I’ve developed the above model to communicate the levels of benefit that “going green” can deliver. Underpinning the whole thing is compliance – if you don’t get this right then the whole thing can come tumbling down. One level above that is direct economic benefits – in particular cost cutting but also retaining value in assets and reducing the risk of non-compliance by providing a margin of error.

If you raise you sights above this level then you are in a minority, but a very wise minority. The first set of benefits in this rarified atmosphere are internal but intangible – recruiting, retaining and motivating the best staff for the business. Above that is all the new business you will win through beating the competition – as we have seen, companies who focus too much on the cost level (ie expecting a good direct ROI) could miss out on this level of benefits. The business people who understand this will be at a considerable advantage over their less enlightened competitors.

And lastly, at the very top, for a minority of businesses there are some rather large new and emerging markets to exploit.

BTW, in Tuesday’s webinar, Deborah was explaining the cost and staff levels and I covered the branding/differentiation and new markets.