Full “Transparency” is required for Eco & Socially Responsible relationships. Joining hands with businesses that are willing go public with how they operate and build their products is a first step in putting our trust back into big business and in investments.
New Rules for a Global Market
The old rules for running a smooth business came from governments, but what do you do when supply chains stretch across borders and the rules in one country don’t match their neighbor’s — you create new, global rules.
Old thinking: bills, regulations, and laws correct after-the-fact problems — the more products cross country lines, the less important laws that stop at our borders become.
New thinking: certifications, sustainable standards, dossiers and benchmarking systems that provide before-the-fact guidelines and rules of competition which business can operate under. If business can do one thing really well, it’s compete; it just needs to know that everyone is playing by the same rules. Full transparency 0f operations is a first step in accountability.
Status of Sustainable Market Culture
There are over 300 green standards or certifications; some cover single product groups, others cover full industry sectors. The labels on the left are just a few representing “organic” certifications. None of them can agree on what questions should be asked or how the answers are weighed.
Enter Benchmarking systems, such as Good Guide.com or GreenBuildingPages.com. They rise above the “which questions to ask” problem by gathering all available information and hanging it on their own ranking or benchmarking system.
The next issue is, “Where does the original information come from; how do we know it’s valid; and what is going to cost business”? That’s where Earthster.org (or something like it) will step in. Watch for updates coming out of Earthster.org.
Earthster.org, an open-source software that will allow companies to share third party audited, supplier information from around the world (launching fall 2011). It is to product/business Life Cycle Assessment information like Quicken is for product/business accounting information – it helps companies gather their sustainable practice information into one place at a low cost. If Do-it-Yourself LCA reporting is to much for you, call in the professionals at CSRware.
What it means to business and to citizens-at-large
If you have a business, you use Earthster to compile your product’s sustainable information. The intent is that you may pull supply chain information from a common database that has been third party audited, saving everyone money. The end report will be available to to improve practices, comply with regulations, and become the authentic base for marketing messages.
Citizens will have access to product information from multi-national companies. It will take several years before this is an everyday experience (much like checking the nutrition label on food packaging) but it will happen. GoodGuide is a stepping stone version of what it will look like. As transparency improves, trust in big business will also improve.
What’s also cool about this? It gets business ready to play green catch even if it’s too soon to play green ball, and it didn’t take an act of Congress for it to happen.
Need more information?
Bring in one of our speakers to your special event or workshop and subscribe to the IWWT blog for ongoing updates. Sustainable standards are very complex, but we’ll focus only on what matters to women as individuals and consumers.
