How About a PB&J for a Day?

By Sodexo Guest Blogger, Bernard Brown

Last year on Earth Day you probably resolved to take shorter showers, or to start composting your kitchen waste, or maybe to take public transportation to work. These are all important steps towards a more sustainable life, but this year how about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Huh? You may think that it may sound quite tasty, but how does it help the planet? Well, eating a PB&J or other plant-based meal instead of one based on animal products is actually a powerful step towards fighting global warming, saving water, and using less land.

We’re not talking peanuts here. We figure that if every one of the ten million people Sodexo serves goes for a plant-based meal on Earth Day, instead of what they’d ordinarily eat, we could all save about 12,400 tons of greenhouse gas emissions, about 1.3 billion gallons of water, and about 5,500 acres of land.

And making a difference can also be delicious! We picked America’s favorite sandwich to show that helping the planet is easy and tastes great, and on Earth Day we’re looking forward to the creative PB&J-themed dishes that Sodexo chefs are inventing across the country to make just this point. Don’t like peanut butter? No problem – basically any meal built around grains and beans will work – pasta, bean burritos, falafel, tofu. (We don’t want to scare anyone away by saying this is healthy, but we can’t lie: eating more whole grains, legumes, and veggies is good for your health too!)

We’re not talking about major life changes here, just to put this change in the environmentally-friendly toolkit along with taking out the recycling, riding public transportation to work, or screwing in a compact fluorescent light bulb. Any time you’re staring at the menu and trying to make up your mind, it is an opportunity to make a difference. We’re delighted to see Sodexo taking this Earth Day to share this powerful message with millions of Americans. And besides, which is more fun to eat, a light bulb or a PB&J? 

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Create Meaningful Work: Key to Profitability and Employee Retention

“Engaged employees are not just committed. They are not just passionate or proud. They have a line-of-sight on their own future and on the organization’s mission and goals. They are enthused and in gear using their talents and discretionary effort to make a difference in their employer’s quest for sustainable business success”.  – Employee Engagement Report 2008. 

 Sounds good, right?  The question is, “How do I get my employees this engaged?”  The answer:   Leadership.  Leading is about making sure, first of all, that the company is engaged in changing people’s lives for the better. When that’s the case, employees’ awareness that they have a lot to do with the company’s work lights their fire from within. That inner flame causes them to bring their imagination and creativity to the enterprise. They feel it’s “their” company, and they take ownership of the customers. 

 So what does this have to do with sustainability?  Today’s companies and entrepreneurs are presented with the unique opportunity to increase profitability through greater eco awareness and the pursuit of a more sustainable business.   To gain and maintain a competitive advantage over the competition, sustainable business leaders are making meaningful work a top priority.   Top qualities of a sustainable business leader pave the way for aligning company visions and strategies through shared values with employees:
 

• Company has a genuine commitment to sustainability by management at the highest level, with sustainability principles present in core values and business strategies.
• Sustainability strategies are cascaded down through management and are incorporated into organizational and individual performance goals.
• Employees are informed, motivated, and actively engaged in the company’s sustainability program.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for sustainability are fully integrated into the business processes, corporate performance, and employee recognition.
• Company has active dialog with key stakeholders on sustainability issues, including customer to understand how sustainability issues relate to different market segments.
• Defined strategies to ensure business sustainability initiatives add value both to the company and community and to the business.
• Transparent reporting on sustainability concepts and sensitive issues, with both positive and negative results.

 
Employees are often argued to be the greatest resource of a company.  When employee’s values resonate with those of the corporation, they are more productive, loyal, and their work is meaningful.  Harness the power of human capital through business sustainability in your organization today.

Greenpeace tells you The naked truth about the F-word and climate

1,000 Companies Delisted by UN Global Compact Since 2008

The number of companies delisted since 2008 for repeated failure to meet the UN Global Compact’s mandatory annual reporting requirement, also known as the Communication on Progress (COP) policy, has now passed 1,000.

As part of the announcement, the Global Compact Office also released a full listing of the 1,005 companies delisted as of 6 October.

Businesses in the Global Compact are required to report annually on progress made in the implementation of the initiative’s ten principles covering human rights, workplace standards, the environment, and anti-corruption. Failure to submit a COP to the public Global Compact database within one year of joining the Global Compact results in a change of a company’s status. Consecutive failures to submit a COP leads to removal (delisting) of the company.

