a conversation with Christine Bader, author of "The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil"

We'll be highlighting a new speaker and agenda theme each week leading up to our summer conference on June 25-26 at Yale University. This week, we're featuring Christine Bader, who will be delivering a keynote talk, "Why Scaling up is so Damn Hard," the morning of June 25th.

We all know what companies need to do. But what is it like to be the one who is assigned to actually do it? Why do even companies and individuals with the best intentions fail -- and what do they need in order to succeed? Christine Bader, Yale SOM '00 and Author of "The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil," was one of those people. She will kick off our conference by sharing reflections and lessons from her time with BP, weaving in the stories of other intrapreneurs inside big companies, to inform and inspire us.

About the Book

"The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist is a quick read, effortlessly gulped during a long airplane flight. The writing is clear and concise, and if the book doesn't leave one convinced that every multinational has suddenly developed a guiding conscience, it does offer some encouragement that many are on the way." --The New York Times

With special thanks to the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, we'll be providing copies of the book to all meeting attendees free of charge. Interested? Click here to register now.

Andy Mangan, US BCSD Executive Director, was invited to speak about By-Product Synergy on April 25th at the first Congreso Internacional de Residuos (International Congress of Waste), held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The global event was attended by representatives from Colombia, Costa Rica, Venezuela, United States, Brazil, Spain, Greece, Italy, England, Germany and France.

Geneva/New Haven, CT, April 8, 2014 – The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) today announced a partnership with the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) and the Yale School of Management (SOM) that will promote collaboration between Yale scholars and global business leaders to address critical sustainability issues. The partnership builds on ongoing collaborations between the Yale Center for Business and the Environment and the WBCSD’s U.S.-based Regional Network partner, the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development. The partnership will enable Yale students and faculty to engage directly with business leaders from across the WBCSD network with the ultimate aim of inspiring management practices –particularly across the 25-school Global Network for Advanced Management established by SOM – that better address the business challenges of the 21st century.

“The world needs action on sustainability issues, and more importantly, action that can be scaled up,” said Peter Bakker, president, WBCSD. “We’re partnering with Yale University to better leverage the worlds of science and management schools to scale up ideas and create new ways of approaching how business can positively contribute to a sustainable future.”

The partnership’s initial focus will be the promotion of regional internships for students, research opportunities, and a pilot online course – Natural Capital: Risks and Opportunities in Global Resource Systems, which was launched in January. The course uses case studies to highlight businesses’ dependence on access to critical resources, such as materials, energy, food and water, and the risks and opportunities inherent to operating in an increasingly resource-strained environment.

“WBCSD is leading the effort to bring actionable science about the resource systems on which we all depend to networks of global and local businesses around the world," said Yale professor Brad Gentry, co-director of the Center for Business & the Environment at Yale (CBEY), who teaches the online course.

"Helping businesses understand the systemic risks to their operations going forward, as well as the opportunities to offer business solutions for those risks, is the best path for bringing business creativity and innovation to a sustainable future.”

The WBCSD will also leverage its vast network of business leaders, policymakers and subject-matter experts for a Yale-based speaker series that will offer real-world insights on sustainability issues. In addition, the partnership calls for the creation and use of new materials and curriculum for sustainability leadership and innovation, including faculty workshops and an “immersion week” for faculty and business partners.

About Yale F&ES

The Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES) is an internationally recognized graduate school that trains tomorrow's environmental leaders, and creates new knowledge to sustain and restore the long-term health of the planet and the well-being of its people. Yale F&ES provides professional training across a broad range of specializations to students from around the world, offering masters degrees in environmental management, forestry, forest science and environmental science, in addition to a PhD degree program. Yale F&ES also offers joint masters degrees with nine different schools for disciplines including law, management, public health, and architecture.

About the Yale School of Management

The Yale School of Management attracts broad-minded, intellectually curious students and faculty. An integrated curriculum, close ties to Yale University, and an active connection to the Global Network for Advanced Management ensure that Yale MBAs not only acquire crucial technical skills but also develop a genuine understanding of an increasingly complex global context. Yale MBAs assimilate information and ideas from multiple sources, functional areas, and points of view to lead effectively in all regions and sectors. Yale SOM offers a full-time MBA program, as well as an MBA for Executives with focus areas in sustainability, asset management, and healthcare, Master of Advanced Management, and PhD.

