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Environmentally Sustainable Projects

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Global Poverty Alleviation: A Case Book

Abstract

One of the challenges in the twenty-first century is to provide affordable environmentally sustainable products and services through engaging in sustainable projects. The cases in this chapter illustrate how that can be done in a variety of ways while at the same time providing needed jobs to local communities. Two companies, Husk Power and Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), work in very poor communities without power to provide electricity at low rates through low-polluting methods. BHP Billiton works to create environmentally sustainable mining in Mozambique, and Ecover produces biodegradable soap and other products in a self-recycled factory environment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Miller, Claire Cain. Venture investment climbs in India, China and Israel. New York Times, February 18, 2009. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/venture-capital-investment-climbs-in-india-china-and-israel/. Accessed October 28, 2010.

  2. 2.

    “Clean Technology Venture Investment Falls to $1 Billion in 1Q09,” Cleantech Group LLC press release, April 1, 2009.

  3. 3.

    Vijay Modi, “Improving Electricity Services in Rural India,” the Earth Institute at Columbia University, December 2005.

  4. 4.

    Villages were identified as “unelectrified” if power was either available only to a minority of the population or was inconsistently available.

  5. 5.

    Ghosh, Sonaton, Tuhin K. Das, and Tushar Jash. 2001. Sustainability of decentralized woodfuel-based power plant: an experience in India. Calcutta: School of Energy Studies, Jadavpur University.

  6. 6.

    Hammond, Allen et al. The next 4 billion: market size and business strategy at the base of the pyramid. World Resources Institute, March 2007. http://www.wri.org/publication/the-next-4-billion. Accessed October 28, 2010.

  7. 7.

    Pew Center on Global Climate Change, “Developing Countries & Global Climate Change: Electric Power Options in India,” October 1999, http://www.pewclimate.org/publications/report/developing-countries-global-climate-change-electric-power-options-india (accessed October 28, 2010).

  8. 8.

    Gregory, Mark. India struggles with power theft. BBC News, March 15, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4802248.stm. Accessed October 28, 2010.

  9. 9.

    “Rising Rice Production,” Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India press release, November 30, 2007.

  10. 10.

    HPS faced a number of unexpected HR management matters. The company defined the operator as a person who not only ran the plant but also kept the equipment and plant area clean. Part of the job was to sweep the plant area with a broom. One of the operators was a Brahmin, so he refused to clean because he considered it to be against his caste conventions.

  11. 11.

    “South Africa Makes Some Decisions,” Energy Economist, August 1996.

  12. 12.

    PV power harnesses the sun’s energy and transforms it into useable electricity.

  13. 13.

    Gorman, Michael E.. 1998. Transforming nature: ethics, invention and discovery, 271. Norwell: Kluwer.

  14. 14.

    Frank Hochmuth, “Benefits and Impacts of SHS – A Case Study of Six Households,” July 1996.

  15. 15.

    Mozal Web site, “Governance and Ethics,” http://www.mozal.com/gae.htm (accessed February 29, 2008).

  16. 16.

    The World Bank Group, often referred to as the World Bank, consisted of five different organizations. In addition to the International Finance Corporation, there was the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Development Association, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

  17. 17.

    The Mozal board created the MCDT in August 2000 with the specific mission of facilitating projects and programs to improve the quality of life of the communities surrounding Mozambique’s Beluluane Industrial Park.

  18. 18.

    Mozal Web site, “Governance and Ethics,” http://www.mozal.com/gae.htm (accessed February 22, 2008).

  19. 19.

    Mahidhara, Ramamohan. 2002. The environmental and social challenges of private sector projects: IFC’s experience, 40. Washington, DC: The International Finance Corporation.

  20. 20.

    Gunter Pauli, with Niraj Dawar and H. Landis Gabel, “Ecover,” Fontainebleau, France: INSEAD, 1995, 2.

  21. 21.

    Pauli, Dawar, and Gabel, 2.

  22. 22.

    Ecover itself uses the word “crusade” to describe its early campaigns to alert consumers to the dangers from conventional detergents and the benefits of its products. See “Marketing Policy,” Ecover Web site, http://www.ecover.com.

  23. 23.

    “Marketing Policy,” Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com. Accessed May 11, 1999.

  24. 24.

