IBM: Here’s where companies’ green initiatives are failing
June 10, 2009 by Tom GuayPosted in: Cost Cutting, News, Special Report
Going green is proving to be harder than most companies want to admit.
And, while many are introducing green versions of their traditional products and services, this only nibbles at the edges of the sustainability goal.
So says the granddaddy of business machinery and computers, IBM. The company’s got its own green angle, as a consultant to promote eco-friendly business practices under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) banner. IBM’s convinced that adopting CSR promotes long-term success and profitability, and it just completed its second global survey to prove the point.
CSR is not philanthropy or viewing regulatory compliance as a cost of doing business. It’s adopting environmental, social and economic policies that protect the planet, treat workers fairly, and still reward owners and shareholders.
But to evolve to this level of operation, companies need information, and they need to learn how to process information so they can polish their green images and product lines. The big roadblocks to implementing complete CSR programs are that companies fail to:
- collect and analyze all the right information about sustainability
- aggregate the data often enough so they have an up-to-date picture of market and regulatory realities
- collect enough CSR data from their supply chain partners. With inadequate data, companies are missing major opportunities to reduce inconsistencies, inefficiencies, waste and liabilities, and
- fully listen to and understand the concerns of key stakeholders — particularly their customers — who normally provide new ideas for market opportunities.
For example, IBM’s survey reveals that only 19% of companies collect carbon dioxide (CO2) emission data on a weekly or daily basis. Instead, they collect it monthly or quarterly. This meets regulatory requirements, but it misses out on the real green benefit offered with better data management — opportunities to improve energy efficiencies and reduce power consumption.
IBM’s survey is here.
IBM’s business consulting service department also promotes itself as a Green IT expert, helping clients improve energy efficiencies with their computer operations. Click here for IBM’s Green IT web page.
Tags: carbon dioxide, energy efficiency, green companies, Green IT, green jobs, IBM, sustainability
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June 11th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
The article makes mention of “companies collect carbon dioxide (CO2) emission data on a weekly or daily basis. Instead, they collect it monthly or quarterly. This meets regulatory requirements”. Can anyone supply me with the regulation that states CO2 reporting is required? Thanks.
June 11th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Many cities or municipalities get/give tax credits if companies report thier carbon footprint including CO2 emmission data to DEQ, so if you contact DEQ they may be able to direct you to that information. In the town we reside we have no requirement to provide such information as of yet.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:59 am
The release of air contaminates are regulated under federal and state statutes. The federal is 40 CFR Parts 50-99. In Michigan, the requirement to report emissions data is in Act 451 Part 55 of the Michigan Air Pollution Control Rules. Check your State’s Department of Enviromental Quality website.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:06 am
There are none yet. This is a specious metric much in the same as Nobama’s “saving jobs” metric. No one measures saving jobs and they don’t measure CO2 emissions. Some envir-whacko communities (SF, Seattle) are trying to adopt CO2 regulations. These are all anti-capitalist measures to further limit productivity. CO2 is not a hazardous emission although the whackos are trying to make it one. We need CO2 for plant growth.
Change we can believe in, indeed.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
LEU, a little bitter are we??? Adding politics to the mix leaves the process of finding real solutions stuck in mire. Please leave the politics at the door. Thanks
June 12th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Joe – politics is what drives this stuff. If the whackos weren’t so politically motivated, there might be free market solutions to many of the ills we face. It’s the reason we have environmental impact statements and the like which cost millions to find out if a small mouse or snail are harmed by building something like a hospital, for instance, which could help save hundreds of lives. It’s also the reason fuels are so high because refineries have to create boutique fuels to satisfy every state’s emissions standards. It’s also the reason cars cost more and are less fuel-efficient than they could be because the car MFG companies have to add so much pollution equipment. And I could go on and on.
I argued before our state EPA a few years ago about reducing VOC’s at our plants, when I pointed out to them that more VOC’s drove by the plants EACH DAY than we emitted in a year, yet we were forced to spend millions on air scrubbers because the big, bad industrial complex was making the air unsafe.
June 16th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Thanks for the help.