Going green lifts bottom line

TEN years ago, not many businesses think the environment can affect their operations. But in recent years, a trend has developed both globally and locally, showing that going green can actually boost bottom line.

"Everything a business uses goes back to the bottom line cutting down on paper, water and electricity doesn't just translate into profits, but also helps the environment," said Nanette Ramos, conference manager of Brunei-based Asia Inc Forum.

Going green is also a way for businesses to sustain themselves longer, she said. "Part of sustainable business operations is to help the environment and knowing where you can cut costs from small things like paper, energy and water," she said, noting the need to help local businesses become more sustainable.

This is why Asia Inc Forum annually organises a national environment conference to present businesses with ideas on sustainable development.

Rubyanto Hamidjojo, managing director and chief executive officer of Hamidjojo Developments Sdn Bhd, said, "The environment is important and affects us all. Regardless if you are a business or a government or an individual, by cutting down on these utilities and items, and by helping the environment by 10-20 per cent, that means that you are cutting down 10-20 per cent of your cost and saving it."

He added that a sustainable business would result in sustainable individuals who would, in the big picture, help the country. "If a business or an individual uses less electricity, for example, that means that the government needs to spend less on energy and use the reserve fuel for future generations or for export to other countries," he said.

In a recent interview, Peter Thorn, head of Strategic Lighting Applications from Thorn Lighting Ltd, said during his visit to Brunei, he had noticed that there are a lot of buildings using unnecessary public lighting. "Some of the street lights aren't perhaps the best technology, where a lot of light is being wasted. One thing I noticed is that Brunei has a lot of floodlights, but the buildings or people that use them aren't necessarily for floodlighting," he said.

Thorn said that businesses with a lot of public lighting could conserve on energy by switching off the lights after a certain time. "They should think about once it reaches 10pm or 11pm, most people aren't out late enough to look at the lighting so why should we keep it on?" Recently, HSBC released a statement that the bank may soon introduce a financing scheme that will help corporate clients start going green or adopt environment-friendly practices.

Teresa Au, head of corporate sustainability, said, "Very often people will rely on the role of the government to take the lead and it is essential that governments, businesses and also individuals work together to look at ways to combat climate change in a cooperative manner because no individual or organisation can deal with this alone.

"Trying to mitigate and combat climate change will cost one to two per cent of the global GDP, but if we do nothing ... the overall cost could be as high as five to 20 per cent of the global GDP," she said.

Au said that governments could lay the framework to try to look for requirements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and companies have a role to ensure that look at their own carbon footprints and look at ways to reduce them. "I think in the banking industry, we have to influence our customers through the use of our service. For example, we are the first group of banks to sign on to a principle agreed by the United Nations on this project finance criteria where we look at sectors that actually create more potential impact to the environment, such as energy, mining, water infrastructure and forestry," she said.

She added that if these industries are not operated in a sustainable manner, it could cause a negative impact to the environment.

"If they are able to show that they are on a credible path to meet international standards, we will be happy to support them in our financial service. We also look at SMEs and how we are going to influence them," said Au.

Last year, HSBC had a "green equipment finance scheme" to encourage customers to buy equipment in a more environmentally friendly manner. "These are things that SMEs, who really want to go green and comply with environmental regulations, want to do but they don't have enough financial resources to change their process to purchase the equipment," she said.

While small and medium enterprises play a big role in today's global commerce and in achieving sustainable development, governments and public policy hold the key to paving the way for the attainment of such potential. "Global companies are outsourcing so many of the business operations and SMEs are playing a very important role in providing products and services that are sold to (them)," said Dr Terry Yosie, president of the World Environment Centre, in a previous interview.

"The role of SMEs is becoming increasingly important in the evolution of both global commerce and the practical challenges of achieving sustainable development for several reasons," he said during the recently-held National Environment Conference organised by Asia Inc. SMEs have their own environmental, societal and energy impacts so their increasing role in global commerce also means that they are leaving a larger carbon footprint, he said.

"Because they are becoming more of the primary producers of products, they are the ones who are increasingly extracting resources from the earth."

It is for these reasons, he added, that the world has to pay more attention to the SMEs.

Yosie said there is a need for leadership "within the SMEs ... within the customers and a need for leadership on the part of the government and policies" to get them to start thinking more about sustainable development.

Yosie doesn't expect SMEs to be charitable organisations and spend extra revenue to change their operations to become more sustainable, and this is where the government and public policy come into play. "They have to integrate sustainability into the very nature of SME business and this has to be about creating business value for the SMEs."

There are many opportunities to do that by reducing cost and saving energy by reducing cost to prevent waste, practicing recycling and so on, he said.

"Governments can provide incentives for companies that want to be more energy efficient and want to have healthier and safer work places, so there are a lot of 'low hanging fruit' to reducing cost."

The Brunei Times