In fashion, it was once said that brown is the new black.
Here at EarthPM, we say that green is the new black – but we’re not fashion experts.
What we have learned a lot about, however, is the fact that reducing waste in projects – and in ongoing operations – and getting closer to zero waste – can have an infinite number of benefits for the organization (nevermind the environment), and it’s from this fact that we drew the name of this posting.
With this posting we’d like to point you to a particular blog entry from Andrew Winston’s great resource: “Finding the Gold in Green“. The posting to which we direct you is about Sony and their efforts to get to a zero carbon footprint by 2050.
Here’s the press release from Sony about their “Road to Zero” program.
More importantly, and more interestingly, Sony’s actual Road to Zero site is worth surfing. You’ll see many of the themes from our book threaded through the animations and details of their plan. This reaffirms our idea that project management is (amongst other things) a microcosm of general business, and the advice and leadership shown by Andrew Winston and Sony with regards to business operations and the gold to be mined in green applies to project management and vice versa – a feedback loop of infinite benefit.
For your convenience, we put an extract of Sony’s press release below so you can see how they’re targeting their reductions to zero.
“Targets are based on four environmental perspectives – climate change, resource conservation, control of chemical substances and biodiversity – across all product lifecycle stages, from research and development to recycling. The mid-term targets will be implemented globally across the Sony Group beginning in fiscal year 2011 (April 2011), and will extend through the end of fiscal year 2015 (March 2016), at which time new targets for the following 5 years will be set.
Specific mid-term targets include:
- 30% reduction in annual energy consumption of products (compared to fiscal 2008)
- 10% reduction in product mass (compared to fiscal 2008)
- 50% absolute reduction in waste generation (compared to fiscal 2000)
- 30% absolute reduction in water consumption (compared to fiscal 2000)
- 14% reduction in total CO2 emissions associated with all transportation and logistics (compared to fiscal 2008)
- 16% reduction in incoming parts packaging waste (compared to fiscal 2008)
- Increase of waste recycle ratio to 99% or more
- 5% reduction in utilization ratio of virgin oil-based plastics in products (compared to fiscal 2008)
- Assessment of impact of resource procurement and facility construction on biodiversity, and promotion of biodiversity programs such as groundwater cultivation
- Minimization of the risk of chemical substances through preventive measures; reduction in use of specific chemicals defined by Sony; and promotion of use of alternative materials”
The bottom line here is the bottom line.
Whether your TV tastes run to Fringe, 24, or the serials, like My Friend Flicka, or The Lone Ranger, there is always a recap from previous episodes. So here goes. “In our last episode,” I talked about how Steve Fludder from GE and Richard Cohen from Bank of America are embracing green efforts because they are good for the bottom-line. In this post I will look at the view from “big oil”. Peter Voser, Royal Dutch Shell, was interviewed for ECO-nomics. U.S. CAP (the U.S. Climate Action Partnership); he believes that market-based energy legislation is needed in this country and others and only by participating with the other stakeholders will it be effective. His thinking is that to be effective, “energy legislation (must) drive supply security, drive lower fuel emissions, drive new jobs and preserve old jobs.” “We will quite clearly look out for natural gas developments, which we see as a long-term source of energy that has a lot of positives.” (new projects)
Visualize world sustainability
If you have had doubts about this intersection of Project Management and green that we assert, check this out.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has created a transformational document called Vision 2050. In this February 2010 report (so we’re talking brand-new) they identify something they call a critical pathway to success. Hmmm. I have heard that term… critical pathway…somewhere before, haven’t you?
Under the Vision 2050 project of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), 29 WBCSD member companies developed a vision of a world well on the way to sustainability by 2050, and a pathway leading to that world – a pathway that will require fundamental changes in governance structures, economic frameworks,
business and human behavior. It emerged that these changes are necessary, feasible and offer
tremendous business opportunities for companies that turn sustainability into strategy.
The Vision 2050 project addresses three questions:
To skip to the end of the report, and we quote, “In a nutshell, that outcome would be a planet of around 9 billion people, all living well – with enough food, clean water, sanitation, shelter, mobility, education and health to make for wellness – within the limits of what this small, fragile planet can supply and renew, every day.”
Sounds good to us. Like most project managers, we’re skeptical but interested in this whole concept of sustainability, what it means, and what we as business leaders (and make no mistake, as PMs, we are business leaders) can and should do to get to that outcome.
Oh, so on to that critical pathway. Here it is (from the report):
• Addressing the development needs of billions of people, enabling education and economic empowerment, particularly of women, and developing radically more eco-efficient solutions, lifestyles and behavior
• Incorporating the cost of externalities, starting with carbon, ecosystem services and water
• Doubling of agricultural output without increasing the amount of land or water used
• Halting deforestation and increasing yields from planted forests
• Halving carbon emissions worldwide (based on 2005 levels) by 2050, with greenhouse gas emissions peaking around 2020 through a shift to low-carbon energy systems and highly improved demand-side energy efficiency
• Providing universal access to low carbon mobility
• Delivering a four-to-tenfold improvement in the use of resources and materials
Now, we’re not sure of all of the subtasks and dependencies, nor do they provide a full Work Breakdown Structure, detailed schedule, and/or Earned Value Technique metrics… but this does indeed illustrate the connection we’ve been discussing here at Earth PM.
To see either a summary or the entire report (no charge) in PDF format, visit these handy links: