Big Green Breakthrough

Green business trends are starting to infiltrate corporate America – but at nowhere near the rate they need to in order to protect the planet.

According to the State of Green Business 2009 report released today in San Francisco, we’re not gaining nearly enough ground in reducing the carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change, and we haven’t really begun to take water conservation and pollution seriously.  In other words, despite all the talk of the “green revolution” that’s supposedly going on, we’re not making nearly as much headway as we should be.

On the more promising side, Joel Makower, the report’s author, notes:

* Green building is on the rise, spurring new technologies that save energy and money while creating more healthful workplaces.

* A green race is taking place in the automobile industry, with every major manufacturer planning to introduce electric vehicles.

* Leading consumer product makers and retailers are starting to rigorously assess the environmental impact of their products using sophisticated metrics, sending signals up the supply chain that tomorrow’s products will need to hew to higher levels of environmental responsibility.

* U.S. patents for clean-energy technologies — wind, fuel cells, hydroelectric, tidal, and geothermal — in 2008 were at their highest level in seven years.

* American industry has been doing more with less energy for decades. The amount of energy required — in the form of electricity and fuel — per dollar of GDP has dropped more than 75 percent since 1950.

According to the report, top green business trends include the growth of college curricula on environmental management; a desire to educate employees about green shopping and living; and the increased use by companies of green design principles like green chemistry and biomimicry.

Download the free report here.