This Tuesday, I had the opportunity to participate in a half-day seminar on “What Sustainability Means to a Company’s Bottom Line.” The event was hosted by SAS in our green LEED-certified Canadian Headquarters in Toronto.
As I was preparing for the seminar, I reflected on the topic at hand. I posed the question: if sustainability doesn’t improve an organization’s bottom line, then would this be a hot topic in boardrooms around the world today? Some may argue that, yes, reputation and other intangible benefits are reasons for investing in green practices. And that is true. However, David Senf from IDC shared that brand value is the least compelling of the investment drivers. What is top of mind? Cost Reductions.
There are some real case examples of organizations that derive bottom line benefits from sustainable strategies. I shared examples from the Poste Italiane Group and an Event & Entertainment Company. But the one stand-out in my mind is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . In 2006, the President of the University signed the American College and Universities President’s Climate Commitment, pledging to be carbon neutral – no net greenhouse gas emissions – by 2050. Given that the university operates like a small city with over 17.5M sq ft of space, public transit, and a coal fired power plant, they needed assistance to quickly assess areas for potential improvements. Using statistical discovery software and advanced data visualization tools, they are now able to look at 10 years worth of data on their 300 campus facilities.
In one recent case, they identified a building that was consuming significantly less resources after a maintenance upgrade improved energy efficiency. However, after 8 months, the building returned to its previous consumption pattern. The change in consumption was easily spotted in the visualization technology, reported to building engineers, and within two days the faulty valve was fixed. UNC estimates that this identified $30,000 of annual energy savings in that one building alone. What could be accomplished over the entire 300 asset inventory?
The progressive nature of UNC’s program is exemplary. Those of us working in the sustainability field at SAS believe that, in the future, managing carbon will be just as normal as managing your financial budget.
Please share your experiences with how sustainability contributes to the bottom line.
