Consult, Manage, Change

The Path to Business Sustainability

The most recent research on the move to transformational sustainability suggests that organisations go through five stages:

 

Stage 1 – elementary

 

Stage 2 – engaged

 

Stage 3 – innovative

 

Stage 4 – integrated

 

Stage 5 – transforming

 

The stage that an organisation is at is determined by what they are doing on seven key dimensions. These are:

• How is sustainability defined within the organisation?

 

• What is the strategic purpose served by sustainability?

 

• Do leaders support and lead the sustainability effort?

 

• How are responsibilities for sustainability managed?

 

• How does the organisation deal with issues that arise?

 

• How does the organisation engage its stakeholders?

 

• How transparent is the organisation about its financial, social and environmental performance?

 

The Development Path to the Sustainability Revolution – the 4 “C”s.

Credibility

Credibility is in the eyes of the stakeholders. They are looking for evidence that the organisation is not just meeting lip service compliance but going beyond that. Some evidence of involvement in solving societal problems will also be sought. The key here is systems and processes.

Capacity

As the organisation moves beyond engagement it finds there is so much more to be done and needs to develop internal capacity to do more. The key here is education and coaching that builds on the increasingly sophisticated systems and processes.

Coherence

This is where the organisation’s leadership needs to pull all the various programmes together and match up the programmes to a coherent vision and strategy. Strategic change including appreciative inquiry are the key factors here.

Commitment

This is where the sustainability programmes become so ingrained they become “who we are”

 

 

The Operating Model

So who has to make sure what happens on Monday morning?

The following table summarises a number of points that will need to be addressed as you work through the 4Cs model, gives a quick ‘headline’ summary of the issue and suggests where in a business organisation each issue would fit from a responsibility perspective and from the perspective of what organisational officer/manager is responsible for delivering each issue.

For smaller businesses and non business organisations, most of the responsibility falls on the CEO and leadership team as they will be lacking access to the specialist departments tabulated below.

The new position of Chief Sustainability Officer reflects our belief that we are seeing a paradigm shift that will place sustainability at the core of the organisational model for the foreseeable future. The CSO is responsible for the setting the leadership position on sustainability, engaging the rest of the C suite and top reports in the organisation to provide compelling leadership in each of their areas, setting policy and putting in place systems and procedures for ensuring organisational action is embedded in day to day routines. The CSO will have significant organisational power as well as significant influencing skills to ensure others buy in to the Sustainability programme.

Want more information?

www.sacnz.co.nz

http://www.sacnz.co.nz/resources 

Some good advice for business - Sustainability study

I have just come across some great sustainability information on the AT KEARNEY web site.

A.T. Kearney was a sponsor of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s report titled Doing Good: Business and the Sustainability Challenge. This report summarizes the learning from a global survey of over 1,200 executives and interviews with leading sustainability experts.

This is global information and the findings and conclusions apply to the NZ Situation.

The findings outlined in the report reinforce many of the insights we have seen in our own research and in our sustainability work with clients across the globe. The report shows that many companies are still working to figure out what sustainability means for their business and how to ingrain a sustainability strategy in their organizations.

Key findings from the study include the following:

• Business knows that it needs to raise its game but is often confused by such new and poorly defined demands
• The conventional wisdom that North American firms lag on sustainability is partly deserved, but partly a matter of perception
• Competitors are a key driver for change in North America, in Asia-Pacific governmental officials are the key driver, and in Europe it is consumers
• Many companies lack clear leadership on sustainability
• The supply chain is the weakest link
• Sustainability reporting needs more work
• Sustainability pays – and a correlation appears to exist between corporate action and strong share price performance
• Gains can be expected from cost reductions, new markets and enhanced reputations, although concerns about the expense affect firms
• Increased investor attractiveness is not yet a key hook
• Business leaders are open to more regulation on social and environmental issues

What do you think of the list above? Are there issues listed that you are thinking about? Are you factoring in increased business costs when the NZETS is implemented?

Check out the downloads from ATK and remember that you need to be thinking how economic sustainability and environmental sustainability go hand in hand.

Come and visit us at the Bizzone Bussiness Expo in Wellington 22-24 July

Green is Good BLOG together with Onespec and Sempre Avanti Consulting will be at stand #117 at the Bizzone Business Expo at the TSB Bank Arena from 22-24 July.

Please pop by and say hello.

We would love you to visit us (look out for us at stand 117 in the main hall) and to have a good look around the expo. Make sure you enter our card draw to win a new iPod.

We can offer you a complimentary ticket to the event by CLICKING HERE.

More details on the expo can be found at http://www.bizzone.com/ The information below gives you a quick overview of the Expo.

Why you should attend?

Increased sales, smarter marketing, tighter cashflow, compliance made easy, staffing solutions, access to finance, debt collection, pricing strategy, business planning, strategy, online business, IT, cost reduction, investment advice, insurance…

Get support for your business from

New Zealand

’s best

Including 40 free seminars, specialised zones, free business mentoring, free smart marketing expertise and much more.

For your complimentary guest ticket to the Bizzone Business Expos register online and automatically go in the draw to win a $100,000 Smart Marketing Prize 

www.bizzone.com/guestof/exhibitor

Put these dates in your diary now!

Wellington

– TSB Arena

22^ndJuly Wednesday 9-4pm

23rd July Thursday 9-8pm

24th July Friday 9-4pm 

Ecological Intelligence - Goleman has his say

Has anyone purchased or read Daniel Goleman's new book Ecological Intelligence?? I am keen to get a book review going and thought this was a good book to start with?

Please post a comment so that we can all decide if this is worth getting or just getting it from the library to flick thru??

The book was given a profile in the AFRBOSS.COM.AU on April 2009 which I read but it did not inspire me to rush out and get the book.

Certified Management Consultant CMC

As a member of the New Zealand Institute of Management Consultnats and a accredited Certified Management Consultant [CMC] I thought it right to tell you more about the advantages of using a certified management consultant.

What’s Behind the “CMC” Certified Management Consultant mark of excellence?

