SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS
Sense
Once upon a time in a land known as the Emerald Isle, green politics were all the rage.The environment took central stage, as an industry sprung up and a small party,previously referred to as woolly jumper-wearing, tree-hugging fantasists,held the balance of power.That small party,known as theGreens,entered govern- ment in what seemed like an effort to save the world. Then a recession happened. And as people lost their jobs and businesses suffered, the fairy-
tale descended into somewhat of a nightmare for the Greens. Green politics were soon disregarded and the Green Party was accused of being out of touch with the needs of ordinary people. So should green politics be left to the confines of the Celtic-
tiger era?Or is there a place for themin a recession? Some of Ireland’s largest businesses argue that sustainability is
as important as ever in a recession,and thatwe shouldn’t lose sight of the end goals – to reduce our carbon footprint,make significant savings and create business opportunities. Those businesses are set to come out in force at amajor sum-
mit being held by Business in the Community Ireland (BITCI) inNovember.The one-day conference,entitled ‘Transforming to a Sustainable Business’, already has 20 national and international speakers lined up.These include Sir StuartRose,executive chair- person of Marks and Spencer; Natale Ricciardi, senior vice- president of Pfizer; andDrWerner Kruckow,CEOof Siemens. Also speaking at the conference will be Lindsey Parnell,CEO
and president of InterfaceFLOR, a billion-dollar global carpet manufacturer that has operated sustainable practices for two decades. Set up in 1973, InterfaceFLOR was a company that was dep-
endent on petrochemical-based rawmaterials and energy.When founder and then CEO, Ray Anderson, read a series of books about climate change and the damage the carpet-manufacturing industry was doing to the environment,he realised he was a pri- mary culprit and decided he wanted to do things differently.
A TREE-HUGGINGNUTCASE?
At the time Anderson was castigated byWall Street for his act- ions. “He was called a ‘tree-hugging nutcase’,” recalls Parnell. Today,Anderson is regarded as a visionary and has travelled
40 OWNER MANAGER VOL 3 ISSUE 4 2010
sustainability in
the world on speaking circuits to talk about Interface’s success in the area. For the first 10 years of Interface’s green strategy, the company
worked on efficiency measures, creating less waste.From a busi- ness perspective, the firmsaved a lot ofmoney. “At the end of last year, those savings amounted toUS$405m,
which is huge compared to our billion-dollar turnover.What that did is answer the criticswho say sustainability is going to cost you a lot ofmoney. It can, in fact, save youmoney and generate busi- ness,” says Parnell. In an effort to eliminate any negative impact it has on the env-
ironment by 2020, InterfaceFLOR is embarking on a journey of innovation with its products. The firmhas beenworking to replace themajor component of
carpet tiles,nylon,with a renewable rawmaterial. It has gradually resourcedmaterials that have recyclable components to them,and continues to look at issues such as the lifecycle of carpet tiles. Parnell says a large part of the company’s success – it enjoys
40pc of the carpet tile market share and continues to generate a profit in the current environment – is due to its sustainability programme.The attitude towards InterfaceFLOR’s green strategy began to change around 2005, when the company started to receive a lot of recognition for its work in the area. Maintainingmomentumamong staff for the past 14 years has
been a challenge for the business,but it’s one it has lived up to. In 1996, InterfaceFLORset upQuest,an improvement programme whichmeasures such things aswaste and electricity usage among staff.Fourteen years later that programme is still running due to successful engagement of staff. “The challenge for the company has been managing the
enthusiasm for it.A lot of our employees feel proud that we are at the top [of sustainability indexes]. It gives thema higher pur- pose, and we attract great people as a result,” says Parnell.
A TOP-DOWNAND BOTTOM-UP APPROACH
JohnCampion,director of sustainability at theESB, says compa- nies need to adopt a top-down and bottom-up approach when implementing sustainability initiatives. In 2005, theESBwas producing 15million tonnes ofCO2 per
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52