 |
||
 |
 |
 |
|
||
|
|
|
The Conference Board Review® Article
Best Intentions vs. Bottom Lines
What does it take for companies to go green?
Yes, sustainability is the hottest of hot topics these days, and few executives would dismiss the importance of going green — in public, anyway. But how can companies introduce innovations in the most efficient way? Are consumers clamoring for — or even prepared for — tomorrow's energy-saving technology? And should changes be made by industry-group proclamation or by government fiat?
In October, under the heading "Going Green: Competitive Advantage or Corporate Cost?", three top executives — and one environmental-group representative — met to take on these and other issues. The hourlong event, sponsored by EDS and Lufthansa and hosted by The Week and The Conference Board, explored the politics of recycling, what Gen Y employees (and children) think about environmental awareness, and why raising the gasoline tax by $1 a gallon won't make a difference. Moderating was Sir Harold Evans, former editor of the Sunday Times and president and publisher of Random House, and editor-at-large of The Week.
As Jonathan Spector, CEO of The Conference Board, said about sustainability in introducing the panel, "We're early in the learning cycle, and we've all got to keep our ears and eyes open as to what other companies are doing, what governments are doing, and what societies are doing, as we figure out how to grapple with this critical issue." — Matthew Budman
The panelists:
Harold Evans: A few years ago, when I mentioned greening or climate change to a CEO I was lucky to get out with my life, because it was regarded as a crazy liberal idea to be green. The moment I realized that it wasn't a crazy liberal idea anymore was when I read that my old friend Rupert Murdoch had committed the News Corp. to going green. Rupert has never met a liberal idea he didn't want to strangle at birth, so it can't be a liberal idea any longer. But still, even ten years ago, Michael Crichton was writing a book saying that global warming was a scare created by mad eco-scientists, and Exxon was cheering him on. Mr. Gumz, where do you stand on global warming today?
F. Mark Gumz: Rather than debating whether there's global warming — because we can't really create two earths, one without combustible engines and one with — let's assume that there's global warming, and let's work for solutions.
John Hofmeister: We're not climatologists here. But people today are consuming hundreds of millions of tons of coal per day and 85 million barrels of oil and gas per day, and that has to have some kind of an impact on the environment. We need to deal with that.
Mr. Gupta, have you noticed a change in corporate America in the last five, ten, twenty years?
Ashok Gupta: Absolutely. Industry is leading the way, and the problem has been that government has been slow to respond. We see a lot of change.
Comments? Write a letter to the editor.
Return to the January/February 2008 The Conference Board Review® issue.
Publications