The fourth annual edition of our State of Green Business report continues. Our efforts to measure the environmental impacts of the emerging green economy. We document how well — or poorly — companies are improving their environmental performance despite the challenges posed by the Great Recession, and begin to note promising signs for a sea change in corporate sustainability efforts.
The free, downloadable report measures the progress of U.S. business and the economy from an environmental perspective, and highlights key trends in corporate culture in regard to the environment.
This year's report shows a dramatic shift is occurring in mainstream business: Companies are thinking bigger and longer-term about sustainability — a an analysis of businesses in 2010 shows that even during economically challenging times, many companies invested more in their sustainability activities and made bold new sustainability commitments. For example:
Proctor & Gamble made a commitment to power all of their factories with renewable energy within the next ten years;
FedEx committed to improve vehicle fuel efficiency by 20 percent by 2020;
Walmart pledged to sell $1 billion of fresh produce sourced from 1000 small- and medium-sized farmers;
Hasbro promised that 75 percent of its paperboard packaging will come from recycled materials in 2011
The report follows on the in-depth daily editorial output of GreenBiz.com, tracking the big-picture sustainability trends that corporations are adopting, while also digging in to hard data to measure whether or not those companies, and the U.S. as a whole, are making any real progress.
The results, as evidenced by the GreenBiz Index, show a mixed bag: While some green practices are strongly swimming — notably, paper use and recycling, investments in cleantech, and the growth of LEED — there are many others that are simply treading water or sinking.
The 2011 report is the centerpiece of GreenBiz.com's State of Green Business Forums. The two-day events will take place in San Francisco on February 2-3, Chicago on February 9-10, and Washington, D.C., February 16-17.
Download the free report from www.stateofgreenbusiness.com
Sustainable business trends of 2011 (4.47 MB)
IntroductIon 3
top Sustainable BusIness trends of 2011 3
Consumer Giants Awaken to Green 5
Companies Aim for Zero 6
The Developing World Yanks the Supply Chain 8
Greener Transport Makes Its Move 10
Sustainable Food Becomes a Main Course 12
Metrics and Standards Become the Rule 14
Toxics Concerns Spur Greener Alternatives 16
Water Footprinting Makes a Splash 18
Companies Learn to Close the Loop 20
Bioplastics Become Material 21
The GreenBiz Index
Introduction 23
Summary Chart 24
Carbon Intensity 26
Carbon Transparency 28
Cleantech Investments 30
Clean-Energy Patents 32
Corporate Reporting 34
Employee Commuting 36
Employee Telecommuting 38
Energy Efficiency 40
Environmental Financial Impacts 42
E-Waste 44
Fleet Impacts 46
Green IT 48
Green Office Space 50
Green Power Use 52
Organic Agriculture 54
Packaging Intensity 56
Paper Use and Recycling 58
Toxic Emissions 60
Toxics in Manufacturing 62
Transparency 64
Published February 02, 2011
Website: https://stateofgreenbusiness.com/
