SB09 Reports: What in the World Should We Measure?
Developing financially sound sustainable practices means creating and crunching a lot of numbers. So, what does it matter to measure? How do different companies collect the data? How best to use it in goal setting and communications? A frank discussion happened at Sustainable Brands 09 about the effect a company’s size has on its strategy for analyzing sustainability initiatives. WPP and Pictura Graphics spoke, moderated by Gil Friend.
Pictura Graphics is a small printing and graphics company whereas WPP is a huge umbrella of advertising, marketing, and communications companies. Both have committed to substantial sustainability goals and both face challenges going forward. They both expressed that a clear perspective on numbers is an important part of setting, tracking, and communicating their sustainability agendas.
Gil Friend opened the session, titled “What Gets Measured Gets Done”, by adding Well, Yes, Sort of. While it’s true that measuring things allows companies to analyze all kinds of categories, the point is that smart companies use numbers and charts strategically. The question to ask yourself really is: what should you measure? And what happens if you make sustainability the driver of your business instead of an add-on? How do you get from the vision to the daily practice? Measuring is certainly a part of that movement.
Paul Lilienthal of Pictura Graphics explained that as a small company, they were able to quickly identify several key areas and realized that in their industry, improving their waste stream held the largest opportunity. Attention and improvement went hand in hand. They started measuring waste and increased recycling in mid- 2008, calculating more than 16 tons recycled that year and have since developed a practice of sending periodic sustainability reports to all stakeholders. This transparency allows for specific feedback, communication between departments, and is part of the process of getting everyone on board. If they had focused on a secondary category, it would still sound good to say something along the lines of “we reduced our energy use by 10%” but it would have less real meaning than something at the core of their business practice.
On the other hand, office energy use is a huge area for WPP. At one point Frank Sicilia of WPP flat out said let’s be honest, WPP is a big dirty company. WPP is actually a collection of over 100 companies that work with 340 Fortune Global 500 companies, over one-half of the NASDAQ 100 and over 30 of the Fortune e-50. In 2006 they estimated their carbon footprint was 260,000 tons. In reducing excessive consumption even 10%, they can drop their impact by thousands of tons of CO2 and in buying offsets they support big efforts elsewhere in the world. Through reductions bringing their footprint to 244,146 tons in 2007 and huge offsets, they are actually “carbon neutral” as of 2007.
With thousands of employees, speaking different languages, in different cultures and contexts and habits, one solution may not fit all. One number may not help identify where each place can make the most impact. One place a building envelope may be the big drain, in another the office materials use patterns may be costing more than it needs to.
So, how should WPP measure? Or, what should WPP measure? All WPP companies got a mandate from WPP to reduce emissions 20% in less than 10 years. To aggregate and publish company-wide statistics is difficult and reductionist on one hand but Sicilia said that clients are also asking for their overall carbon footprint, and it’s great to be able to tell them. Creating location-based strategies is effective but difficult because it requires getting so many people on the same page.
When asked for the largest area of impact, Lilienthal said waste and Sicilia said IT, travel, procurement, and real estate. When asked how their teams use the various measurements Lilienthal said they share information between departments, and other companies by passing around excel sheets and Sicilia said that finance sees everything first, (sees the power bills!), and that finance runs the show.
Friend’s general advice was that flexibility enables insight. Whereas rigid lists and specific guidelines clog up the flow of solution creation, setting broad goals and considering carefully which numbers are actually key to have and who needs to see them before making decisions, allows integrated strategies to emerge instead of only top-down, arbitrary solutions.
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