The risks of waiting for legislation: why Wal-Mart's green shift will affect you

While Canadian companies such as Interface Flor continue to prove that going green can create a huge competitive advantage, the vast majority of companies are playing the waiting game. Perhaps inspired by the Harper government's “integrated” approach (widely regarded as a euphemism for wait-for-the-Americans-to-act-first), many see going green as an expense rather than an investment, and prefer to wait for the government to even the field.

But what if a multinational business, say the world's biggest retailer, were to preempt legislation and create a domino effect? The wait-and-see companies would then be at a disadvantage compared to those that had acted before action became necessary.

Les citoyens se tournent davantage au « BMWs »

Trois semaines, trois annonces de taille pour l'environnement, et qui risquent d'influencer le climat des affaires. Troisième texte sur trois

Une première depuis 40 ans - les déplacement en automobile ont chuté, selon la dernière analyse origine-destination de l'agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT). La chute de 1% est due aux choix de Montréalais avertis, qui en 2008 sont de plus en plus nombreux à choisir la formule Bike, Metro, Walk (BMW).

Les faits en bref:

-La chute de 1% s'applique aussi à la Ville de Laval et à la Rive-Sud, alors que la population à augmenté de 5% entre 2003 et 2008. À Montréal toute seule, les déplacements en auto ont été réduits de 6%. La région se démarque

Greenwashing's latest victim: one massive“bamboo-zle.”

The last few weeks have brought an unusually large number of environmental announcements that appear set to change the way we do business in Canada, particularly Quebec. The text below is the second of three mini-analysis' of these changes, and what they may mean for you.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Canadian Competition Bureau (CCB) recently accused companies of “bamboo-zling” consumers. Both are now accusing retailers of deliberately misleading consumers by labeling products as “made of bamboo fiber,” and forcing them to instead adopt the term “bamboo rayon.”

Yes, the raw material used to make bamboo fabric is indeed the fast-growing plant that requires little or no pesticides or fertilizers and is reputed to have natural anti-microbial properties. But the process to turn bamboo stalks into into those super-soft shirts, towels, underwear is so chemical intensive that the finished product does not retain any of bamboo 's natural properties. The products are therefore more accurately described as rayon or viscose, synthetic fibers similar to nylon. For a visual description of the chemical transformation, click here.

Trois percées pour l'environnement à Montréal

Trois semaines, trois annonces de taille pour l'environnement. Le portrait de la ville évolue alors que la place qu'elle réserve à l'environnement grandit à vue d'œil. Afin de mieux s'adapter aux changements qui s'annoncent, les organisations ont intérêt à en prendre note. Au cours des prochains jours ce blogue affichera trois mini-analyses des retombées de ces annonces pour les entreprises, ONG, OSBL et compagnie. Restez des nôtres.

Cinq nouvelles usines de traitement des résidus verts

La première annonce, celle de cinq nouvelles installations pour traiter les résidus organiques à Montréal et en région, dont trois bioréacteurs qui produiront de l'électricité à partir du méthane dégagé par la décomposition, permettra d'augmenter sensiblement le compostage résidentiel et commercial.

Blogue bilingue

Soucieux de n'exclure personne, je publierai dorénavant en Français et en Anglais, en alternance. Afin de publier plus souvent, les textes ne seront disponibles que dans une langue à la fois - mais vous pouvez toujours m'adresser directement vos questions à ianaérobaseduragence.ca, et il me fera plaisir d'y répondre.

Clarity for the Green Economy goes bilingual

Publishing in a bilingual city such as Montreal often means excluding one audience or another, so this blog will now alternate between English and French-language entries in an effort to inform and engage both.  I prefer to post frequently so will not publish translations of the text, but interested readers can always contact me directly at iandon'tspamsustainableagency.ca for information regarding posts, including translations.

ISO 26000, the key to making sustainability accessible?

The world's first universally-applicable sustainability standard is entering the final stretch. ISO 26000, ISO's first “soft,” ie. non-technical standard will be finalized and put to a vote in Copenhagen this May 17-21st. Let's hope the Danish capital is a luckier location for ISO than it was for international climate negotiations...

As Paul Hohnen, co-founder of the Global Reporting Initiative writes in this recent post on the Ethical Corporation website, the crucial vote may not pass. Concerns over content, cost and certification could lead some countries to vote against the new standard. For a analysis of these issues, click here.

As a user and proponent of the GRI guidelines, I would nevertheless welcome a standard designed to be more flexible. From the outset, ISO 2600 was meant to help all organizations – big and small, businesses, NGO's etc. - integrate sustainability into the every-day working practices. For more than 10 years, the GRI has helped companies measure, improve and communicate their impacts on people, the environment and the economy, but it has come under criticism for being too long, too restrictive and too expensive to be useful for smaller companies.

At sustainable.Agency, we've worked hard to adapt the GRI into a series of tools to help SME's measure impacts, set reductions goals and communicate in ways that will make their stakeholders stand up and take notice. And yet, our client's need for reports that are easy to use and read (five pages or less) has required tweaking the guidelines to the extent that we qualify them as “GRI inspired.” ISO 26000 could therefore be invaluable in spreading sustainability and transparency to groups that haven't yet been engaged by the green shift.

At a conference in Montreal last February on responsible purchasing, Denis Pronovost, a member of the Canadian delegation working on ISO 26000 said that far from competing with the GRI guidelines, ISO aims to complement it by setting out broad-based goals for implementing sustainability within organizations. He also expressed reservations concerning its length, saying that the Canadian delegation would likely oppose a document more than 100 pages-long. Any bigger, he said, would be an obstacle for smaller organizations with limited time and resources. “We want as many organizations as possible to use the standard, and they won't if it's too long.”

Any developments will be posted on this blog when they become available.

Taxe sur le stationnement: l'avenir du transport en commun et du centre-ville en jeu.

Le texte qui suit est également paru le site de Gaïa Presse

Les commerces du centre-ville de Montréal devront composer avec une nouvelle hausse de leurs taxes : le récent budget municipal inclut le paiement d’une redevance d'environ 400 $ par an pour chaque place de stationnement qu'ils possèdent, en plus de l'augmentation des impôts fonciers qui varie selon l'arrondissement. Les quelque 20 millions de dollars prélevés au total serviront à financer le transport en commun, et l'administration de Gérald Tremblay estime que les commerces ne seront pas accablés outre mesure.

Aux prises elle-même avec la récession et des finances serrées, l'administration publique devra trouver environ 350 M$ de plus par année, si elle veut réaliser les projets prévus dans son ambitieux Plan de transport, tels la navette ferroviaire vers l'aéroport et le réseau des tramways. La Ville a déjà largement exploité les impôts fonciers et les autres leviers financiers habituels. La taxe sur le stationnement serait donc raisonnable, si elle améliorait l'accessibilité et la qualité du transport en commun. On n’y arrivera cependant pas avec 20 M$.

How to communicate "Green"

How green is your organization? Light, medium, or dark green? At what point can an organization say "we're green," without being met with the skepticism that often greets such claims?

The answer, unfortunately, is never. "Green" is a kind of holy grail with no universally accepted definition, so some people will always cry Greenwash no matter how green your organization is, so don't pretend to be absolutely green.  Even some of the worlds most sustainable companies, such as Interface Flor, prefer to talk about their goals to be greener still, rather than brag about what they've done. They do this to avoid the inherent risks of greenwashing (see previous post, a case study on Canadian Tire)

Companies should first seek to answer this question ...

The Cost of Greenwashing

I spent some time this past week looking through retail-store fliers and websites in search of boxing week deals. One in particular caught my eye, which I think illustrates the risks of making products seem greener than they are...