 

Certification	When you see the initials “CMC” following a consultant’s name, it means that he or she is a Certified Management Consultant and has met the strict certification requirements of the Institute of Management Consultants . The Institute was founded in the United States in 1968 by the principal associations in the consulting field to establish publicly recognised standards of competence and professional conduct for the individual management consultant. Applicants for certification undergo a thorough investigation of their consulting experience: A panel of senior consultants interviews them to verify their technical competence, and they must pass a written examination demonstrating their familiarity with the Institute’s Code of Ethics.
A Code of Ethics	CMCs pledge in writing to abide by the Institute’s Code of Ethics. Their adherence to the Code signifies voluntary assumption of self-discipline above and beyond the requirements of law. Key provisions of the Code require that CMCs:                           • Safeguard confidential information.                         • Render impartial, independent advice.                         • Accept only those client engagements they are qualified to perform.                         • Agree with the client in advance on the basis for professional charges.                         • Develop realistic and practical solutions to client problems.
Standards of Competence	Every step leading to the CMC designation has been designed to verify the candidate’s professional competence. A Certified Management Consultant has:              • At least three years of experience in the full-time practice of management consulting, with major responsibility for client projects during at least one of those years.                        • Multiple references, most of them officers or executives of client organisations. These references have been investigated to assure that the consulting relationships were satisfactory.                  • Provided written summaries of five client assignments (disguised to protect client identity).
The Mark of Excellence	The CMC is a certification mark registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.   The CMC is recognised worldwide by the International Council of Managing Consulting   Institutes (ICMCI) (www.ICMCI.org). Certification by the Institute of Management Consultants is the mark of excellence among management consulting professionals. In selecting management consultants, it is good practice to seek individuals who meet the profession’s standards of competence and ethics.

You should always look to use certified management consultants.

A green life - can you live a green life?

If you are a regular reader of this BLOG you will know that in previous BLOG posts we have given easy to follow practicable tips that enable you to understand green issues and how you can make changes that will make you greener and more sustainable.

Our message must be catching on?

In todays NZ Herald there are two stories that caught my eye. The first one is called THE GREEN TESTand is all about how Wena Harawira, Maori Television journalist is making behavioural changes and being more green. Check out the article for some good and easy examples on how you can make changes to your daily life that make you more sustainable and green.

The second article is called LIVE SIMPLY and is about how a simple life can lead to being more green.

The interesting part of this story is that it highlights Project litefoot. This project is a helpful web resource where NZ celebrities are making their own statements about going green and being more sustainable. It is worth a look too.

We do go on about it, however, being green and sustainable is a journey and not a destination and it is all about small  personal changes in behivours that lead to transformational change.

Carbon Trading and Carbon Credits

We often get asked to help our clients understand the basics of carbon trading and carbon credits.

The information to follow may help you?

Emitters of carbon will need to purchase carbon credits. As carbon is emitted, the credits that a business holds/processes will need to be surrendered, effectively “paying” for the greenhouse gasses produced.

What is the ETS

Under an ETS, prices are established for units to emit greenhouse gases. It is hoped that these prices influence decisions by producers, consumers and investors, in their decision making around the reduction of emissions and to look at viable alternatives.

Put more simply, essentially, if you create emissions, say by using fossil fuels by driving your car e.g. petroleum, it costs you units (so called carbon credits). If you create a carbon sink (plant trees) that then soak up carbon emissions, you create credit units that can be traded.

How does it affect us?

Broadly speaking, it is intended that the scheme will alter the cost structure of good and services supplied in NZ through the operation of a “cap and trade” model. Under the model the Government will place a cap on the greenhouse cases certain industries can produce.

Costs

Depending on which group you listen too there are a number of varied positions on the cost of the emission trading scheme.

There is no doubt that there will be a cost to business of capping New Zealand's emissions and the development of the ETS. Some of the increased costs will be passed onto customers and consumers.

The Emissions Trading Group commissioned Infometrics economist Adolf Stroombergen (October 2007) to analyse the impact of an Emissions Trading Scheme on emission levels, economic growth and other economic indicators.

Infometrics’ report concludes that during the period between 2008 and 2012, the impact of New Zealand meeting its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol on a number of economic indicators is likely to be around 0.0 to 0.3 percent impact on GDP. 

Much of the Government's economic modelling is based on a carbon price of $15 a tonne, whereas the international price is already more than double that.

Carbon Trading and Carbon Credits

The carbon trading market is based around Kyoto-related and voluntary carbon credits. The compliance market is obligations based and requires the reporting of emissions from designated activities, and the surrender of Kyoto compliant carbon credits.

The voluntary market is driven by reputational drivers, and the marketing of projects that lead to VER’s – Verified Emissions Reduction units. This also links to the measurement of carbon footprints and the use of the GHG protocol and ISO reporting standards.

Carbon credits may be Kyoto units or voluntary carbon credits.

Kyoto units are created from Government-approved projects that have been allocated assigned amount units or AAUs and from clean development mechanism (CDM) projects validated through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Voluntary carbon credits are produced outside the regulatory framework and are often created through community projects. These credits may have additional ecological and social value.

We hope this helps with your understanding of carbon trading and carbon credits?

Beware of GREENWASHING - dont make claims you cannot support!

The issue of GREENWASHING has hit the headlines here in New Zealand with the Commerce Commission issuing a warning to Wellington Combined Taxis that it has breached the fair trading act by making false claims related to is GHG emissions of its fleet of vehicles and the fuel efficiency of its vehicles.

If you are a reader of this BLOG you may recall that we covered this issue in a POST “Greenwashing – beware of misleading claims” on 19 March 2008.

I don’t think the management at Wellington Combined Taxis read the post!

The lesson to learn from this case is that when the taxi company was asked to provide back up information about its eco-friendly claims is could not provide any supporting information.

If you are going to make any eco-friendly or carbon neutral claims then you need the systems, processes, information and back up to support your statements.

For example, Sempre Avanti Consulting SAC states that it is a participant in the carboNZero programme and on the SAC web site we provide information about our environmental sustainability policies and practices with specific examples of initiatives we are undertaking.

Please remember if you are going to make eco-friendly claims then you need to be able to back them up with information and examples. Do not fall into the trap of making false claims and this will most likely backfire and hurt your market reputation.

Crisis what Crisis - Green Consulting and Sustainability

I am pleased to post the following which was written by Mr Ron Shaw Principal Consultant with Sempre Avanti Consulting.

This is a response to an article published by Terry Dunleavy in theNZ Herald.

The Dialogue offering of 6 May 2008 from Terry Dunleavy of the NZ Climate Science Coalition is interesting and raises some useful questions. It also demonstrates how the United Nations, policymakers, ‘Green’ writers, NGOs and other Green groups such as Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace have boxed themselves into a corner with their focus on climate change.

