Will Sarni

Accounting for sustainability

December 13, 2010

More evidence that corporate sustainability efforts are advancing, despite goverment inaction: Deloitte, one of the Big Four accounting and consulting firms, said today that it has acquired two sustainability consulting firms, ClearCarbon Consulting and Domani Sustainability Consulting.

ClearCarbon and its principal, Kyle Tanger, have focused on measuring and mitigating greenhouse gas footprints, while Domani and its founder and CEO, Will Sarni, have focused on water, energy and resource reduction. Will’s been a moderator and speaker at FORTUNE’s Brainstorm Green.

I spoke this morning with Chris Park, a principal at Deloitte Consulting who leads the firm’s sustainability services. He told me that clients are asking for more help in dealing with sustainability issues, and that demand has perked up particularly during the last 90 to 120 days as companies emerge from the recession.

Sustainability is “one of our top growth areas,” Park said. He’s seeing demand across industry sectors, including the federal government, consumer products, retailers and traditional oil, gas, utility and energy companies. “Sustainability will be a major driver of business transformation in upcoming years,” he said.

Deloitte will add 30 to 40 professionals to its staff as a result of the acquisition. Clear Carbon was based in Arlington, Va., while Domani was based in Denver.

Sustainability consulting is becoming a crowded business. Ernst & Young, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and KPMG are all building practices around sustainability and climate change, and traditional consulting firms McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and Accenture see sustainability as a growth business as well.

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Brainstorm Green’s all-star team

December 6, 2009

William Clay Ford Jr.

William Clay Ford Jr.

Before I head to Copenhagen this week for the global climate extravaganza, I want to bring you the latest news about Brainstorm Green, FORTUNE’s conference about business and the environment. I’m delighted by the caliber of leaders and thinkers who have agreed to speak at the event, which will be held April 12-14 in Laguna Beach, CA.

Bill Ford, the executive chairman of Ford Motor, who was a huge hit last year, will be back in 2010. Ford (the company) is one of the few bright spots in the U.S. auto industry, as you know, and while it took a long while coming, the firm seems committed to hybrids, electric cars and other environmentally-friendly technologies, including wheat-straw reinforced plastic and other bio-based materials. Hybrid sales are taking off, as the company recently reported:

  • Ford Motor Company’s year-to-date hybrid sales are 73 percent higher than the same period in 2008, fueled by the introduction of hybrid versions of the 2010 Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan
  • More than 60 percent of the sales of Fusion Hybrid are by non-Ford owners – with more than 52 percent of those customers coming from import brands.
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Stewart Brand

One of the best books that I’ve read in a long time is Whole Earth Discipline: An Eco-Pragmatist Manifesto by Stewart Brand, so I’m thrilled to announce that Stewart will be featured at Brainstorm Green. In the book, he brings a fresh perspective to nuclear power (he’s for it), geo-engineering (he’s intrigued) and megacities (they are both green and engines of economic growth). You can be sure he will challenge conventional wisdom at the conference.

Three powerhouse leaders of the enviromental movement–Frances Beinecke of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense and Mark Tercek of the Nature Conservancy–are also planning to attend. Fred and Frances have ben at the event before, and they both plugged into the Washington scene, which will surely be a topic this spring, while Mark, formerly of Goldman Sachs, will be able [click to continue…]

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