More than greening: corporate sustainability as a business strategy.

• Author: Knowles, Michael C.
• Position: Company overview

A growing number of companies are entering the sustainability movement. Bui what, exactly, are these companies doing to achieve sustainability? Before we can answer that question, we must first ask: What is corporate sustainability?

Many equate sustainability with "going green." But that's only part of the story. Corporate sustainability is not simply a program or initiative it's a business strategy. While going' green can be considered one aspect of such a strategy, sustainability incorporates broad social initiatives, such as employee enrichment and retention, community involvement, and monitoring supplier ethics and employment practices.

Sustainable enterprises also focus on operating efficiently and enhancing long-term value. Because each enterprise has its own purpose, product and culture, each will have its own way of moving toward sustainability.

We will focus on what enterprises are doing to become sustainable, how that leads to better performance and the role CPAs may play in the process.

Sustainable Enterprises Preserve the Environment

Sustainability starts with the premise that a business is interdependent will) the communities and environments in which it operates. A sustainable business looks at the bigger picture and takes actions including preserving the environment--consistent with that picture.

Environmental impact varies by industry, but it's most frequently measured by the total greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, or by waste produced from an enterprise's operations. The first step in managing pollutants or waste is to determine their source and measure the amount entitled.

Greenhouse gas--or one's carbon footprint includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other gases. The common unit of measure for greenhouse gas emissions is metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, which is a quantity that describes, for a given greenhouse gas, the amount of carbon dioxide that would have the same global warming potential when measured over a specified timescale.

Various resources are available to assist enterprises with measuring greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (www.ghgprotoeol.org) provides tools and guidance for enterprises that want to measure (heir carbon footprint. It divides emissions into three categories based on source:

Scope 1: Greenhouse gases emitted directly from sources owned or controlled by the enterprise.

Scope 2: Greenhouse gases indirectly emitted as a result of purchase and consumption of electricity, heat, cooling or steam produced by others.

Scope 3: Greenhouse gases not owned or controlled by the enterprise, but occurring as a result of its activities, such as the greenhouse gases generated by the enterprise's supply chain.

Once measured, some enterprises report their greenhouse gas emissions to stakeholders or lo outside parties such as die Carbon Disclosure Project (www.cdprojeet.net), a nonprofit organization that maintains the world's largest database of corporate climate change information...