NEXT TO GLOBAL warming, perhaps the most critical and urgent issue of the day? The supply and demand for basic resources as the world population -- a billion here, a billion there -- continues to explode. In a recent study, the McKinsey Global Institute urges companies and governments to launch a "resource revolution" to improve resource productivity, and to meet the vast global need for energy, materials, food and water in the near future. A McKinsey e-mail to subscribers reads:
THE MOST URGENT business issue of all is a green global economy. If the race and planet perish in a Malthusian nightmare, nothing else matters much, eh?
So heed pension-fund giant CalPERS, one of the world's most closely-watched large investors, and Ceres, a non-profit group that works with Fortune 500 companies and institutional investors with trillions of dollars in assets. (That's trillions with a "t.") Investing in companies based on their environmental, social and governance performance is good for business and the world, they contend, citing a Mercer study of many studies.
CoolGlobalBiz is an independent, non-partisan blog that explores the nexus and cross-border fusion of business and culture. Links to CoolGlobalBiz can be found on Guy Kawasaki's online news directory Alltop (economics or small business) and other sites. Every few generations, we're rocked by economic and cultural upheaval, from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Now we're at the cusp of another major epoch, an era of quickening change, innovation and global diversity. The seasons are turning, turning. This ain't your Daddy's economy. The world: curved or flat? No matter, the convergence of business and culture won't wane. For better and worse, the new world is here.
WE'RE AT A global turning point, with forces that are converging and diverging at a frightening pace. Or, as the World Economic Forum and risk-management companies have found in a new "Global Risks 2011" report, we face "a 21st century paradox: as the world grows together, it is also growing apart . . . Globalization has generated sustained economic growth for a generation. It has shrunk and reshaped the world, making it far more interconnected and interdependent. But the benefits of globalization seem unevenly spread – a minority is seen to have harvested a disproportionate amount of the fruits." Not your pleasant bed-time reading. Among the greatest threats to global growth and stability:
Economic disparity and the worsening gap between rich and poor countries and peoples.
Complex and difficult global governance on all issues, from trade to climate change.
The $1.3 trillion "illegal economy," including corruption, organized crime and other black market activities.
"Macroeconomic imbalances," or economic risks such as trade and savings imbalances, currency volatility and fiscal crises.
Shortages of water, food and energy that could lead to social and political conflict and irreversible environmental damage.
Source: World Economic Forum,"Global Risks 2011" co-edited by Kristel Van der Elst and Nicholas Davis.
IS BEIJING THE new L.A.? Welcome, China, to the urban traffic nightmare. You knew it was coming. This monstrous, 9-day, 62-mile traffic jam on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway surely can only be matched by the daily humongous jams in Los Angeles on the San Diego Freeway. In L.A., there's heavy, rush-hour traffic stretching 60 to 70 miles from the southern to northern tip of the freeway (Orange County to San Fernando Valley). But Southern Cali drivers never have been trapped for days in traffic, without food or water, unable to escape on surface streets. A recent survey by IBM (see below) shows that drivers all over the world get stressed, lose productivity, and cancel trips because of traffic. Multinationals like IBM and Cisco Systems are working on greener tech solutions to urban infrastructures around the world.
ON LUSH Jeju Island off South Korea, the "grannies of the sea" plunge 20 meters under the waves for minutes at a time. They harvest seaweed and shellfish for export and local use, and many dive well into their 80s. The sea grannies, known as haenyeo, have been doing this since the 18th century, but today's generation may be the last of this tradition. Co-authors Brenda Paik Sunoo and Youngsook Han's book on the sea grannies, Moon Tides: Jeju Island Grannies of the Sea, will be published this fall by Seoul Selection.
BEST ADVICE FOR toilet people who want climate change: Don't flush after you pee. If you're a clean freak, close the toilet lid and open the window. If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down, as they said back in the day. Don't know who said it or what day exactly, but that's what I heard. My household doesn't flush after weeing, and we save thousands of gallons a year. Imagine how much water would be saved in countries that use flush toilets. If the next great global wars will be over water resources, not oil, then it's worth a shot. Just aim those peckers straight and don't splash, dammit. Happy Earth Day.
