and interact with that information.

Here is one example of how to set up the plugin.

Let’s just say you want to have a signup form that gathers a person’s name and email address. When they fill out and submit the form, they will be taken to another page and thanked. An email will be sent to them letting them know they’ve signed up and that they can return to the site to add more information to their record. A private link for this purpose is provided in the email.

Meanwhile, the site admin receives an email notifying them of the signup, and providing them with a direct link to the new record.

Here’s How We Set That Up

1. Place the “

   No record was found.

   ” shortcode on the page where you want your signup from to appear.
2. Go to the plugin settings page and click on the “Signup Form” tab.
3. Set the “Thanks Page” setting to point to the page you want them to go to after they sign up. Place the “

   No record was found.

   ” shortcode on that page somewhere.
4. When the person who signed up clicks on the link provided them in the email, they will go to a page where they can fill out the rest of the form with information for their record.
5. Click on the “Record Form” tab and set the “Participant Record Page” setting to point to the page where you want them to go to edit their record. Put the “

   No record was found.

   ” shortcode on that page. This shortcode won’t show anything unless it is visited with the special private link provided to the user in the receipt email.

Setting Up the List Page and Detail Page

When someone visits the site, you can show them a list of the people who have signed up. Each name on the list can be clicked to take the user to a detail page showing all the public information in their record. This is how to set that up:

1. Place the “

   Field 1	Last Name	Address	City	Phone	Email	Photo	Website, Blog or Social Media Link
   	Carlstein	1 Pendennis Place	Cape Town	072 074 2144	ccarlstein@alive2green.com
   test1	Standard Bank	1 Pendennis Place	Cape Town	021 447 4733	ccarstein@alive2green.com		www.standardbank.co.za

   ” shortcode on the page where you want the list of participants to go.
2. On the “Manage Database Fields” page you can determine which fields get shown in the list and which column they will be in. This is under the “Display” column and you give each field you want to show a number which determines which column the field will appear in. Zero means it won’t show at all.
3. On the page where you want the record detail to show, place the “

   No record was found.

   ” shortcode. This page won’t show anything unless it is visited using a link with the ID of the record to show in it. For example:
4. On the plugin settings page, under the “List Display” tab, set the “Single Record Link Field” to the field in the list (like ‘first_name’) where you want the link to the detail page to go.
5. Next, set the “Single Record Page” setting to point to the page where you put the “

   No record was found.

   ” shortcode.

/participants/detail?pid=27

Now, go to the “Add Participant” page in the admin and enter a test record. You can now test the plugin functions to see how it all works.

Companies should be very careful of green washing as consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which they can be misled. There is now a growing cynicism amongst certain consumers who may even specifically resist products whose environmental claims are being shouted too loudly from the hilltops.

Part two of this green washing guide series examines the more obvious green washing offenses of publishing untruths or publishing claims that have no proof or foundation. Not too many companies are risking the publication of lies or untruths but a significant number are still publishing claims that have no proof or foundation. As many as one in four green washing offending companies fall into this category.

False claims (Lies)

Environmental claims that are simply false are off course inherently misleading and the most common occurrence of this offence is by organisations who claim to have achieved certain standards or certifications or claim to have been registered by certain official eco-label organisations, or who claim to have made use of, for example, recycled materials, where in each of these instances they simply have not done so. When these claims have been made with such enthusiasm and where there is an absence of supporting information, it can be difficult for the consumer to determine factual correctness. However, where companies and products are claiming third party certification and where these third party certifiers have easily available member information, these claims can be verified fairly easily. Consumers should off course be wary of claims that are made and not verified by third parties.

Example: Claim on a chocolate bar that packaging is made from recycled paper but is in fact made of foil.

Claims that have not or cannot be proved

Somewhat related is the offence of making environmental claims that cannot be proved or for which there is insufficient research to make that claim. Generally, claims of this nature will not have been certified or verified by reliable third parties. This category of green washing is quite prevalent and marketers would be wise to understand the background information behind any claims that they are making. Marketers should also be able to provide evidence to customers who require supportive information for these claims.

Example: A sticker on a television claims that the TV is energy efficient but there is no recognisable eco-label and no associated proof of this claim in any supporting information or documentation which can be accessed anywhere by the consumer.

In his speech at the recent Tomorrow’s Leaders convention, Saki Macozoma, President of Business Leadership South Africa agreed with the popular statement that the future is in the hands of tomorrow’s leaders but also asked what exactly they would be inheriting. “We bequeath to the leaders of tomorrow a broken world,” he said, “and that is the reason we are marrying two concepts today: leadership and sustainability.” Macozoma went on to say that the Sustainability Leadership Forum is of the opinion that we need much more than just tinkering with the current trajectory of our world. What is needed is “a broad and deep transition to a new way of life, a new way of doing business, new kinds of social organisations and a fundamental shift in our awareness of nature and our relationship with nature.” Macozoma regards this transition to be radical and revolutionary… “It requires a new type of leader”.

What is required from our leaders?

Our leaders must fully understand what sustainability really means and must also possess certain special skills and attributes that are necessary to bring about transformational change. Robbie Stammers, Editor of Leadership Magazine, says that the sustainability leader must first have an understanding of ‘the greater good.’ “The sustainability leader must also understand how current management activities can affect the future of the organisation. He or she must demonstrate sustainability by formulating strategy, adapting innovatively and managing the resultant changes across the organisation”.

Surely we are capable of producing leaders that are up to this challenge? Our societies have seen many great leaders whose insights and influence have in their time been dynamic and highly effective. Even relatively contemporary leaders such as Ghandi and Mandela have been credited with contributions to massive transformations in society. Are we looking for similar leaders? Have we not these leaders in our midst today? We have seen leadership at the highest levels – at the United Nations and the European Union – where brave and constructive discussions and policies are beginning to result in internationally binding agreements. (The EU ETS carbon tax on airlines flying in and out of Europe is just one recent example of this kind of brave leadership.) Since the documentary An Inconvenient Truth struck a blow for global warming and climate change awareness in 2006, we have seen an increase in the number of strong and effective business leaders who have made and are still making a difference at an organisational level. Are there certain unique attributes that these successful sustainability leaders possess that separate them from other leaders?

Hugh Tyrrell, author of the Business Day/Nedbank “Greening Your Business” e-Learning Programme maintains that sustainability is based on ethics. “Only if a leader acts ethically, i.e. with integrity, respect, openness and transparency, will she or he be able to bring the best out of people and inspire greatness in an organisation.”

