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Green and ethical month in the Business & IP Centre

May is Green and ethical month in the Business & IP Centre.

We have been inspired by our very successful Web in Feb month of activities to produce a Green in May month (except that it doesn’t rhyme).

As we know from our customers coming in to the Centre, Green and ethical business is growing fast.

Surveys show that 79 per cent of consumers would rather buy from companies that limit their environmental impact.

Throughout May we’re holding special events that explore green and ethical business: the opportunities, the practicalities and the reasons to get involved. Hear from eco-experts and meet entrepreneurs who are making a difference with their businesses.

We have also updated our guide to useful information sources for starting a green or ethical business.

Week one

Get more local
Get More Local
Tuesday 6, 18.00 – 20.00, free

Week two

Green money – beginner’s guide to business finance
Johnny Martin
Monday 10, 16.45 – 19.45, £9 – a special price for social enterprises

The cutting edge of green
Insider Trends
Tuesday 11, 18.00 – 20.00, £10 when booking with discount code “BritishLibrary”

Make the trade
London Community Resource Network
Wednesday 12, 10.00 – 13.00, free

Legal milestones for green business
Keystone Law
Thursday 13, 18.00 – 21.00, £25 – with a 50% discount for British Library contacts, quote “BL2010”

Week three

Raising money for green and ethical businesses
MessageLab and the Funding Game
Monday 17, 13.00 – 17.00, £25 +VAT

Managing an ethical business
Red Ochre
Thursday 20, 14.00 – 17.00, £25 Inc VAT

Social entrepreneurs without limits
Unltd World
Thursday 20, 18.00 – 20.00, free

Week four

Developing organic and ethical skincare products
She’s Ingenious!
Tuesday 25, 11.00 – 13.00, £25

Starting a social enterprise
Red Ochre
Thursday 27, 10.00 – 16.00, £50 inc VAT

Our ‘Green and ethical month’ events
Week oneGet more local
Get More Local
Tuesday 6, 18.00 – 20.00, free
Week two

Green money – beginner’s guide to business finance
Johnny Martin
Monday 10, 16.45 – 19.45, £9 – a special price for social enterprises

The cutting edge of green
Insider Trends
Tuesday 11, 18.00 – 20.00, £10 when booking with discount code “BritishLibrary”

Make the trade
London Community Resource Network
Wednesday 12, 10.00 – 13.00, free

Legal milestones for green business
Keystone Law
Thursday 13, 18.00 – 21.00, £25 – with a 50% discount for British Library contacts, quote “BL2010”
Week three

Raising money for green and ethical businesses
MessageLab and the Funding Game
Monday 17, 13.00 – 17.00, £25 +VAT

Managing an ethical business
Red Ochre
Thursday 20, 14.00 – 17.00, £25 Inc VAT

Social entrepreneurs without limits
Unltd World
Thursday 20, 18.00 – 20.00, free
Week four

Developing organic and ethical skincare products
She’s Ingenious!
Tuesday 25, 11.00 – 13.00, £25

Starting a social enterprise
Red Ochre
Thursday 27, 10.00 – 16.00, £50 inc VAT

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Marks & Spencer wants your green idea

I was somewhat surprised to see a full page advert in the Evening Standard the other night offering a £100,000 prize for the best green idea.

Your Green Idea is all part of Marks and Spencer’s commitment to be the ‘world’s most sustainable major retailer by 2015’. They have already made a start with Fairtrade, organic and recycled products, and a 5p charge for plastic bags (with the money going to Groundwork charity).

I like the idea that the £100,000 for the winning idea goes to the winner’s nominated green charity, rather than into their own bank account.

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Sustainable Supply Chains workshop

Today I attended an excellent workshop on Sustainable Supply Chains. It was presented by Stephen Taiwo, who was the sustainable policy adviser and architect of the Government Office for London and Defra’s Sustainable Food Procurement project. He now works for Supply London – an LDA and European funded initiative, provides advice and support. http://www.supplylondon.com/

Here are my notes from the workshop:

Definition of sustainability – Bruntland 1987 – “Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brundtland_Commission

  1. Resources consumed in line with nature’s patterns
  2. Consider long term impact
  3. Minimise risk and cost
  4. Not just about environmental impacts, includes social and economic.

Current practice

Figures from One World – currently consume the equivalent of 1.3 planets to provide the resource we use and absorb our waste.

At current trends UN predicts 2030 will require equivalent of 2 earths.

Supply Chain

A linked set of resources and processes that begins with the sourcing of raw materials and extends through to delivery of end items to the consumer.

Cradle to grave for products.

Development – identification & buying – manufacturing – sale & dist – consumption – end of life & disposal

Sustainability Issues

  • impact on air quality
  • water consumption & pollution
  • loss of biodiversity e.g. land clearance – mono-crops
  • impact on limited resources – is it resource intensive
  • impact on greenhouse gases – climate
  • waste production
  • health & safety
  • quality of life – wages for producers

Examples of cotton production in India with negative impact on the soil and water supply. Intensive tomato production in southern Portugal.