There are enough scientists and other experts who do not accept that climate change is happening or, if they accept that it is happening, do not accept that it is ‘man-made’ or don’t see it as a problem.. And there are also enough NGOs such as NZ Climate Science Coalition who can highlight anomalies in the climate change science and data. The presence of these two groups presents big hurdles, particularly in the public mind, to any widespread acceptance of the need to address climate change.

The attitudes of experts, and scientists towards climate change seem to line up along a continuum from ‘Crisis, What Crisis?’ through ‘Sceptics’ to ‘IPCC Mainstream’ then to the ‘Eeyores’ and finally to ‘The End is Nigh’.

‘Crisis, what crisis’ people are like Terry Dunleavy or the late Augie Auer who don’t accept that climate change is happening. They raise genuinely sceptical questions that can be used to support their views.

Bjorn Lomberg, the Sceptical Environmentalist, ably represents the Sceptics. Lomberg’s position is interesting in that he accepts that increased CO2 is changing the climate but that there are other problems that need more urgent attention.

The middle ground seems to belong to the IPCC. While Dunleavy highlights how much political and policy maker influence goes into IPCC publications it’s clear that the politicos and policy wonks have toned down much of what the scientists have said, thus introducing a conservative bias to IPCC pronouncements.

The Eeyores seem to be well represented by the likes of James Lovelock whose position seems to be ‘I tried to warn you but you wouldn’t listen, I need a hug and a nuclear reactor’.

The End is Nigh is well represented by the extreme position of George Monbiot.

With this range of competing ideas and attitudes, the general public hasn’t much of a show of deciding what to believe or accept. Add in the politically unpalatable results of trying to change people’s behaviour around carbon emissions, stir in a measure of human short-term thinking and the result is likely to be too little action, too late.

Even though there is substantial and growing evidence that climate change is happening and its end point wont be pretty, in the end the acceptance or rejection of climate change can be made irrelevant by a slight change in direction.

Whether we accept or reject climate change, there is s good argument for action on climate change based solely on a risk management approach. The risk management approach just requires an acceptance that the growth in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from 280 to 380 parts per million and beyond  is an experiment that we don’t know the outcome of and if it goes horribly wrong it will be one that we wont be around to repeat. If we assess the risks associated with the consequences of acting versus the consequences of not acting based on the largely conservative position of the IPCC there is a clear need for action.

And while the risk management approach makes a compelling argument for action it too can be rendered ultimately irrelevant by a change of emphasis.

And what will render both scientific approaches to climate change and the use of risk management tools irrelevant?

The undeniable truth that humankind is consuming the planet’s resources in a grossly unsustainable fashion.

This unsustainable use of the planet is leading to shortages of affordable food, affordable energy, clean water, and clean air. The world has too many polluted zones, overpopulated cities and endangered species

The answer is to put aside the debate on climate change and instead take up a Call To Action on Sustainability.

To address Sustainability individuals and communities have a clear role to play. However the engagement of organisations is central to getting the change required. Organisations need to commit to operating in an ethical and environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable manner whilst balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders including improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large

Organisations need to be completely clear about their ethical position and their position on environmental sustainability. They must put in place systems and processes to monitor compliance. They must engage the hearts and minds of their people with exemplary leadership and communicate their commitment to Sustainability throughout all the stakeholder communities.

In the long run, an organisation will only be economically sustainable when it earns enough profit to pay for the total cost of capital. In other words they still need to make a dollar. The concept of economic sustainability is well understood and has been promoted by Peter Drucker since the 1960’s. In more recent times, Economic Value Added concepts, such as those promoted by Stern Stewart, have come to the fore. It is clear that such concepts must be embedded into the organisation’s business model and clearly communicated to the stakeholder community.

Government, seeing itself as the representative of society at large, regulates and legislates to control an organisation’s social impact as well as its economic and ethical impact. In an increasing regulated environment, the position that the Government will take needs to be understood and factored into any considerations by organisations. The position government takes is conditioned by ideology as well as political pressure from the public and from other political groups. While market mechanisms are the most efficient tools available to influence behaviour, particularly around internalising the cost of ‘free’ environmental services provided by the natural environment, the need to balance equity with efficiency means that Government regulation is unavoidable.

Local government see themselves as the representatives of the local communities and thereby can have a similar position as central government. The overtly political approach of central government is conditioned somewhat at the local level by a more common sense approach in local government to getting things done.

Local communities interrelate to organisations as customers and partners, customers when consuming the organisation’s products or services and partners when consuming sponsorship resources.

The way an organisation treats its workforce and their families has many aspects for consideration when delivering Sustainability. When an organisation lays off members of the workforce it is likely to receive attention in all areas of social sustainability – the ethics of outsourcing jobs to Asia – the economics of exporting jobs – the impact of government attitudes to free trade – local attitudes to sweeteners to keep jobs in a region, and so forth. Witness the comments made when Fisher & Paykel re-jigged its global supply chain at the cost of 430 jobs in Dunedin.

With an increasing competition for talent, the consideration of an organisation’s impact on the workforce and their families goes beyond social sustainability and affects the organisation’s economic sustainability. Without enough people to get the job done, organisational initiatives are choked off.

The organisation’s position on Sustainability needs to be viewed as a core value of the organisation. Therefore it needs to be lead, sustained, and managed by the leadership team.

What we need is an acceptance that SUSTAINABILITY is the future direction for New Zealand, stop the sterile ‘he said, she said’ debates about climate change and engage a broad coalition of Government, Communities, Organisations, and Individuals to address the need to move to a sustainable social, economic, and environmental position for this slice of potential South West Pacific paradise.

Author’s Details

Ron Shaw is Principal Consultant with Sempre Avanti Consulting, a consultancy based in Wellington and Auckland. Sempre Avanti is the first New Zealand organisation to participate in the United Nation Environment Programme – Climate Neutral Network. www.sempreavantinz.co.nz

 

Understaning the measurement of Greenhouse Gas GHG emissions

Increasingly we get asked about the measurement of carbon footprints. Carbon footprint measurement has become somewhat of a buzz word term. It is worth noting the the carbon footprint is bigger than just carbon emissions.

Measurement of your or a companies footprint is about the total GHG Greenhouse gas emissions. This includes carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆).

To help we suggest that you visit the GHG Protocol. The GHG Protocol is a partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The key points that you need to understand are:

What is the difference between direct and indirect emissions?

The GHG Protocol defines direct and indirect emissions as follows:

• Direct GHG emissions are emissions from sources that are owned or controlled by the reporting entity.
• Indirect GHG emissions are emissions that are a consequence of the activities of the reporting entity, but occur at sources owned or controlled by another entity.