Responsibility and transparency is at the heart of sustainability. The organisation’s willingness to ask questions of its operations for the good of society, and audit and report its impact in a transparent manner is a first sign of leadership. We also know that the sustainability leader should ideally be a student of sustainable development which is a constantly shifting inter- and trans-disciplinary body of information and opinion.

Andrew Bennett, a partner at icologie – a sustainability training and consulting firm based in Cape Town – says: “Leadership for Sustainability requires us all to honestly evaluate the reasons behind the choices we make. Decision-makers in business have an especially important responsibility in ensuring that choices made are for the greater good.”

Bennett acknowledges that this is a challenging opportunity for most, reminding us: “Sustainability has multiple perspectives – it means different things to different people. It is dynamic, requiring constant assessment of the context; sometimes we need to react with urgency and sometimes with plenty of patience. What is certain though is that sustainability envisages individual leaders who can understand the different constructs, think wisely on their feet and continuously adapt. It is leadership that will inspire positive change, transforming individuals and groups towards a whole new way of thinking and doing things – this is transformational change.”

It certainly does appear that our leaders require a new layer of skills if they are to ignite change and mobilise our collective resources effectively (and fast). Conventional leadership qualities will be valuable but given the size and shape of the challenge that is looming we will require ground-breaking techniques on a widespread scale.

Why exactly is the transition to sustainable development so ‘radical and revolutionary?’

It is only when we realise what is necessary to achieve real ‘sustainability’ that we begin to get a glimpse of the scale of the transformation to which Macazoma refers. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) refers regularly to the term sustainable development, a term that was most famously defined by the Brundtland commission, which coined what has become the most often quoted definition as: “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” This definition of sustainable development links sustainability to the apparently unavoidable human requirement for growth. It assumes that it is impossible to separate environmental sustainability from our prevailing economic and social systems. This really does present a serious challenge for humanity and for our current and future leadership – the fact is that humanity is meeting the wants of the present and is completely compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Our target of maintaining average global surface temperatures below the 2°Celcius warming target is all but a lost cause and there is now increasingly more urgent discourse around climate change adaptation as we lose faith in our ability to mitigate this crisis. An urgent global shift in human consciousness is required, or at least a significant shift amongst those that are in positions to influence substantial change. This may sound dramatic but it is exactly why Macazoma and others are referring to the need for radical transformation.

What does sustainability leadership mean at the organisational level?

Organisational sustainability is at its basic level concerned with the balance of people, planet and profit – the so-called Triple Bottom Line. However there are so many variables driven by the dynamic and complex nature of the organisation and the individuals that are linked to the organisation, not to mention the many industry/sector specific complexities that together combine to present the sustainability leader with a very unique set of circumstances. Massive transformation is required for an organisation to change from one that simply reports on people planet and profit to one that aggressively and collectively pursues a real balance – one that consumes resources sustainably, produces sustainability, and one that behaves and acts responsibly. This is no mean feat and is a challenge that may only be achieved by leaders who possess a finely tuned set of emotional, social and intellectual skills. Learning more about the World we live in and how we think is a good place to start.

“A constructivist approach, which explores how we generate knowledge and meaning by filtering the world around us through different lenses, helps us manage the complex transformational change to sustainability within the organisation,” says Bennett, whose sustainability consultancy icologie is currently operating leadership programmes for executives in this very space.

Constructivism is a popular theory of how we create meaning based on the work of Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget and other modern learning theorists like Kolbe and Wilber argue that humans generate knowledge and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. We construct new knowledge from our experiences through processes of accommodation and assimilation. The degree to which we can understand another person’s perspective or construct system is the degree we can influence them to support change.

Effective leaders therefore require a high level of social skills combined with technical expertise in order to influence others into change. “We can’t hope to apply a ‘one size fits all’ system to transforming an organisation of individuals,” says Bennett. “We must allow people to construct new knowledge from the ideas and the experiences that we can introduce them to. Dealing with transformational change is challenging because it requires wisdom and it requires us to be able to put aside ourselves – our personal wants and desires – and see the different perspectives of others so that we can move forward together positively and create a new beginning.”

Bennett and the Icologie team are providing executives with some of the key tools that are required to begin the process of change. The theory is that by understanding one’s own sustainability constructs and by learning how to stimulate accommodation and assimilation in groups one is able to create the environment in which transformation can take place.

Where to from here?

Large scale coordinated organisational change might be the mechanism through which we can bring about massive transformation and a broad-based leadership approach will facilitate this. Communication platforms must continue to raise awareness and stimulate discussion about the nature of the transformation that we require. Our leaders must invest in their own wisdom by contemplating their responsibilities within this transformation. Our leaders must develop themselves in the art of providing people with new knowledge and experiences that bring about change. Beyond this, we must all accept responsibility for the individual roles that we can play and we must all become leaders in our own domains.

By: Lloyd Macfarlane

Avis Rent a Car is enjoying the benefits of having started a green journey in 2007. The company has been able to compete advantageously in its sector as a result of some of the environmental interventions that have been implemented and the returns on investment and objective are now not only tangible but also quite measurable.

In 2007 the company conducted a review of its stance towards sustainability and its impact on the environment. A decision was made to embark on a green journey that would significantly reduce the company’s impact on the environment, unlock efficiencies and create competitive advantage.

Simple analysis revealed that the primary areas of impact for Avis were emissions and water consumption, and so the management team, led by CE Wayne Duvenage endorsed and activated an environmental plan that tackled these “big ticket items”.

Emissions

The vehicle rental industry contributes significantly to Greenhouse Gas emissions and this is due to rental fleet emissions and high indirect energy consumption at offices and depots. Avis measured a baseline emission contribution of 9974 tons of carbon per annum (Scope 1 and 2) and following a number of isolated, pilot energy efficiency interventions decided in July 2009 to pursue a goal of becoming carbon neutral (from own emissions).

Following a full energy audit, the company targeted first base and installed energy meters in high use areas at its HQ precinct. A process of education and training followed which saw immediate savings of over 600 KWh/day being realised from simply switching car dryers off at Isando. This learning was quickly rolled out to Avis’ other main depots in Cape Town and Durban, taking the savings up to 2000 kWh during the busy mid-week periods. In addition to the dryers, lighting retrofits assessments were introduced while unnecessary power use was identified and addressed.

Following the energy use reduction process, Avis went ahead with its decision to purchase carbon credits to offset the almost 10,000 tons of its emissions per annum to net zero (in accordance with UN protocol), at a cost of approximately R1 million per annum, since 2009 and became South Africa’s first accredited carbon neutral business.

