Green business surviving, even thriving during recession

Corporate environmental activity has survived, even thrived during the recession as companies increasingly turn to environmental actions to cut costs, comply with customer demands, and remain competitive, according to the annual "State of Green Business" report produced by GreenBiz.com.

Launched as a precursor to State of Green Business Forum events, which took place this week in San Francisco and Chicago, the 2010 green business progress report shows that environmental improvements and innovations became a means of surviving lean times, and being more competitive once things rebound.

"Amid the recession has been something notable – something that made this economic downturn distinct from all the others over the past quarter century," said Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com and principal author of the report. "Green professionals weren't among the first to be thrown overboard. Their budgets were slashed, their headcounts frozen, all while their mandates sometimes increased. But they managed to survive, even thrive, during tough times."

The free downloadable report, which measures the progress of U.S. business and the economy from an environmental perspective, shows steady improvement in such areas as reducing the environmental impact of information technology, increasing the stock of office space certified to use less energy and improve employee health, reducing paper use and increasing its recycling, and reducing the amount of water used to run the economy.

Of the 20 measures of progress assessed by the annual GreenBiz Index, six were shown to be making significant progress and three were determined to be losing ground; the remaining 11 indicators were deemed to be "treading water" – that is, holding steady or making incremental progress, insufficient to the scale of the problems that need to be addressed.

Among the other key trends noted in this year's report is the notion of "Radical transparency – the virtuous circle that develops when detailed information about companies, products and ingredients is instantly available, enabling consumers to make smarter choices, thereby moving markets toward less-harmful products." The report points to a wide range of efforts by independent Web sites, major retailers like Walmart, non-profit environmental groups, and the mainstream media that are divulging detailed information about products' environmental attributes being made available as never before.

The growth of green automobiles was another positive sign. While individual car buyers stayed out of showrooms during 2009, pushing the world's automakers to the brink, corporate and institutional buyers proved a bright spot for the industry. Fleet buyers ramped up their purchases of hybrid-electric, diesel, biodiesel, electric and other so-called alternative-fueled vehicles, from taxis to trucks. These buyers continued leadership role will be critical to electric-vehicle manufacturers' hopes of growing sales and lowering costs.

Disposal of electronic waste was seen as a trend that is doing poorly, when measured by the amount of waste being recycled compared to the amount coming into the waste stream each year. According to the report, only about one-seventh of the nearly 3 million tons of e-waste disposed of in the U.S. is being recycled, an amount that hasn't grown much over the past few years.

On the other hand, the amount of water needed to produce each dollar of U.S. gross domestic product has dropped steadily over the past decade, and about 30 percent over the past 25 years. The improvements come largely from industrial use, energy companies and utilities, and manufacturing and mining processes.

In perhaps the most encouraging sign that green business has become embedded in corporations, the report cites research conducted by GreenBiz.com showing that investments in green product development continue to show growth, especially in companies with revenues greater than $1 billion. When these big companies were asked about investment in green product development, 86 percent said it would be equal to or greater in 2010 than last year.

"The green economy is alive and well, even during tough times," says Makower, who has been covering green business since the 1980s. "There are encouraging signs that innovation and clean technologies, as well as more efficient business operations, can help the U.S. emerge more competitive as the economy recovers."

To download a free copy of "State of Green Business 2010," visit http://GreenBiz.com.