Category: Business

See Interview With Ann About COP 21 in Paris

What sets apart the leaders of resilient businesses?

An adaptation from Ann’s book, Adapting to Change, was featured on the GreenBiz blog today. Read the excerpt here.

Join Ann at Jigar Shah’s Climate Wealth Preview

Please join me at my friend Jigar Shah’s exclusive preview of his new book. Creating Climate Wealth October 8 in New York City.
“Everything Jigar has done proves that profits in energy aren’t just made in dirty fuels. Thanks to entrepreneurs like Jigar, climate change solutions are attracting investors, greener jobs are being created, and industries are saving big money on energy
costs.” – SIR RICHARD BRANSON – Founder, Virgin Group

“Jigar Shah is a force of nature! Here he recounts his unique journey–as entrepreneur, investor and nature’s defender. His outlook: a fast–changing world where enterprise places greater value on our climate and society. A timely book from a Thinker and Doer, both!” –ANN GOODMAN, President, telesis, Co-Founder, WNSF

For details and to RSVP: Continue reading “Join Ann at Jigar Shah’s Climate Wealth Preview” →

NASDAQ’s Sandy Frucher takes stock of sustainability reporting

NASDAQ’s Vice Chair Meyer “Sandy” Frucher was a big hit during the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) spring conference in New York City, reminding fellow panelists of common-sense wisdom during an arcane debate on sustainability reporting that pitted accounting standards against regulatory guidelines — and baffled most of the audience.

After a series of nonstop trips spanning four continents in his role as “roving ambassador without a portfolio” — and freshly returned from a board meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) in Tokyo— Frucher sat down with me to talk what makes sense for companies, investors and the public as business embraces sustainability reporting.

Ann Goodman: Why did NASDAQ publish an integrated report last December?

Sandy Frucher: We’re a for-profit company. We used to be a boutique stock exchange in one place trading equities in the U.S. The world changed. We’ve become a global company, a multinational and multi-modal company — that is, Continue reading “NASDAQ’s Sandy Frucher takes stock of sustainability reporting” →

Late Winter Roundup: ‘tis the season to welcome Spring…and a changing climate

While Spring officially arrived a week ago, the weather took a cold, dreary turn in New York and elsewhere, auguring more climate change to come.

Nonetheless, it’s been an exciting Winter for my sustainability activities.

Over the winter season, I’ve been active in a number of high-level sustainability events

US-China Green Consumption Forum, Washington, DC, March

and other projects, including the five spotlighted here:

1)Most recently, I learned Continue reading “Late Winter Roundup: ‘tis the season to welcome Spring…and a changing climate” →

Prof. Shi Qi Qing: In Memory of a Green Chinese Heroine

As the time fast approaches for women in the US and China to meet on green consumption in Washington, D.C. (see previous post), I fondly remember my dear colleague Prof. Shi Qi Qing, who skillfully formed international alliances in this field–notably with me while I led WNSF–during her inspirational tenure as Secretary General of CAWE, the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs.

She will be missed–for her wide knowledge, calm and warm personality, sound judgment and her passion for a sustainable world that women could help lead.

At Hong Kong’s World Green Forum in summer 2011, she said with usual aplomb that “the shift in the focus of a global economy toward investments in clean technologies and natural infrastructures like forest and soil is an optimal choice for economic growth in a real sense, a combat against climate change and [an aid to] adequate employment in the 21st century.”

Prof. Shi was truly an inspiring global green partner–across continents, languages and cultures.

Professor Shi QI Qing, 6th from right, in red jacket

Join Dr. Goodman: March 22 World Bank Summit on China, US, Women and Buying Green

During her decade-long tenure as Executive Director of the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future (WNSF), Dr. Goodman forged a long term alliance with the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs (CAWE) on sustainable business. Now, CAWE’s maternal organization, the All China Women’s Federation, is joining forces with the International Fund for China’s Environment, and Big Green Purse, among many other notables, to host an all-day FREE forum on “Using the Power of Purse to Protect the Planet: US-China Greener Consumption Forum.” Join Dr. Goodman, as she opens the ‘US-China Greener Consumption Forum’ at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., as moderator of the first plenary panel preceding a day of in-depth discussions of the vital cooperation between US and Chinese women to slow the depletion of natural resources and change consumption patterns with their new-found wealth and power. For details, and to register gratis, visit: http://www.ifce.org (March 22, World Bank, Washington, DC, 8am-5:15 pm, followed by reception)

Ann’s ‘6 biggest trends’ is 2nd most read story on Greenbiz.com, 2012

As the New Year opens, I’m happy to share with the sustainability community that my story on Ernst & Young’s research, entitled ‘6 Biggest Trends in Sustainability Reporting,’ published Jan.30, 2012, was the second-most read story (of the 12 most clicked) of this year on Greenbiz.com, the must-go-to sustainability business web site! (www.Greenbiz.com/bio/ann-goodman: ‘The 12 Most Popular Stories of 2012,’ 12/28/12)

“At the GreenBiz Forum in New York City, E&Y offered a preview of the results of a recent survey of trends in sustainability reporting from 24 different sectors…Read more: (www.Greenbiz.com/bio/ann-goodman: ‘The 6 Biggest Trends in Sustainability Reporting, 1/30/12)

Thanks to my friends at E&Y, especially Chris Walker, Robert Brand, Adam Carrel, and, last, but hardly least, Steve Starbuck–for doing such great research and spending time and energy on adding comment and color to an important story!

Climate, Disaster, Resilience: Analysis at R2

See continuing analysis of climate, crisis, risk and resilience at R2communications’ post, “Responding to Hurricane Sandy”, at R2sustainability.com, where Ann Goodman and Lakis Polycarpou offer views–editorial and pictorial–of the event and its aftermath.

Can sustainability help JPMorgan Chase bounce back?

Even as JPMorgan Chase has incurred billions in losses from botched trading, acknowledged by its CEO Jamie Dimon as an “egregious mistake,” the stalwart bank has been enthusiastically supporting a new environmental strategy that spans all of its businesses.

In a particularly creative move, the bank recently announced it is financing an initiative in New York City to help building owners cover upfront costs of converting old boilers to natural gas. It is also encouraging home owners to make their homes more energy efficient through improvements that may be eligible for tax benefits.

Matthew Arnold, the Head of the Office of Environmental Affairs, sees the move as the sort of innovation he hopes the bank can achieve across businesses to help solve real-world environmental problems.

Appointing Arnold — former leader of PwC’s Sustainable Business Solutions, co-founder of Sustainable Finance Ltd., and COO of World Resources Institute — to the top environmental position a year ago was something of a coup for the bank. In Arnold, JPMorgan Chase has lured not just a daring environmental thought leader, but also a well-known implementer of sustainability projects. Continue reading “Can sustainability help JPMorgan Chase bounce back?” →