Efficiency is One of the Strategic Benefits of Sustainability

Background

There is overwhelming evidence of the benefits of sustainability, with a critical benefit being efficiency. Companies that have implemented sustainability strategies have experienced excellent and rapid returns on their investments in enhanced efficiency.
 
What Efficiency Is and Does

Efficiency is doing more with less - longer. It has one of the best rates or returns of any sustainability investment. Businesses, governments, and other organizations have found that embracing efficiency improves performance, reduces costs, minimizes or eliminates pollution, and opens doors to new business opportunities. 
 
Examples of Efficiency at Work

·      Walmart has installed more than 1.5m LED fixtures across more than 6,000 of our stores, parking lots, distribution centers, and corporate offices in ten countries. This has reduced Walmart’s lighting costs by hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade.

·      Since the late 1990s, Hewlett Packard has reduced its waste by 95 percent, saving millions of dollars in the process.

·      Since 1994, Dow has invested $2 billion in improving resource efficiency and has saved $9.8 billion from reduced energy and wastewater consumption in manufacturing.

·      United Technologies Corporation’s sites eliminated almost 40,000 gallons of wastewater and saved over $50,000 per year with a fundamental change in how it manages its test cells, underground storage tanks, and waste streams.

·      General Electric has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32% and water use by 45% compared to 2004 and 2006 baselines, respectively, resulting in $300 million in savings.
 
Quote to Remember

"It is estimated that companies experience an average internal rate of return of 27% to 80% on their sustainability investments."  ~ Harvard Business Review, October 2016
 
Ashkin Take

The evidence above speaks volumes. Sustainability results in enhanced efficiency and greater profitability. It is no longer a choice for businesses. Sustainability is the future.

Stephen P. Ashkin is president of The Ashkin Group, a consulting firm specializing in Green cleaning and sustainability, and CEO of Sustainability Dashboard Tools LLC, for measuring and monitoring sustainability with the goal of protecting natural resources and reducing facility operating costs.  He is considered the “father of Green Cleaning,” is on the Board of the Green Sports Alliance, and has been inducted into the International Green Industry Hall of Fame (IGIHOF).  He can be reached at steveashkin@ashkingroup.com