For Release Sunday, October 30, 2009
© 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s cautious if not hostile approach to climate control legislation isn’t just putting it at odds with the Obama administration. Progressive corporations like Apple and Pacific Gas & Electric have resigned their memberships over the issue.
And there’s a fresh breeze blowing at the grassroots too. A growing coterie of local chambers of commerce is pushing both members and their communities to think and act “green,” to surge ahead of the curve in cutting carbon emissions.
And why? It’s because “they see green as a huge marketing opportunity as consumers increasingly respond to firms that are environmentally responsible,” says Carly Grimm, author of a new report on chambers’ initiatives financed by the Energy Foundation and produced by Partners for Livable Communities.
The report– “Enterprise at Home–Chambers of Commerce as the New Players in Environmental Sustainability” –focuses on green/climate change initiatives of leading chambers spread from New England to southern California. The chambers, including Los Angeles, Indianapolis and Columbia, S.C., were identified by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, a professional association of leaders of 1,250 local chambers that’s separate from the U.S. Chamber.
The new survey doesn’t focus on such likely suspects as Berkeley or Portland (Ore.) –far from it. Case in point: Waco, Texas. The Waco Chamber of Commerce recently built the nation’s first chamber headquarters up to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards. In fact, it attained the U.S. Green Building Council’s coveted LEED Gold certification with such features as a 1,400-square foot reflective roof, solar panels and natural lighting.
The Waco chamber building is also the first LEED-certified structure in its city. But it’s proving contagious as McLennan Community College, Caterpillar Logistics, Wells Fargo and Baylor University all follow the Chamber’s example by seeking LEED status for their new buildings in town. Chamber leader Jim Vaughan hopes the city’s expanding commitment to sustainable development will create a magnet for businesses and young professionals–or, as he asserts, “put Waco on the map.”
In Bridgeport, Conn., first steps to create a set of green citywide goals and action items originated with the mayor, Bill Finch. But the Bridgeport Regional Business Council responded quickly, leading to founding of the Bridgeport Sustainability initiative–B-Green 2020–as a public-private partnership. Over 100 city and business leaders met to develop specific green agendas ranging from buildings to water resources.
Among specific plans, with help of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, are energy upgrades of local sewage plants that constitute Bridgeport’s largest carbon emitters. A green energy park and a street tree adoption plan are being developed. And B-Green 2020 is out evangelizing through a Mayor’s Conservation Corporation of 30 door-to-door canvassers promoting energy conservation, recycling and storm water management.
But how to draw firms to sustainability and carbon-cutting strategies nationwide? Surveys show that overwhelming numbers of firms would like to be known for their commitment to the environment. But many have little idea how to start down a green path.
An ingenious program to fill that gap has sprung up in North Carolina’s Research Triangle area, a region rich with academic talent. Interested faculties at Duke University and UNC Chapel Hill have teamed up with the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce to create, with local philanthropies, what they’re calling their “Green Plus” program.
Local firms are offered a Green Plus How-To-Guide. But more than that, they’re connected to mentor companies and get free counsel on sustainability initiatives. There’s even an initiation: candidate firms must stipulate where they stand on three areas–performance (written strategic plan and accounting practices), planet (energy use and conservation), and people (compassion for employees and awareness of community needs).
If a firm stumbles in filling out its Green Plus questionnaire, it’s not left high and dry–university-connected experts in business-related environmental policies will coach it on how to improve its score.
Now Green Plus is ready to “go national.” It has announced a partnership with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives to create a countrywide network of local chambers ready to reach out to their own business communities on climate and related sustainability issues. The idea is not just to “spread the word” but also to help firms across the nation share their experiences in going green.
The optimism, the contrast to the U.S. Chamber’s position, is hard to miss. While it’s officially for promoting “energy conservation and efficiency,” the Chamber’s is overwhelmingly defensive, worried about threats to American jobs and competitiveness of our industries.
The green thrust of an emerging group of progressive local chambers is positive, looking to expansive green initiatives designed to make American businesses more vibrant, on the cutting edge of new and best practices, ready to compete vigorously locally and on the world stage. It’s a proactive, optimistic–and refreshing–position.
Neal Peirce’s e-mail is npeirce@citistates.com.
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7 Comments
Great column Neal. Improving energy efficiency increases productivity and business profitability. Tom Donohue, the executive director of the US Chamber, seems obsessed with fighting ideological culture wars instead of representing the creative entrepreneurs in his membership. Donohue is an old bull who is stuck hopelessly in the past. The US Chamber should follow the example of groups like the Realtors or corporations like IBM that see energy efficiency as a positive for the economy. Advice to the Chamber- Fire Donohue before he drags you down any further.
