Green is good; that’s pretty much accepted now in the supply chain world. What continues to catch my attention is just how good it is, especially in the area of risk.

The obvious benefits associated with pursuing green initiatives relate to energy savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, for instance, improved fuel efficiency for trucks, lower utility bills for warehouses, and less waste going to landfills.

Now, many companies are also beginning to see green as a competitive advantage to their business strategy.

In the recently released Carbon Disclosure Project 2010 Global 500 Report, this development is clearly revealed. According to the report, “The 2010 responses suggest that there has been a shift in emphasis from an approach dominated by risk, to one that also embraces potential opportunities. Eighty-six percent of respondents state that they see ‘significant opportunities’ arising from climate change, whether regulatory, physical, or commercial, and many companies are investing cash and resources in this pathway.”

As example, Airbus and Eurocopter have dedicated 80 percent of their Research & Technology budgets to green growth.

The report’s authors continue: “Emerging cap-and-trade schemes provide a good example of a risk which creates short-term competitive disadvantages, but which also presents an opportunity for innovation and cost savings in the longer term. If and when trading schemes are extended or new schemes introduced, companies with experience and knowledge of carbon trading may realize a competitive advantage.”

Business resilience is another area that leading companies are realizing the benefits of going green. Centrica is a large multinational utility company based in the UK. According to the company, “By managing climate risk and weather risk effectively, we will be better positioned than our competitors, which provides us with commercial opportunities. For example, in the event of a severe weather event, if our facilities and processes are better protected, we are likely to be able to resume any interruption in supplies more quickly than our competitors.”

In this month’s issue, contributing writer Dan McCue talked to several companies who shared their ‘gravitation to green’ stories. Commercial real estate developer ProLogis started looking at embedded carbon in order to get a holistic view of the impact a facility has on the environment. They began measuring the lifecycle of steel beams used in a building’s frame-where and how the iron ore was mined from the earth, how it was manufactured into steel, and how the steel was shipped to the site.

Not only is this level of ‘green information gathering’ useful to ProLogis, ultimately the tenants that occupy these facilities are keenly interested in this data. This is especially true for consumer-facing brands whose activities and philosophy are highly visible in the marketplace.

In addition to Dan’s article, I know you will enjoy the rest of this month’s issue. And if you’re reading a hardcopy, in the spirit of green, kindly pass it on to someone else to read or place it in the recycle bin.

Enjoy the read.



Lara L. Sowinski, Editor