Water

In 2008, vehicle rental industry water use volumes were estimated to be between 500 to 600 million litres of water per annum. In the same year, as part of the Avis “Journey of Sustainability” the company assessed the extent of its water use in vehicle preparation and cleaning processes. Having discovered the surprising amount of water used per wash to be up to 250 litres, Avis management decided to introduce intensive water recycling plants at its main depots and managed to save 41 million litres of water in 2009. By September 2010 the company was showing approximate savings of 87 million litres for the year and projected savings for 2011 of just less than 100 million litres of water. Water efficiency tactics extended to checking and repairing of all pipes for leaks and the installation of water flow regulators on all taps and the disconnection of all unnecessary geysers at Avis Headquarters.

During the facility upgrades being conducted between 2008 and 2010, a decision was made to target water neutrality as soon as possible and the company began with the process of installing rainwater harvesting systems by introducing large underground water reservoirs to catch run off from roof areas of its buildings. Investment of R2,5 million was calculated to return in just over three years and the approximate annual cost saving was in the region of R800,000.

Leverage

Avis has been able to leverage its achievements internally and externally. CE Wayne Duvenage is invited to speak about the company’s green journey at various events and functions and employee participation in this journey has cemented the culture of the organisation in a very positive way. Duvenage attributes the company’s successes to the fact that the journey began from a moral position that was embraced by management and staff. He advises other businesses not to overcomplicate the green journey. “Address the big-ticket items,” he says, “and drive the change through your people and embrace it from the top.”

Lloyd Macfarlane, Editor of the Green Business Journal, interviews Graham Tate, Divisional Executive: Facilities Managament at the  Development Bank of Southern Africa.

The Development Bank of Southern Africa is playing a meaningful role in facilitating sustainable growth inSouthern Africa, however the organisation is also showing leadership in the way that it is doing so in a sustainable manner. Lloyd Macfarlane, Editor of the Green Business Journal, spoke to Graham Tate, Divisional Executive: Facilities Managament at the  Development Bank of Southern Africa about the organsation’s initiatives to target energy security and sustainability at its Midrand Campus and in its operations generally.

What caused DBSA to embrace a path of sustainability?

There were a number of primary drivers of our sustainable activities and policies. When the country went through that period of power failures in 2008, we realised that we were particularly exposed, principally because of the location of the campus on the power grid.  We were experiencing black outs for longer periods, more often. There were two reasons why we had to look at an energy plan – energy security was becoming an issue and secondly, the cost of energy was beginning its climb to huge predicted increases. At the time, in 2008, we were paying about R400k per month for electricity. We now pay about R700k per month after huge interventions, so we can assume that had we not gone through the process that we did, we would now be paying in the region of R1m per month.

 

In addition, The DBSA is an infrastructure development finance institution and we have an interest in promoting sustainable business to our customers, who along with other southern African companies are increasingly required to report on their environmental footprint as part of the emerging triple bottom line corporate governance requirements . The organisation must therefore be seen to be leading by example and strategically it was felt that the initives would help us to achieve this.

How did you get started and what plans did you put in place initially?

Once the organisation realised that it had to do something, various environmental consultants were brought in. They suggested a range of interventions, including the incorporation of the ISO 14001 environmental management standard. This was all very well but we were interested in the business case and so we started with an environmental policy and then proceeded to break things down into sub-programmes that would have their own economic drivers and cost savings. We have spent the last few years developing a number of programmes which are at various stages of implementation that are aimed at greening the campus and improving our environmental sustainability profile in line with national and international initiatives.

 

DBSA first tackled the lowest hanging fruit opportunities in the form of certain energy and water efficiency programmes on existing building and infrastructure. Energy generation can be an environmentally sensitive issue and so we first set about looking at energy demand management.

Some of your Midrand campus buildings are more than 20 years old. How did you tackle energy and water efficiency and waste management in the existing buildings on campus?

We conducted water and energy audits on campus to see where consumption was taking place. 65% of the energy was being consumed by the HVAC systems.

 

Energy demand management interventions included solar water heater installations, occupancy timers, timers for air-conditioning, energy efficient lighting, etc. R500k was spent on removing all the old incandescent globes and replacing them with CFL’s. The approximate reduction in consumption since September 2008, our baseline period, is 50% and which has left us with a base load of about 4MW of power a year.

 

We also discovered that City Power had been overcharging the organisation and that this was revealed during the process of the audit. We wouldn’t have known about that had we not conducted that audit.

 

Water demand management programes were immediately tested and then rolled out. For example, a locally developed dry flush system for the urinals on campus, which saves 2 litres of water per flush,  was piloted in three of the men’s restrooms and is now in the process of being rolled out to the remaining 20 restrooms (70 urinals).  We decided to run the test because we were sceptical about whether or not there would be an increase in bad odour with the new system. The test lasted four months and the smell was fine. So insetad of using 2 litres of water per flush after each use we are using half a litre of water every 2 hours. We have limited the amount of water treatment processes that we need to apply and reduced chemical use. In our latest building we have designed into it a grey water system for toilet and irrigation usage which is supplied from rainwater that is harvested.

 

Solid waste management and recycling programs have been developed over the last few years and roughly one ton of paper, tin, glass and plastic is now recylced each month. In addition the campus also now has a special office printer paper recycling program.

 

The campus has two large kitchens and most of the cooking in the kitchens is done with LP gas. We are looking at a central collection system for the bio-waste that we produce each month and we are in the process of inviting tenders for the supply of two bio-digesters into the system – we want to supplement at least half of the LP gas requirement with bio-gas produced from the peelings and vegetable matter that we waste from the kitchens.  An additional by-product in this process is nutrient rich water, which will be used in campus vegetable gardens, which in turn will supply food for the kitchens.

 

DBSA wants to set about reducing its transport emissions by focussing initially on employee commuter trips to the campus. A commutter Shuttle services were created is being planned and the organisation has engaged with Gautrain to try and get the existing Gautrain bus services to stop at the campus. The campus has also been planning for electric vehicles (e.g. waiting for Nissan to release the NV200 locally) for casual shuttle services required during the business day. An extension of this plan is to build plug-in facilities for electric cars at the campus and ultimately to power those charge units from renewable energy sources.

You have two relatively new green buildings on campus which are performing exceptionally well. I believe. Tell us about some of the key green components and features of these building and about some of the costs and opportunities that are associated with green buildings?

DBSA energy efficiency interventions were geared towards getting the best possible performance from the older buildings on campus. So when the organisation was faced with the opportunity to build two new buildings from scratch, it was decided that these new buildings would incorporate the ultimate passive design and renewable energy solutions. In 2009 we began with the Visitor’s Reception building which is an off-grid building that doesn’t draw any energy from the campus. The Visitor’s Reception building is passively designed and has its own water heating and cooling system. It draws power from photo-voltaic panels on the roof and has no mechanical air-conditioning system. It’s a totally green building and yet we decided not to pursue a GBCSA ‘Green Star’ rating for the building because the process of accreditation was going to add an additional R600k to the building cost, which was only R12m.

