When Joel Makower wrote The Green Consumer, he realized that businesses had the power to make a huge impact in the green community. Makower soon became obsessed with the subject, writing a syndicated newspaper column, founding the website GreenBiz.com, and blogging about business and clean technology. Recently, he helped create ClimateCounts.org, a new non-profit that grades companies based on their commitments to curbing global warming. Plenty caught up with Makower to discuss the business of going green.

Throughout the environmental movement, businesses and environmentalists have often been at odds with each other. Is this changing? 

It’s changing slowly, but too slowly to affect the kind of change we need. The American public wants it both ways. They want companies to step up to the plate to be better, greener citizens, but they don’t trust them when they do. They tend to be less accepting of incremental change than of large transformations. And while large transformations may be what’s called for in the scheme of things, that’s unlikely to happen from a business perspective. As interest in environmental issues has accelerated in the past couple of years, people are looking to find heroes—to find good guys.

What do you think the standards should be for defining a green business? 

A group of us have built a prototype for that here in California called SBAR, for Sustainable Business Achievement Rating. That standard includes more than just environmental aspects—it includes workplace, marketplace, community, and corporate governance—the whole range of corporate social responsibility topics. Two weeks ago, some colleagues and I launched ClimateCounts.org, a new non-profit founded by Stonyfield Farm that rates consumer brands on their climate performance. All these things—standards, certifications—answer a simple question: How good is good enough?

There has been a lot of skepticism about carbon offsets and whether they’re really worth anything. Are carbon offsets worthwhile investments? 

Carbon offsets definitely have a role, but the rush to offsets that is premature. Much like recycling, carbon offsets are a third choice. When it comes to solid waste, it’s "reduce, reuse, and recycle." People go right to recycling, even though that’s the third choice. They’re forgetting that they should do the other two things. The energy equivalent of that is efficiency, renewables, and offsets. In other words, use the least amount of energy you can by being as efficient as possible, buy the highest percentage of green energy, and after you’ve done that, offset the balance. But people go right to offsets as if it were the first choice. I equate going to offsets without first looking to efficiency and renewables as having a Diet Coke with your double-bacon cheeseburger and calling it a balanced diet.  

A lot of politicians think that the way to get businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions is through cap-and-trade programs. Is this a useful mechanism for controlling emissions? 

I think cap-and-trade along with carbon taxes and incentives for developing clean technologies represent a good first step in addressing the climate problem. But again, as with offsets, I’m afraid there’s too much emphasis on cap-and-trade without first going to efficiency. For some reason, efficiency has become—as Ross Perot used to call it—“the crazy aunt in the basement that no one wants to pay attention to.” Yet that’s where the lowest hanging fruit is. That’s where businesses can make the biggest difference, and where they can get the biggest return on their investents.

What are you hoping to accomplish with your blog?

I’m a storyteller, and sustainablity is very much about storytelling. Sustainability and green issues combine very scientific, geeky facts with very personal choices around our bodies, families, communities, and our future. It’s head and heart. The other part is that this is a huge business opportunity. The greening of businesss has huge potential for creating value whether it’s through reduced costs, increased sales, increased quality, or new products and innovations. This needn’t be doom and gloom, and it needn’t be about doing less. I think that’s an important story to tell.

Posted on Jul 10, 2007 at 4:15 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)