As president of G-Squared Group, Joanna Black leads client engagements and serves as the Chief Sustainability Consultant for the firm. She draws from an extensive background of environmental, entrepreneurial and marketing credentials. As her commitment to sustainability developed, she went on to launch four start-up businesses during her career—two retail businesses and two service-based businesses. We spoke with Black about G-Squared Group service offerings and the company's new sustainable events planning service.
How did you first become interested in sustainability?
Years ago, when no one really knew what sustainability meant, I studied outside Toronto at Waterloo University. They had a program that focused on the environment, which was called "environmental resource studies." Back then, there were few career opportunities in the practice of sustainability. There also weren't many opportunities in the consulting area, or really diving in deep and trying to solve problems. Sustainability has always been important to me, and has always been a top priority of mine. I've owned different businesses throughout my career, and eventually I started to notice that companies were starting to pay attention on how sustainability was important to the growth of their businesses. A lot of new brands were finding new and exciting ways to package products with less and also communicating their involvement in sustainability practices. And that's when I was able to talk to them about some of the solutions and realized that there was a real need for helping companies understand what it really means to be sustainable.
I launched G-Squared Group about two and a half years ago, and our first client was News Corporation. That's when Rupert Murdoch had made the announcement about their goal to be carbon neutral by 2010. News Corporation's headquarters hired G-Squared to develop a sustainability communications program to engage and educate employees about sustainability.
Tell us about G-Squared Group.
G-Squared Group is a sustainability consulting firm and communications agency. Up until recently, our focus has been working with companies to put in place sustainability initiatives—sometimes they don't know where to start. It's very overwhelming. So we'll come in and help them explore what it means for their business to be sustainable. We connect their environmental goals with their social and economic goals, and we refer to this as the triple bottom line. We then work with our clients to put in place a sustainability plan for their company. We also work with clients on implementing this plan.
When we first meet with clients there is often an "a-ha!" moment when they realize that sustainability is more than being green. A lot of the time they're already doing a lot of great stuff and never categorized it as sustainable. Then it starts building momentum, because they realize that they're not starting from scratch. A lot of companies have great corporate giving projects in place, and that falls under [the category of] sustainability. Volunteerism in their workforce also falls under sustainability. Greening is one element, and that's what's often overwhelming, because they have to figure out what green is to them. And they also think it's going to cost them money, and in fact, what we've found is that with proper implementation of practices, not only are they saving money when it comes to the use of the products that they purchase, but we can also help them figure out how to be more efficient with time.
So that's one part of it—we provide sustainability consulting and education programs. We also provide marketing and communications services, so when a client has a green-minded product of service, we help position it in the marketplace. One of our clients is Earth Day New York, and we're working with them on the celebrations taking place this April for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. They're launching a new campaign to revitalize Earth Day as we know it. It's bringing new life into what Earth Day is and taking it into our generation. We've got the support of familiar faces in the environmental space including Adriane Grenier and Matthew Modine. Celebratory events will be held around New York City including a week long exhibition at Grand Central and another large event that will announced in the coming weeks.
New York Health & Racquet Club is one of our clients, and we developed their soon-to-launch sustainability program called EcoSponsibility. They're New York City's oldest and most established health club, and they have over 30,000 members. They've got 30,000 people who they can engage, and we're going to do that through EcoSponsibility. We're going to encourage them to make New York City a healthier, greener space to work, live, and work out in.
The third thing that we're doing is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting—we're launching the offering this month. Companies have so much pressure on them these days to report transparently, not just financially, but also in how they do business and how they operate as a company—it's important to their stakeholders.
CSR reports come in many shapes and forms, and can be referred to under different titles; one is called a sustainability report. We recently were awarded certification from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), and we're one of the first in New York to have this certification. The GRI has established international standards for companies to report transparently on their sustainability efforts. Reporting companies also self-declare a level of reporting. Under the GRI there are different indicators that are reported on including: environment, society, human rights, labor, product responsibility, and economic.
We work with clients to produce a report that effectively communicates their sustainability efforts. We produce a micro-report accompanied by an interactive element. Traditionally these reports are large documents similar to annual reports, but we're introducing a scaled down report with no more than 30 pages—we'd like to get it down to under 10 pages. We will also produce an interactive online report should people want to read more about the company. The online report will include video along with other interactive elements.
And you also recently launched a sustainable events service.