 

The Visitors Centre Building is cooled by an air intake system which is set away from the building. Ambient warm air moves into the intake underground and runs along a 200m stretch of pipe which has a surrounding underground temperature of 15 degrees Celsius. The air then surfaces into the building at a temperature of between 19 to 23 degrees, depending on the time of day.

 

Air rises naturally through the building and then vents out of the top of the building. In winter the building uses the hot water system on the roof to heat the air coming through the intake system at the bottom of the building. The air intake system that sucks and moves the air around the building is powered by photo-voltaic panels and batteries.

 

The second new building was the new office complex and the cost of this building was much larger. We were able to incorporate some of the ideas from the Visitors building and had a few additional opportunities because of its size. The much larger roof allowed us to harvest roof water into a 40 thousand litre tank under the building. A water fountain aerates the water – we try to minimise the amount of chemical interference with the stored water.

 

Grey water is also pumped up to a reservoir in a tower and then gravity fed down to flush toilets. We have a soil roof and the sprinkler systems irrigate and keep the roof cool. Irrigation water is collected and runs back into the system again.

 

The first building taught us a lot about cooling. The solar power was good but the cooling system came with the largest learning experience. The second building was bigger and the water heating system has a lot of thermal energy – we had too much. So we were able to chanel the excess thermal energy to the next door corporate gym which was complaining about not having enough hot water. We put in a 1500 litre pressure geyser which is now fed from our solar water heating system. That water was running at 230 degrees Celsius!

 

The 2 new buildings on campus are ‘off-grid’ and in fact supply any excess energy to the campus grid.  We have now plucked all the low hanging fruit and have managed energy demand down, but now the next steps are to develop our own renewable energy – the campus needs to be totally ‘off-grid.’ There is massive development in the Midrand area that is draining the available energy from our substation. Not only are we going to be exposed to additional energy security risk, but we have an opportunity to work with City Power to generate some of the energy that will be required for this area in the years to come. We can release energy onto the system to help the utility and they are interested in assisting us to do this.

You now have some exciting renewable energy projects that are in process already. What kind of systems will you be using and what electric and thermal outputs will you achieve with these systems?

When the large, main campus building was constructed back in the 80’s, it was an energy efficient building for its time and technology. It simply no longer performs to any current green building standards and we are looking to retrofit heat pumps to replace the old evaporative cooling system. However the only practical renewable energy solution to drive the HVAC and other electrical requirements for a normal office environment is to use a PV system. We don’t need vast storage systems for that energy because it’s only really required from 7am-6pm for 5 days a week. So we are planning on constructing a 1MW PV plant and the plant will demonstrate four different types of PV panels, such as silicon and thin film. We will split it up to show the relative efficiency of each PV type and try and asses the yield of each type. Any power that we don’t use from this plant we can put back into the local grid – we would like to play a part in co-generation once we are able to obtain a Power producers license and negotiate a nett metering agreement with City Power.

 

However, this project has not been able to move forward because of technical issues in obtaining the required environmental approval. The environmental biodiversity on the campus is important for us and must be maintained.  Technically the PV plant would occupy a one hectare field and ordinarily the concrete base structures for the PV panel support systems would have a detrimental effect on the environment. Instead of using concrete base structures we will use terra-screws which are more environmentally friendly and we will also increase spaces between the panels in order to allow the grass to grow between them. This means that if we need to move them we can do so at minimal cost and it also means that because the sun can reach the grass spaces between the panels the ecology of this space can be maintained – small animals and birds have a habitat. Other environmental initiatives on campus include bringing birdlife back to the campus, restoring grasslands and removing alien invasive species.

 

Our large conference/auditorium building complex consumes both thermal and electrical energy and the HVAC plant is more modern than the main building so we are also going to use a CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) system which will provide us with both. Electrical energy is used mainly for lighting and equipment whilst the thermal energy will be used for heating and cooling. We will store a portion of the thermal energy so that at night we can convert it into steam to power a turbine for the generation of electricity for the campus.

These projects sound quite costly. Do you have good information about returns from these investments and payback periods?

Even though we have managed to significantly reduce our energy demand for current activities – we are still able to show the savings on our 2008 baseline for each year that passes.  The two renewable energy plants (the 1MW PV plant and the 200KW CSP plant) are in the process of implementation and will cost about R70m. If we look at Eskom’s known NERSA approved energy tariffs going forward, payback on the initial capital investment will be achieved in the next four years or so. The plant’s life will be about 25 years.

 

We are currently waiting for DEA environmental approval for these plants and one of the most interesting delays has come from the Air Traffic Control atGrandCentralAirportwho objected because we are on the flight path fromGrandCentralAirportand initially thought that this plant would interfere with the air traffic control on this flight path. There was also a concern about how much water the plant would consume. We have been through a process of educating these stakeholders about the size, shape and behaviour of the plant, including the use of water in its closed system. The plant is expected to turn cash positive in about 7 to 8 years after which time it will be a working asset.

King III is placing even more emphasis on integrated and sustainability reporting. Is DBSA formally reporting about its sustainable activities?

We are busy with a more detailed and accurate measure of our carbon footprint and our first attempt at at Global Reporting Framework (GRI) report was in 2011. We are also reporting on waste, paper use and recycling and this is driving activities under these items. We are starting to learn a lot about how to do all this better, for example we consume about 54 tons of printer-type paper each year and we were recycling this after shredding it, for security reasons. Shredding actually damages the paper fibres and renders the paper less valuble as recycling content – the paper has a lower grade. So, we have started to recycle the paper without shredding it and this is makes it much easier to recycle back into plain white paper.

You must also have an ability to extend your good work beyond the DBSA. Are you influencing or pressurising your suppliers?

We are pushing for more of our suppliers on campus to be green and we believe that this influence is working. For example the supplier that cleans our carpets uses a dry system which is saving both water and electricity. Cleaning materials and detergents used in kitchens are also required to be biodegradable and green, and we are busy with our travel suppliers to begin using their green programs (e.g. car hire companies).

Do you think that the organisations reputation has improved as a result of your green journey? Is this important and how?

We are trying to demonstrate to our clients that all these things are possible. We want to do things ourselves before we go and preach the gospel to others about what they can achieve. This builds confidence and reputation. We are an infrastructure development finance institution so if we are not seen to be doing the right thing then we are going to be taken to task. The Minister has been here complimenting us and our stakeholders expect this of us and are happy with what we are doing.