Why a sustainable Supply Chain

  • reduce costs and improve productivity
  • reduce risk – includes brand damage resulting from negative press
  • reduce absenteeism through better staff welfare
  • creates healthier environments
  • to be a market leader – public sector suppliers now ask questions related to sustainability

Drawbacks to Sustainable Supply Chains (less true than in the past)

  • no motivation other than complying with the law.
  • Consumers often go for cheapest option rather than sustainable products.
  • Short term focus of government, business and consumers – relates to 12 month business budgeting – government departments have individual targets which weren’t linked up.

Help from:

Soil association – http://www.soilassociation.org/

Sustain – http://www.sustain.co.uk/

Ten Ten Campaign – http://www.1010uk.org/

Greenworks – http://www.green-works.co.uk/

How to implement a sustainable supply chain

  1. Analyse your internal process & impacts
  2. Identify your supply chain and at which point you sit. Also the suppliers of your suppliers.
  3. Make sustainability part of your organisational strategy – must have top level buy-in – need to develop KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) – develop an action plan for delivery.
  4. Implement practical measures suited to your organisation – SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, timely).
    1. Written policies
    2. Communication materials
    3. Evaluate suppliers.
    4. Purchasing guidelines
    5. Supplier partnerships
  5. Get all internal and external stakeholders involved
    1. Driven from the top, but must involve everyone.
    2. Supplier engagement
    3. Use relationships with customer.

Support from Supply London

–          ISO 9001 help and support which can save consultants fees.

The workshop ended first with the quote below from Mahatma Gandhi, and then a screening of the Story of Stuff (a 20-minute animation of the consumerist society, narrated by Anne Leonard).

 

“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed” Mahatma Gandhi

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A role model for sustainable business

As mentioned in a previous post, more and more new business are setting up with various shades of green when it comes to their impact on the environment.

However the real challenge, and the real scope and need for change, is with existing traditional firms. For example carpet tile manufacturing. Well, having just watched an inspiring TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) video, I think I may have seen the answer. Ray Anderson the CEO of global carpet company Interface outlines his vision for sustainable commerce, with their Mission Zero commitment to eliminate any negative impact Interface has on the environment by 2020.

He shows how they have increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head.

Not only are they acting as a role model by proving how this can be done successfully, they are helping other corporates by developing a business model for them to follow.

The Interface model for sustainable business has emerged, one that guides our journey and from which other businesses can draw inspiration and design their own journeys. As we put the model to work within Interface, we set forth our vision and, imagining all it would take to realize it, developed the Seven Fronts™. We then put in place measurements, called Ecometrics™, to monitor our progress and keep us on our journey’s path. Learn more about the 7 Fronts of Sustainability.

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Follow the risers and fallers on the FairTrade 100

Having spent much of my working life working in the investment world of the City of London, the various share indices were bread and butter to me. My key one was actually the FTSE All Share, but the FTSE 100 was a regular feature in my working day.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see that the good people at World Fair Trade Day have developed their own take on the indices by introducing the FT100 for organisations that are “100% committed to Fair Trade”.

You may recognize some familiar names on the list such as Oxfam, Traidcraft, and one of our recent Inspiring Entrepreneurs speakers – People Tree.

Fairtrade coffee, tea and hot chocolate drinks from Cafedirect, bringing quality to lifeHowever, the nicest surprise, was to see the only company I have ever directly bought shares in sitting in the list. I bought 1,000 shares in Cafédirect over five years ago, and since then the company has gone from strength to strength.

Cafédirect is the UK’s largest Fairtrade hot drinks company. Our brands, Cafédirect, Teadirect and Cocodirect are sold through most of the major supermarkets. We buy from 39 producer organisations in 13 countries, ensuring that over a quarter of a million growers receive a decent income from trade. We are proud to be working with farmers who have the expertise to provide the exceptional quality we require. This ensures that you enjoy the finest selection of coffees, teas and chocolate drinks. As part of our Gold Standard Fairtrade policy, over the past three years we have invested on average 60% of our profits in the businesses and communities of our grower partners.

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Light green is the new black

I can’t claim to have been in the forefront of the environmental movement, although I have just installed a hyper-efficient condensing boiler at great expense (the old one was done for).

So it has come as something of a surprise to discover that various tones of ‘greenness’ have been catagorised and documented.

Light_greenThis knowledge was triggered by a reference to Light Green  – The Eco-chic Emporium.

According to Wikipedia, light greens are just one of three shades of green.

Dark greens, light greens and bright greens

Alex Steffen describes contemporary environmentalists as being split into three groups, “dark”, “light”, and “bright” greens.[7]

“Light greens” see protecting the environment first and foremost as a personal responsibility. They fall in on the transformational activist end of the spectrum, but light greens do not emphasize environmentalism as a distinct political ideology, or even seek fundamental political reform. Instead they often focus on environmentalism as a lifestyle choice. The motto “Green is the new black” sums up this way of thinking, for many.[8] Though many environmentalists of all stripes use “lite green” to describe products or practices they believe are greenwashing.

