EINI's CEO & CGO, Yeves Perez, and GM, Anthony Harris, were interviewed on February 11th, 2009 by Fox 5 San Diego reporter Brian Flores. The story was about the rise in the Green Economy, the increase in Green Building, the investment in Green projects (which Green Investors should pay attention to San Diego), and noting the many new Green Collar jobs that are being created in today's recession.
"Many high profile appointments have already been made", says Perez. Mitsubishi has already announced that President and CEO, Ryoichi Ueda, has been appointed as Chief Sustainability Officer for the companys North American operations. According to the press release, the move signals the rise in importance of environmental considerations within the company. Several other corporations have made such appointments including, Georgia-Pacific naming Bill Frerking as its CSO, Polymer Group Inc (PGI), a producer of engineered materials named their chief marketing officer, John Heironimus, to be its first CSO, and even Law firm Nixon Peabody has appointed its Chief Sustainability Officer. The firm says it is the first in the legal industry to establish such a position.
Although many law firms have separate practices that occasionally serve sustainable clients needs, at Nixon Peabody, we combine our legal experience, thought leadership, and good citizenship to serve our clients as very few other law firms can, said Harry P. Trueheart III, chairman and managing partner of Nixon Peabody. With Carolyn serving as chief sustainability officer, we intend to take our firm-wide green initiative to the next level.
Yeves Perez is also noted as San Diego's first "Chief Green Officer" and was inspired to form the position by a report by AMR Research titled, "The Rise of the Chief Green Officer" from November 2006 and written by John Davies.
Davies reports, "While solving the worlds biggest problems profitably may seem like a stretch goal, AMR Research has discussed that specific topic during 2006 with many of our Global 2000 clients. What weve found is that industry leaders understand the need for building a sustainable business. Few, if any, question the impact of global warming, all have concerns about energy security, and the role of globally responsible citizenship is taken seriously. They also see unique opportunities for new products and services for the emerging green economy. The intersection of business risk and profitable opportunity is giving rise to a new role in the organization: the chief green officer."
The Report goes on to target specifics:
Global enterprises do not pick up a focus on sustainability overnight. While many companies can rightly point to a long history of good citizenship and responsible stewardship, the impact of a business on the environment has become an increasingly important issue for senior management. Many of the companies describe a journey of transformation—a journey some have only recently begun while others started decades ago when their businesses faced critical environmental challenges.
For each of these companies, the journey can be characterized by four major stages:
Compliance—Being legally accountable isnt really an option, but as a director at a large chemical company explained, Compliance by itself is extremely expensive. You need to integrate compliance to be a minor piece in a broader framework of sustainability.
Personal commitment—In many of the leadership companies we visited, while past and present CEOs may have provided the initial enthusiasm, they also recognized the need for institutionalizing a philosophy of sustainability.
Public trust—Earning public trust is a matter of mitigating risk as well as increasing brand attractiveness. While public relations, marketing, and lobbying efforts are sometimes viewed as greenwashing, executives in leading companies dismiss that label. Their response is typically, Dont trust us, track us.
Sustainable growth—Besides being good community citizens, green business leaders are identifying opportunities to develop new green products as well as technologies that increase energy efficiency, reduce waste, and conserve critical resources.
http://www.amrresearch.com/Content/View.asp?pmillid=19972
Perez also founded his own practical definition on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Green_Officer
EINI, Inc. is the parent company of the Eco Investment Club. Visit http://ecoinvestmentclub.com/ to learn more.
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Investing Green in San Diego - The Making of a Greener Cityby EcoConnoisseur1,602 views
Thank you for being an innovator in the San Diego region! Look forward to learning more about you and your organization :)
Kimberlybh 2 years ago
This is exciting stuff; I look forward greatly to watching the spread and development of the Green market locally. Congratulations!
Unw0rthy0fn0te 3 years ago 2