From GHGprotocol.org:

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG Protocol, a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is working with businesses, governments, and environmental groups around the world to build a new generation of credible and effective programs for tackling climate change.

-

Check out this WRI & WBCSD video on the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Protocol.

Very nice!

CLICK TO find out more about how you can understand, quantify, and manage your organisation’s greenhouse gas emissions, and get in step with your carbon footprint.

By Jochen Kleef, on Ecopoint Asia:

Last week here in Hong Kong, UK officials shared the latest efforts by their Government to shift their economy away from coal and oil towards a more transparent, and in the long term, sustainable model: the low carbon economy.

In contrast to HK, the UK has fully embraced the move towards a different economic model thereby preparing the country for a future of limited resources where everything has to be more efficient and smarter. In doing so, the Government takes on a leadership role that is visionary, and backs this vision with the necessary legislative steps to turn the vision into reality.

Read the full story on Ecopoint Asia

-

Work for a sustainability Business in Asia?

• Get listed on the Business Directory
• Post Jobs on EcoJobs

-

Ecopoint works with professionals from around the region, locals and expats, to build bridges and identify new opportunities. This site is here to help you cut across social and cultural boundaries, and progress your new green deal. It’s about forming a multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural “virtual” team of some of the best minds in the space. Find the right firm to get things done; locate the right technology for the job.

Start browsing the Ecopoint Business Directory today, or add your business to the database.

From Justmeans:

“It has generally been believed that as an economy suffers, the general public would prefer companies put their money into their employees, rather than philanthropic causes. A new white paper from the Global Monitor finds that the opposite is actually true.

“The white paper has shown that consumers want more CSR during these tough times and companies should not use the economy as an excuse for cutting back on CSR. The companies that continue or even step up their CSR ventures during a bad economy tend to be more successful than those that cut back.

“The study surveyed 27,000 people in 20 countries about global consumer trends and new growth platforms. In essence, CSR is good business, regardless of the economic situation. When people see a company helping the unfortunate, they are more likely to see it as a worthwhile brand.”

From a consumer/economist/business owner point of view, it’s easy to assume that CSR is low on many expnditure-priority-lists. After all, when you can’t collect enough revenue to pay your interest/utilities/wages, it would seem natural to push CSR expenditure to the bottom of the pile.

Obviously, my assumed understanding of the human condition isn’t quite spot on, which makes me feel very good.

So, Mr. MNC’s CEO/COO/CSO/C-something-O, think twice before cutting the CSR budget. Show your board this article. I’m sure they’ll be convinced.

In our journey through Singapore offering services to companies in terms of sustainability reporting, we often get asked the question: So what?

Well, first of all, it’s great to do a sustainability report, even for internal circulation, because it affords you a clear indication of inefficiencies in the company; the figures are simply reported through a carbon emission number. Conducting a sustainability report is the first step towards reducing your carbon footprint; reducing your carbon footprint is good for your bottom-line.

Proof? From TreeHugger:

“As documented by the referenced CDP findings, a number of Fortune-listed firms with no government regs driving the decision and no special tax incentives offered, are investing their own money in carbon reductions and getting fast returns. Stockholders are beginnning to realise that cutting carbon emissions means greater operating efficiency and lower operating margins: i.e. greater profit.”

The next thing we get asked as well is if we do carbon offsetting. Often we tell them that it’s not wise to look at “buying” your way out of your carbon footprint. Finding sustainable measures in reducing ones’ footprint is much better for the company in terms of environmental performance AND profit margins.

Just because I can, here are some case studies from Ethical Corportation that are more than a little disconcerting:

“Companies and organisations must properly investigate carbon offset investments.

“It may sound like the opening line to a corny joke, but Disney, the Pope, Fiji Water and Chevrolet share a common trait: they’ve all fallen foul of carbon offset standards and have been pulled up for it.

“(Fiji Water) has claimed to offset 120% of its emissions, but when a California resident queried this, the company was shown to be basing its claim on the use of forward accounting: claiming credit for future emissions savings that have not and might not manifest themselves.

“Even the Pope has been challenged on carbon claims… and found wanting. The Holy See had good intentions when it established its own Vatican Climate Forest, to be planted in Hungary, believing that the forest would enable them to become the world’s first carbon neutral state.

