Mother Nature vs. Father Greed
Reflections from Sustainability Day in Stockholm, April 23rd:
Yesterday’s big green event here in Stockholm was the Sustainability Day: a one day conference about CSR held by the environment magazine Miljöaktuellt and The Swedish Association of Environmental Managers (NMC).
This was the fifth time the Sustainability day was organized. The big question for the conference this year was if companies could afford to prioritize a sustainable work considering the changing co
nditions due to the financial crisis.
Thomas Nauclér from McKinsey
The most interesting part of the Sustainability Day was the two sessions held by
Klas Eklund, Senior Economist at SEB (Bank and financial company), and Thomas Nauclér from McKinsey. They talked about the financial aspects for companies who contribute to less CO2 emissions.
One conclusion is that many companies will not voluntarily do anything to stop the global warming unless they can make money from their green efforts.
However, there are many low cost ways that companies can contribute to a significant reduction of the global warming and at the same time save money.
By using their equipment in a more energy efficient way companies can reduce their CO2 emissions by 50% without any investment and at the same time get lower cost for energy!
As the cost for energy will continue to rise working with energy efficiency will become more rewarding from a financial perspective.
From a branding perspective, companies can gain a lot by showing their market that they are actively working for true a contribution on reducing the global warming.
These two aspects are also part of TCO Certified: All products with the TCO label have very low energy consumption. The TCO Certified label also gives the signal to the market that the companies that offer TCO Certified products are working actively for sustainability.
TCO Development exhibited at the Sustainability Day