State of Green Business
2013 by Joel Makower and the editors of GreenBiz.com
in partnership with
Contents
Sustainable Business Trends of 2013 The Index
Introduction
2013
06 14 21
01: Natural Capital
09 16 24
02: Risk & Resilience
11 19 28
Where Impacts Happen
38
Natural Capital
41
Company Performance
44
03: Corporate Reporting
04: The Sharing Economy
05: Commerce
Disclosure & Transparency
51
Corporate Leadership
57
More
06: M2M 07: Sustainable Apps 08: Materiality
Technology Convergence Shaping the Profession
27
35
Methodology
63 69
02
09: Company Goals
31
10: Peak Sustainability
33
About GreenBiz
About Trucost
Credits
© 2013 GreenBiz Group Inc. (www.greenbiz.com). May be reproduced for noncommercial purposes only, provided credit is given to GreenBiz Group Inc. and includes this copyright notice.
Introduction
In this, our sixth annual State of Green Business report, we’ve made some significant changes — not just in the look and feel of the document you’re reading, but in its content. First and foremost, we’ve partnered with Trucost, a leading research firm focusing on natural capital and sustainability metrics, to revamp the indicators by which we assess progress by the private sector in addressing global environmental challenges. In the spirit of continuous improvement, we scrapped the set of metrics we’d used for the previous five reports in favor of a more comprehensive and robust set that is global in scope. They cover companies’ natural capital costs, their supply-chain impacts, various measurements of transparency and disclosure, and other things. Unchanged is our Top Trends section, which looks at where the world of sustainable business is headed — the leading indicators of future progress. Our efforts mirror those of the business world we reflect: a work in progress. I hope you find insight and inspiration from this year’s report, and look forward to your feedback.
in partnership with
Contents
Sustainable Business Trends of 2013 The Index
Introduction
2013
06 14 21
01: Natural Capital
09 16 24
02: Risk & Resilience
11 19 28
Where Impacts Happen
38
Natural Capital
41
Company Performance
44
03: Corporate Reporting
04: The Sharing Economy
05: Commerce
Disclosure & Transparency
51
Corporate Leadership
57
More
06: M2M 07: Sustainable Apps 08: Materiality
Technology Convergence Shaping the Profession
27
35
Methodology
63 69
02
09: Company Goals
31
10: Peak Sustainability
33
About GreenBiz
About Trucost
Credits
© 2013 GreenBiz Group Inc. (www.greenbiz.com). May be reproduced for noncommercial purposes only, provided credit is given to GreenBiz Group Inc. and includes this copyright notice.
Introduction
In this, our sixth annual State of Green Business report, we’ve made some significant changes — not just in the look and feel of the document you’re reading, but in its content. First and foremost, we’ve partnered with Trucost, a leading research firm focusing on natural capital and sustainability metrics, to revamp the indicators by which we assess progress by the private sector in addressing global environmental challenges. In the spirit of continuous improvement, we scrapped the set of metrics we’d used for the previous five reports in favor of a more comprehensive and robust set that is global in scope. They cover companies’ natural capital costs, their supply-chain impacts, various measurements of transparency and disclosure, and other things. Unchanged is our Top Trends section, which looks at where the world of sustainable business is headed — the leading indicators of future progress. Our efforts mirror those of the business world we reflect: a work in progress. I hope you find insight and inspiration from this year’s report, and look forward to your feedback.