I attended the CRO Conference this morning at the Union League Club in downtown Chicago. The CRO Conference dubs itself as the "only event dedicated to increasing the professional capacity of the newest corporate leadership role—the Corporate Responsibility Officer."
The opening panel at the conference was a discussion on "Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability in the Paper and Printing Industries and its Big-Time Impact on You" moderated by Don Carli, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Communications which featured Lewis Fix, Business Director for Domtar's EarthChoice products ; Scot Case, VP, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing; Marcelo Michelsohn, VP Sustainable Development at LaSalle Bank; and Liza Murphy of the Rainforest Alliance.
The panel discussion provided a high level look at the effect the printing industry and paper industry have on the environment. The discussion was primarily centered on the paper industry, but the environmental impacts of printing processes were also briefly discussed. 3rd party certification of materials and processes was also highlighted as an important step in providing sustainability communication. Domtar's Lewis Fix noted that media buys should look for 3rd party certified materials when making purchasing decisions to minimize exposure to greenwashing activity.
Certification among print service providers is growing. Liza Murphy from the Rainforest Alliance pointed out that one year ago there were only 400 printer providers with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification. Four months ago, that number doubled to 800, and today there are 1,200 print service providers with FSC certification.
Each panel member was asked to give one tip on how to transition to sustainable communication. Fix of Domtar said to start small, don't try to do everything at once. Rainforest Allianc's Murphy said to start by using FSC-certified paper products. Scot Case TerraChoice Environmental Marketing advised to understand greenwashing. LaSalle Bank Michelsohn said engage with your suppliers to find sustainable solutions. Good words of advice for corporate communication buyers and print service providers alike.
Printing industry analysts and consultants talk about consultative selling as strategy to sell more products and services and this strategy certainly holds true for selling green print. Print service providers that have implemented sustainable operations can assist existing and potential customers move to more environmentally friendly and sustainable communication methods.
Discussion
By Dennis Schaal on Sep 13, 2007
Hey Adam: I'm glad you attended our conference. A pretty thorough reporting job about the printing/paper panel.
Ya, greenwashing, whether it be in the paper industry or others, seems to be on everyone's mind.
I liked the comments by panel member Scot Case of TerracChoice on how he wrote a graduate school paper 16 years ago projecting that sustainability would be a key business issue, only to have the professor mock him for his idealism.
Fyi, I wrote a blog piece about another panel and I opined that CEOs will get called on the carpet (a commercial carpet manufacturer was on the panel) if they don't realize the inevitability of the sustainability trend. My post is at http://www.thecro.com/view/blogs/landing.
By Nick Patrissi on Sep 13, 2007
Adam, nice recap. I was only able to attend the morning panel but thought it was one of the more informative and stimulating sessions that I have attended.
Don Carli, from the Institute of Sustainable Communications did an excellent job of moderating this key topic and the panel was well balanced.
I particularly liked the advise on the " 7 sins of Green washing" offered by Scot Case of TerraChoice who advised us to move forward but with commitment and good measurement practices.
By Don Carli on Sep 13, 2007
Adam, many thanks to you for the coverage. At times it can be lonely and difficult to talk to corporations about why they should care about the sustainability print. The Institute's goal in organizing this panel was to raise awareness among CROs of the strategic impact of paper and printing supply chain decisions on corporate sustainability performance and the need for CRO's to send clear signals to the market providing evidence that they value supply chain partners who are investing in the sustainability of the graphic arts industry. We look forward to hearing from printers and others in the graphic arts supply chain who are and are not seeing evidence of the importance of sustainable business practices in the RFQs, RFIs and RFPs that they are receiving from Fortune 1000 companies that tout supply chian sustainability as a governance priority. Keep up the good work!
Discussion
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