There is currently a lot of talk about green finance and it would appear that funding for green projects has increased. What are your views about green finance?

Nationally we are busy with a number of renewable energy projects. We are also registering as a CDM program so that all the projects that we fund will be able to claim carbon credits under our program at a lower registration cost.

 

Green finance can be a double edged sword – we have green funds and we fund green initiatives but we are struggling to get buy-in on these. So we have engaged with our own funders and have said, “Let us demonstrate how these activities can work.” There are sometimes hidden agendas where green finance, carbon credits or supported green project development are concerned. Funders/partners will often apply various pre-conditions or ‘conditions precedent’, such as wanting first right on the carbon credits emanating from the project. International funders often also specify that the project must use equipment and plant infrastructure manufactured in their country and all these sorts of conditions make things difficult. Grant money is becoming available for projects but it’s mostly for research projects or similar. There are also large hidden costs with green funding and they sometimes come in the form of EIA’s or consultancy fees that are necessary to move a project forward.

Woolworths has been travelling a path of sustainability that incorporates a strong focus on the environment and climate change.  The company has been an example for others in the retail sector since its baseline year in 2004, and is targeting a reduction in relative energy and carbon emissions by 30% in 2012. This reduction will be achieved with a plan that incorporates energy efficiency as a focus. Woolworths has signed the Voluntary Energy Efficiency Accord – an agreement with government to improve energy efficiency in the business.

Woolworths is already using energy more efficiently with usage now standing at 509 KWh per square metre. This is a 22.5% decrease from relative electricity usage in 2004, the baseline year. The company has strategically targeted the following material impact sectors:

Lighting and HVAC

All light fittings in Western and Eastern Cape stores have been changed to energy efficient fittings. Woolworths is currently rolling this program out in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. The company only uses electronic ballasts, in place of magnetic chokes in stores, depots and offices and this has resulted in a 15% saving in lighting costs.

The electrical profiles of selected stores, depots and offices are monitored remotely to ensure that lighting and air conditioning units are managed in the most efficient way. Automated light switching equipment has been installed in 243 stores to ensure that lights do not remain on after hours.

Woolworths has conducted awareness programs, campaigns and presentations at stores for the last 25 years to educate staff about efficient use of energy.

Refrigeration

None of the Woolworths stand-alone food stores have air conditioning, except in KwaZulu-Natal where the air conditioning is required to control humidity. Energy efficient refrigeration plants installed in stores and depots over recent years have reduced the power consumed by refrigeration by up to 40%. Frozen foods are displayed in closed refrigeration cabinets – this has been the practice for over a decade, reducing energy usage in the freezers. Waste heat, recycled from the refrigeration system, is pumped back into the food market (“free heating”) helping to maintain comfortable trading conditions. The company is piloting a natural gas refrigeration system driven by carbon dioxide (CO2). Unlike conventional refrigerants, the use of CO2 helps to mitigate against the contribution to climate change and early indications are that the new refrigeration system uses less energy.

Building design

The company has a green store model in place and considers the following energy saving measures when considering new real estate opportunities:

Natural ventilation, including office windows that can open and cross ventilation; the use of natural light; energy efficient lighting and the use of a Building Management System for light switching; solar water heating; and re-use of heat generated by plant and machinery to heat buildings in cold periods of the year.

The Woolworths Midrand distribution centre is one of the largest single structures in the southern hemisphere at 78 000m². In an effort to reduce the use of electricity at the centre, a number of measures are utilised. These include:

• The use of natural light in the building

• Intelligent light fittings in offices, capable of dimming to adjust to ambient natural light and switching off when people leave the space

• The use of recycled heat. This is heat recovered from the refrigeration plant, which is used in the under floor heating system

• Solar thermal hot water production for ablution facilities

• The use of elevated flood lights, which results in a significant reduction in the number of luminaries required

• Using evaporative cooling technologies for the refrigeration plants, resulting in great energy savings

Woolworths 2011 Integrated Report includes comparative energy reduction figures against baseline of 18% for 2010 and 22% for 2011.

 Sources:

Woolworths Holdings Integrated Report 2011

NBI Energy Efficiency case Studies 2010

By: Lloyd Macfarlane

Mineral waste beneficiation is the process of separation, recovery and beneficiation of waste streams from the mining, minerals, and metallurgical and smelting industries.

The principle of beneficiation is one that sees recovered products being given back to the waste generator for reprocessing, or given to alternative markets as raw materials for other products. Mineral waste separation and recovery addresses various objectives that are contained in the Waste Act (as discussed in the previous chapter), the principle of which are:

• Reductions in volumes of waste that is sent to landfill, tailings dams or stored by waste generators in the form of legacy waste stockpiles.
• Creation of recycled raw material for Industry.

Different methods and systems of waste separation and recovery exist, depending on the target waste stream. Recovery is possible for large mass material such as rock and slag or fine material such as raw material dust. Mineral waste separation and sorting processes can be installed into existing process industry or can be directed at legacy waste stockpiles.

Mineral Waste Management and the Environment

A common practice, particularly in the mining sector, has been that of disposing of mineral waste in tailings dams. ‘Tailings’ is one of the terms used to describe the materials left over after the valuable resource has been extracted from the ore. Depending on the mineral process concerned, tailings can take the form of dry waste rock or fine, small particles, which have been mixed with, water to form ‘slurry’. Disposing of tailings in dams has been a common way to prevent the uncontrolled release of tailings materials into the environment. Tailings dams are themselves of great environmental concern, particularly if they are not sufficiently controlled – acid drainage can occur as water passes through or leaks from the dam. It was estimated that there were as many as 3500 active tailings impoundments in the world in the year 2000.

The responsibility for acid mine drainage rehabilitation is currently not sufficiently owned in South Africa. Mining rights are issued and once it is no longer viable to for mining companies to exercise those rights, land often simply reverts to government, as do the environmental problems created by acid drainage. Legislation will begin to enforce additional levels of accountability and responsibility for waste by mining companies in order to ensure the closure of this loop. In this process, the various objectives of the Waste Act (2008) will also be realised.

Mineral Waste Recovery

Opportunities now exist to process and beneficiate this mineral waste material prior to storage in dams and also to process tailings that have already been sent to dams. There are various applications for recovered materials and in particular materials are being used successfully as replacement aggregates for the construction industry. Other applications are being investigated and range from paint pigments to pottery glaze to cladding.

External Costs of Virgin Materials Versus Processing Costs of Recovered Materials

The solid waste emanating from mineral activities is often very process (and energy) intensive as it may require breaking and/or crushing. This increases the embodied energy of the recovered material and also the embodied cost.