NOTE: This blog post on T. Boone Pickens, billionaire oil investor turned tree-hugger (sort of), ran during the 2009 Global Technology Symposium at Stanford University, where he spoke. Boone probably is one of the few men alive who could get Al Gore and Dick Cheney to the same salad bar. "Am I green?" he said. "I could pass the saliva test.".
The annual tech symposium comes to Stanford on March 24-26, 2010. This year's gathering features former Intel chairman and CEO Craig Barrett, former Reagan Administration counselor Clyde Prestowitz, venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, Google executive Marissa Mayer, and other business luminaries. The event is run by Alexandra Johnson, managing director of the DFJ-VTB Aurora venture fund, which invests in early-stage companies in Russia.
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA -- The times they are a changin', sang a famous folk troubadour from the 1960s. Ain't that the truth. A few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine legendary Texas oil investor T. Boone Pickens getting chummy with Al Gore and other hardcore environmentalists. But borders are tumbling, and creative destruction and disruption are hallmarks of the new global economy. Last summer, Pickens launched a highly-publicized crusade called The Pickens Plan to end America's addiction to foreign oil. Is he a capitalist crusader a la Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, or a modern-day Don Quixote tilting at solar windmills? I'm betting on him to help save the world, or at least push politicians and the energy sector in the right direction.
PICKENS REMINDS US that the U.S. is the biggest energy hog by far, spending $475 billion in 2008 on foreign oil and using 25% of the 85 million barrels of oil produced each day. But he says we can realistically change our environmental fate by boosting our production of natural gas and using the cleaner fuel in trucks, 18-wheelers and other big business fleets. That'll buy us time -- at least 25 years -- before the glaciers melt like ice cubes at the beach. By then, solar, wind, clean-tech energy sources will have grown to a larger scale to make a real difference. Companies are gradually buying in; AT&T just announced that it plans to run 8,000 of its fleet vehicles on natural gas within five years.
LIKE PRESIDENT OBAMA, Pickens is aiming for a younger, Internet-savvy demographic. In the tradition of civil rights marches on Washington, Pickens is promoting an online "virtual march" on Washington April 1-3 (2009) with his "New Energy Army," some 2 million people who've signed up to send emails to Congress and to promote the Pickens Plan through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social- and professional-networking sites. Is Pickens spot on or what? An avid birdhunter, Pickens and his advisors know how to lead his target -- in this case, reaching green generations under 40 that will shape politics and business over the next several decades. He's also spreading his message the old-fashioned dead-tree way, promoting his new book, The First Billion is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and America's Energy Future.
On his new clean energy reputation: "Am I green? I could pass the saliva test."
On trying to persuade Sen. John McCain to support natural gas, not oil: "He said, 'You're trying to get me to pick a winner.' I said, 'You don't understand, this isn't a multiple choice question. This is the only thing we have. A battery won't move an 18-wheeler. Natural gas is the only thing that makes an 18-wheeler go that's abundant in this country."
On energy leadership: "One thing that's been missing for 40 years is leadership. If this administration, this leadership, can put the American people together not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans . . . it can be accomplished. In New Delhi, they were choking to death on diesel fuel, so they mandated no diesel . . . Eighteen months later, they switched over to natural gas, and now people are not dying on the streets from diesel fuel . . . It's a war without guns, and we have to move as fast as we can."
On drilling: "I'm for anything that's American. (We should drill on) the East Coast, West coast, Gulf of Mexico . . . Throw it all in. It won't fix it, but it'll help. There isn't a silver bullet. Put it all together and we can solve the problem. Nuclear (energy), sure, I'm all for it."
On risk-taking and entrepreneurship: "I've drilled more dry holes than anybody you want to know. I've also found a lot of oil. In the oil business, I'd probably be in the Top 10. But what did it cost you? That's the big balancer in my industry . . . Entrepreneurs will all go down that trail at some point . . . You have to be smart enough (to know) it's time to walk off. At some point, you run out of rig, you run out of pipe, you run out of money, so you're going to plug it and leave it with tears in your eyes."