In contrast, “dark greens” believe that environmental problems are an inherent part of industrialized capitalism, and seek radical political change. Dark greens tend to believe that dominant political ideologies (sometimes referred to as industrialism) are corrupt and inevitably lead to consumerism, alienation from nature and resource depletion. Dark greens claim that this is caused by the emphasis on economic growth that exists within all existing ideologies, a tendency referred to as “growth mania”. The dark green brand of environmentalism is associated with ideas of deep ecology, post-materialism, holism, the Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock and the work of Fritjof Capra as well as support for a reduction in human numbers and/or a relinquishment of technology to reduce humanity’s impact on the biosphere.

More recently, “bright greens” emerged as a group of environmentalists who believe that radical changes are needed in the economic and political operation of society in order to make it sustainable, but that better designs, new technologies and more widely distributed social innovations are the means to make those changes – and that society can neither shop nor protest its way to sustainability.[9] As Ross Robertson writes, “[B]right green environmentalism is less about the problems and limitations we need to overcome than the “tools, models, and ideas” that already exist for overcoming them. It forgoes the bleakness of protest and dissent for the energizing confidence of constructive solutions.”[10]

Ecofont As well as being light green, you can also be light black, by adopting an Ecofont.  As reported on SpringWise, Dutch creative agency Spranq has developed a font called the Ecofont that’s designed to extend the life of ink cartridges and toner. This new font has lots of tiny blank circles resulting in a saving of up to 20 percent less ink than standard fonts.

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The Wattson goes global

wattsonIt was great to hear from Richard Woods (one of the co-founders of DIY Kyoto) last night at our Going Global event on the continuing success of the Wattson energy monitor. I first mentioned their product back in February of this year, soon after it had beaten the iPod nano into 10th place in the Stuff Magazine cool gadgets of the year awards.

They are now moving into the global market place with the help of ethically manufactured Wattsons from China. This has enabled them to reduce the price to a very attractive £99.95, which means they now have a three week waiting list.

It was interesting to hear how some of their customers have become addicted to the product with a couple of weeks, and become devoted to getting a blue glow (indicating a less than average use of electricity). Some use it to check to see if they have left any unnecessary appliances switched on as they leave the house.

One surprising change they had to introduce to their marketing was to include a light bulb in their photos for scale. It seems some some customers wanted to order a Wattson to replace their coffee table. Perhaps this could be a niche expansion of their product line.

Although Richard explained that the key to their success was to design a product that would be so desirable people would want to buy it, and then find out what it would be used for (the Apple iPod approach), I like the way they have very simply spelt out what this new product has to offer for the customer.

* I can save you up to 25% on your electricity bill
* I’m good for the environment
* I’m quick and easy to install
* I measure electricity in the whole house
* I can go anywhere in the home
* I use up to four watts and cost £4 a year to run

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You can’t afford not to be green

Well, according to the YUDU Green book anyway. This carbon free publication contains “51ways that your business can save money and the planet”.

The ‘book’ is a great way for YUDU to promote themselves and their carbon neutral approach to publishing.

“Carbon Neutral Publishing: From the planet’s favourite publisher!

YUDU believes in lessening the environmental impact of printing. While there will always be a desire for printed publications, we want to cut out the unnecessary use of trees and energy to help reduce carbon footprints.

But it’s not just the act of felling trees; the whole process of printing and distribution is harmful:

1. Logging – disturbs wildlife and uses fuel
2. Pulp mills – use natural resources and create pollution
3. Transportation – creates pollution
4. Printing – uses natural resources and chemicals
5. Waste – cleaning and recycling uses resources and energy

So it’s not difficult to appreciate the environmental benefits when you publish with YUDU.

But hard as we try, we cannot be completely energy free. The computer servers that process, host and serve YUDU publications all consume energy.

So to make sure all YUDU digital publications are as carbon neutral as possible, we completely offset all our CO2 emissions by donating money to Carbon Clear, a leading carbon management company. They invest in projects that improve living standards in developing countries and which provide global climate benefits with clean energy projects and reforestation initiatives.

All YUDU publications carry a carbon neutral stamp.”

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Nike goes green – or is it greenwash?

Nike_shoeThanks again to the wonderfull Springwise I have been alerted to green activities by the corporate giant Nike. The recently introduced product is called Trash Talk, and is made entirely from ‘environmentally preferred’ materials and recycled waste.

Aparently Trash Talk is the brainchild of Nike celebrity endorser Steve Nash. The All-Star guard for the NBA’s Phoenix Suns (basketball star to those of us outside the USA), is a committed green-living advocate.

The retail price of one hundred dollars proves that going green doesn’t have to damage the profit margin.

Many new business are taking a green stance from the outset. However many larger corporations have been accused of using  greenwash instead of making genuine changes to their operations. It will be interesting to see how long it takes before the likes of Greenpeace acclaim Nike as paragons of greenness.