About the Global Network for Advanced Management

The Global Network for Advanced Management is a group of 25 leading business schools around the world that promotes exchanges between professors, students, and alumni, as well as research into global business issues. The network supports project work between students as part of a global team, organizes exchanges such as the Global Network Weeks through which students can attend lectures and courses at other member universities, and offers Global Network Courses, for-credit courses taught online by a member school that are open to students throughout the network.

On March 20th the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation released a new report titled “Achieving Energy and Water Security: Scalable Solutions from the Private Sector.” Featuring more than 25 business success stories, the report shows how companies solve energy and water challenges in their operations and supply chains. The US BCSD’s Louisiana Water Synergy Project is highlighted as one of the 25.

For the past two years, the United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD) has worked with 21 diverse companies in the lower Mississippi River watershed to address a range of water issues. Coca-Cola is working with Mosaic Fertilizer to address water quality concerns. Valero Energy and Nucor Steel Louisiana LLC have explored new options for wetlands restoration through changes in water management. Projects and policy recommendations have emerged that have been greeted with high interest by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and from a concurrent public sector regional water planning effort.

This multi-sector teaming demonstrates that there is considerable regional interest in using the speed and efficiency of market-based institutions to seek out ways of converting water problems into economic opportunities, and to develop a collective capacity for conserving watershed systems as both private and public goods. (Page 40)

Visit the USCCF’s website to download the report and learn more about how the private sector leverages new technologies, innovation, partnerships, and other approaches to help achieve greater energy and water security. The report also features best practices from leading companies including FedEx, Shell, Ford, Microsoft, Office Depot, and more.

You slashed your water consumption. You shrank your energy bill. You improved efficiencies in your supply chain. Now what? It's time to put sustainability to work for your business. On May 6th, join us at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Accelerating Sustainability Forum to learn innovative sustainability strategies that can enhance your brand, cut cost, and grow revenue faster and at greater scale. The Chamber, US BCSD, WBCSD and SustainAbility will be bringing together some of the greatest minds and proven practitioners from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to explore two approaches -- enhanced, scaled collaboration and sustainability-driven innovation. These concepts are redefining what businesses can achieve around energy and water use that delivers shared value for your business, society, and the environment. Through visionary speakers, action-oriented sessions, and ample networking opportunities, you will work with other sustainability leaders to refine the partnerships, tools, and techniques you need to create the energy and water solutions to accelerate transformative change.

[button style="xlarge blue rounded" link="http://ccc.uschamber.com/event/accelerating-sustainability" ]Learn More[/button]

Those of you that attended out last Annual Meeting heard a great presentation by Mandar Apte, Global Partnerships Director at Media Rise, on the power of storytelling and meaningful media to accelerate social change. For those that are interested, Media Rise is putting on two events in the near future, Early Rise DC on February 27th and Early Rise Austin on March 7th.

• Media Rise is excited to launch “Early Rise 2014,” a worldwide series of morning mixers for people committed to inspiring media for social good. Our first event will be held in Washington, D.C.
• Join us for an inspiring talk, meditation and networking over healthy breakfast & coffee.
• Mix & mingle with storytellers, designers, activists, business leaders & educators who share your passion & energy for meaningful media.
• Get inspired by changemakers who use media effectively to accelerate social transformation at the individual & community level.

Visit their website at http://www.mediarisenow.com/early-rise-2014/ for more information and to register.

Our report and highlights from our Annual Meeting, which took place on February 5th and 6th in Austin, Texas, is now published. Hit the button below to check it out.

[button style="xlarge blue rounded" link="http://usbcsd.org/scale-up" ]read the report[/button]

A huge thanks goes out to all our members, colleagues and friends who braved the chilly weather to join us at our Annual Meeting last week. The two-day event was a resounding success, thanks in large part to your enthusiastic participation. Keep an eye out for our post-meeting report!

This panel of global thought leaders, who met at the Yale School of Management's Business + Society Conference on January 10th, explored the private sector’s role in protecting and enhancing the human and natural systems that provide the energy, water, food, land, and wide range of other goods and services upon which we all rely. Read more.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA), the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF), the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) are working together to create a new Nutrient Management Strategy for the state of Louisiana. Their purpose is to manage nitrogen and phosphorous to protect and restore water quality in Louisiana’s inland and coastal waters – using incentives and voluntary action to get there. The task force released a review draft of the strategy in December 2013, calling on numerous state and federal agencies and stakeholders from the watershed to play a part in implementing the strategy.

The US BCSD’s Water Synergy Project is highlighted for proactively addressing nutrient management issues and is cited for providing input to the Louisiana Statewide Nutrient Management Strategy. The project's focus on stakeholder engagement, voluntary action, and cross-sector collaboration provided examples of nutrient management efforts already at work.