“The Vatican’s trees were never in fact planted. The offset retailer offering them, KlimaFa, went bust, despite having received the land free of charge from the Hungarian government.

“(Disney) had invested $15.5m in offsets, including $3.5m on HFC-23 gas destruction, and $7 on reforestation and avoided deforestation – both of which are widely regarded as flawed. Indeed, the EU has banned European industries from using HFC-23 project credits, whilst forestry projects continue to attract controversy due to the difficulties in measuring and verifying their effects on greenhouse gases.”

The thing is carbon offsetting is the way we USED to do things. Buying our way out of problems we find ourselves in. Throw that mindset away my friends. It’s 2011. Time to get with the times.

From ISO:

ISO has just released a new brochure in preparation for the Rio+20 summit on sustainable development in 2012 on how voluntary ISO International Standards, developed through the strength of consensus among stakeholders from business, government and society, have provided tools for translating the global desire for a sustainable world expressed since the Earth Summit in 1992 into practical actions that achieve positive results.

The brochure provides a concise description of ISO and how it works, and concrete examples of achievements by the international community, who will be represented at Rio+20, working within the ISO system. The examples illustrate how ISO standards serve as tools in the three dimensions of sustainable development.

Examples include the following:

• In the environmental dimension, the ISO 14000 family of standards for environmental management which translates into action ISO’s commitment to support the objective of sustainable development discussed at the first Earth Summit
• The ISO 14064:2006 and ISO 14065:2007 standards which provide an internationally agreed framework for measuring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and verifying claims made about them (Brief note: We provide ISO 14064 standard, and there is a grant for this for Singapore SME’s).
• More than 650 International Standards for the monitoring of such aspects as the quality of air, water, soil and nuclear radiation. These standards are tools for providing business and government with scientifically valid data on the environmental effects of economic activity. They may also be used as the technical basis for environmental regulations
• Other environment-related work includes standards for designing buildings, or retrofitting existing ones, for improved energy efficiency
• In the economic dimension, ISO standards provide solutions and achieve benefits for almost all sectors of activity, including agriculture, construction, mechanical engineering, manufacturing, distribution, transport, healthcare, information and communication technologies, food, water, the environment, energy, quality management, conformity assessment and services
• In the societal dimension, ISO standards help governments, civil society and the business world to translate societal aspirations, such as for social responsibility, health, and safe food and water, into concrete realizations. In so doing, they support the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

-

Read the brochure in it’s entirety [.pdf]

Who said Singapore can’t do renewable energy again?

Via Straits Times:

The Housing & Development Board (HDB) on Thursday announced that 45 blocks in Punggol will be fitted with solar panels in Singapore’s first solar leasing project, marking a milestone in the country’s fledgling solar industry.

Local solar manufacturer Sunseap Enterprises bagged the tender to design, finance and install the 2 MWp (mega-watt peak) solar system in Punggol Eco-Town.

HDB will foot 30 per cent of the start up costs at $3.28 million. The company will pay the rest of the cost, but will recover this over the next 20 years by selling the solar power generated from the solar panels to Pasir-Ris Punggol Town Council at a preferential rate not higher than the current electricity tariff.

HDB’s chief executive Cheong Koon Hean said yesterday that Punggol, as Singapore’s first eco-town, ‘is the ideal location for us to expand our solar PV (photovoltaic) installations through solar leasing’.

From Ethical Corporation:

“Diageo, the world’s leading premium drinks business, releases its 2011 online Sustainability & Responsibility Report. The 2011 online Sustainability & Responsibility Report highlights progress and aspirations across the company’s key sustainability impacts and our value chain.

“Paul Walsh, CEO, said, ‘Our sustainability performance demonstrates an inherent strength in our business and an enduring model for value creation, and I am sure that our focus on our social and environmental impacts gives us a competitive edge.’

Highlights include:

Alcohol in Society

Supporting, either directly or indirectly, more than 240 programmes to address alcohol misuse with focus on top 40 markets (by value).

Water

Launching Safe Water for Africa an innovative programme in partnership with the Coca-Cola foundation, WaterHealth International and the International Finance Corporation to expand sustainable access to clean water across the continent with an initial focus on West Africa.

Environment

Securing new supply arrangements to ensure that 52% of our electricity now comes from low-carbon sources.