On leaving a clean energy legacy before the planet dies: "It's not about this guy (himself). I can make it to the finish line, but I'm not so sure about our grandchildren. For generations to come, this has got to be fixed."
Vote Earth! by Shepard Fairey, under Creative Commons license on flickr.com
Long before global warming became a buzz phrase, the Environmental Defense Fund and U.S. global companies had joined forces at the vanguard of global green business practices. The EDF first won praise in the 1960s by fighting to ban DDT, the birdshell-cracking pesticide uncovered in Rachel Carson's famed book, Silent Spring. The EDF still is a legal crusader on green issues. But in recent years, the EDF and its scientists and economists have teamed with Big Business to make the world's climate a little cleaner by slashing carbon emissions and reducing packaging waste, among other environmental practices.
Throughcorporate partnerships and an Innovation Exchange program, the EDF and U.S. and global companies showcase some of the best green practices in the business realm. Among EDF's partners: Walmart, DuPont, Wegmans, FedEx, UPS, PHH Arval, Starbucks, McDonald's, Johnson & Johnson, Citigroup, IBM, Sun Microsystems and other corporate giants. Not your usual tree-hugging do-gooders, eh? (See "Case Studies"and "Cutting-Edge Environmental Programs.")
Wal-Mart, the king of global retailers and a huge moving target with U.S. $406 billion in annual revenue, has been bruised and bloodied by many critics over the years. But today, the legendary Arkansas company and its 2 million global employees deserve praise even from harsh skeptics. As our planet plunges into a new era of globalization, environmentalism and demographic change, Wal-Mart and other mega-companies are stepping up as leaders in corporate social responsibility.
(Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke. Photo courtesy of Wal-Mart.)
In a Webcast on Thursday, Wal-Mart launched a worldwide program that will rate products on their "sustainability" -- environmental and corporate-speak for whether goods are made and sold with minimal damage to the environment. Walmart will: (1) survey its 100,000 suppliers on their green practices, (2) create a "Sustainability Index" with universities, suppliers, retailers, governments and non-profit groups, and (3) develop a green ratings system for products to help consumers decide what to buy. Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said in a news release:"Customers want products that are more efficient, that last longer and perform better. They want to know that the materials in the product are safe, that it was made well and that it was produced in a responsible way. We do not see this as a trend that will fade."
(A Wal-Mart Supercenter in Nanning, China, near the Vietnam border. Photo by Edward Iwata.)
A Big Green Wal-Mart will help a lot. The retailer is perhaps the largest, best-known and most influential global consumer brand to openly embrace green and other CSR strategies. And its green index will carry clout with suppliers who want to ride herd with Wal-Mart. It's no exaggeration to say that Wal-Mart's example can potentially change much of the global retail realm for the greater good, as rivals rush to keep up. But Wal-Mart's big media show is only the first step. Expectations will stay high, and Wal-Mart's environmental and community partners -- plus those tough and ornery critics -- will be closely watching the company's performance. For now, though, this is good news for global commerce and the greening of the planet. Way to go, Wal-Mart. Take a bow.
(National Anthem at Wal-Mart shareholders' meeting, 2009. Photo courtesy of Wal-Mart.)
Setting Global Standards: Guidelines for Creating Codes of Conduct in Multinational Corporations, by S. Prakash Sethi, CEO of International Center for Corporate Accountability.
The High-Purpose Company: The Truly Responsible Firms That Are Changing Business Now, by corporate strategist Christine Arena.
What Matters Most:How a Small Group of Pioneers is Teaching Social Responsibility to Big Business, by Seventh Generation CEO Jeffrey Hollender and Stephen Fenichell.
The Market for Virtue: The Potential and Limits of Corporate Social Responsibility, by David Vogel, professor at UC Berkeley'sHaas School of Business.