Despite the number of delistings, the Global Compact continues to grow at a rate of roughly 100 new participants per month, with the current total of active business and non-business participants standing at over 7,000 organizations in more than 135 countries.

The COP policy was introduced in 2005 to ensure transparency and public accountability of the business commitment, drive continuous performance improvement, safeguard the integrity of the Global Compact as a whole and contribute to the development of a repository of corporate practices.

The now more than 1,000 delisted companies include both small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) and larger companies, and are also proportionally represented among industry sectors and countries in the Global Compact – indicating that the COP framework is equally relevant across business size, sector and geographic region.

“Over the years, the Global Compact’s framework has become increasingly robust, through the establishment of integrity measures, introduction of guidance materials, and the support of the many local networks that provide COP mentoring,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact. “By all indications, we expect corporate disclosure of policies and practices to become more common, as companies joining the Global Compact increasingly enter with a better understanding of the critical value of reporting on environmental, social and governance performance.”

While delisted companies are removed entirely from the Global Compact’s public database, the initiative allows companies to return to active status. To officially rejoin the Global Compact companies must provide a new commitment from the chief executive officer addressed to the UN Secretary-General and submit a COP to the public database.

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Why do B Corps matter? Annual report will explain, inspire, motivate entrepreneurs to build a new economy NOW

B Lab, the nonprofit that certifies B Corporations (“B” is for benefit), will publish the first B Corporation Annual Report in collaboration with Sustainable Industries, the business source for leaders of the New Economy. The report will include a summary of B Lab’s progress to date in building a new sector of the economy through the growing community of certified B Corps, creation of a new corporate form, and a new rating system for impact investors.

In a time when many are looking for concrete, market-based solutions to systemic problems made plain by the financial meltdown, the B Corp community has grown 80 percent in the past year and thousands of businesses, large institutional investors and policy makers at every level of government have adopted the performance and legal standards outlined by the B Rating System.

Two characteristics distinguish B Corporations:

• B Corporations’ legal structure expands corporate accountability to consider employees, community and environment, not just shareholders, helping them to grow and raise money while maintaining mission
• The transparent, comprehensive B Corporation performance standards empower consumers to support businesses that align with their values, investors to drive capital to higher impact investments, and governments and multinational corporations to implement sustainable procurement policies. Today, there are 220 B Corporations in 28 states representing 54 industries

“This report will explain why B Corps matter and why now is the time to address fundamental, systemic problems with systemic solutions that go beyond window dressing and pleas for more regulation,” said Jay Coen Gilbert, one of the three founders of B Lab. “We hope readers will walk away inspired by the impact B Corporations are having and better equipped to forge their own path to build a new, more inclusive and sustainable new economy in which businesses serve society as well as shareholders.”

The B Corp Annual Report includes:

• Summary data on community growth, diversity and impact comparing B Corps and non-B Corps
• Profiles of B Corps achieving high impact in each area assessed by the B Impact Rating System (Employee, Environment, Community, Consumer). B Corps profiled include: Seventh Generation, IceStone, Cardinal Resources, ShoreBank, SABEResPODER, Indigenous Designs, Sustainable Harvest, Greyston Bakery, Dansko, King Arthur Flour, Method, Plum Organics
• A directory of 205 Certified B Corps arranged by industry, and profiles of innovations that can be used as a resource for journalists covering social entrepreneurship, and business owners and entrepreneurs interested in learning more about running a purpose-driven company

The B Corporation Annual Report will be mailed to subscribers of Sustainable Industries magazine with the November issue and will be available on newsstands in mid October. Limited advance copies of the B Corporation Annual Report are available to select journalists. To secure a copy, please contact Anna Ghosh at Anna@Strauscom.com.

B Lab is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a new sector of the economy that harnesses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. This sector will be comprised of a new type of corporation—the B Corporation – which creates economic opportunity, builds strong communities and preserves a healthy environment.  B Corps meet higher standards of accountability, transparency, and social and environmental performance.  As of September 2009, there are over 220 certified B Corporations from over 50 industries with more than $1 billion in revenues and $7 billion in assets under management.

B Lab’s objective is to help B Corps become legally recognized by the states, tax preferred by the IRS, and valued by employees, investors, and consumers.   B Lab also re-purposes the standards used to certify B Corps to help investors make high impact investments and governments implement policies to support sustainable business.

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GreenWorks NYC – Ally LaTourelle on Starting up a Green Business (Video)