The GHG Protocol further categorizes these direct and indirect emissions into three broad scopes:

• Scope 1: All direct GHG emissions.
• Scope 2: Indirect GHG emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam.
• Scope 3: Other indirect emissions, such as the extraction and production of purchased materials and fuels, transport-related activities in vehicles not owned or controlled by the reporting entity, electricity-related activities (e.g. T&D losses) not covered in Scope 2, outsourced activities, waste disposal, etc.

The first stage on the road to carbon neutral is the definition of the measurement framework and the undertaking of a GHG inventory. The above information should help you to understand what is required at the begining of the journey to a carbon neutral footprint.

The Carbon Economy

To follow is a sample of the speech I am giving to the Freight and Shipping Summit in Auckland next week.

Food miles

 

Food miles are all about the carbon foot print of a product of service. All products and services have emissions content. It has been debated that New Zealand products and raw materials have high emissions content due to our distance from our key markets.

 

For example: New Zealand merino wool that is exported as raw product and then made into a garment in Milan and then sold in a London high street. The footprint of the raw material (wool) is included in the final product.

 

As New Zealand Inc we all need to think about the NZ brand and was we can protect the brand by actions that reduce of brands exposure to international consumer behaviour. The last thing we want is for NZ products and service to be banned and penalised because of the perceived emissions content of our products and services.

 

EU polices

 

In January this year the EU made announcements that it was considering forcing importers to pay pollution charges on carbon-heavy imports.

 

Commission plans to tighten Europe's greenhouse gas reduction regime, presented on 23 January 2008, recognised the risk that new legislation would put European companies at a competitive disadvantage compared to countries with less stringent climate protection laws, such as the US, China and India.

Latest & next steps

23 Jan. 2008: The Commission unveiled its proposal on EU Emissions Trading Scheme for the post-2013 trading period. The proposal will now be transmitted to the Council and European Parliament.

1st half of 2009: Target date for the adoption of the legislation.

2011: In light of the outcome of the international negotiations, the Commission is to determine whether to put into place a 'carbon equalisation system' to neutralise any distorting effects from imports from countries with less stringent climate laws.

Green is good?

 

There is a global uprising driven by consumers that “Green is Good” This has impacts for New Zealand in that we market on our “clean, green” image. The Europeans are aware that we are not so green any more and maybe we are light green and that this could give them leverage to ban or penalise our products.

 

Carbon credits

 

Countries such as NZ that have signed the Kyoto protocol have to meet carbon emissions targets between 2008 and 2012.

 

If companies can’t meet their targets, they must buy carbon credits to make up the balance – for example from a windfarm that is avoiding carbon emissions

 

The New Zealand based carbon credit market is a growing one. For example Trademe now has a carbon credit auction section under its businesses, farming and industry section.

 

As of writing this extract a number of carbon credit offset auctions are listed for things such as, offsetting your annual vehicle emissions, offset one internal flight and offset a business conference.

 

The carbon credits for these auctions are listed by Offset the Rest is a wholly-owned New Zealand company.

 

Trade Barriers - Food miles

 

The concept of food miles is part of a broader issue of sustainability which deals with a large range of list of environmental issues, including local food. The term was coined by Tim Lang (now Professor of Food Policy, City University, London) who says: "The point was to highlight the hidden ecological, social and economic consequences of food production to consumers in a simple way, one which had objective reality but also connotations."

 

Recent findings indicate that it is not only how far the food has traveled but how it has traveled that is important to consider. The positive environmental effects of specialist organic farming may be offset by increased transportation, unless it is produced locally.

 

But even then the logistics and effects on other local traffic may play a big role. Also, many trips by personal cars to shopping centers would have a negative environmental impact.

 

Green Consulting - GHG Emissions Accounting, Management and Reporting

Greenhouse Gas Emissions GHG Inventory Consulting

The start of any journey to carbon neutrality starts with the measurement and accounting of your GHG emissions. This is achieved by producing a GHG emissions inventory. You will then have a base for your GHG reporting needs.

When it comes to emissions reductions you need to live the four M mantra!

Measure

Manage

Mitigate

Market (promotion)

Just remember it is all about your GHG emissions! It all starts with the measurement of your GHG emissions. The first stage is the development of your GHG emissions inventory.

Find someone like Sempre Avanti Consulting who can provide you with no nonsense advice and assist you with easy steps to develop your inventory.

If you have been considering the benefits of becoming carbon neutral then a natural progression is to get certified. Certification starts with the measurement of your GHG emissions and this leads to the development of a management plan that looks to mitigate your emissions and off-set any unavoidable emissions.

To get certification you need to complete the above steps and then you need to get independent auditing of your GHG accounting.

For more information on GHG accounting standards please visit the GHG Protocol.

There are six types of greenhouse gas emissions that could be relevant to your organisation:

• Carbon dioxide CO2
• Nitrous oxide N2O
• Methane CH4
• Hydrofluorocarbons HFCs
• Perfluorocarbons PFCs
• Sulphure hexafluoride SF6

Emissions sources are classified as either direct (Scope1), energy indirect (Scope 2), or other indirect (Scope 3) as adapted from the GHG Protocol.

Carbon footprints for supply chains

The following information is kindly reproduced courtesy of:

Jim Thompson
TriPoint Interactive Inc.
1711 Fall Creek Drive
Cedar Park, TX 78613

Tripoint are part of the Green Logistics Consultants Group.

How to calculate the carbon footprint of supply chains?

To determine progress, you first must measure where you started from and where you are now.  The sum of all greenhouse gas emissions from a process is referred to as its carbon footprint and the major contributor to greenhouse gases in most supply chains is transportation. 

Unfortunately, calculating the greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon footprint, of a supply chain is not very well understood, and definitely not an exact science.  Companies such as Wal-Mart, Tesco and Marks & Spencer are working with their suppliers plus various academic and governmental organizations to calculate their total carbon footprint, including the supply chain.  You may find that your major carriers are already working on providing carbon footprint information to their large customers based on the cost of the shipment or other factors that can help you.  The MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics is working on a Web-based tool to help companies calculate the energy consumption of products moved by land, water and/or air that is planned to be available late in 2008.   The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working on a similar model. 

Transportation improvements impact both cost and carbon footprint

With a measurement plan in place, the next logical step is to concentrate on conservation, since a conservation strategy is the most cost effective approach, and the one that provides the quickest results.  Conservation efforts focused on transportation generally offer the most benefit.  In a survey conducted by Establish Inc. transportation constituted 4.4% of sales or more than twice the cost impact of any other logistics component. 