    Information about these principles is drawn from three primary sources: (1) Ecover internal documentation; (2) an in-class presentation by Gunter Pauli given at the University of Virginia Colgate Darden School of Business in Spring 1994; and (3) “Ecover’s Five Commandments,” World Paper, November, 1993, 3. In addition to his role at Ecover, Pauli has founded several companies, was founder and president of Worldwatch Institute Europe, created the European Service Industries Forum (a network of successful high-growth service businesses), and has authored numerous books and articles based on his experience as an entrepreneur, green economist, and Fortune 500 executive lecturer on sustainable development. In 1994, Pauli started the Zero Emissions Research Initiative at the United Nations University in Tokyo, which he continues to direct; for more information, see http://www.zeri.org.

  25. 25.

    Crace, John. 1998. Waste not, wash not. The Guardian, October 22, T14.

  26. 26.

    HOK Newsletter, http://www.hok.com/sustainabledesign/newsletter/spring96.html, spring 1996, Accessed September 8, 1999.

  27. 27.

    Consumer Reports, February 1991, Vol. 56, No. 2:105.

  28. 28.

    Van Den Broek, Guy. 1993. Green is not always the color of money. Worldpaper, November, 1993, 3.

  29. 29.

    35 Belgian francs are equivalent to $1US. Gunter Pauli, “Ecover,” Fontainebleau, France: INSEAD, 1995, 2.

  30. 30.

    Ecover Web site, http://www.ecover.com/company/history.htm. Accessed March 23, 1999.

  31. 31.

    Pauli, 6–7.

  32. 32.

    Van Den Broek, 3.

  33. 33.

    Rostler, Suzanne. Environmentally friendly products are costing less. Orange County Register, June 29, 1992, E1.

  34. 34.

    Ecover: Opening of the First Ecological Factory, Antwerp, Belgium, 21 October 1992. VHS tape. Green Light Communications, August 3, 1993.

  35. 35.

    Pauli, Gunter. 1995. Ecover, 9. Fontainebleau, France: INSEAD.

  36. 36.

    Group 4 Securitas website, http://www.group4securitas.com/. Accessed May 11, 1999.

  37. 37.

    CNN, October 1992, reporting on the factory opening, excerpted in Ecover: Opening of the First Ecological Factory, Antwerp, Belgium, 21 October 1992. VHS tape. Green Light Communications, August 3, 1993.

  38. 38.

    “AMP & Ecover: Different Green Business Practices, Both Profitable,” Sustainable Business.com, http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/insider/feb99/1-greenbiz.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  39. 39.

    “Ecover Manual Explains Ecological Factory,” Business and the Environment, April 1, 1993; “The Ecological Factory,” Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com/factory/factory2.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  40. 40.

    “Case Studies,” EMAS Tool Kit, http://www.inem.org/inem/toolkit/case_studies2.html. Accessed May 8, 1999.

  41. 41.

    “The Ecological Factory,” Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com/factory/factory2.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  42. 42.

    Quoted by Tom Walker, “Green for Growth,” The Times of London, October 23, 1992.

  43. 43.

    “Ecover Manual Explains Ecological Factory,” op. cit.

  44. 44.

    Pauli, Dawar, and Gabel, 5.

  45. 45.

    Denevy, Kathleen. Putting it mildly, more consumers prefer only products that are ‘pure,’ ‘natural’. The Wall Street Journal, May 11, 1993, B1.

  46. 46.

    Cairncross, Frances. 1995. Green, Inc.: guide to business and the environment, 183. London: Earthscan.

  47. 47.

    Pauli, Dawar, and Gabel, 6.

  48. 48.

    “Will It All Come out in the Wash?” Super Marketing, April 10, 1992, 54(2). Ecover’s strength in the United Kingdom was due in part to the efforts of Robin Bines, director of Ecover’s British operation. From the 1960s to the present, Bines has been active in the British health food industry. When he discovered Ecover in the 1980s, Bines recognized an important new product; soon he was responsible for marketing the detergents in Great Britain.

  49. 49.

    Wentz, Laurel. “Don’t toss those old ads: Belgian detergent maker recycles rivals’ commercials.” Advertising Age, March 2, 1992, 3.

  50. 50.

    Gupta, Udayan. Keeping the faith: first, there’s the entrepreneur’s vision; then success; but can the vision survive? The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 1991, R16.

  51. 51.

    “Will It All Come Out in the Wash?” 54(2).

  52. 52.

    Gray, Howard. How shelf space made ecover. Marketing, October 18, 1990, 26(2).

  53. 53.

    The results of this study were later contradicted by a 1996 study at Sweden’s Goetborgs University, which found that Ecover was non-toxic, with a toxicity 20 times lower than its nearest rival in Sweden. See Wise, Deborah. Make your Whites greener. The Observer, October 6, 1996, 13.

  54. 54.