Against a backdrop of increased production, Diageo made progress in all but one of their ambitious environmental targets.

For the first time Drageo set out their sustainable packaging targets against a 2009 baseline.

Community

The Arthur Guinness Fund signed a three-year partnership with Ashoka, a leading association of social entrepreneurs, to help delivery a €3 million project.

Since the launch of Diageo’s Learning for Life skills and capacity building initiative in 2008, 50,999 students have graduated. In 2011, Diageo ran 52 projects in 15 countries.

Our People

In seven of their key markets, Diageo was rated by the Great Place to Work Institute as one of our top employers.

Governance and Ethics

All employees worldwide completed an online Compliance and Ethics Business Code of Conduct training module.”

Johnny Walker? Good.

Baileys? Good.

Guinness? Good.

Sustainability and Responsibility? Excellent.

Good job Diageo. Well played, Sir.

1. What Sustainability Reports say about the state of Business

2. Will CFO’s ever “Get” Sustainability

3. Quality vs Fluff: Building Blocks for GRI Report Assessments

4. SGX listed firms get sustainability Guide (with guide embedded)

5. The Future of CSR Reporting: Coca Cola Releases Video Report

+1!

6. Integrated Reporting: can it solve the sustainability information gap?

As everyone knows, Google had recently disclosed data on it’s energy footprint for the first time. As a person who depends on Google on a daily basis to function, both for work and play (For Google: Search, Chrome, Mail, Calendar, Reader, Analytics, Youtube, Plus, Maps etc), I naturally found these figures very interesting. So interesting that I started thinking about what life would be like without Google.

It sucks.

Now, 1.5 Million tonnes of CO2 sounds like ecological mayhem in itself. But I am willing to state that in relativity (to say, the air travel industry at 3.1 Billion tonnes / year), and in relation to making everyone’s lives easier (this, is a value judgement of course), it isn’t.

Anyway, regardless of whether you agree with  fanboys like us, or disagree and are going to get on the case activist style, we can agree on one thing: The data released is really interesting, or worthy to be on soda bottle caps at least.

Here’s 6 interesting facts / stats from Techland:

Google uses enough energy to continuously power 200,000 homes

Google’s many data centers around the world burn through 260 million watts—one quarter of the output of a nuclear power plant—the New York Times reports. The company had been cagey about revealing energy usage stats in the past, probably because it didn’t want to reveal to competitors how quickly its data centers were growing. It’s no longer a secret that Google needs a crazy amount of data centers to keep things running smoothly.

Google accounts for roughly 0.013 percent of the world’s energy use

Data centers in general are responsible for 1.3 percent of the world’s electricity consumption, according to one estimate, and Google says it accounts for a mere one-hundredth of that statistic. Do the math. The company claims that its data centers are twice as energy-efficient as most others.

One Google search is equal to turning on a 60W light bulb for 17 seconds

Google says it spends about 0.0003 kWh of energy on an average search query, translating to roughly 0.2g of carbon dioxide. Related fact: searching the web 100 times is equivalent to drinking 1.5 tablespoons of orange juice, Google says. That’s hard work!

YouTube can stream for three days on the energy it takes to make a DVD

That stat includes manufacturing, packaging and delivery of the DVD, Google says. One minute of streaming YouTube video consumes 0.0002 kWh of energy, which is about the same amount of energy your body uses in eight seconds.

One year of Gmail is as efficient as a message in a bottle

Google’s just getting silly with this statistic. With the 2.2 kWh that each Gmail user demands per year, Google says you could chug a 750 mL bottle of wine, stuff a letter into it and toss it into the ocean (trip to remote island not included).

Google’s carbon footprint is zero (after offsets)

No, Google doesn’t get all of its energy from wind farms and solar panels. But to make up for the 1.46 million metric tons of carbon dioxide that Google emits every year—mostly from purchased energy to power its data centers—the company buys and generates its own renewable energy or purchases carbon offsets (essentially, funding green efforts elsewhere). The company invests in enough renewable energy to power more than 350,000 homes.

-

1 More from Google: For the energy a single small business uses to host its email locally, approximately 80 businesses could be hosted in the cloud.

(see what I mean about making life easier?)

-

Oh yes, Googles’ green page is pretty neat. It sets the benchmark for corporate green pages for me.

Check it out.