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The most effective way to affect change in personal ownership is a combination of education and guilt.  Guilt (and a little positive encouragement) changes behavior. It is known that guilt can be a great motivator for environmentally responsible behavior.  The Green Guilt survey also showed that 29% of Americans admit to suffering from “green guilt,” defined as the knowledge that you could and should be doing more to help preserve the environment. The findings also show that Americans increasingly feel an obligation to recycle.

The right combination of knowledge, access and personal responsibility is the foundation needed to move from apathetic to active participant.

The most challenging hurdle is apathy. When consumers feel disconnected from the benefits of environmentally responsible behaviors—or from the dangers present in its absence—it is easy to just not care

Global warming, or climate change, is occurring and is primarily caused by human activity,” with 58 percent (compared to 48 percent in 2010) agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement.

ow products are made and about the content of the products they buy

only 44 percent trust companies’ green claims,

hazardous waste that is not always reported,

The mounting hazardous waste has raised concerns within the industry, which worries the problem could undermine its green image,

amount of fossil fuels used to transport the waste also hasn’t been calculated in lifecycle analysis of solar panels,

t rests on the recognition that attention to corporate social and environmental responsibilities is generally in the long-term economic interests of the firm.

Managers have a responsibility to consider those affected by company actions; equally, however, those stakeholders are often able to exert pressure on a company if it does not—even to the extent of shutting down the business, as Coca-Cola found in Kerala.  This is particularly true for large companies subject to intense media scrutiny.

When companies implement “strategic CSR” they can find there are many benefits, including strengthened corporate and brand reputations and enhanced trust with key stakeholders (customers, employees, regulatory agencies, suppliers, and investors), improved risk management, increased revenues from innovation to identify new business opportunities, and reduced costs from efficiency improvements. 

VF Corporation — one of the world’s largest single purchasers of cotton, whose brands include Lee, Wrangler and The North Face — says much of the world’s cotton comes from areas that are expected to be impacted most by water scarcity and extreme weather  such as the Western US, China, Pakistan and India. The IPCC report makes firms’ risks associated with climate change even more clear, says Letitia Webster, VF’s director of global corporate sustainability.

“Whether in mountains or the ocean, our brands and our consumers are feeling the impacts of climate change,” which means less ski-related business for The North Face.  The company today signed Ceres’ Climate Declaration, calling on US policymakers to enact climate and clean energy policies that will benefit the economy.

aw requiring larger companies to spend 2 percent of each year's profit on those kinds of initiatives. The law kicks in for companies with a profit of at least $80 million over the past three years.

t outlines nine "pillars" that can fulfill the requirement, one of which is "ensuring environmental sustainability," under which installing solar systems falls. This likely will incentivize more solar development because it's an area that provides businesses with a return in investment.

Companies must use a new auditor every five years and any given auditor can't serve more than two five-year terms; an auditor can't serve more than 20 companies; and auditors can be criminally liable if they knowingly or recklessly omit information in their reports.

Shaw Industries, an early adopter of cradle-to-cradle principles, is committed to making only C2C certified products by 2030. Currently more than 60% of its $4bn in total annual sales comes from certified carpet and hardwood flooring.

Numerous benefits accrue from values-first leadership. It clarifies and broadens, in the best way, how a company views itself. It changes how others view it. The products the company sells, its way of doing things and, indeed, its very existence, can be a living testimony to its support for a world of prosperity, social equity and environmental health.

most successful companies embrace good design by loudly and clearly stating their positive intentions.

It begins with an effort to communicate the business value of sustainability in terms investors already understand: the potential to drive revenue growth from sustainability-advantaged products, improve productivity (and margins) from sustainability initiatives and measurably reduce key sustainability-related risks to revenue and reputation.

Understanding how effectively a business is exploiting the new global force in business in simple terms may be a key indicator that every analyst needs to know.

n 2012, DuPont generated more than $10bn from environmentally advantaged products