Michigan’s green legislation for inner cities restricts tax assessors from increasing taxes when private citizens rehab old houses. MCL (Michigan Compiled Law) 211.27 of 1893 was amended as; The Mathieu-Gast Home Improvement Act of 1976 (1976PA 293). Saint Joseph, MI is a model of neighborhood revitalization today with the results being a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Community being completed on the shores of Lake Michigan even in this economic climate because the developers see the long term benefits of that legislation 35 years ago. The EPA has funded the cleanup costs of several former foundry sites providing much of the land. The law is posted on my website under, why buy in Michigan?
In Switzerland the Green Party has initiated a nationwide campaign on ‘Green New Deal’ since the ideas of Green Economy have established … in our Canton Nidwalden the Green Party focuses on Energy Policy, Traffic/Mobility/Access, livable communities and smart growth … in relation to this Green New Deal there’s a great agreement of understanding: think global, act local …
Everything these cities are doing is great and more power to them. However, I believe the best and brightest engineers need to do current and future energy balances for cities as they go forward. This will allow them to plan how much and what sort of energy is needed as we reduce our carbon emissions. We must be as realistic as we can about what can be accomplished with conservation and what additional energy is needed to improve our economy. Cities are going to need a tremendous amount of new power that cannot be supplied by wind and solar. We need to be planning for this in the future. We can’t assume that cities like LA and Houston can operate without new electrical power to operate their electric cars until their mass transit systems are built that will run off the new power. Plus from what I read we are going to need 200 new nuclear power plants over the next 50 years. It is doable but we need to get on with it and the cities are to be leaders in this area.
Robert Justice
Message from Ron Kilcoyne, General Manager/CEO,
Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority
I chair the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce – an affiliate of the Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC) and the also co-chair the land use and transportation working group of the Sustainability Plan. Our goals are to reduce VMT and remove the barriers to redeveloping the 15 to 20% of previously developed property in Bridgeport that is currently sitting dormant. All of this potential redevelopment is currently served by transit, and reducing VMT is not just essential for the Mayors goal to be carbon neutral but also because there are no plans to increase road capacity; so the additional trips generated by new development will have to be accommodated by non auto modes. We are crafting a transit first policy which will include a funding mechanism to increase frequency of bus services (despite serving a lot of vacant property, we have a systemwide average of 30 customers per revenue vehicle hour, not high by Manhattan standards but good for a community our size with no major university or heavy high school student use of city buses). We are also looking at establishing a mobility authority for the center city instead of a parking authority (as was recommended in the Downtown Master Plan) that will be as much about reducing the demand for parking as it is managing parking supply.
I also want to take this moment to state how much I enjoy your columns. I looked forward to reading your columns back in the 80″s when I lived in the Bay Area and the San Francisco Examiner carried you column. When it stopped I complained to the op-ed editor who blamed your syndicator for the drop. When I moved to Connecticut in 2004 I was happy to see the New Haven Register carried your column about half the time. Then when I discovered I could receive all of them by e-mail a couple of years ago – nirvana. Then you added the guest columns and nirvana X 2. Keep up the good work – I only wish you had a larger audience. I do what I can to spread the word.
Neal–
Thanks for focusing on the good work of local chambers and for highlighting our “First Green Chamber Building in America.”
When our Greater Waco Chamber set out to build a green building, “LEED” wasn’t a common term around Waco. Few were thinking about green roofs, wood from sustainably managed forests, recycling construction waste, low-VOC paints and solvents and harvesting rainwater.
By October 2009, however, at least a dozen high efficiency green buildings have been completed or are under construction in Waco, and the Chamber’s Green Business Network is generating support for more green buildings and more sustainable business practices.
The “first green Chamber building in America” has definitely put Waco on the map. But more important is the fact that our building represents the kind of change in design and construction that with other non-transportation initiatives could reduce the nation’s energy consumption by 23 percent by 2020, save the U.S. economy $1.2 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1.1 gigatons annually, according to a study by McKinsey & Company.
The Chamber appreciates the support of its member-investors for making this building possible and for funding the nationally award-wining Challenge Greater Waco Program for Economic and Community Development.
If standing up to a federal government that wants to raise taxes and hassle business make you an obsessive ideologue and old bull, then put me out in that pasture as well. The obsessive ideologues are the ones who would want the chamber to favor cap and tax which would greatly harm business. It is especially egregious when a public utility takes a stand like that. Keep it up Mr. Donahue, 99% of us are with you.