You read it and you hear it again and again, the same old mantra “we/you/they can’t afford to go green in the current economic climate”. It gets repeated so many times it becomes reality and it rarely gets challenged.
The evidence explodes this lazy myth – the latest of many studies to show green businesses out perform the rest was released by Harvard and London Business Schools shows that $1 invested in “high sustainability” companies in 1993 would earn you 47% more than if you invested it in “low sustainability” companies.
The threat from the myth is serious. Companies are losing business as contracts are awarded to greener competitors. Laggards are more susceptible to price rises in utilities and raw materials, will lose out on the best recruits and be at higher risk from legislation and green taxes. In the current economy you have to make modest progress on environmental performance just to stand still commercially, and you really have to go for it to get competitive advantage.
Some people clearly get it – my business is booming!