Sustainability and the business perspective “never waste a good crisis”

I'm in a fascinating session on sustainability and how large companies consider it to be part of their business. Let me tell you guys, there is some really interesting stuff going on in this world!

John Mitchell of Cenovus Energy of Calgary spoke about his company's commitment to sustainability. He

said sustainability makes so much business sense that it has moved beyond the convincing side and is now an integral part of his company's strategic division where it is placed on an equal footing with things like longterm planning.

Here's the money quote: "We’ve moved past having to justify the sustainability payoff. This is integrated in our business this is part of what we do... that approach is a given. What we need to do is identify the right metrics to ensure we are driving the right things," he said. "This isn't a  justification anymore. It's a demonstration and a delivery."

Speakers in this international session represent Herman Miller, Cenovus Energy, Suncor Energy, Novo Nordisc, and HSBC.

All speakers said sustainability makes sense for many different reasons... it increases ROI, creates value, creates trust and builds brand.

Sharon Walck of HSBC said her company doesn't think of the sustainability paybacks simply in financial terms because it believes climate change will affect everything in the future. "The business world should be under no illusion... we are now on the path to a new carbon economy," she said. "I want to contend that the sustainability payoff topic is not singlular," she said. "We believe this short term focus is quite frankly outdated. Simply put, sustainability means so much more."

Paul Murray of Hermann Miller has been working on sustainability for his company since 1992. Back then, he said one person per month would inquire about sustainable systems. Now, the environmental part of the

Web site gets 1,400 hits per month and 98 percent of RFPs for office inquire about the company's environmental program.

For the past few years, he said his company has spend a quarter of a million dollars per year on energy efficiency upgrades. That effort has a 33 percent rate of return and pays for itself every three years.

Waste is another area that has saved his company a lot of money. Last year, his company was paid $2.9 million for the materials is recycled however he said when you consider the amount of money saved and made, it is "a $15 million swing."

Herman Miller has also been working on cradle to cradle practices with Bill McDonough since 1999, which led to intellectual information that is patented. Murray said his company looks at every material in every product and if it has anything toxic in it, asks the supplier to take the toxic materials out. It can't always happen, he said, but often it can.

Additionally, the office furniture industry has been severely impacted by the recession and other business factors in recent years. Murray said every department at Herman Miller has been impacted and had cuts - except his. "My staff is still intact. I think that tells you how a company like mine values return on the bottom line."

Suzanne Stormer of Novo Nordisc in Demark also spoke about the global crisis. She said it has created an opportunity for businesses to go further in saving resources. "Never waste a good crisis," she said. "The economic recession is also forcing us to think smarter, in terms of reducing waste. When you have enough of everything you can do whatever you like but in times of scarcity you are forced to be more creative.”

Speaking of businesses, every business represented at this conference is really looking at sustainability issues, rather than just paying lip service to the ideals. Here are some of the companies here, some of which might surprise you: Dow Chemical, Starbucks, Novo Nordisc, Walmart, HewlettPackard, FedEx, Sears, Seventh Generation, Citigroup, Fito Lay Canada, Kraft Foods, Shell International Petroleum, InterfaceRaise.