Successful closed loop beneficiation is dependent on a stable and sustainable market for the recovered material, which must contemplate all the embodied costs of production. Until such time as the true external environmental cost of using virgin materials as an alternative is factored into total cost, recovered materials will struggle to compete on price. However, as energy and water costs increase and as policies such as ‘producer pays’ begin taking effect, a more accurate total cost comparison will soon be possible.

Beneficiation Example: Anglo Platinum Smelter Project

Anglo Platinum’s Polokwane Metallurgical Centre has been involved in researching the potential uses of the slag generated by extracting platinum ores. This research has resulted in beneficiation projects, which have seen slag being used in mining and building products. These initiatives have also acted as a catalyst for entrepreneurial activities in the region.

The Polokwane Smelter generates approximately 60,000 tons of smelter slag per month. Previously, the slag was milled and sent through a float plant, where residual valuable metals were recovered with the tailings from the float plant then disposed of in a tailings dam. More recently however, the further milling and float plant activities were found to be uneconomical and the build up of slag waste was not sustainable.

The research centre analysed the slag material, particularly its chemical composition, in order to determine any value-add potential and also the economic sector(s) in which the new products would be likely to be needed on a sustainable basis, including agriculture, mining and building. The centre also investigated the processes that would be necessary to transform slag for new applications.
Various trial products were developed using slag and were evaluated in terms of their viability, and significant process routes were identified. The slag was found to be suitable for use in certain mining and building products and other possible applications continue to be explored.

Anglo Platinum is making sure that the slag products are commercially viable and that they lead to the creation of sustainable small and medium enterprises. Beneficiation activities of this kind must be adjacent to existing operations and must be income generating opportunities for the company if they are to succeed in the long term.

By: Lloyd Macfarlane

The objectives for cities under the Waste Act (2008) include diverting waste from landfill, creating jobs within the waste sector and developing new and alternative materials for industry. Landfill waste beneficiation activities are focussed on the separation and recovery of materials previously destined for landfill and the development of real markets for these materials.

Cities in South Africa will make use of the Waste Act to give effect to certain urgent objectives, which include:

• Reduction of waste to landfill
• Reduction of environmental impact of solid waste
• Reduction of natural resource expropriation
• Job creation
• Climate change mitigation
• Primary Agenda for Local Government

The primary agenda for cities and municipalities is to deal with the rapidly diminishing resources and landfill spaces available in urban areas as these issues fall clearly within their scope of management and accountability. Natural resource availability and landfill space is measureable and now tangibly finite. Waste material beneficiation has been identified as an effective way to reduce landfill and incineration waste and unlock new, local sources of raw material.

Secondary Benefits

The secondary benefits of waste beneficiation are arguably just as relevant but not quite as immediately urgent or tangible. Yet energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions are quickly becoming items that industry must manage in order to remain competitive, as they are forced to start incorporating certain external costs of production. Industry must start considering the benefits of using waste stream materials and government should promote the business case for participation.

Energy Efficiency

When total lifecycle analysis costs are calculated for raw materials versus recycled materials, recycled materials are more than often less energy intensive.

Recycled Material Potential Energy Savings

Steel 60%
Paper 45%
Plastic 70%
Glass 40%

Source: Ethekwini Municipality, www.durbanportal.net

Virgin Material Secondary Waste

Total cost comparisons of virgin versus recycled materials should always incorporate a provision for secondary materials saved. For example, when 1 ton of steel is recycled approximately 1100kg of iron ore, 600kg coal, and 50kg of limestone can be conserved. This excludes the benefits of energy (cost) savings that are associated with extraction, transport and processing.

Greenhouse Gases

Methane caused from organic waste in landfill is approximately 70 times more detrimental as a global warming agent in the earth’s atmosphere than CO2, and up to 40% of South Africa’s primary landfill waste is organic. By diverting organic waste to controlled composting facilities gas emissions can be managed, air quality improved and valuable by-products in the form of compost and bio-organic fertilisers can be produced. Methane that is controlled through separation processes can also be used to generate electricity – a process that is already being practiced, for example at the Durban Solid Waste plant.

Risk Management

General safety at landfill is affected by the presence of waste scavengers and informal separators on site who are sourcing materials and whose presence may lead to accidents or fire. For example fires caused by waste scavengers who are attempting to extract metals from plastic coated wires or tires can often spread with serious consequences to safety and to air quality. Waste recovery reduces the extent to which informal separators can access waste materials and reduces their presence at landfill.

Applications

There are certain target materials that form part of the landfill waste beneficiation process, which can be separated, packaged and commercially valued as material resources for large or small industry. The more commonly recovered materials are:

• Organic waste and sludge for the creation of biomass or bio-organic fertilisers, which are not harmful to the environment
• Builder’s rubble and demolition waste for building industry/construction aggregate materials, which replace virgin materials and haver a lower embodied energy.
• eWaste components that can be reused or recycled or if necessary more suitable disposed of.
• Traditionally recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal, which can be returned to industry as raw material.
• Waste materials that can be used along with other materials in the creation of composite materials which are robust more efficient, environmentally friendly and thermally efficient.

Organic Waste

Large volumes of organic waste can be recovered at landfill, which can be converted to compost. Compost has applications at landfill (in the stimulation of methane gas production for energy) and can be sold locally for urban gardens. The relatively low value of compost, per volume, means that it cannot be distributed too far before it incurs an embodied cost that threatens its economic viability. Further opportunities exist to convert compost to bio-organic fertiliser which has a value estimated at more than 5 times the value of regular fertiliser. Bio-organic fertiliser is a green alternative for chemical fertilisers and is gaining wide recognition as the better alternative for gardeners and farmers who are pursuing organic production processes. Bio-organic fertiliser is not only less harmful for the environment, it has a lower embodied energy and carbon footprint because of its components and its production methods.

eWaste

Electronic waste or eWaste is potentially hazardous with materials such as mercury, cadmium and lithium being generally prevalent in many electronic goods that are destined for landfill. There are a number of beneficiation opportunities and applications for components of this waste stream such as metals, plastics, circuit boards, monitors, printer cartridges, cabling which are in most instances capable of re-entering the production stream at some level

Plastics

Unlike glass, plastics cant be crushed and tend to occupy a larger volume of site space, particularly relative to value. This makes the management and beneficiation of plastic more difficult. Plastic waste also has a lower market value, particularly if unprocessed. Because there is very little value for collectors of small amounts of plastic, it is necessary to consider large scale processing centres that are centralised and which sort, wash, granulate and process plastic waste for application in composite materials or back into the plastic industry. Some of the plastic waste at landfill is unusable or contaminated and this can be further separated to create refuse-derived diesel fuel, which can be used locally at landfill as an alternative energy source.

