Copenhagen, and what it means for you

The world's politicians will meet in Copenhagen today in an effort to create a binding agreement based on fixed carbon emissions targets. Even the Canadian government, which until recently defended flexible, intensity-based reductions targets(a weak position that would allow the western tar sands to grow by emitting less CO2 per barrel but more overall), now says it will argue in favour of binding emissions targets

So what does this mean for owners of small and medium organizations? ...

Change is coming: Are You Ready?

International Panelists Agree: growth does not equal happiness. Economic experts Tim Jackson, head of an advisory body for the British government, Robert Costanza professor at the University of Vermont and Peter Victor, Professor at York University in Toronto came together today in an international podcast that challenged the western concepts of growth, progress, and quality of life.

Key points included...

Tim Jackson speaks about tomorrow's green economy

Part one of a talk Tim Jackson, author of Prosperity Without Growth, gave a few weeks ago, echoing many of the themes discussed in today's international panel. The video could be better, but I find the content to be crucial.

Getting it right in Copenhagen

Politicians and environmentalists alike were lowering expectations in the lead up to the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference this week, but a few voices cut through the din.

Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, expects "...a list of targets from the industrialized countries, a list of commitments from the developing countries, and a list of financial contributions," according to the Reflections on Ethical Business blog.  In essence, such a deal would result in...

Profit or not-for-profit?

What did you wish you knew before starting a social enterprise?

My partner and I had the opportunity to contribute to a panel last Wednesday with the founders of some great organizations:  Pieter Dietz from My Social Actions, Aleece Germano, founder of The S.W.A.P Team as well Lucie Chagnon, an Ashoka fellow and President of Commodus: Concilliation travail famille.

The panel discussion, which led to some heated debates, was part of a sold-out two-day social entrepreneurship conference organized by YES Montreal that provided some much needed (and particularly hard to come by) guidance for young social entrepreneurs.  I'd thought I'd share some of the main ideas/debates, on this page...

British publisher

Thanks to the Brits who have visited the blog over the past week.  Those of you living across the pond can find Tim Jackson's book on sustainable economics for sale on the Earthscan website (http://www.earthscan.co.uk/?tabid=92763), while the New Economics Foundation's publication on the same subject can be downloaded for free at http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/the-great-transition (pdf), or printed and bound for 10 quid.

Cheers

Prosperity Without Growth

With all the hype surrounding two audacious new books: Tim Jackson's new book, Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a finite planet, and the New Economics Foundation's The New Economics: A Bigger Picture, one might wonder what university economics departments will be teaching next year.  European press are making quite a big deal out of both books, so my feeling is that it's worth waiting a two or three weeks for copies to ship on backorder from Amazon.com, if only to get a sneak peek at how sustainable economics might work in the very near future.

I seem to have misplaced the sneak peak of Prosperity Without Growth that landed in my inbox a few weeks ago, but I CAN promise that The New Economics will answer these burning questions: Why Does Britain Import the Same Number of Chocolate Waffles as it Exports? Why do Fewer People Vote when there is a Wal-Mart Nearby? among others.

Moving beyond best-practice

The last post left off calling this page "a space to share best-practice." Of course it's great to hear about organizations setting the example by finding new and innovative ways to make their corners of the world that much better.

But these examples don't set the bar. They exceed it, and most companies will find it difficult to achieve the same success. So where is the bar? How much is enough?

Can SME's be sustainable?

I'd say 50% of the people I talk to, mostly small business owners, ask this question based on two assumptions:

A) Small and medium-sized businesses don't have significant social or environmental footprints.

B) Most have neither the money nor the time to invest sustainability.

While it's true that the big boys have taken the initiative, SMEs have an incredible capacity to create meaningful change, by shear numbers alone. In Quebec for example, 85% of businesses are SME's, meaning that small actions can make a big difference when they add up.

Small and medium organizations actually have a much easier time going green for three reasons:

Lack of Transparency: consumer distrust

Welcome to sustainable.Agency's new blog! Consider it a space for comment and interaction on some of the pressing social and environmental issues confronting people, businesses and other organizations struggling to deal with an important transition taking place.

It's time to stop waiting for federal and provincial governments to take the steps necessary to position Canada as a leader in the global green economy. The responsibility of building the country today that we would like to live in tomorrow now falls on all businesses, small medium and large. Fortunately, a dedication to social and environmental sustainability can significantly help organizations, especially when times are rough, as global management consulting firm AT Kearney points out in a recent study.

Amid recent talk of what caused the world to fall into a recession, the issues of shadowy financial transactions and and a lack of information have generally come together in a common thread: transparency – how there currently isn't enough of it, and how we're going to need lots more of it to get the economy back on track.
This lack of transparency has translated into consumer distrust, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the green economy. Which companies are truly green? What does it even mean to be green?

People are becoming increasingly wary of greenwashing, and for good reason: a recent study by environmental marketing agency Terra Choice revealed that out of 1,753 environmental product claims, all but one were guilty of misleading consumers. With no evidence to the contrary, I choose to believe that most companies do not deliberately mislead consumers, but rather misunderstand how vague, irrelevant or unproven claims can be just as damaging their reputation as it is to the environment.

My partner Sarah and I founded this agency in part because we believe all companies need to take transparency to the next level, by communicating in a responsible way and by publicly disclosing the impacts their activities, thereby informing themselves as as well as their stakeholders - employees, clients, NGO's, news media or the communities of people who live and work around them.

While transparency can be incredibly useful to large corporations, it's also an opportunity for small businesses, particularly the ones that, like sustainable.Agency, were founded with the hope of helping society become better by becoming greener and fairer. These businesses, just like NGO's and non-profits, have everything to gain by going public with their positive and negative impacts. It's about walking the talk.

The agency helps small, sustainable companies get the word out about the leadership role they are taking in the green economy. What makes them different? How are they helping society make the transition to an economy where sustainability is not seen as a cost, but rather a way to significantly improve quality of life for everyone? SME's make up 90 percent of businesses, and can make significant contributions to society – many of them are. So let's start talking about it.