Implementation of the multi-component strategy includes creating river diversions, using best management practices and conservation practices at non-point sources, promoting wetland assimilation at point sources, providing incentives to practice stewardship, taking advantage of opportunities to leverage current efforts, and utilizing new science-based technologies and applications.

The state of Louisiana is currently accepting comment on the review draft of the strategy through January 31, 2014. To view the draft yourself, visit http://www.lanutrientmanagement.org/. For more information on the Louisiana Water Synergy Project, visit http://water-synergy.org/.

Are you one of our 647 followers on Twitter? We post short, daily updates to highlight US BCSD activities, member activities and interesting sustainability news from around the world. Visit twitter.com/usbcsd and hit "follow" today.

US BCSD Member General Motors' 110th Landfill-free property is a big one: 5.5 million square-feet, 12,000 office workers, 3,000 daily visitors, with a 73-floor hotel. The Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan is no longer sending any waste to the dump. The Detroit Free Press reports,

“From our CEO all the way across the organization, every single person plays a role in this project,” said John Bradburn, GM’s waste reduction manager and US BCSD Chairman. Purging waste from the RenCen bedeviled GM’s environmental sustainability officials for a time. For example, the hotel needed to find a way to address mattresses. The automaker collaborated with 11 other RenCen corporate tenants — including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — as well as 27 retailers and 20 restaurants. “It’s a very, very diverse site,” Bradburn said. “For us to get this done, we needed to get everybody’s buy-in — and we were very pleased to know when we sat down with the various retailers and businesses in there, they were very enthused about doing this.” (Source)

Read more by clicking here.

Our colleagues at the WBCSD produced this short video on why your business should account for Natural Capital. Learn more at http://www.pitchfornature.com/. Want to take action on Natural Capital? Attend our Business Ecosystems Training on December 4th in Columbus, Ohio. Visit bet-us.org for more information and to register.

We’re please to announce that Keeping PACE in Texas was honored as the 2013 Statewide Collaborative of the Year at the Texas Renewables 2013 Conference organized by the Texas Renewable Energy Industry Association (TREIA). The award was presented to Keeping PACE in Texas “for building constituencies and coordinating the roll out of an innovative financing method for energy and water efficiency projects in Texas.” Keeping PACE in Texas is a non-profit business association organized for the purpose of promoting Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing programs throughout the state of Texas. Under the leadership of Executive Director Charlene Heydinger, KPT's first goal - the enactment of PACE-enabling legislation - was accomplished on June 14, 2013, with the passage of The Property Assessed Clean Energy Act.

KPT is now focused on assisting counties and municipalities with the creation, design, and implementation of locally-administered PACE programs. To this end, KPT is organizing a group of more than 50 stakeholders – property owners, lenders, energy service companies, industry trade associations, local governmental authorities, and others – in a collaboration to create uniform standards, documentation, and best practices for PACE financing programs in Texas. The effort takes into account best practices and lessons learned in other parts of the country.

Upon completion of this effort, KPT will assemble a tool kit, to be known as “PACE in a Box”, containing everything a county or municipality requires to establish effective PACE programs at the local or regional level throughout the state. The development of PACE in a Box will accelerate the implementation of PACE financing programs in Texas, enabling Texas to serve as a model for other states to follow as they implement their PACE programs.

Istanbul, 5 November 2013 - In the face of unprecedented global, regional and local sustainability challenges, the need for transparent and effective non-financial reporting has never been more urgent. In partnership with Radley Yeldar, the WBCSD has conducted one of the largest independent research projects of corporate non-financial reporting, entitled Reporting matters - WBCSD 2013 Baseline Report. Reporting matters, launched at the WBCSD’s Council meeting this week in Istanbul, sheds light on effective non-financial reporting practices and offers a pool of inspirational examples to stimulate the sharing of best practices. The review provides recommendations so that corporate reports can help companies create value for all stakeholders in the short, medium and long-term.

Using a set of qualitative criteria, the WBCSD conducted a review of 175 of its members’ sustainability reports to identify effective reporting practices for the benefit of WBCSD members and the wider corporate community. The research reveals that while there are many examples of outstanding reporting practice, there are also many opportunities to make reporting even more effective - often through simple quick-win actions.

“Reporting practices need to change to ensure that businesses are truly valued on what is important and that more sustainable companies get better recognized and rewarded for their performance,” said Peter Bakker, President of the WBCSD.

