Businesses that have been resistant to addressing the impact of their operations or to implementing sustainability initiatives might be feeling pressure from a green wave. A perfect storm has been brewing for some time – albeit at a different pace in each respective industry. This storm represents the convergence of consumer, institutional purchaser and peer demand for the demonstration of responsible, sustainable business practices.
It’s not necessarily the complete consumer revolution or the regulatory lockdown that was so often projected throughout the last decade or so. However, the drivers for sustainability have attained such diversity that they touch on nearly every business and industry. It’s worth examining a few of the evolving, more intriguing drivers in more depth.
Sourcing the ever-elusive sustainable supply chain
For many large companies supply chains have represented perhaps the most perplexing hurdle in attaining their sustainability goals. Though it has now been many years since the Walmarts of the world started to address this incredibly impactful aspect of their operations, the trickle-down effect has created ripples in the local business community. Organizations like BuySmart BC, for example, are helping large purchasers, such as big business, local municipalities and health authorities drive sustainability and efficiency in their supply chains.
In an institutional setting, local authorities, such as Metro Vancouver, include a sustainability component to RFPs that accounts for 10 per cent of a prospective contractors submission to the RFP. Not only is this component quantified, but part of the criteria itself is that submissions should include hard metrics and data that allow for evaluation of specific projects, whether related to energy efficiency, carbon emissions, water use or otherwise.
The business-to-business incentives of the green hue
Closely tied with the progression of sustainable procurement and supply-chain initiatives is the growing consensus that sustainability is not just a venue through which to cut excess costs associated with energy and waste, but also a business development stream on its own. As the community of businesses pursuing sustainability grows in size and scope, and the large organizations continue to drive efficiency upstream of their operations, it is no longer a leap of faith to consider sustainability as a necessary instrument within the business development toolbox.
Scott Gray, vice-president of branding at Vancouver’s sustainability award– winning Metropolitan Fine Printers, has much first-hand experience in this regard.
“We can guarantee that there’s lots of work that we would not be doing if we did not have [environment and sustainability practices]. It’s kind of an intangible, but our ethical compass says it’s right.”
Citing clients as diverse as Vancity, Nike, Methanex, FortisBC, Mountain Equipment Co-op, VANOC and Stanley Black & Decker, Gray is confident that “they’re learning about Metropolitan because of our practices.”
Shared, cross-sector sustainability research and development
Morten Schroder, vice-president operations at Van Houtte Coffee Service’s Pacific Region, has coined the term “coaching up” to reflect the abilities of smaller companies to influence their larger counterparts, colleagues and business partners. In all reality, the coaching is happening upwards, downwards and laterally, too.
After two years measuring and managing energy, fuel and waste costs in terms of their carbon footprints, Van Houtte has already realized permanent six-figure savings across their B.C. operations. Schroder has not only benefitted from the knowledge of other companies with a longer history of measurement, he has become a strong advocate of the business case for sustainability initiatives.
As one concrete example of this shared R&D, upon visiting the Hemlock Printers Burnaby facilities, Schroder learned the benefits of a cardboard-baling system. Instead of paying for daily pickup of cardboard, Van Houtte now bales its cardboard for recycling and is reimbursed for pickup – which now occurs on a monthly basis – representing a significant cost savings for Van Houtte.
Sometimes all it takes is asking a simple question. By asking clients if they required hard copies of their statements, Van Houtte eliminated the need for 95 per cent of its paper statements – totalling 48,000 statements and envelopes annually.
“We have shared that story with our customers, and several have gone back and said, ‘We need to do this,’ and have since done so.”
