Defining ‘Sustainability’

How do you define “sustainability” and how do you showcase your efforts within your marketing initiatives … without being perceived as “greenwashing”?

In the last couple of years, sustainability has risen in the ranks as a purchase criteria for food and supplements. People are becoming more conscious of how products are manufactured, how the ingredients in them are sourced, and how they get to the shelves. The keynote address at the 2010 Focus on the Future conference featured Dr. Jay Golden, director of the Sustainability Consortium. This is a group of academics and global businesses that have come together to develop a scientific foundation to improve consumer product sustainability throughout its lifecycle. The reason? Walmart’s 15-point supplier sustainability assessment, replete with specific dates to comply.

Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting a panel for the Chicago chapter of the Business Marketing Association. Joining me were Lev Goldberg, marketing director for Constellation Energy; Joe Valerio, CEO of Valerio Dewalt Train (one of the country’s foremost commercial architectural firms); and Emilio Tenuta, director of sustainability and brand for Nalco.

Each of these gentlemen lives in the trenches in the marketing of their respective company’s sustainability initiatives. Lev talked about the increasing demand from enterprise energy users for greener, “alternative” energy. Joe’s architectural firm designs and develops LEEDS certified commercial structures and reported companies are often driven to “green” construction via their younger employees, with many CEOs embracing the commitment as a leadership stance. And Nalco is leading the way by partnering with companies such as Dow for more efficient ways to treat and conserve water.

All admit, however, that until criteria are established to define sustainability and measure progress, it will remain a matter of interpretation. For example, General Electric is #1 on Corporate Knight’s list of 100 most sustainable companies in the world. This is the group that reports progress in Davos each year at the World Economic Forum. Coincidentally, General Electric is #1 on another list: that of 24/7 Wall Street’s Top 10 Greenwashers in America

Green is good for share price. NASDAQ, Standard & Poors and Dow Jones all have sustainability indexes. Investors can find out about company records and progress at sites such as Environmental Leader.

How can consumers figure this out? Not easy. A few tricks and tools have evolved. My favorite right now is Good Guide, which looks “under the hood” to rate consumer products (and companies) for contributions to health, environment and society.

It seems an entire industry has sprung up virtually overnight. And companies can be certain wherever they are in the supply chain, more structure, more oversight and more ways to point fingers are coming soon.