Consumers probably equate environmental sustainability with the sale of green products. The Body Shop, Patagonia, Tom's of Maine, and Seventh Generation spring to mind. Of course, greenness depends on much more than what a product is made of and whether or not it can be recycled. Much of a product's environmental impact comes from the manufacturing process and distribution.

Indeed, many firms that aren't thought of as green -- Coca Cola and Anheuser-Busch, for example -- have reduced waste and energy use by focusing on production processes and packaging choices. Why doesn't Anheuser-Busch actively promote that it developed an aluminum can that is 33% lighter than previous cans? Many companies recognize that they are only moving toward sustainability and don't want to set themselves up for criticism of their less than sustainable practices. This is even true of relatively green firms like IKEA, which are careful not to oversell their greenness. In extreme cases, companies may worry that customers might be turned off by a 'green' image -- perhaps that's the case with Anhesuer's Bud drinkers.

The concept of sustainability broadened in the 1990's with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement. In addition to green products and green processes, firms learned to consider social responsibility as well. Just think of how Nike and Gap were forced to address the labor practices of their suppliers.

While the dimensions of sustainability just mentioned will continue to be important -- green products, green processes, social responsibility -- I predict that the pendulum has swung: the single most important dimension of sustainability will be energy use or green house gas emissions. Whether talking about scientific consensus or mainstream customer awareness, we're past the tipping point -- climate change will dominate 21st century commerce.

One can already see the marketing bandwagon forming around carbon emissions, especially in the service sector. 'Carbon neutral' is the latest adjective for everything from the Super Bowl to concerts and business conferences. DHL provides its European customers the option to 'GoGreen' -- for a small fee, DHL will offset CO2 emissions created by shipping the client's package with carbon dioxide reduction projects including alternative vehicle technologies and renewable fuels. Professional service firms also tout carbon-neutrality. U.K. law firms such as Simmons & Simmons and SJ Berwin have gone carbon-neutral. The St Luke's ad agency has developed a system to assess the carbon footprint of ad production so carbon-neutral ads can be produced for U.K. clients. The carbon-neutrality trend is clearly further ahead in Europe, but American service providers are beginning to following suit.

Note: if you are interested in using social marketing to reduce the energy used by your customers or employees (or to change any type of behavior, for that matter), you are welcome to attend my free presentation as part of the LLBean/Lee Surace Colloquium sponsored by the USM School of Business and supported by the Maine Marketing Association (April 17, 2007, 4:45 p.m., 7th floor USM Portland campus library). Please register at www.usm.maine.edu/~gramlich/colloquium/spring07/artz/

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