This Week in Numbers: The Company Report

Baxter - to donate $5 million to Chicago Public Schools

Dell - renewable energy purchase up 870% since 2004 and latest desktops are 80% more energy efficient

GE cuts energy use by 29% by switching out lights in a 1950s warehouse

GE Ecomagination - revenue to hit $17 billion in 2008

Nestle Waters - published first Corporate Citizenship Report - one goal announced is to develop a "next generation bottle" made of 100% recycled materials or renewable resources by 2020

Morgan Stanley - plans to build off-grid datacenter powered by tidal energy

Patagonia - new campaign "Vote the Environment" rocks!

Sears, Target, OfficeMax, General Mills, P&G - increasing cause marketing efforts despite current economic crisis

Wal-Mart- outlines goals for socially responsible global supply chain in China

This Week in Numbers: The Beverage Industry

Coffee Bean opens LEED-certified facility in Portland

Coke designs a lighter can

Pepsi announced it cut 16,000 tons of plastic last year by reducing amount of materials in bottles

Miller has goal of zero waste, is currently recycling 99.9% of packaging waste

Constellation Wines to have the largest solar installation of any winery in the world

In a Tough Market, Knowing is More than Half the Battle

IMC2 issued a white paper this week regarding the State of Sustainability Communications. The study looked at how well S&P 100 companies are communicating their sustainability efforts. Here's what they found:

Leading Players: The automotive, forestry, chemicals and pharmaceutical industries are currently setting the standard for sustainability communication.

Emerging Players: The mining/energy, transportation/shipping, technology, communications and consumer product/retail industries are making progress, yet still have significant opportunity to improve.

Lagging Players: The financial services and media/entertainment are lagging players. Their sustainability communications have the most opportunity for growth.

God news or bad? Well, I see "opportunity to improve" and "opportunity for growth" as "opportunities for eager MBAs looking for a job in a tough market."

Whether you're looking for a job in CSR or not, the emerging and lagging players are going to have to play catch-up, and every top decision maker in these companies will need to understand what is at stake when it comes to effectively communicating sustainability efforts.  Are you prepared to speak on this at your next interview with Nestle? 

We're hoping that our weekly installments of "This Week in Numbers" has helped you stay on top of some of the important industry trends and current events. If you would like us to follow a certain company or industry more closely in our weekly briefings, please let us know and we'd be happy to do our best to help you stay informed.

Technology Week in LA: Emerging Clean Technologies

Tech Week in LA is back this October 20-24. The main event is taking place on October 22. Check out details below: 

click below for more details and tickets:

Los Angeles County Technology Week is back!

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of The Business Technology Center

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

TECHNOLOGY LEADER OF THE YEAR:

Clean Tech CEO of the Year: Steve Gelnn, CEO, LivingHomes, LLC

Steve Glenn will be the keynote speaker on October 22, 2008 following a day of some great panels and networking:

Panel topics includes: Funding Early Stage Tech Companies:  What's Hot, What's Not What's New Energy Program Transportation Program Am I and My Company Protected: where tech companies  are most vulnerable and what to do about it

Registration for the Patagonia Company Visit is now open

Email erica.lutzker@pepperdine.edu to register.

Registration is now open to PAYING MEMBERS ONLY. (If you're not yet a paying member, here's what you need to do: how to register)

 NON-PAYING MEMBERS may register beginning Friday at 12:01pm GT.

 As there are only 20 slots for this site visit, it will be first come, first serve (provided you register properly according to the above).

 We will also create a wait list. And if you don't make the cut for this, there are lots more exciting NI events planned throughout the year!

_____________________

 Event Details:

PATAGONIA SITE VISIT

Friday, October 24th, 8:30am - 11:30 am

CEO Casey Sheahan will speak for 45 minutes, followed by a 15 minute Q&A, and then a company tour!

Make sure to read Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard's book, "Let My People Go Surfing" and visit these sites before the our visit ::

http://patagonia.com

http://www.patagonia.com/usa/tinshed/index.jsp

(Please note that this is also the date of the VCLL Case Competition. This visit also conflicts with the NAWMBA conference. In fairness to your colleagues, please do not register for this event if you are planning on attending either of those.)

This Week in Numbers

3% increase in CO2 emission last year

15 Algae Biofuel startups to watch

30% reduction in natural gas consumption by converting whey to biomethane, announced by Kraft

91% of California beaches graded of A or B- Los Angeles still came in with the lowest marks (including Malibu's Surfrider beach which received a D)

100s of new species found on Australia's coral reefs

$240 - $750 will get you a new energy-efficient Lenovo monitor using 30-60% less energy 

$634 billion bailout, wait, I mean spending bill just passed by the Senate- includes $25 billion in loans to the auto industry and elimination of ban on off-shore drilling

$700 billion bailout, still in talks

$25,000 could be yours if you have brightest green idea. Enter the XPrice Foundation contest by October 31, 2008.

440,000 permanent jobs could be made if Congress renews the solar tax credits

A Little Note on Greening your Supply Chain

We all hear about greening supply chains as a popular strategy for companies wanting to save money (and face). But what exactly does greening a supply chain entail?

Andrew Kinder of Industry Week writes that greening your supply chain involves:

Optimizing the physical supply chain, storage and transportation of products across it

Lower energy usage in the manufacturing conversion process

Improving product design and packaging to minimize waste

Kinder says, 

"By moving away from spreadsheet based planning or system that relies on two variables (cost and speed), manufacturers can dynamically plan where and when to make, buy, store, and move goods based on changing fuel costs and transportation modes. The models allow manufactures to immediately see the impact of network changes to the supply chain and the bottom line."

Sounds like nothing one more class with Professor Hahn couldn't teach us.