Reporting matters also takes into account recent developments in reporting frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 Guidelines and the recently issued draft of the Integrated Reporting Framework. Although integrated reporting is by no means the principle channel through which companies report on their non-financial performance, Reporting matters research shows that the GRI guidelines are used by the majority of companies, and that the Integrated Reporting Framework is gaining traction.

The report also suggests that effective corporate reports are those that are engaging and meet readers’ information needs, which is why a significant part of the research in Reporting matters focuses on report users’ experience.

“Understanding report audiences’ needs is key to effective reporting. The very best reports can act as a catalyst for change, and that’s why this research is so important in providing much needed focus on ‘how’ to report in addition to ‘what’,” said Ben Richards, Head of Sustainability at Radley Yeldar.

Among many criteria, the concept of materiality emerges as the cornerstone of effective reporting. Derived from a principle of financial reporting, materiality is used to help focus on a more strategic approach as well as to guide investment and resources allocation decisions.

Through effective reporting, the WBCSD urges companies to scale up solutions to global priorities identified by the WBCSD’s new Action2020 initiative, and progress towards its Vision2050 ideals of true cost, true profit and true value. The WBCSD will work with its members on ‘changing the rules of the game’ by developing tools for the integration of sustainability into risk management frameworks and valuation models, and through engagement with standard setters, the investment community and regulators.

Read more about the WBCSD’s work on reporting and investment.

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman and Founder of the Carbon War Room, addresses the audience at the launch of the Clean Energy Green Corridor program. A partnership between Ygrene Energy Fund & seven Miami-Dade municipalities, the Green Corridor provides 100% financing for commercial & residential property improvements.

In a multi-part release over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting a series of updates exploring key themes and recent outcomes from the Louisiana Water Synergy Project. While these themes are Louisiana-specific, all of them can be applicable to most watersheds in the US. During the July 30th Louisiana Water Synergy Project meeting, guests from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF), and the Louisiana State University AgCenter joined project participants to discuss nutrients management and water quality in watersheds across the state of Louisiana.

LDEQ, the Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority (CPRA), LDAF, and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) are working on a comprehensive Louisiana nutrient management plan with the goal of managing nutrient levels in inland and coastal water bodies.

The nutrient management plan will be released by the end of 2013, and includes water quality monitoring, point source wetland assimilation, coastal river diversions, and best management practices. LDEQ is seeking to incentivize non-point sources – like municipalities and agricultural operations – to adopt best management practices. They also encourage industry in LA to openly communicate what they’re already doing to manage nutrients in an effort to foster a positive relationship between point and non-point sources.

Farmers and ranchers face significant challenges to produce more and impact less in this era of rapidly increasing global population. While interested in using best management practices, producers look to their consumers for help getting there. An example of such collaboration is Kellogg’s Rice Master Grower program, a joint effort between the Kellogg Company, the Louisiana Rice Mill, and the Louisiana State University AgCenter. The program recognizes farmers based on their growing practices, giving the highest honors to those who utilize best management practices most extensively.

Discussions between regulators, industry, and the agriculture community at Water Synergy Project meetings have proven the common goal of managing nutrients and water quality unites the sectors - with all sides interested in collaboration. One pilot project currently being explored would focus on an impaired inland lake where facilities and farmers operating in the region could work together to identify needs, take action, and possibly engage in environmental markets where the costs and benefits of the project are shared among participating parties.

Collaboration between regulators, industry, and the agriculture community has the potential to comprehensively improve water quality in Southern Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico, and replicating the project process in other watersheds has potential to improve water quality throughout the country. Visit our water page or contact Susan Fernandes for information.

Property Assessed Clean Energy financing in Texas was front page news in the Texas Tribune and New York Times today, highlighting its effectiveness as a mechanism to boost energy efficiency.

"The approach, known as Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, addresses the biggest barrier to efficiency investments: initial costs that can take years to recoup. A law allowing cities and counties to set up programs passed this year with overwhelming support in the Legislature.

PACE allows the owners of commercial and industrial property to use a property tax lien to finance energy efficiency upgrades like solar panels and water recycling systems. PACE programs bill an owner through the lien and forward payments to a private lender. Under a smooth-running program, property owners pay less than what they save on their energy bills. If a property is sold, the new owner would inherit the debt — a rule meant to further reduce the risks of investment."

For more information about PACE in Texas, visit http://www.keepingpaceintexas.org/

Source: Texas Tribune, New York Times