Extract

Conventional wisdom says that sustainable business is in the dumps. Global markets are down for goods and services, companies and venture capitalists are tight-fisted in making clean and green investments, and the regulators have all but turned the henhouse over to the foxes. Cleantech has become a dirty word politically. Consumers are more preoccupied with saving their jobs and homes than with “saving the planet.” Activists are pedaling hard to keep green issues in view, while the public’s concern over climate change, at least in the United States, has pivoted from “dire” to “debatable.”

In this state of affairs, conventional wisdom says, the business world has moved on from environmental and sustainability concerns. After all, why be proactive when so little is being demanded of them?

Surprisingly—almost miraculously—environmental sustainability efforts continue to grow, relatively unabated, inside mainstream companies. As we’ve found throughout the global recession and recovery, companies continue to make, meet, and even exceed ambitious environmental goals related to their use of materials and resources, the emissions of their operations (as well as their suppliers’), the efficiency of their offices and factories, the ingredients of their products, and what happens to those products at the end of their useful lives. Beyond that, companies continue to innovate, buoyed by ongoing waves of new technologies and emerging business models that emphasize experience and access over ownership and consumption.