“Green’s” Impact on Your Organization
Published:
November 06 2008, 01:33 PM
by
Terrence Clark
Environmental awareness and sensitivity is a critical issue facing organizations today. Its impact on your organization may be many faceted.
We have rising energy prices that force us to focus on how to better manage their energy consumption to drive down costs. As Chris Stakutis mentioned in a recent blog you must first measure your current energy activity. This includes understanding consumption and expenditure to a level of detail that allows the organization to make informed decisions on how best to reduce both.
Compliance with governmental regulations on environmental issues is becoming more of a pressing issue for companies. Do you know the carbon footprint of your organization? If not, do you even know how to determine it? If so, are you reporting it externally to organizations like the Carbon Disclosure Project? Are you aware of the formal regulatory cap and trade carbon markets in Europe (EU-ETS) and Australia (Carbon Reduction Scheme) as well as the voluntary registries in the United States such as the California Climate Action Registry and other state and regional mandates? This is not even mentioning other environmental regulations such as RoHS, WEEE, and REACH pertaining to materials used in products and their proper disposal. Regulations are increasing and non-compliance is no longer an option for sustainable organizations.
Consumers are much more environmentally sensitive and are increasingly looking to purchase green products and services. They are now more informed of an organization’s response to green issues, and this too is having an impact on their buying decisions. Today’s environmentally conscious consumers are concerned with the environmental impact of a product throughout its lifecycle. If your organization ignores these new buying patterns in the market you could very well find yourself losing existing customers and not gaining new ones. However, if your organization understands and proactively responds to this new paradigm you will find yourself retaining more customers, adding new ones, and differentiating yourself from competitors.
Suppliers and partners are now also playing a major role. It is no longer acceptable for your organization to claim ignorance when it comes to the operations of its suppliers and partners. The operation of your suppliers and partners must have the same level of transparency and visibility as your organization does. Effectively, any non-compliance or environmental indifference on the supplier’s part may become your issue.
Investors more than ever are evaluating the “sustainability” of an organization. They are looking for companies that are not only sound financially, but also environmentally and socially. The number of sustainability funds, like the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, continues to grow.
At the end of the day at the heart of any organization’s strategy for environmental sustainability is usually one or more of these four key drivers: cost, regulation, brand image, and the opportunity to deliver new green products and services.
What are the key drivers for your organization?
Terrence G. Clark
Senior Vice President – Business Governancemailto:terrence.clark@ca.com
Tags: efficiency, sustainability, mainframe, cooling, Green IT, data center, energy, management, resource optimization, consolidation, virtualization, enterprise management, green data center, Power management, green, green governance, governance, carbon, environment, trading, emissions, regulations
By: Terrence Clark
Terrence Clark is a senior vice president and general manager heading up CA's ecoSoftware Business Unit at CA. His vision is to help organizations evaluate their portfolio of green choices, while showing them how they can reduce their carbon footprint, save costs, seize on opportunities and be both...
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