In the United States, the most recent EPA report concludes that CO2 emissions from truck and rail transportation grew 64.1% (the truck portion grew 69.4%) in the period 1990 to 2005; while the U.S. gross domestic national product increased just 55% over the same period. 

Transportation represents both the highest cost in most supply chains and the source of most greenhouse gas emissions.  Luckily, the strategies to reduce cost in transportation also tend to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  And, transportation also tends to be the easiest area to make changes; far easier than making major changes in the sources of supply or number of warehouses or converting to a demand driven philosophy. 

There is a strong relationship between transportation modes with the lowest cost per weight transported a given distance (ton-mile) and the associated energy use.  The list below attempts to rank transportation modes based on energy use and contains several implicit assumptions; so the list is more of a guide to be used with due consideration to appropriate mode, shipment weight and cube, length of haul, and service time.  Within these assumptions, the transportation modes sorted by energy use per ton-mile transported are:

1.      Ocean and inland waterway (least emissions per ton-mile)

2.      Rail

3.      Intermodal, a rail/truckload combination using trailers or ocean containers on flatcar (The EPA estimates that for shipments over 1,000 miles, using intermodal transport can cut fuel use and greenhouse emissions by about 65%, compared to a truck only move.)

4.      Truckload

5.      Multi-stop truckload

6.      LTL and small package

7.      Air transport

A good transportation design strategy is to plan a shipment on the most energy efficient mode first and then look for combinations of the modes to reduce the energy use of groups of shipments.  For example, a company with a supply chain requiring delivery of three pallets weekly to 1,000 points might plan on truckload, multi-stop truckload or intermodal shipments to a LTL carrier’s terminals, with the last mile deliveries made via LTL.  This truckload/LTL, or pooling arrangement, is both less costly and a greener alternative to a pure LTL solution.   One idea is to partner with other companies serving the same geographies, if not the same customers, to share the cost of a network.  For example, several companies may share the cost of a truckload to points they could not serve as efficiently by themselves.  It is likely that when the most appropriate mode or combinations of modes is used from a cost standpoint, it is also the most appropriate from an energy standpoint.

Other strategies to reduce energy use in transportation are:

·         Utilize a Transportation Management System (TMS) to plan shipments in the most cost effective and energy efficient way; including the mode combinations noted above.

·         Use trailer pools when possible to enable carriers to make pickups and deliveries without fuel expended in wait time and with a reduction in empty miles.

·         Enforce “no idling” rules at your locations and institute appointment scheduling to minimize the wait time for drivers.  (The EPA estimates that one hour of idling uses 1 gallon of fuel.)

·         Offer truckload carriers continuous moves to avoid empty miles

·         Use carriers that are committed to reducing their fuel use as part of monitored programs, such as the EPA’s SmartWay program.  The SmartWay program suggests the following strategies to carriers to reduce emissions:

o        Improved aerodynamics

o        Improved freight logistics – a variety of techniques that include load matching, more efficient routing and ways to reduce empty miles

o        Automatic tire inflation systems

o        Wide-base tires

o        Driver training

o        Low-viscosity lubricants

o        Reducing highway speed

o        Vehicle weight reduction

o        Hybrid powertrain technology

·         Use carriers that purchase carbon credits to offset the calculated CO2 emissions of each shipment.  (TransGroup Worldwide Logistics is one company offering such a program; although note carbon credits increase the cost of the shipment.)

Greenwashing - beware of misleading claims

In a time of rapid change and where green issues, CO2 emissions, emissions trading schemes, carbon mitigation, carbon credits and carbon neutral are all the rage.

I urge you to undertake research, read some books, talk with experts and make up your own mind on green issues. You and your company does not want to be "greenwashed"!!

Green Business - Delivering sustainability through the SME business sector

The small to medium size enterprise [SME] sector consists of 99% of all New Zealand businesses. Approximately 350,000 businesses make up the sector which encompasses businesses employing up to 100 people. Sixty percent of New Zealanders are employed in an SME.

While the emissions trading scheme and other policy and operational actions by government are aimed at creating points of obligation at key nodes in the economy, the day to day delivery of the changes required to deliver carbon footprint reductions will happen in individual workplaces.

SMEs are overwhelmingly owner operated and predominantly domiciled in the same community as the owner. Any positive impacts in the SME sector will have positive community effects as well.

To move SMEs towards sustainability, these businesses will need to learn to Measure, Mitigate, and Manage their carbon footprint. SMEs are generally short of time and short of the level of skills required to do this.

The availability of measurement tools is reasonably well catered for. The two biggest hurdles blocking measurement are the time required and understanding what to do with this information when it is calculated.

The mitigation of the SMEs carbon footprint is more problematical than the measurement aspect. Mitigation, whether through better processes and systems or through technological changes requires a level of skill that may not easily be found within an SME.

Management of ongoing actions is less of a problem as long as the management is embedded in standardised systems and processes that can be followed as a matter of routine.

Sempre Avanti Consulting can assist you with tools that will ease the deployment of sustainability management.

CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility - You need to show some leadership!

As climate change has become the ‘hot topic’, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has been down played in the media.

We believe that the key to managing any climate change issues is the same as the key to managing wider issues of corporate social responsibility – Sustainability.

In fact, both climate change/carbon management and corporate social responsibility can both be seen as part of the move to a new social, governmental and corporate paradigm – Sustainability.

What is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility [CSR] has many and varied definitions.

From the mushy

CSR is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society

to the hard edged

There is one and only one social responsibility of business-to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits

We suggest to you that CSR can be defined as a company’s commitment to operating in an ethical and environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable manner whilst balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders including improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large

Ethics

The subject of corporate ethic would take a position paper in itself.

Corporate ethics in the age of Enron seem to some to be an oxymoron, and many

New Zealand

companies have come up short in the way they have treated customers. This is largely because transactional managers have laid down and stringently enforced rules without providing an ethical and social context in which the organisation is to operate.

It is clear that some form of the ‘golden rule’ should govern corporate ethics. Recent research suggests that treating others well and in a way that you would want to be treated has positive social outcomes.

Organisations need to be completely clear about their ethical position, put in place systems and processes to monitor compliance, engage the hearts and minds of the people with exemplary leadership, and communicate this commitment throughout all the stakeholder communities.

