How Helping the Planet Can Help Profitability
Thanks to rising popular environmental awareness, companies of all shapes and sizes are discovering a new bottom line: What's good for the planet is also good for business.
Call it a double bottom line - the fact that environmental protection and economic profit can go hand in hand. We can't control nature, yet it's becoming increasingly clear that the efficient use of resources can help the planet, keep costs down and ultimately boost profit margins.
Dr. Ron Dembo is founder and CEO of Zerofootprint, a nonprofit that works to help large organizations, including businesses, municipalities and educational institutions, reduce their ecological impact.
He compares taking care of the environment to taking care of one's own health. "If you let some health problems go too far the costs can be fatal, or at least much more expensive than they otherwise might be."
Dembo sees similarities with everyday consumer and business decisions and recommends people pay attention to energy efficiency, waste reduction, and clean technologies and practices. "There are tons of examples of how you can take carbon out of the world and make money," Dembo says.
With fuel and energy prices continually rising, conservation makes particular sense. Companies that switch off their computers at night save power and reduce their operating costs, Dembo says. "In North America, 40 percent of all energy consumption comes from heating and cooling homes and offices. Yet we heat and cool buildings at the same time, and we turn the lights on as bright inside south-facing walls of a building as we do on the north side. Just think how much we could save by being conscious of energy in our homes and offices."
Green energy sources can yield significant savings over conventional sources. However, Dembo recommends these measures be considered during a building's planning or design stage, because it is generally cheaper to install systems such as ground-source heating during construction than retrofitting later on.
Companies have also turned to material waste reduction to cut costs. Wal-Mart recently added $30 million to its annual bottom line through environmental measures that included reducing the amount of packaging it accepts on products and switching to long-lasting, energy-efficient light bulbs in selected display areas. "Less garbage went out into the world, fewer trees were cut down, and Wal-Mart earned more profits," Dembo says.
Even small things make a difference. Carpets with random rather than symmetrical or carefully-ordered patterns reduce waste because matching is no longer a problem. "This might seem trivial, but it's about how these things aggregate," Dembo says.
Companies can also boost their corporate bottom line and help the planet by maintaining a clean, healthy workplace. Providing a steady supply of fresh, well-circulated air, using environmentally-friendly adhesives, paints and cleaning products, and eliminating contaminants and toxins can help ensure top-notch indoor air-quality. This not only makes the workplace more environmentally-friendly, but also reduces employee absenteeism and heightens productivity.
Apply this principle to a broader perspective that addresses air quality both indoors and out, and Dembo sees society- wide benefits such as reduced healthcare costs and a stronger, more productive economy. "We'd find the health value would more than pay for the costs of doing it."
"All these things can make a very big difference, and they can also help you make more margin," Dembo says. "They're good for you and good for the planet."
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