With issues like global warming, sustainability, small industrial footprint, industrial ecology, and carbon calculus swirling in the press and the minds of many, there is increased attention on how organizations do or don’t incorporate environmental thinking into their business strategy. There have been numerous articles in the Harvard Business Review (most recently a special report titled “Climate Business-Business Climate”) and other business journals. The Wall Street Journal has been sponsoring a prominent conference titled “ECO:NOMICS, Creating Environmental Capital.”
A recent book by Dan Esty at Yale University, titled Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage, takes these issues to a new level. As a thought-leader in environmental policy and management, Esty has done an excellent job identifying and researching companies who have integrated environmental thinking into to their overall business strategy. Extensive research was conducted of companies that have strong EHS records and ways EHS-related functions have influenced business strategy. The findings of this work yields a valuable set of characteristics that others can use to both strengthen their EHS function as well as use it to influence overall business strategy. Read More