Glass Recycling

Thousands of tons of glass enter landfill or separation systems in South Africa each day and although the ideal beneficiation model for glass is the re-use model which sees glass containers being cleaned and reused by bottlers, good progress has been made where recycling at household level is concerned. The beneficiation opportunities for glass waste are mostly related to the recycling of glass back into the industry as raw material, however there are also composite applications for glass, which even include crushed glass as a replacement aggregate for sand in concrete or cement mix materials. Additional small industry beneficiation activities for glass waste material exists in the ceramic and paint industries, in water filtration, sand blasting and glass bead production in craft market micro-industries.

Composite Materials

Composite materials are made from two ore more materials and take on new properties that allow them to perform better in certain applications. Composites can contain waste materials recovered from landfill and can be (for example) stronger than timber, more resistant to mould or borer and longer wearing. Current applications of wood composite products can be found in decking, flooring, furniture and cladding with new applications in the form of roof tiles and man hole covers currently be investigated and rolled our.

Economic Challenges to Landfill Waste Beneficiation

Transport Costs

Waste stream processes require critical mass in order to be economically viable and processed waste stream materials are generally also more marketable in larger quantities. This requires that waste stream processing plants are consolidated, where materials must be collected from various sites in order to achieve critical mass. The distance between landfill (or source) and processing, and then between processing and final market (customers) will determine the embodied transport costs of the recovered waste stream material and transport costs often affect the viability of waste stream material beneficiation.

Materials Collection, Processing and Storage Space

Further challenges lie in the voluminous nature of certain waste stream materials at landfill relative to their mass or relative to their potential value, for example, plastic containers (as mentioned above), or pallet timber.

Waste Beneficiation Stimulus

The Producer Pays

A total strategic framework for the successful implementation of landfill waste beneficiation activities should bring about economically sustainable systems within each stream, however each waste stream system will requite the support of regulation and incentives to bring it to that state. Principles such as the ‘producer pays’ will assist to ensure that collection is more organised and take back systems are implemented. As this happens it will become easier to link the ownership of waste to individual producers or to industries and therefore easier to finance processing (and/or transport) costs.

True External Accounting for Virgin Material

Until such time as producers are required to account (and pay) for the total environmental cost of using virgin materials (think total environmental cost of ground water needed to grow just one tree), the commercial case for using recovered materials will continue to be difficult to motivate.

Public Private Partnerships

Incentives for private companies that wish to participate at various stages in waste stream beneficiation can serve to stimulate interest and artificially prop up the early stages of stakeholder buy-in. Government can play a leading role by exploring mechanisms such as inexpensive project finance, tax incentives, guaranteed purchase agreements for processors and guaranteed material supply agreements for take-back producers. The Durban based section 21 company called Use-It is successfully rolling out beneficiation projects that are incorporating many such incentives.

Supply Chain Policies

By incorporating procurement policies such as ESS, government can be an example to companies in the private sector and can stimulate take-back and post consumer waste materials sourcing. If government were to specify that it will only procure products with recycled content, this would increase the value of waste materials and force producers who want government business into participation. Conversely, and in time, tax can be levied to producers whose products do not contain recycled materials.

Education

Consumers should be educated about the difference that they can make when they buy products that contain recycled materials. This will help to accelerate supply chain changes. Consumers ‘vote’ when they purchase and an educated consumer is increasingly concerned about environmental impact and reputational issues.

By: Lloyd Macfarlane

Water scarcity, landfill capacity and peak oil are just some of the manifestations of a planet whose natural resources are being depleted at an alarming rate. The world’s population has just reached the 7 billion mark and is projected to reach at least 9 billion by 2045.  Most of the planet’s people consume natural resources via elaborate networks that are the supply chains of companies and organisations that bring us the food, products, services and entertainment that we so desperately want and need. The organisation therefore has a moral and civil obligation to recognise its extended impact on resources and to act responsibly to reduce or even eliminate that impact. However, we are fortunate that there are many other good economic reasons for companies to reduce their impact – the incentives of joining the green economy and the avoidance of consumer risk are driving change in an increasingly regulatory business landscape.

The supply chain is the large artery of the organisation. It typically consists of the most significant financial, environmental and social impacts (and opportunities) for a business.   An organisation’s supply chain is the system or network of processes, technologies and other organisations that are involved in the creation and distribution of a product to the customer (and sometimes beyond). The supply chain will most often include activities that source and transform natural resources and raw materials into finished products which are used and either disposed of or recycled by the customer.

A Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of the organisation’s supply chain can reveal the true measure of its environmental impact. LCA is the technique used to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a products life – from cradle to grave – in other words, from raw material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance and disposal or recycling.

Tackling sustainability in the supply chain can appear to be like the challenge of eating the proverbial elephant, however, a ‘one bite at a time’ solution is just as metaphorically applicable and companies who embark on this journey can experience meaningful returns from the achievement of mini-goals along the way.

A well balanced and sustainable supply chain will be directed at the achievement of certain key stakeholder objectives:

• Promote the Green Economy
• Lower environmental impact
• Reduce risk
• Increase efficiency (and margin)
• Increase competitive advantage
• Increase brand equity and leverage

Promoting the Green Economy

Being involved in the Green Economy has its advantages. Not only can it have reputational value but there are an increasing number of new opportunities that flow from being a ‘member’ of this economic community, whether they be formal (e.g. organisational membership or tender qualification) or informal (e.g. word of mouth referrals or invitations)

Companies that pursue supply chain sustainability play their part in growing the Green Economy. The Green Economy is widely recognised as the most sustainable tool to drive environmental change. Regulation, passion and education all play a role in changing the way we consume and produce, but an economy that is in alignment with sustainable practices will create more natural momentum for change than anything else. Green procurement drives green production and for as long as this is a true economic cycle there will be opportunity, competitiveness and profit for organisations that re-engineer a low carbon supply chain. The power that an organisation has to stimulate and influence its supply chain lies in its ability to specify and procure for low impact.

Companies that set solid supply chain goals do well to take an inclusive and phased approach with suppliers. Suppliers need to be communicated with, convinced and influenced if they are to buy in to changes that will affect or even inconvenience them. The opportunity for these suppliers is more than just your custom – it is a place in the green economy. An inclusive and patient approach will cement relationships and create loyalty. The supplier process should first seek to optimise and innovate with suppliers and only then seek to measure. Systems of influence should incorporate positive and negative incentives and mutual benefits of association.

Lower Environmental Impact

Reducing environmental impact across a large supply chain can be complex. The starting point for most organisations is the lowest hanging fruit which can usually be identified quite easily.

