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September 2007 — Vol. 85, No. 7
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Showcasing green-business
best practices
John R. Rathgeber
CBIA President and CEO
Through our Environmental Policies Council, workshops and other activities, CBIA for years has helped member companies comply with environmental regulations. But the business world is moving way beyond regulatory requirements. Driven by new risks as well as potentially huge business opportunities, more and more companies are striving to become green, or sustainable, businesses.
What role can CBIA play in this new environment? The association’s board of directors wants us to educate members about green-business best practices because these initiatives hold great promise not only for the environment but also for economic competitiveness.
In response, we recently launched an online Green Business Center that showcases innovative green strategies our members are using. You can read about some of these in our cover story this month, as well as at cbia.com/green. We presented a conference in June on business sustainability in Connecticut and recently surveyed our members about their sustainability practices. We have also lined up green-business expert Dan Esty, who directs the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale, as the keynote speaker for our upcoming annual meeting Oct. 24.
Meanwhile, CBIA is also working to become greener itself. We have formed a staff Green Team to suggest things the association can do and to guide employees in adopting eco-friendly practices at work and at home. Every employee has received energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs to take home. We now include “Green Tips” in our employee newsletter. Employees are urged to turn off their work space lights and computers after-hours. And we are working to reduce the amount of paper we use.
If your company has a green-business success story you would like to share with other companies through CBIA’s Green Business Center, please contact Adam Ney at 860-244-1900 or Adam Ney.
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