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Recent Posts by Marc Gunther
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I’m writing this post on my Apple PowerBook G4, which ordinarily does very well what I need it to do—except that right now it is sitting on my lap and giving off enough heat to keep me warm on a cool day. That might be welcome if today were a February day in Denver. But it’s August. I’m in the mile-high city where the sun always seems to shine to moderate a discussion on sustainability for Coca Cola Enterprises, the big bottling company; to attend a bunch of events on the environment and energy; and to soak up the atmosphere as the Democrats and thousands of hangers-on here to nominate Barack Obama. The Coke discussion went well, I thought—participants included the major of Atlanta, Shirley Franklin, who talked about the drought and water conservation, Majority Leader Steny
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The other day, John McCain visited an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to call for more offshore drilling. The massive Chevron rig produces 10,000 barrels of oil a day. Meanwhile, I just filled up my new Honda Fit with gas for the first time. After driving 282 miles, I bought 9.47 gallons at $3.62 a gallon. So I’m getting 29.6 mpg, mostly in the city. What’s the connection? The actions of millions of Americans like me—as we trade big cars for smaller ones, drive less, or do both—are going to have a whole lot more impact on oil prices, more quickly, than drilling for more oil. In fact, they already are. Gas prices have been falling by more than a penny per day and the price of oil has dropped from about $147 a barrel to about $115 a barrel in the last couple of months for one
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Not only is the world flat, it is amazingly interconnected. Who would have thought that Oreos or Cheez-Its could contribute to deforestation and global warming? Today’s Sustainability column at fortune.com and cnnmoney.com looks at palm oil, the commodity that connects hundreds of products on supermarket shelves to the disappearing tropical forests of Malaysia and Indonesia. Enviros who take a confrontational approach (Rainforest Action Network) as well as those who prefer to consult or collaborate (Conservation International, WWF) are attacking the palm oil problem. So are big agribusiness companies like ADM, Bunge and Cargill, although they’re not moving fast enough or far enough to satisfy the activists at RAN. Interestingly, the palm oil story appears to be following a script
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The Environmental Working Group looked at nearly 1,000 sunscreen products and found that “4 out of 5 contain chemicals that may pose health hazards or don’t adequately protect skin from the sun’s damaging rays. The Natural Resources Defense Council analyzed household air fresheners and found that “most contain chemicals that may affect hormones and reproductive development, particularly in babies. The EPA was so concerned about keeping rodenticides—rat and mouse poisons—out of the hands of children that the agency ruled this spring that four of the most most hazardous types of pesticides will no longer be sold for personal use These days, it seems like you can’t open the newspaper or, worse, search the Internet without hearing about the dangers of ordinary household
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While carbon offsets are controversial and always will be, they have enormous potential to promote an elusive goal: sustainable development. At their best, carbon offsets are a low-cost way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transfer clean technology to poor countries and help people out of poverty. Which brings us to JPMorgan Chase and cook stoves. The global Wall Street investment bank has begun subsidizing the production and distribution of efficient cooking stoves in Africa, an effort that could expand to India and southeast Asia as well. The project is the topic of today’s Sustainability column on fortune.com and cnnmoney.com. Here’s how it begins: By any measure, it is a long way from the Park Avenue headquarters of JPMorgan Chase, the global investment bank that
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Yet another lively week in the world of green business brought these headlines—Climate Counts ranks consumer companies (again) on global warming practices, the trucking industry slows down and Goldman Sachs banker Mark Tercek takes the helm of The Nature Conservancy. My reactions:
Climate Counts: I’ve been a skeptic when it comes to Climate Counts, a nonprofit funded by Stonyfield Farm that aims to mobilize consumers to reward companies with good climate-change policies and avoid those that have failed to address global warming. But I’m coming around to the belief that this little NGO could have an impact.
Wood Turner, who runs Climate Counts for Stonyfield “CE-Yo” Gary Hirshberg, tells me that companies are paying attention to their Climate Counts ranking—much as they seek to be included in the lists of responsible companies compiled by socially responsible mutual funds. What’s more, college students and others have become regular visitors to the Climate Counts website, evidently to learn more about where to spend their money. About 40,000 visitors a month check in, Wood says—not a big enough number to move markets, but it’s a start. I found the Climate Counts website useful myself this week when writing a column about Taco Bell.
