David's blog

Three out of four executives say they are willing to sacrifice at
least 1% of their salaries to fund their companies’ green initiatives,
according to an April 08 Korn/Ferry survey.

A small minority, three percent of respondents would be willing to
sacrifice upwards of 10 percent of their salaries, while about
one-quarter (27 percent) would be unwilling to sacrifice
any portion of their salary to support sustainability efforts. Almost half of executives report that their companies have
allocated existing staff, or hired new staff to support green programs.

Despite this there remains widespread belief green initiatives are not financially sustainable.
69% of the respondents believe that “green” initiatives will take a
back seat to profit-driven activities in these uncertain economic
times. Only 29% believe that the current economic situation will not
have an effect on “going green". 

Media and advertising are awash in "going green". Time magazine's April cover story -- featuring a green cover logo and a mashup of the famous Iwo Jima photo (in which soldiers hoist a tree instead of an America flag) -- symbolizes that a new era of green marketing has arrived.

Although this isn't the only era marketers have used the environment as a central theme, the current green wave signifies a much larger and deeper shift by consumers and producers alike. The view that green is a shift and not a fad is supported by several recent studies of marketing trends (see below), including one by eMarketer called "Green Onine: Growing Awareness", which opines that the shift and interplay between consumer and producer is being driven and played out on the Internet (with support from traditional media channels of course) to much different results.

Al Gore announced the “we” campaign, a $300 million effort to raise public awareness of climate change — both the problem and its potential solutions. The goal is to create bottoms-up pressure on legislators to tackle the issue.

Lots of details in the Washington Post and in Grist, so here's some brief observations and links:

This radio interview by GreenBiz of Judah Schiller of Saatchi and Saatchi provides interesting insight on how his firm is helping to encourage Wal-Mart's employees to embrace sustainability. It offers practical tips for companies looking for ways to engage workers on sustainability and wider corporate and community responsibility initiatives.

Transcript of Interview and Links to mp3 download and iTunes

Companies are increasingly motivated to pursue corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs for growth opportunities, rather than a necessitated by public or community relations posturing, according to a new global study released recently by IBM.

Driving this shift is the unique role of the Internet in influencing buying behavior by providing easily accessible, in-depth information about companies, their global supply chain partners, and their impact on society and the environment.

To gauge how deeply CSR has penetrated the core of the corporation — it's strategies and operations, IBM surveyed more than 250 business leaders globally and found that two-thirds of them are focusing on CSR activities to create new revenue streams

What happens when a socially responsible company sells to a large corporate conglomerate? How do loyal customers tell whether they have really sold out?

Well, a new certification scheme helps protect green company values by including social and environmental commitments in their articles of incorporation, according to the WorldWatch Institute.

B Lab, a nonprofit organization has developed a rating system of "Beneficial" or "B" Corporations that meet high standards of corporate social responsibility. To qualify, companies must amend their corporate governing documents to account for the interests of shareholders, employees, and the community as well as demonstrate their policies on the environment, philanthropy, diversity, and transparency.

A new survey found that three-quarters of Americans plan to be more environmentally responsible in 2008. About half of those polled said they would make a "green" New Year's resolution.

Two-thirds of Americans plan to cut their use of household chemicals, while 42 percent said they would take reusable fabric bags to the supermarket to reduce the use of plastic bags. The survey also found one-third of respondents felt guilty in recent years for not living a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

The telephone survey was commissioned by marketing consultancy Tiller LLC and conducted by GfK Roper. The survey of 1,004 adults was conducted between December 7 and December 9. The margin for error is plus or minus 3.0 percent.

There's another green shopping site, Evo, which covers everything from food and clothes, to solar panels and household products. See MarketingVox report for details