Breakthrough Environmental Initiatives

Some of the most powerful players in today's economy have announced breakthrough environmental initiatives in the past two years, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, McKinsey & Company, and Wal-Mart. And many large companies are putting their political muscle where their investment capital is. Twenty-seven major corporations, including Alcoa, Dow Chemical, Duke Energy, General Motors, and Xerox, are actively urging the U.S. Congress to pass legislation regulating greenhouse gas emissions, something that would have been unthinkable two years ago.

Another sign of dramatic change is the 575 environmental and energy hedge funds now in existence, most of them formed in the last few years. “Clean tech” has rapidly grown to be the world's third-largest recipient of venture capital, trailing only the Internet and biotechnology. And 54 banks, representing 85 percent of global private project finance capacity, have endorsed the Equator Principles, a new international standard of sustainability investment.

State of the World 2008 cites recent studies that conclude that the damage from global climate change could equal as much as 8 percent of global economic output by the end of this century. The report also notes that, according to the World Bank, some 39 countries experienced a decline of 5 percent or more in wealth when accounting measures also included environmental losses, such as unsustainable forest harvesting, depletion of non-renewable resources, and damage from carbon emissions. For 10 countries, the decline ranged from 25 to 60 percent.

~ From State of the World 2008: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy ~


Waste minimization is another way to reduce scale. Every year we dig up and process more than half a trillion tons of raw materials—and six months later more than 99 percent of it is waste.

~ From 7 golden rules: Innovations for a Sustainable Economy ~