The encouraging news from Climate Counts is that 84% of the rated companies improved their scores since the first set of rankings a year ago. “For the most part, I’ve been incredibly buoyed by the scores this year,” Wood says. His biggest disappointment, he says, is the lack of engagement by the fast-food and restaurant industry. That’s a key industry when it comes to the environment because big purchasers of food have leverage to bring about more sustainable agriculture. Burger King, Darden Restaurants (which owns Red Lobster and Olive Garden), Wendy’s and Yum! Brands all scored one or zero points (out of 100). So next time you are on the road and need fast food, stop at Mickey D’s. Or hunt down a Starbucks. Both firms take environmental issues seriously.
The top scorer? Nike, with 82, which is no surprise to anyone who knows what the company is doing around corporate responsibility or green design. Others scoring 70 or better were IBM, Stonyfield Farm, Unilever, Canon, GE and Toshiba. My company, Time Warner, lagged News Corp. and Disney in the media sector.
Keep on truckin’: The American Trucking Association held a presser the other day at the Newseum with the message that “Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow.” Among other things, the truck companies called for a national speed limit of 65 mph, highway construction to decrease congestion at bottlenecks which wastes fuel and, for the first time, national fuel economy standards for trucks. There’s a lot happening in the industry, notably the development of hybrid trucks, thanks to a partnership between FedEx, Environmental Defense and truck and engine manufacturers. I also learned last week that Coca-Cola Enterprises, the world’s biggest Coke bottler, rolling out hybrids.
Schneider National, a Green Bay, Wisconsin-based company that is the nation’s largest truckload carrier, is leading the industry. (A truckload, I was told, is a truck loaded with stuff from one customer, going to one place, as opposed to say, a UPS or FedEx truck that makes many stops for many customers. Schneider serves 80% of the companies in the Fortune 500.) Schneider’s CEO, Chris Lofgren, said the company is turning down the cruise control on its trucks to 60 mph and setting an upper speed limit for drivers of 63 mph. This will save the company money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Because Schneider offers financial incentives for its drivers to reduce fuel consumption and idling time, their drivers idle their vehicles for about half of the industry average, Lofgren said. Which tells me that the rest of the industry has lots of room to improve.
Fun fact at the event: Some truckers spend $1,000 to fill their tanks! So don’t feel so bad next time you stop at the gas pump. There’s more than you want to know about the greening of the truck biz at www.trucksdeliver.org. “The trucking industry is the driving force behind the American economy,” says Bill Graves, the former Kansas governor who now runs ATA. It’ll be interesting to see if ATA comes out in support of the Lieberman-Warner climate-change bill.
Goldman and the Nature Conservancy: Tercek, who has guided Goldman Sachs’ industry-leading environmental policy, becomes president and CEO of the Nature Conservancy, which calls itself the world’s leading environmental organization. This deepens the ties between Goldman and TNC—Hank Paulson, the former Goldman CEO who now runs the Treasury Dept., used to be chairman of the group.
Tercek, 51, joined Goldman in 1984, became a partner in 1996 and was planning to retire when Paulson persuaded him to create its environmental strategy and lead a nonprofit funded by Goldman to promote the use of markets to solve environmental problems. He played a key role when Goldman joined with KKR and Texas Pacific Group in the $32 billion “green” buyout of Texas coal-burner power generator TXU. Mark is very smart, low-key and a good listener.
The Washington Post did a very tough investigative series on The Nature Conservancy back in 2003. People who work there say it was unfair, but it lead to reforms (as well as a U.S. Senate and IRS investigations). I still remember a Post photo of the oversized mansion in a McLean, Virginia, development that was bought by the conservancy’s former CEO, Steven McCormick, with the help of a $1.5 million loan from the group. It’s hard to respect a conservation group when the guy in charge does not practice conservation.
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