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AN ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON POST
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012
E N V I R O N M E N TA L L E A D E R S H I P
What Does It Mean to be Recognized for Green Initiatives? Zoe Tcholak-Antitch Director for North America, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) COMPANIES TODAY FACE an increasing number of challenges. The natural resources on which we survive and on which our business models are built grow scarce, and with global greenhouse gas emissions continuing on an upward trajectory, the threat of dangerous climate change accelerates. Couple this with a year in which the United States was hit by a record number of extreme weather disasters costing over $52 billion in damages to the economy and raising concerns over the vulnerability of supply chains: It is no surprise that a growing number of companies are looking to tackle these risks head-on. As we make the inevitable move toward a carbon-constrained and water-stressed world, it is vital that any company interested in creating long-term value and strategic advantage takes action. Many of the largest companies in the U.S. already recognize this fact. The increasing convergence of environmental and financial issues means that climate change concerns now are reaching beyond traditional sustainability departments. Results from the Carbon Disclosure Project’s (CDP) survey of the S&P 500 last year show 58 percent with board or senior-executive-level oversight of the company’s climate change programs, up from 45 percent in 2010. CDP also saw an 85
percent increase in the number of companies from the S&P 500 reporting integration of climate change into their overall business strategies from 2010 to 2011. This is despite a lack of taxation and regulation of greenhouse gases in the United States. As companies act to manage carbon and protect their business from climate change, it is important that they are recognized for their advances and that their stakeholders have visibility of this through established benchmarks.
Index recognizes those that are demonstrating significant maturity in the actions they are taking on climate change and their commitments to manage greenhouse gas emissions. The benefits in providing these important, established benchmarks are wide ranging. For companies across all industry sectors, the benchmarks are a vital competitive lever encouraging the transparent disclosure of non-financial information. They help shine the light on those companies that
A Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) report published last year found that Global 500 companies that outperform on emissions disclosure and management produced double the average returns of their peers, over a fiveyear period. CDP tracks the performance of the S&P 500 companies that report publicly, and it has for several years released two leadership indices that highlight those with strong carbon management and climate change policies. The Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index recognizes those companies with high-quality reporting, and the Carbon Performance Leadership
are developing best practices in energy efficiency and risk management. They also reward positive action and, in so doing, propel a company to improve its performance over time. These indices also provide investors with an independent evaluation of a company’s approach to carbon management. They help show where risks are being managed
and opportunities maximized, and they provide investors with insight into how well companies are preparing to compete in a low-carbon environment. Being able to understand the carbon management strategies of companies in a meaningful way is crucial in driving the engagement of investors with their portfolio companies. Through their Bloomberg terminals, investors use the CDP disclosure scores every day. The scores also are available through Google Finance. It is important we remember that doing more with less is a huge business opportunity. High energy costs and quick financial returns mean emissions reduction activities are becoming increasingly attractive to companies looking to cut costs and boost profitability. A CDP report published last year found that Global 500 companies that outperform on emissions disclosure and management produced double the average returns of their peers, over a five-year period. For more information, please visit https:// www.cdproject.net/CDPResults/ CDP-G500-2011-Report.pdf. A strong benchmark not only spurs on the business leaders by recognizing their actions, but also drags up the business laggards. Those companies making decisions that perpetuate a low-carbon economy will see considerable value and competitive advantage in doing so. www.cdproject.net
Solar-Powered Schools Partnerships bring clean energy to area institutions
Sanjiv Mahan Vice President of Business Development, Washington Gas Energy Systems SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS increasingly are evident throughout the Washington metropolitan region. Surprisingly, Washington Gas Energy Services and Washington Gas Energy Systems have been providing local schools with these systems. Under long-term agreements with each institution, the gas company owns and operates the solar installations at the schools. Following are some examples of the solar projects undertaken since 2009. The Catholic University of America (CUA), October 2009 - More than 1,000 solar panels were installed on four CUA buildings. The university signed a 20-year agreement with WGEServices to purchase electricity generated by the solar panels at guaranteed prices. Additionally, in November of the same year, Standard Solar, Inc., of Rockville, Md., installed 1,088 3-by-6-foot solar panels on the roofs of the Raymond A. DuFour Center and Aquinas, Flather and Gibbons Halls. The solar panel system, installed at no cost to CUA, produces about 340,000 kilowatt hours of electricity each year. Bullis School, December 2009 - Bullis School in Potomac,
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Md., dedicated the largest solar electric power system at a private school in the D.C. area. Installed by Clean Currents, the system provides electricity for the school’s Blair Family Center for the Arts. The photovoltaic system (PV) consists of 540 solar panels, and it produces approximately 143,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually and supplies 18-20 percent of the Blair Center’s annual electricity needs. University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), February 2011 – UMD announced that it would build one of the largest rooftop solar power systems in Maryland. The solar power system was installed on the roof of UMD’s Severn building, a multi-purpose facility located less than a mile from the College Park campus. The system, which Standard Solar installed, produces about 792 megawatt hours of electricity each year. The American University (AU), April 2011 – AU announced the installation of more than 2,150 solar PV panels on six university buildings. Solar thermal energy panels, installed on four campus buildings, provide hot water to over 2,000 students and to AU’s largest dining hall. Wilmington Friends School, May 2011 - Wilmington Friends School, Wilmington, Del., one of the oldest private schools in the country, announced the
installation of more than 700 PV panels on the rooftops of two campus buildings, resulting in one of the largest solar PV systems on a K-12 school in Delaware. Kent County, Md., November 2011 – The Kent County, Md., Commissioners and Board of Education signed a 20year contract with WGEServices to build a solar array to power Kent County High School, Worton Elementary School and the Kent County Community Center. Standard Solar is installing the ground mount system on 10 acres of land owned by the board of education. The system will provide clean, renewable and emissions-free electricity to the three aforementioned county facilities, and it will produce approximately 1,590 megawatt hours of clean electricity per year. With no up-front cost to Kent County and the board of education, the county will purchase the electricity the system generates. Construction on the project is expected to be completed in late spring of this year. Another benefit of these solar installations is the opportunity for enhanced curriculum at the participating schools. For example, students, faculty and staff at CUA will have Web access to real-time data on the campus’ solar energy production. At Bullis, implementation of an
environmental science unit at the school includes lessons on clean energy and ways students can reduce their carbon footprint. Finally, at the Wilmington Friends School, students can monitor the real-time output from the solar PV panels through a display installed in the school, and educators
have incorporated data from and about the system into the school’s science curriculum. In October of 2011, solar construction and project management were reallocated from Washington Gas Energy Services to Washington Gas Energy Systems.
HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA We have to accept this. If we unbalance Nature, humankind will suffer. Furthermore, as people alive today, we must consider future generations: a clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility towards others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier, than when we found it. This is not quite such a difficult proposition as it might sound. For although there is a limit to what we as individuals can do, there is no limit to what a universal response might achieve. It is up to us as individuals to do what we can, however little that may be. Just because switching off the light when leaving the room seems inconsequential, it does not mean that we should not do it.
Adapted from the chapter Universal Responsibility and the Good Heart in Freedom in Exile: The autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Hodder and Stoughton. UK 1990. (p 280-299).
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