In order to reduce impact, the organisation needs to first create baseline measurements by collecting and describing data under environmental impact headings. Here are some examples  of some broad headings:

• Energy – emissions from direct and indirect energy sources, including transport
• Water – by volume and water quality impact from operations
• Waste – by volume and by type
• Pollutants – by volume and type
• Biodiversity – area and/or volume and species displaced or negatively affected

Once the baselines have been established, the objective will be to reduce impacts and then credibly report the baseline and the reductions over each annual cycle. It is advisable to use a respected standard for reporting, such as the GRI Framework, which will also help to inform the process of gathering the data for the baseline. In time the organisation can start extending the scope of measurement and reduction even further into the supply chain.

Reduced Risk

Companies face all sorts of legal, operational and consumer risks in this information age, much of which is being driven by increased regulation that holds companies responsible for their (extended) supply chain activities. Environmental infringements are now particularly under the spotlight and risk can flow well beyond the boundary of compliance into the social realm where companies can suffer the consequences of a trial by social media – a modern phenomenon that some have found very difficult to control.

In much the same way as Extended Producer Responsibility is forcing supply chains in South Africa to change, so too will imminent regulation around carbon footprint, water consumption, water quality, waste and emissions. By setting standards within the supply chain companies can avoid, transfer or share risk. They can also avoid reputational risk by ensuring that they have sufficient knowledge of the extended impacts of their activities.

Increased Efficiency and Margin

Post World War II production in Japan was known for its ‘Just-in-Time’ approach to production, a system in contrast to the American consumer approach leading up to the war which was ‘Just-in-Case’. Efficiency in the supply chain is not a new concept. However, in the same way that consumption and activity in a supply chain are usually linked to cost, so too are they generally linked to environmental impact. A sustainable supply chain is one that treads lightly and does not waste – the sustainable organisation will measure and manage data in its supply chain to reduce consumption, reuse and recycle wherever possible. Efficiency and sustainability drive down costs and drive up margin.

Systems and Efficiency

The supply chain contains various ‘decision systems’ which when altered have a material effect on stakeholders. By isolating, analysing and developing these supply chain systems, companies can improve the quality and quantity of information that can then be used to change behaviour and process. In order to drive efficiency, data must be consolidated and managed with systems which are a crucial part of supply chain sustainability. Many automated reporting and management systems have been based on good non-automated systems of policy and structured communication.

Design and Efficiency

Design is a term that is often associated with sustainability because some of the most significant environmental impacts are determined in the design phase of a product. For example, the organisation’s ability to reuse production waste or to recycle end-of-life materials is often linked to design phase specification. Retrospective environmental interventions are usually more difficult, have less supply chain impact and cost more than initial design phase interventions.

Designers are changing the lifecycle impact of products and driving efficiency in the process:

• Designing with alternative materials and sources
• Designing for easy dis-assembly and recycling
• Designing for easy reuse
• Designing for bio-degradation

Competitive Advantage

When a business has a strategic advantage over its competitors or rivals it is said to have achieved a Competitive Advantage. Competitive Advantage may have been achieved because that business may have acquired or developed attributes that allow it to offer value that its competitors can’t. Competitive Advantage is that ‘place’ that every organisation should strive to reach. Organisations gain advantage by lowering their costs (Supply chain efficiencies), lowering their risk (Resource dependence), and increasing demand (Offering better value). Organisations that achieve sustainability targets also increase levels of employee morale, customer loyalty and shareholder value, which are also drivers of Competitive Advantage.

Value is a function of ‘worth over price’, in other words the worth that a stakeholder places on a product or relationship compared with the price that he/she pays is the value attributed. Stakeholder engagement and green supply chain interventions are platforms for the development of better value products and services for customers.

The green economy is growing because its values are also simply ‘best practice’. Green business simply requires that an organisation go deeper into those values, and those that do will find Competitive Advantage.

Reputation and Leverage

Reputation and brand equity are not immediately or easily measurable (like revenue or savings are for instance.) Reputation has an enherent, pottential value for stakeholders in the supply chain. The value of a reputation will be realised in critical moments that result in additional orders, or extended or terminated contracts for example. Reputation and Stakeholder perception of a company or its products are increasingly important to manage as news can travel quickly and even virally, whether good or bad. It takes time to build stakeholder equity but it can take no time at all to destroy it. By engaging with stakeholders across the supply chain the organisation is already investing in the platform that can stimulate growth in perception/reputation.

The organisation should celebrate and leverage its environmental achievements in a credible way with supply chain stakeholders. Leverage is best achieved with momentum over time and taking short cuts can often have negative consequences. A true green journey will provide an organisation with more than enough opportunity for leverage.

When leveraging sustainable activities in the supply chain a company should bear the following principles in mind:

• Transparency – Report material impacts and planned interventions without fear
• Authenticity – Seek out clarity, measurability and materiality. Avoid omissions, embellishment and spin.
• Consistency – Make it easy for stakeholders to follow and interpret key messages, progress and comparative gains and/or losses.
• Accountability – Remain accountable to shareholders but also to other key stakeholders.

Conclusion

Environmental compliance issues are increasingly under the spotlight but risk can flow well beyond the boundary of compliance into the social realm where companies can suffer from the viral spread of news and opinion in the media. The organisation has a moral and civil obligation to recognize environmental impacts within its extended supply chain and Life Cycle Analysis must be used to assess impact– the cradle-to-grave measurement of impacts through all stages of life of a product or service.

The green economy is gathering momentum and is the most sustainable tool to drive environmental change. Companies who are part of the green economy are now generally more capable of realizing competitive advantage because they have acquired or developed attributes that allow them to offer value that their competitors can’t.

Companies should measure, report and reduce environmental impacts in a credible way and should embark on a green journey that increases in scope, through the extended supply chain over time. They can do this by reducing waste and emissions and reducing, reusing and recycling resources. There should be a strong focus systems and product design/redesign but also a focus on influencing and incentivizing suppliers to collaborate around design and information.

Environmental achievements can and should be leveraged but this must be done with transparency, authenticity, consistency and accountability.

Sources and References:

McKinsey Quarterly, July 2008. “Climate Change and Supply Chain Management” Chris Brickman and Drew Ungerman

Green to Gold, “How Smart Companies use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value and Build Competitive Advantage.” Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston. Yale University Press. New Haven and London

Harvard Business Review Blog Network. “Supply Chain, Not Sustainability, Should Manage Your Carbon Footprinting.” Ellie Moss

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division June 2009. “Number 87 World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision.”

US Environmental Protection Agency 17 October 2010. “Defining Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).”