Opportunity Green Means Business

I was in Los Angeles this weekend attending Opportunity Green 2008 with about 449 other folks. It was a great event that attracted a multitude of green entreprenuers, corporate officers and representatives from government and non-profit organizations.

Every discussion was a thought provoking learning experience, but the one theme that stuck with me was the notion that "Green means Good Business."  Companies want to be green to help the planet and society, but they realize that you must also make a profit doing it or your business isn't "sustainable."  What good can you do it you're bankrupt?

An executive with Wal-Mart capsulized this thought by saying that sustainability equals efficiency and efficiency means lower operating costs for Wal-Mart and lower prices for its customers.

An economist who spoke on Day One challenged Green Business to envision what the future economy will look like and quantify revenue and profits.  That way, traditional businesses can compare the future Green Economy with the present Carbon Economy and they'll go green if there's more money in it. 

Very compelling concept, but it needs to be done in a logical and rational manner.  Throwing out big numbers for new jobs created and profits realized is more dangerous than doing nothing, if the numbers have no basis in fact. However, business people need numbers to justify their decisions and most Americans love simple, quick facts that justify their causes. 

Those of us interested in building sustainable businesses need to look at our own organizations and industries to envision the future and use sound business practices to develop revenue, profit and job creation objectives for our space.  We then need a framework to come together to peer review, revise and aggregate this data to form a Vision of the Future for Sustainable Business. 

Such a document can be used by entreprenuers, government agencies and existing businesses to shape investment decisions and fovus development in areas that have the fastest and biggest returns.  It can also serve as a source of data to inspire consumers, so they seek out training for jobs in sustainable industries of the future and begin requesting specific sustainable products to drive the demand curve.

But the main question that I have, is who should drive and organize this effort?  Government? A business association? A non-profit? I'm interested in your thoughts and ideas.