Environmental Innovation

Across America, businesses both large and small are developing new ideas, inventing new technologies, and changing the way they interact with the environment. BCLC’s Environmental Innovation Network seeks to promote companies leading this trend and connect private sector, public sector, and NGO leaders towards more effective collaboration.

The network focuses on:

  • Showcasing research and development on product and technology innovations
  • Sharing financial service and project investment tools
  • Advancing business resource management practices
  • Cultivating awareness of green supply chain opportunities
  • Capturing lessons learned and best practices

 

Key Issues

BCLC uses resources such as the Environmental  Innovation Map and the Environmental Help Desk for Business and services such as monthly conference calls and annual working meetings to make progress on:

  • Advancing R&D and Product and Technology Innovations for Environmental Progress
  • Stimulating Local, Regional, and National Green Market Development
  • Sharing Financial Service and Project Investment Tools for Environmental R&D
  • Identification and Advancement of Business Resource Management Practices
  • Cultivating Awareness of Green Supply Chain Opportunities
  • Capturing Lessons Learned and Best Practices in Promoting Environmental Innovation

 

Events

 

Initiatives

The Environmental Innovation Network is driven by a group of businesses who are leaders in their fields and in the overall advancement of strategic sustainability.

The Environmental Help Desk for Business is a resource to help America’s small and medium-sized businesses understand green supply chain requirements, green business certifications, and innovations that can save money while reducing environmental impacts. Discover what the Help Desk can do for you.

The Environmental  Innovation Map represents creative and innovative business solutions to environmental challenges. The Map showcases projects that deviate from standard practices and could potentially have a revolutionsary, game-changing impact. To learn more about what businesses are doing please visit the Map.

 

BCLC Lead

Chris Ryan (email, @ChrisRyan_87) coordinates the Environmental Innovation Network. In this role, he is responsible for building awareness about best practices regarding environmental issues and facilitating collaboration between the public, private, and non-government sectors. Chris is also responsible for implementation of BCLC's annual Sustainable Community Awards, underwritten by Siemens. Chris can be reached at (202) 463-5714.

 

Environmental Innovation Headlines:

How Siemens Became a Crucial Player in Urban Sustainability

Author

Sustainability has unquestionably emerged as a mega-trend in the United States, fundamentally affecting how companies plan for the future, what products and services they provide, and how they relate to their consumers and other stakeholders. Long seen as an issue of tangential concern, sustainability – still a term with multiple definitions, but generally meaning a focus on reducing waste, increasing efficiency, and the overall strategy of marrying environmental stewardship with economic growth - has become an issue of strategic importance.

If You’re Going Green Why Not Build in Resilience?

Author

Are green building and resilience synonymous?  No but they are related.  Bill Lascher’s article in the Pacific Standard got it right.  Why build or rebuild with green building technology and materials without building or rebuilding to reflect the risks and vulnerabilities of the area in which the structure is located.  As the article indicates, Degenkolb, the nation’s oldest and largest earthquake engineering firm, understands the connection between green building and resilience and is doing something about it.  Through its corporate social responsibility-driven Envisa software too

If you are going green why not build in resilience? Environmental consciousness and risk management can pay off

Are green building and resilience synonymous?  No but they are related.  Bill Lascher’s article in the Pacific Standard got it right.  Why build or rebuild with green building technology and materials without building or rebuilding to reflect the risks and vulnerabilities of the area in which the structure is located.  As the article indicates, Degenkolb, the nation’s oldest and largest earthquake engineering firm, understands the connection between green building and resilience and is doing something about it.  Through its corporate social responsibility-driven Envisa software too

The Role of Business in Environmental Innovation

BCLC's annual Environmental Innovation working meeting, The Role of Business in Environmental Innovation is invitation only and open to BCLC Environmental Innovation working members and select business, government and community leaders. The summit will bring businesses together in the sustainability space to discuss the role of business in Environmental Innovation.

BCLC’s Environmental Innovation network's initiative identifies, raises awareness, and promotes business solutions to environmental innovation. The Network focuses on:

Business Civic Leadership Center and Green Plus Launch Environmental Help Desk for Small Businesses & Local Chambers

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) and the Institute for Sustainable Development’s Green Plus™ program today announced the creation of an online help desk to assist U.S. small and medium-sized enterprises with environmental business issues.  The Environmental Help Desk for Business, launched to coincide with Earth Day 2012, will provide clear, accessible advice on green supply chain requirements, green business certifications, and environmental innovations that can reduce both cost and environmental impact.

New Sustainability Tool Helps Small Businesses Lead a Revolution

Author

It is hard not to be optimistic about the future of sustainability in the U.S. business sector. Ten, fifteen years ago, sustainability was a side-concern, a box that often was checked with a glitzy ad campaign. Now, sustainability is a crucial competitive advantage that businesses want to incorporate into their core strategies. Why? Sustainability is a catalyst for minimizing waste, saving money, and inventing new goods and services.

Chicago, Santa Monica, and Purcellville Named 2012 Siemens Sustainable Community Award Winners

Chicago, Illinois; Santa Monica, California; and Purcellville, Virginia are the winners of the 2012 Siemens Sustainable Community Awards.

Moments of Truth Along the Sustainability Path

Author

Do you remember the dialogue around sustainable business practices in the 1980s?

OK, that's a trick question – sustainable business wasn’t much of a public business discussion in the 1980s; it certainly wasn’t mainstream the way it is today. But that didn’t stop Ray Anderson.

Honorable Mentions, 2012 Sustainable Communities

Sin City Convenes for Green

Author

In a city where your luck can change in an instant, there are few things that are a sure bet. Except sustainability, that is. Las Vegas, a finalist for the 2012 Siemens Sustainability Community Awards, has embraced long-term sustainable initiatives to make the city more economically, socially and environmentally friendly—and their investment is paying off in spades.

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Environmental Innovation