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Press Release

29.06.2010

10 Questions for a sustainability manager to answer


There are some questions every sustainability manager or CSO is going to encounter along the
carbon journey. One measure of success is how quickly you can put together an intelligent response.

These questions reflect the several elements that are essential to a sustainability program: Data
gathering, planning and analysis, tactics, target setting, strategy, continuous improvement, design
for environment and employee and external engagement.

The other lesson for managers in these questions is that they are focused upon your business and
cannot be addressed with generalities. That is one reason so many sustainability managers will tell
you the most important tool in their toolbox is knowing your company.

1. What's our carbon footprint?

Since carbon dioxide has become something of a surrogate for environmental impact, this is the
question most executives are asking, and it often comes together with a more academic one, such
as "what is a carbon footprint?".

2. How "green" are our products?

Since products are the lifeblood of any company this question tends to follow very quickly. Again,
the likely follow-on is something like "exactly how do we determine if our products are green?”. The
area of product standards and ecolabels is rapidly changing.

3. Where do we stand relative to our competitors?

A frame of reference is always important and most companies tend to look to competitors,
customers and similar companies for benchmarks in term of carbon footprint. Thanks to the Internet
and the growing trend towards corporate reporting, this task of benchmarking has become much
easier.

4. How do we become a greener company?

This is the most complex questions in many ways since the answer can literally involve every part of
an enterprise and its supply chain. It involves both short-term tactics and project management, as
well as longer-term program development and strategy.

5. How educated and engaged are our employees?

This is another question that signals a sustainability journey is maturing since the conversation is
expanding beyond the key managers and executives to the entire workforce. Achieving some kind of
cultural transformation is extraordinarily challenging in many organizations, particularly larger ones.

6. Who are our "stakeholders" and what do they think of our performance?

The notion of sustainability extends well beyond the boundaries of the corporation, with various
groups and individuals interested in the company’s performance. Also, "feedback" is a key ingredient
in employee development and in customer engagements, so that sort of context may aid the
conversation.

7. Which groups do we need to partner with?

This is an area that requires extensive research, benchmarking and some pilot projects. A
corporation and a nongovernmental organization, will not necessarily find their collaboration
successful.

8. What are our key sustainability metrics?

There are also some emerging metrics that bear consideration. Calculating an aggregate ROI
involves some tracking many companies are not currently doing; how much have you saved through
sustainability investments.

9. How do we set improvement goals in this area?

This question has many implications and also requires a lot of data collection, analysis and planning.
What levels can we achieve while growing our business, what will the projects involved cost us, how
quickly can we achieve the goals and how will others perceive the goals. One other related question
that gets teed up is whether the goal should be absolute or normalized.

10. How do we innovate and offer greener products and services?

Since innovation is usually the result of a process it can be encouraged and nurtured, often without
a guarantee of success, but resources and a commitment are a good starting point.

Undoubtedly, some new challenging questions will emerge in this field, but the basics will have
continued vitality.

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Envido is a leading UK provider of energy, carbon and sustainability solutions for private and public
sector organisations.

Our unique ‘Opportunity-Technology-Change’ solution covers carbon consultancy, programme


management, and technology and behavioural change delivery that has already enabled our clients
to save millions of £'s and CO2 through improved energy and carbon management.

Envido has a national reach, with headquarters in London, and regional offices in Birmingham,
Manchester and Ipswich. We work with over 180 organisations across the UK. Our clients include
some of the largest private companies in the UK, as well as government entities, educational
institutions and other companies across all industries, such as CNN/Turner Broadcasting, Investec,
Eversheds, University of Brighton, NHS and more.

Visit our website www.envido.co.uk for more information.

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