Environmental Sustainability

The broad issues around environmental sustainability have been discussed in this blog

Organisations need to be completely clear about their position on environmental sustainability, put in place systems and processes to ensure easy compliance, engage the hearts and minds of the people with exemplary leadership, and communicate this commitment throughout all the stakeholder communities.

Economic Sustainability

Again, the concept of economic sustainability deserves a position paper in its own right. In the long run, an organisation will only be economically sustainable when it earns enough profit to pay for the total cost of capital.

The concept of economic sustainability is well understood and has been promoted by Peter Drucker since the 1960’s. In more recent times, Economic Value Added concepts, such as those promoted by Stern Stewart, have come to the fore.

It is clear that such concepts must be embedded into the organisation’s business model and clearly communicated to the stakeholder community.

Social Sustainability

It is in the area of social sustainability that CSR is usually played out.

Government, seeing itself as the representative of society at large, regulates and legislates to control an organisation’s social impact as well as its economic and ethical impact. In an increasing regulated environment, the position that the Government will take needs to be understood and factored into any consideration of CSR. The position government takes is conditioned by ideology as well as political pressure from the public and from other political groups.

Local government see themselves as the representatives of the local communities and thereby can have a similar position as central government. The overtly political approach of central government is conditioned somewhat at the local level by a more common sense approach in local government to getting things done.

Local communities interrelate to organisations as customers and partners, customers when consuming the organisation’s products or services and partners when consuming sponsorship resources.

The way an organisation treats its workforce and their families has many aspects. When an organisation lays off members of the workforce it is likely to receive attention in all areas – the ethics of outsourcing jobs to

Asia

– the economics of exporting jobs – the impact of government attitudes to free trade – local attitudes to sweeteners to keep jobs in a region, and so forth.

With an increasing competition for talent, the consideration of an organisation’s impact on the workforce and their families goes beyond social sustainability and affects the organisation’s economic sustainability. Without enough people to get the job done, organisational initiatives are choked off.

The organisation’s position on social sustainability needs to be viewed as a core value of the organisation. Therefore it needs to be led, sustained, and managed by the CEO and the leadership team.

The Operating Model

So who has to make sure what happens on Monday morning?

Taking each ‘issue, some are more strategic while others are more operational – strategic level issues address values and beliefs while operational issues address organisational behaviours and capabilities.

For smaller businesses and non business organisations, most of the responsibility falls on the CEO and leadership team as they will be lacking access to the specialist departments discussed.

The new position of Chief Sustainability Officer reflects Sempre Avanti’s belief that we are seeing a paradigm shift that will place sustainability at the core of the organisational model for the foreseeable future. The CSO is responsible for the setting the leadership position on sustainability, engaging the rest of the C suite and top reports in the organisation to provide compelling leadership in each of their areas, setting policy and putting in place systems and procedures for ensuring organisational action is embedded in day to day routines. The CSO will have significant organisational power as well as significant influencing skills to ensure others buy in to the Sustainability programme,

Once an organisation has done all this work on CSR and Sustainability, the formal communication of the results needs to be considered.

You are asking for a PR disaster If it becomes known that your organisation has undertaken some CSR/Sustainability initiatives AND you are not prepared to report the results. The conclusion will be that it showed such a poor result that you are embarrassed OR you have something bad to hide.

However if you know you have the ability to solve or at least mitigate anything that arises then a poor baseline will make any improvements look good.

So before engaging in any substantive work on Sustainability, think through what you are likely to find and consider to what extent you act. Market and political pressure will force you to act sooner or later so you need to go into in with your eyes wide open.

Opportunities beckon for those companies that want to be leaders and not followers!

How do you navigate the carbon footprint hype?

There has been a lot written about organisational sustainability. It has been said that a sustainable organisation is one that behaves in a sustainable manner, whilst focussing on achieving its business goals and outcomes.

But what does sustainability really mean? There is no definitive answer. However, a business must be able to establish sound policies and practices. These must then be delivered in a manner that meets best practice standards and ethical requirements. Legislative and other legal requirements and public expectations must also be met. If you can do this then you are well on the way.

The carbon foot print debate

Becoming carbon neutral has become all the rage. But is it just pure marketing hype?

We suggest to you that it is not all hype. For example we can provide you with evidence on how you can make positive benefits to the bottom line by measuring your emissions/carbon footprint and looking at business processes that reduce the footprint that will save you money and increase economies of scale.

Strategic Direction

Does your organisation have a strategic approach to environmental sustainability? If it does not then it should be thinking about one. Carbon taxes will become a business reality. Organisations that embrace the reduction of carbon emissions as early adopters will steal a competitive advantage over their competition.

Assessment and Analysis

The first step on this carbon neutral journey is to analyse and make an assessment of the current state of your organisation. Sempre Avanti Consulting can assist with methodologies that assist with a current status review. This would include a broader environmental scan, gap analysis, development of a future state view and strategy recommendations

Measurement

The next step is to measure the current state of carbon dioxide emissions. Measuring CO2 emissions raises awareness of climate change impacts provides a basis for identifying opportunities to reduce emissions and provide cost savings.

Sempre Avanti Consulting can assist you with the measurement of your footprint and to produce a carbon foot print report which becomes the basis for strategies to offset and reduce the measured foot print.

Measurement can take the form of travel demand planning audits, energy audits, fleet efficiency audits and waste management audits.

Carbon credits

For any unavoidable emissions the option is to purchase carbon credits to offset these emissions. Carbon credits create funding that is invested in projects such as forest regeneration and renewable energy development.

For example carbon credits derived from forest regeneration projects make for a good option and can integrate into your organisations corporate responsibility programme.

Sempre Avanti Consulting recommends that your organisation takes the lead and considers using carbon neutrality to gain competitive advantage while making a worthwhile as sustainable positive impact on the environment.

The worlds cheapest car? Undertake the research and then make up your own mind!

You may have seen all the hype of the launch of the "Nano" car by the Tata Group at the Delhi motor show.

The Dominion Post in Wellington on 12/01/2008 headed their article up with the title "Nano runabout boosts hope for the massess".

Most of the information I have read is all marketing hype.

I decided to try to find out some answers to the question I had:

• What safety features does the Nano have?
• What emission standard has the Nano been built too?
• What is the whole of life production cost of the Nano?
• What parts of the Nano can be recycled?

I visited the Tat Group web site CLICK HERE

I spent 30 minutes reviewing various web pages. There was all of the launch hype, interviews with the CEO, pictures of the Nano and some limited technical information.

