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October 28, 2005
The Next Stage of Corporate Social Responsibility: Green is Green
In the past few months, we have seen corporate titans GE, Wal Mart and Ford announce important environmental initiatives. Caveat to the reader--both are Edelman clients though I am not working on either assignment, and it's truly not because they are clients that I mention them. The GE program, ecoimagination, seeks to capture new markets for highly efficient, environmentally sensible equipment, whether locomotives or power turbines. The Wal Mart effort seeks to reduce costs and waste, in transportation, lighting, and packaging.
Whether motivated by the opportunity to generate new revenue or save on expenses, it is clear that business has seen the light. This type of market-driven behavior is being lauded by the environmental community because it is now truly a core part of business strategy, not an effort at 'greenwashing." But there is much more to be done.
I attended a meeting of American and Mexican business leaders yesterday in New York City. Here is one amazing statistic. Sixty-one percent of the water used in Mexico City does not cost the user any money. In short, there is no incentive to reduce water consumption. All large trucks need to pass through the center of the city en route to drop-off points in the suburbs because there has been no construction of a ring road. The public sector lacks the money to build the new highways and the political will to change the water equation. The public sector is afraid to involve the private sector because it would signal a commitment to payment for services.
I also spent time on Sunday and Monday with Mayor Ken Livingstone of London (also a client--this is for transparency, not to boast!). Despite public skepticism, his administration has imposed a congestion charge on automobiles seeking to enter the center city. It is now eight pounds a day or about $14. The result has been a decrease of 38,000 cars per day into the city centre, with about 80,000 people willing to pay the daily tariff. The traffic now moves at 12 miles per hour, up from nine miles per hour before the congestion charge. Why did he do this? Because businesspeople spoke up in a loud and continuous way, stating that the status quo of gridlock was unacceptable.
Mayor Livingstone also described the Olympic 2012 construction plan, based on the conversion of brown fields, polluted former industrial sites often along the Thames River. He said that once the city and national government restored the land to its previous condition, the private sector would take it from there. He has ended the stalemate on construction of new skyscrapers (10 are on the boards now) by centralizing the approval process at City Hall, taking it away from the thirty local councils.
To be effective, the private sector must take the lead in making the case for change in environmental policy. The public will have to be persuaded of the benefits of paying for better water supply or a congestion charge on motorists or the need for new skyscrapers so a city can be competitive. Business executives can create think tanks to effectively work with government to develop better policy. Business need to demonstrate leadership by publicly demonstrating support for important initiatives. They could mobilize their work forces through education on the issues, then allow the employees to take the case to the public.
The time is past for CEOs to say that their sole responsibility is to make money for their shareholders. Without a decent educational system, safe streets, a clean environment and vibrant cultural institutions, a company will not be able to attract the best people to its chosen locale. A smart CEO invests in his/her community by taking an active role in shaping public policy.
Our role in public relations is to act as a bridge for management into these stakeholder groups, advocating unpopular positions in the board room so that the outside voices are heard. We must then use a transparent process to allow the multiple stakeholders to devise a solution. By engaging with environmental groups, we can bring independent transparency to help persuade skeptics. Now that green is green (to borrow Jeff Immelt’s phrase), let's help our corporate clients make it happen.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at October 28, 2005 11:11 AM |
Comments
Why are you downplaying the fact that GE and Wal-Mart are clients? Isn't that what you are supposed to do: highlight the positive efforts of your clients? What's wrong with it?
Posted by: Brad Swezey at October 29, 2005 11:36 AM
And along the lines of the "Greening of Corporate America," the Urban Land Institute should be encouraged to step up its efforts to educate planning departments at every level of government on best-management practices for development of one of our most finite resources. Building materials manufacturers, real estate developers, sales agencies, and building firms must act as stewards in educating the general public about this trend, and in turn, reap the profits! Smaller, better-built, multi-functional spaces in new homes will be the biggest and longest sustained trend in the last hundred years!
Posted by: Karen Stout at November 3, 2005 12:36 PM
Karen,
And the next big area will be China where there is more new construction than anywhere else in the world!
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 4, 2005 4:31 PM
Hi Richard,
Have you considered the important role that blogging and other internal comms social media tools are going to play in helping companies reduce their environmental footprint?
I'm currently advising companies in the UK and Europe about the environmental and sustainable benefits of blog internal coms. Happy to chat more about it with you if you are interested.
Posted by: Matthew Yeomans at November 7, 2005 6:01 AM