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November 20, 2007 What's Hot in Climate Today Home | News & Ideas | Connections | Events | About

We at SLM are very pleased to introduce Will Sarni, CEO of sustainability consulting firm DOMANI, as our expert-in-residence on climate strategy and the new host of Climate Management Weekly. Take it away, Will! Carbon-Neutral Water or Solar Potato Chips? Climate change, which the IPCC recently called the “defining challenge of our age,” has a way of separating the leaders from the followers in the business world. Companies are moved to respond to climate change either reactively in response to a risk to their brand or proactively to position themselves as leaders in the market. Two recent news stories point up this contrast particularly well. First, Fiji Water’s commitment to going “carbon negative.” I doubt that consumers will ever completely stop buying bottled water in response to the threat of climate change (even if it means sourcing that water from thousands of miles away?). However, the reputational risk to the industry is real enough; no longer is bottled water viewed without any thought as to the costs and impacts from its distribution. Companies like Fiji and others are taking positive action – and it is to be applauded. But theirs is essentially a reactive, risk-management response – one that will become increasingly commonplace as our view of the products we purchase and the resources we consume changes over time. By contrast, SunChips maker Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, is taking on more of a leadership role in it its industry. Frito Lay just completed a massive solar electric power system on the roof of its Arizona Service Center, the company’s largest U.S. distribution center. The 201-kilowatt system, now the largest business-owned PV system in Arizona, will produce roughly 350,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually and will supply power directly to Frito-Lay’s electrical loads to meet a portion of the facility’s daytime energy needs. This is a bold, proactive move aimed at lowering emissions from day-to-day business operations, and a logical follow-up PepsiCo’s purchase of renewable energy credits (RECs) earlier this year. In the coming months we will continue to witness a spectrum of corporate responses to climate change – some tactical and reactive, others more meaningful and enduring. Watch this space for a strategic look at who’s leading and who’s lagging – and what might be coming down the pike for your business. This Week's Top News... Bayer to Pour $1.46 Billion into Developing New Climate Products Bayer says it will pour 1 billion Euro ($1.46 billion) over the next three years into a companywide initiative aimed primarily at developing new product-based solutions to climate change. Read more... New Carbon Standard Aims to Lend Credibility to Offsets Market Buyers and sellers of carbon credits now have a new form of quality assurance for carbon offset projects. The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) offers third-party verification for project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions. Read more... CalStar Poised to Bring Greener Cement to Market CalStar Cement is set to announce plans to market a new kind of cement that requires far less energy to manufacture, according to CNet News blogger Michael Kanellos. Read more... McDonald's Revisits Geothermal for Florida Restaurant It took ten years, but McDonald's is finally opening its second restaurant to use energy-efficient geothermal technology for heating and cooling. Read more... HSBC Launches Climate-Change Structured Products HSBC has launched a range of new products linked to its newly created Global Climate Change 100 Index and GIF Climate Change Fund. Read more... More Climate Management News... Forward to a Friend! Inside Frito-Lay's Eco-Friendly Chip Factory The process for making Lay's potato chips devours enormous amounts of energy, and creates vast amounts of waste in water, starch, and peelings. Now, Frito-Lay is embarking on an ambitious plan to change the way one of its factories operates and, in the process, create a new type of snack: the environmentally benign chip. (New York Times) Read more... More Climate features... Did You Know? You don't have to wait till next week to get the latest climate news from SLM. Subscribe now for our RSS feed delivering daily headlines on how companies are meeting the global climate challenge. Find Peers and Partners If you haven’t already joined the fastest growing online sustainable business community, create a profile now and start connecting. Solution Providers

Sustainable Life Media is home for business professionals looking to build new value and competitive advantage by innovating more sustainable processes, practices and products. We bring you top stories related to the what, who and how of environmental and social innovation, and help you connect with thought leaders, peers, partners and solutions providers that can help you quickly reach your goals. This work is licensed under a CreativeCommons License. Copyright Sustainable Life Media Inc. 2007

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