    Latham, Valerie. Testing green to the limit. Marketing, July 25, 1991, 18 (2).

  55. 55.

    Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com/company/history.htm. Accessed March 23, 1999.

  56. 56.

    Chiat Day account executive David Abraham, quoted by Valerie Latham, “Testing Green to the Limit.”

  57. 57.

    Nitall, Nick. Shoppers cross green products off their list. The Times of London, July 3, 1993.

  58. 58.

    Latham, Valerie. Ecover turns to recycled posters for first ads. Marketing, August 22, 1991, 6.

  59. 59.

    “Marketing Procedures,” Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com. Accessed May 11, 1999.

  60. 60.

    Latham, Valerie. Testing green to the limit. Marketing, July 25, 1991, 18(2).

  61. 61.

    Wentz, Laurel. Don’t toss those old ads: Belgian detergent maker recycles rivals’ commercials. Advertising Age, March 2, 1992, 3.

  62. 62.

    Hatfield, Stefano. Chiat day to recycle 50s films for ecover TV drive. ASAP, February 14, 1992, 7; Latham, Valerie. Ecover turns to recycled posters for first ads. Marketing, August 22, 1991, 6.

  63. 63.

    “Refill Scheme Launched,” Manufacturing Chemist, November 11, 1996, 14.

  64. 64.

    “Marketing Policy,” Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com. Accessed May 11, 1999.

  65. 65.

    Butler, Steven. Green machine. Fast Company, June 1996, 112. Available online at http://www.fastcompany.com/online/03/gunterp.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  66. 66.

    Graedel, T. E., and B. R. Allenby. 1995. Industrial ecology, 323. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

  67. 67.

    “EDMA,” Ecover website, http://www.ecover.com/company/edma.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  68. 68.

    Whether Ecover actually added optical brighteners to a line of detergents meant for grocery stores is a cloudy issue. In a 1991 article that appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Ecover executive Peter Marchand acknowledged that the company was using optical brighteners, justifying the decision by arguing: “We couldn’t grow by selling products that customers don’t want. But modifying what we do doesn’t make us any less environmentally responsible” (Gupta, Udayan. Keeping the faith: first, there’s the entrepreneur’s vision; then success; but can the vision survive? The Wall Street Journal, November 22, 1991, R16). Yet Ecover emphatically denies ever using optical brighteners in any of its products. As Ecover employee Ludo Martens stated in an email dated June 28, 1999, “ECOVER HAS NEVER USED and WILL NEVER USE OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS” (correspondence with author).

  69. 69.

    Latham, “Testing Green to the Limit.”

  70. 70.

    Wise, Deborah. Make your whites greener. The Observer, October 6, 1996, 13.

  71. 71.

    Cairncross, Frances. 1995. Green, Inc.: guide to business and the environment. London: Earthscan.

  72. 72.

    Gosling, Paul. ‘Green consumers’ give up trying to save the World. The Independent – London, April 21, 1996, 1.

  73. 73.

    Swengley, Nicole. Why Sainsbury’s are cutting back on ‘green’ lines. The Evening Standard, September 9, 1996.

  74. 74.

    “Amp & Ecover: Different Green Business Practices, Both Profitable,” Sustainable Business.com, http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/insider/feb99/1-greenbiz.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  75. 75.

    “Case Studies,” EMAS, http://www.inem.org/inem/toolkit/case_studies2.html. Accessed May 7, 1999.

  76. 76.

    “‘Green’ Cleaning Products Begin to Reach Grocery Store Shelve in Some Northwest Cities,” Business Wire, February 17, 1994.

  77. 77.

    http://www.mikegolding.com/2007/05/ecover-opens-new-factory-in-france-2/

  78. 78.

    http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841780_1841784,00.html

  79. 79.

    http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841780_1841784,00.html

  80. 80.

    http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecoap/about-eco-innovation/good-practices/belgium/509_en.htm

  81. 81.

    http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/us-market-green-household-cleaning-products-enters-forefront-consumer-consciousness-1265177.htm

  82. 82.

    http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/could-the-days-of-market-domination-be-over-for-green-giant-ecover/2057452.article

  83. 83.

    http://methodhome.com/wp-content/uploads/method_Ecover_Announcement_0904121.pdf

  84. 84.

    http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1110931/ecover-launches-4m-brand-campaign

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Albert, P.J., Werhane, P., Rolph, T. (2014). Environmentally Sustainable Projects. In: Albert, P., Werhane, P., Rolph, T. (eds) Global Poverty Alleviation: A Case Book. The International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics Book Series, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7479-7_4

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