Discover Environmental Impacts and Innovative Solutions

Environmental issues are top of mind for many companies and their stakeholders. With public awareness of environmental issues on the rise, companies have started to respond in meaningful ways through their investment decisions, environmental goals, and impact reduction. In the past few years, several major disruptive weather events have interrupted business as usual, underlining the need to address environmental issues as a serious risk to business. The United States public spent approximately $100 billion responding to extreme weather events in the last year (NRDC.org 2012) and companies are not immune to such high costs. The benefits of managing environmental impacts are both tangible and intangible, often resulting in cost savings and even revenue generation (see this research brief for more information.)

In the 2012 Center for Corporate Citizenship research report, The State of Corporate Citizenship, environmental programs received the highest percentage of reported increases in resources over the past three years, and respondents anticipate those percentages to increase even further in the next three years. Respondents reported overwhelming agreement on the environment as a priority for which a company be held responsible. United States executives and consumers agree that companies should ensure environmental sustainability. According to Nielsen’s Globally Conscious Consumer report, this priority is consistent across gender and age, and it is especially true in Asia and Europe. All groups surveyed felt that companies have a significant role to play in protecting the environment.

Member companies have many different strategies in place to reduce the impact of the business on the environment, including efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, rely less on limited natural resources, and build awareness through their connections with the general public. The Center for Corporate Citizenship is dedicated to supporting the initiatives of companies to reduce impacts, engage employees, and build awareness of environmental issues. We see such investments as strategic decisions that ultimately improve the sustainability of the company as a whole by reducing risk, encouraging employees to become involved and invested, and responding to an important social need. Even small steps taken by companies can lead to big impacts.

During this month’s webinar, we feature three member companies who take different approaches to environmental issues, but who share a mutual goal of improving the environment in which they live and work. They will describe their environmental practices and innovative solutions, and why they chose to focus on particular areas.

We hope you will join us on July 10^th at 12pm to hear from Diana Glassman, the Head of Environmental Affairs at TD Bank; Suzette Carty, Manager of Environmental Sustainability for Brown-Forman; and Tom Carpenter, Director of Growth & Development at Waste Management Sustainability Service.

Click here to sign up for the webinar.