I spoke earlier this week on a webinar of the Association of Climate Change Officers (ACCO). I joined Erin Meezan – VP of Sustainability, Interface and Patrick Browne – Sustainability Program Manager, UPS on the panel. Moderated by Samantha Putt
Patrick described the programs that UPS has implemented. Of course, I particularly relished hearing about the programs, such as GPS enabled vehicle routing and package flow, that use ICT technologies to reduce carbon emissions!
I addressed the foundational components that I think are required as we move forward into the next generation of corporate climate action. These include:
- Reinforcing Why
- Taking a Holistic Approach
- Taking an External Leadership Role
- Solution Focused Target Setting
I also described a set of tactical activities that will allow us to think creatively and so help get to the magnitude of reductions we need to achieve in business. But you will have to take a look at the slides or listen to the replay if you want to know what they were!
This is a great summary - I thought your comments about companies setting goals using a broad perspective was very important. Many companies are setting climate or sustainability goals by just looking at their own business or industry - and missing the bigger picture. Setting these unrelated, often incremental goals, doesn't lead to really unleashing the creativity of a company. Have you seen the Social Footprint Model and how companies are using it? Very analogous - companies are using this to identify and develop CSR goals that are ties into broader perspectives - and using things like the Millenium Development Gaols to benchmark their CSR progress - very interesting - it was developed by Mark McElroy.
ReplyDeleteErin, thanks for your comments. I haven't come across the Social Footprint Model before. I found a slide deck here http://www.sustainableinnovation.org/Sustainability-Learning-SocialFootprint.pdf, but it doesn't seem to be self contained (needs the speaker to go along with it !). Can I tempt you back to provide some guidance on where I might find a better description ?
ReplyDeletethanks
Kevin