Moving beyond green
What practical actions can be taken today and in the near future to create an eco-efficient economy—one that delivers competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs, while progressively reducing environmental impact?
To answer this question, the IBM Institute for Business Value brought together earlier this year business executives, government officials, non-governmental organization (NGO) leaders, journalists, analysts and environmental experts from more than 60 countries for the first ever IBM Eco-efficiency Jam.
The consensus of the more than 1,600 participants: Eco-efficiency is poised to become the biggest economic "game-changer" for organizations in the next 20 years.
Eco-efficiency is more than embracing environmentally friendly practices and processes. It is about embedding sustainability and resource conservation in every facet of an organization. It requires government and policy makers to introduce regulations and incentives that promote and encourage efficiency, elimination of waste and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Specifically, stakeholders will need to:
- Leverage innovation to deliver "green" infrastructures that are highly efficient and overlay the physical infrastructure with digital intelligence
- Implement sustainable solutions that promote resource efficiency and reduce the environmental and social impact of operations
- Embrace intelligent systems that use open standards to provide near realtime information for better management of the infrastructure, water quantities, or, even, entire transportation systems.
The findings indicate that outperformers in the near future will be those that will adapt a proactive and holistic approach. They will move beyond current opportunistic "green" actions and transform their operations, processes and products to meet market expectations and opportunities in the advancing eco-efficient economy. Those companies and institutions that understand and embrace eco-efficiency will find they have deepened their engagement and advocacy with their stakeholders, employees, and customers.
Global Eco-efficiency Webcast
Listen to an important dialog on energy, the environment and sustainability.
Getting smarter about the environment.
About the Author
Constantin Gurdgiev
IBM Ireland Product Distribution Ltd. Ireland Branch
IBM Integrated Supply Chain, Global Supply
Economist, IBV Global Center for Economic Development
IBM Institute for Business Value
IBM Global Business Services