The Tata Group site has a section on Corporate Sustainability which contains some excellent initiatives but I could not see any specific information on the Nano.

So far I could not find the answers to my questions above.

So will this car become India's people car? Time will tell. I hope that the Indian consumers that consider purchasing this vehicle consider more than just the price and think about the possible impacts of this vehicle on the environment.

This is just a reminder that we all need to think much more widely now when we want to purchase a vehicle. I suggest to you that the key considerations when purchasing a vehicle now include the price, fuel economy, emission standards, safety standards, sat nav integration and the audio equipment.

A NEW YEAR - it is time to set your 2008 Goals!!

Welcome to 2008.

It is time to set some goals for the year ahead. To help you I have come up with a list of goals that you may want to consider adding to your list for 2008.

GOALS

• Use you car less and walk more - it is good for you and the environment
• Use public transport when you can - a little bit of travel planning will help you get out of your vehicle and use the available public transportation
• When you fly choose an airline that has a carbon off set programme AND USE IT
• Purchase Bio-fuels for your vehicles - check out if you vehicle can operate of bio-fuels such as ethanol petrol mix or bio-diesel, if so use it - we are all better off
• Undertake an energy efficiency audit of your home and office - some ideas for better efficiency include - switching to energy efficient light bulbs, fitting movement sensors to lighting systems, adding insulation to the walls and roof of you home or office.
• Join a carbon offset programme and offset you avoidable emissions by purchasing recognised and accredited carbon credits
• When you replace you vehicle undertake some research and look at hybrid and diesel vehicles as an alternative to petrol vehicles.

This is a small list to start you on your way.

Please let me know other goals you would like to see added to this list.

If Paris can then we all can!!!

Hello from France.

I read with interest in the International Herald Tribune on Friday December 14, 2007 that Paris Hilton has become climate friendly! I kid you not!!

If it is in the newspaper it must be true?

It quotes darling Paris as stating "I changed all the light bulbs to energy-safe light bulbs and I am buying a hybrid car right now"

So who would of thought that Paris Hilton would lead the way on being environmentally sustainable.

Good on you Paris Hilton!

Led Zep, Air Quality, Smart Hotels and Electric Vehicles!

Hello from Genova Italy.

It is Friday and the end of the week. This week I have been moving North in Italy using trains to arrive in Genova.

Some observations for this week!!

First Led Zep, The reunion concert by Led Zep was all over CNN this week! They even interviewed some of the crowd and guess what they found a concert goer from NZ!! I am sure there will be a CD and DVD released soon for all of us who missed out!! I was thinking what the carbon foot print of a rock concert is? Maybe it is time to offer a service to the rick industry to measure GHG emissions from events!!

Secondly there is Air Quality. The weather has been kind on the trip so far many fine calm cool days. But boy talk about air pollution!!!! The air quality is bad there is a brown orange haze and later in the day it gets bad enough to make you cough!! So all those small cars the Italian drive add up to a lot of CO2 emissions. Thank goodness for New Zealand,s good air quality.

Thirdly, Smart Hotels. I visited Pisa this week and stayed at the Sanranieri Hotel in Pisa. Pisa Hotel

Check out the web site - what a cool place! It is a smart building and the thing I noticed was the number of light sensors. The lights come on as you move about the hotel and your rooms. I has about the Hotels carbon footprint but it was lost in translation! I think they thought I was from Mars!! There was a lot more the hotel could do to be really SMART. Such as grey water recycling, not changing towels and linen every day, using solar power to name a few.

By the way the Sanranieri Hotel is 10km from the Pisa railway station and guess what I walked to the hotel!! Yes it is true!! No carbon produced on that journey!

Lastly, electric vehicles. In Florence I observed a number of electric scooters, small electric buses (so the could fit down the small streets) and electric delivery vehicles. The Florence council is also introducing a light rail system starting next year. I could not find any English information to identify how the electric vehicles are charged or if the electricity is produced sustainability.

I have had a great week in Italy - lots of food for thought!

Next week it is back to France to spend some time in the Normandy region.

Green Issues in Europe

Hello from Sienna Italy.

I am on vacation and on the second week in Europe I have visited England, France and Italy.

The climate change conference in Bali is on the TV and in the newspapers, when I booked a flight from Milan to Paris I was offered a pay as you go carbon credit by Easyjet.

I have also been observing the vehicles here in Italy and guess what? They are mostly small to medium vehicles and a lot of them are diesel cars. I filled my 1.4ltr Ford Festiva with petrol today at the price was €1.37 a litre - VERY expensive in world terms.

But get this the price of bottled water is less than €1 a litre!!

The reduction of carbon emissions here is called carbon positive! And it seem just like in New Zealand business are struggling to understand that being carbon positive can bring competitive advantage. I just read in the Times newspaper that most CEO,s in Europe see the carbon debate as a cost to the business!!

Boy do they need some consulting advice or what!!

Time to wake up I think!

Sustainability is Good Business

There has been a lot written about Sustainability, mainly in the context of Climate Change. This writing ranges from advocating a return to a pre-literate Stone Age hunter gather society to a ‘hair-shirt’ return to the Middle Ages and on to a Panglossian view that there is absolutely nothing to worry about. The debate is clouded by whether one is a climate change believer or a climate change sceptic.

Regardless of your attitude to climate change, Sustainability is good business and should be embraced wholeheartedly by all kinds of organisations. New Zealand’s reputation of being “Clean and Green” is founded on sand and is subject to attack from within by environmental activists and from without by the EU. High polluting waste types such as bread waste from a bakery will be regulated and priced to discourage its dumping. Transport will be further regulated because it is New Zealand’s second highest emitter of carbon.

First movers will gain advantages that even fast followers will envy.

Sustainability can be viewed on three levels:

• lip service,
• transactional sustainability, and
• transformational sustainability.

Lip Service Sustainability

This is where many businesses are currently placed.

This is the hotel chain that places the ‘lip service’ card in the bathroom. The card suggests that you can help lessen the load on the environment by hanging up towels to be used a second time. When you do this, the housekeeping staff replaces them anyway because there are no systems in place to ensure staff compliance with the ‘policy’.

This is the business that has a general purpose paper recycling bin but no systems to ensure the paper is picked up and sent to the recycler.

Or the business that has a policy to recycle toner cartridges and then has no system to make it easy and wonders why empty toner cartridges end up in the waste bin.

Sustainability at the Transactional Level

This is where sustainability starts to make a difference. It should not be where it ends.

Transactional sustainability is about the three R’s – Reduce, re-use, and recycle. Yet that is not all. To avoid ‘lip service’, the 3R’s must be supported with robust systems to ensure easy and simple compliance with the 3R’s.

To understand how this works lets look at a few contrasts between lip service and transactional sustainability.

Paper Recycling

Lip Service equals old ‘lineflo’ paper boxes or wire ‘cages’ scattered randomly over the office space. These are left to get overfull and then they are picked up on a random cycle by the cleaners. If you are lucky, the paper makes it to the PaperChain™ recycling bin but is just as likely to be put in the general waste bin.

Transactional sustainability sees light weight, closed side bins made of recycled material [this could be board or plastic] and with safe lifting handles placed at regular intervals. These bins are picked up everyday by your sustainability management firm and the paper transferred to the correct paper recycling bin. The empty bin is replaced and is available for use without the users having to do anything

Aluminium Cans

Lip Service sees the provision of vending machines selling drink products packaged in aluminium cans. When the product is consumed, the recyclable aluminium can is thrown into the general waste bin or into the bin under the desk of the consumer. All these cans go in the general waste and are conveyed to a landfill.

Transactional sustainability sees light weight, lined open top bins made of recycled plastic. These are placed within ‘throwing’ distance of work station clusters and in public spaces. These bins are picked up everyday by your sustainability management firm and the cans transferred to the correct recycling bin. The empty bin is replaced and is available for use without the users having to do anything.

Transactional sustainability recognises that when making sustainability decisions, the principal trade-off is between sustainability and time and builds robust systems that ensure lack of time does not halt efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Sustainability at the Transformational Level

The sorts of things to be considered under transformational sustainability include:

• Engagement of organisation members and stakeholders in a values and leadership programme that incorporates a commitment to sustainability
• Transport fleet assessment and management – carbon footprint measurement and mitigation
• Smart buildings – from fully integrated smart building through to limited impact mitigation of existing buildings
• Travel policy assessment and management – carbon footprint management
• Local sourcing vs carbon certified remote sourcing of organisational inputs – as much to engender debate on the merits and downsides of so called food miles
• Meeting enablers – the use of facilitated Video conferencing and Internet technology rather than F2F meetings
• Design for sustainability

Clearly the work to be done here is more far reaching than the work required for transactional sustainability.

Voluntary Carbon Off-sets - Update

In my blog post of 3rd November I was talking about the effect of air travel on the environment and asked why some airlines do not offer voluntary off-sets for carbon emissions.

As a frequent flier with Air New Zealand I decided to contact the CEO Rob Fyfe and ask him why Air New Zealand was not offering carbon off-sets to its customers.

I have had a positive response to my email this morning.

I asked Rob Fyfe the following: "I have one question. When will you offer pay as you go carbon credits to offset the impacts of the journeys we make? I note that Qantas has announced what seems to be a great offering to their customers. I applaud you and the team on the announcement of the Bio Fuel project but as one of your loyal customers I want the option to make the difference now when I travel."

Rob's response this morning was:

"We plan to introduce Voluntary carbon off-setting next year – we wanted to wait for the launch of TZ1 – the New Zealand climate exchange so that we could support this initiative and if the Government policy proceeds as planned we will be required to off-set all our domestic emissions."

It is pleasing to know that I will have the option next year to take up carbon off-sets as I travel.

Vehicle Emissions Debate

Here in New Zealand we are awaiting a decision from our Government on making changes to the rules related to vehicle emission standards. The Ministry responsible for the policy change for some time has signalled that there will be major change.

Industry groups from both sides are lining up to state their cases. On one side of the scale we have the new car industry and on the other we have the used car industry. They are not pulling any punches. For example I have just read the latest edition of the "autofile" magazine and they new car industry is quoted as saying "Ministers have buckled under pressure from used importers" and the used car importers have stated "The new vehicle industry is being self-serving".

SO you can see that there is alot of emotion in the debate.

The debate is being driven by the New Zealand Government driving to reduce Transport produced CO2 emissions.

The new and used car industries will debate this issue until the cows come home! However one comment in the autofile article got me thinking? "there is an obligation on all parties (including vehicle owners) to play a part in reducing air pollution"

I totally agree with this statement. As vehicle purchasers we ALL have a part to play in getting up to speed with the issue of vehicle emissions and making the emission standards of a vehicle a key component of our purchasing decision.

One good example of this is Tourism Holdings announcing today in the media that it has bought 370 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter motor homes to be customised for the New Zealand market. It has lined up its existing 1500-vehicle fleet for a new benchmark test being developed by Vehicle Testing New Zealand.

The new regime exceeds the European benchmark Euro IV standard. Qualifying vehicles will be some of the world's lowest emitters.

Lets all try to follow this lead!

Business Travel Planning - Climate Friendly

There has been a lot written about organisational environmental sustainability.

A sustainable organisation is one that behaves in a sustainable manner, whilst focussing on achieving its business goals and outcomes.

What is Business Travel Planning?

Land Transport New Zealand [LTNZ] tells us the following “A workplace travel plan sets out steps to encourage staff to travel to and from work by public transport, on foot, by bike or by car share, and to improve access for a particular workplace.” This definition implies that staff travel into a fixed place of work and return to their homes at the end of the working day.

It is my belief that there is a need to take a wider view of travel planning than just a focus on how your staff behaves in getting to and from work. If fact, the broadening of the focus beyond LTNZ’s focus to all business related travel has far more positive impacts.

Business travel planning starts with the simple act of collating information on domestic air travel, international air travel, taxi trips and rental car usage. The application of some business and statistical analytics and the application of consulting expertise will lead to improved business processes and policies than can be designed to reduce cost and improve environmental sustainability through changes in behaviour.

How does Business Travel Planning contribute to an organisation’s environmental sustainability?

The act of reviewing an organisations travel planning provides insights into opportunities to change travel behaviours that can lead to streamlined and efficient business practices.

For example, how many single occupant taxi journeys does your organisation undertake in one month? What are the alternatives? With the use of business travel planning there is opportunity to look at ways of employees travelling together and making multi occupant journeys or to use shuttles. Another option is to review your organisation’s taxi procurement policy to select taxi provider that run their fleets on alternative fuels such as bio-fuels or natural gas.

So as you can see a good starting point in any sustainability review is with travel planning. I dare you to undertake some analysis on your own travel for business or leisure. I am sure you will get a shock and you will see that with small changes in behaviour you can make incremental gains that extrapolated out over a year can save you money and time!