Well, you hear a lot about green events, but there's really no standard right now, especially in New York and the surrounding areas. We have a strategic partnership with one of New York's leading event production companies. This strategic alliance allows us to provide our clients with the best talent in our respective industries of event planning and sustainability consulting. We have developed a process for producing a sustainable event, and this process allows companies to see how sustainability fits into their events.
We work with the marketing department, as well as whoever their sustainability person might be, and also with senior management. We start off by asking them some simple questions like, "What are your business goals for the year?" or "Do you have a sustainability policy in place?" If they don't, we help them put one in place, and help them set goals for the event to ensure that their sustainability goals for 2010 are referenced throughout the event.
So we have the discovery process where we go in and educate employees before we plan the event—we get employee feedback when it comes to what they expect from sustainability, and then we put a sustainability policy in place that's specific to that event. Then we work to engage the employees, giving them the title of "sustainability ambassadors." We look to establish a core group of people within a company to work with us.
When we actually plan the event, we use resources that are as sustainable as possible for New York City, and we're encouraging vendors to start looking at better ways of producing an event, for example, when it comes to lighting, power generation, how food is delivered, and whether there will be on-site composting. There are basics, like where the food comes from, whether it's local or organic, and how we're serving the food up—on paper, plastic, or ceramic serving dishes.
Another thing is that when events get wrapped up, a lot of things get thrown in the trash—it's unbelievable. No one knows what to do with it, so we put a system in place and partnered with Build It Green. We're going to be working with them when we're planning the event to see if we can use their materials to build the event, and then have them come and pick the materials up afterward so that we can close the loop as best as we possibly can. We're also working on composting for these events—it's really hard to compost during large-scale events, but we're working on it.
We'll also be making sure that any excess food is donated to charities—the same goes for furniture. We have partnerships with different charities to take that furniture. The same goes for any plants and flowers—we have hospitals and retired living facilities that we're donating those items to. We want to keep it closed-loop—what goes into the event is recycled and repurposed as much as possible. At the end of the event, it's always important to take a step back and look at what we've done. That's where a report comes in—at the end of the event, we engage the employees and the people who attended the event and we ask them how we could do it better via questionnaire. Then we produce a report at the end of the event and make recommendations as to how we could do it better in the future.
We want to take the event process to the next level, so that people understand their sustainability goals from the beginning, implement those goals, and eventually report on the successful and unsuccessful steps that were taken so that they can improve them for the next event. It's also about engaging the people involved in the event. Sustainability is an ongoing process. A sustainable event could be the beginning for some companies to start thinking about how sustainability could impact their overall business operations—it could start as an event and end up being a company-wide initiative.
What are some simple things that any business can do to reduce its environmental impact?
Before they really start implementing anything, they need to take a step back and look at how the company is operating—is it operating as efficiently as possible? There are often ways that companies can cut some of the fat. For example, I had one client in the past who was faxing multiple people a document on a regular basis. We suggested that they switch to a paperless, electronic system, and they did it—they didn't misplace documents anymore, and electronic files were stored in one place on their server. It was just a commonsense thing. Clients get so wrapped up in running their businesses, especially in times like these, that it's really hard for them to pick their heads up and think about how they could run more efficiently.
Companies should definitely cut paper use and ask if they can do more with less when it comes to marketing and promotions. They need to ask, "Can we change the way we communicate with our customers and with our employees—do we have to print out this piece of paper? Do we need to send this brochure at every sales meeting that we go to? Do we need to come with a folder packed full of handouts? Do we train our staff on how to work more efficiently with PowerPoint?" That's something that I encourage.
Then there's cleaning—we've found that using green cleaning products is not only green, but it helps productivity within the workplace. That way people aren't breathing in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and toxins, and they're not affected by the smells around them—they're working more efficiently. You don't see as many allergies or people taking off sick.
Another thing is coffee—not only should companies encourage their employees to use non-disposable coffee cups, but also, where is the coffee sourced? Organic coffee is a simple thing—you should always keep in mind when purchasing, "Where did this come from? Is there a better option?" Again, that's a basic thing that everyone should start with.
Are you working on any new developments?
The launch of our CSR reporting and sustainable events will keep us busy through 2010. We do have another project on the horizon called "Living Eco Local," but that probably won't launch until late 2010.
How is G-Squared Group been doing despite the state of the economy?
We have been holding our own. I'm very happy to say that our clients have remained with us throughout the recession and we have even added to our roster. There is increasing interest on how sustainable business practices can provide companies with a competitive edge. Sustainability is here to stay, I wouldn't call it a trend, it's essential to the growth and longevity of a businesses. For many, it's just the right thing to do, but for most, they still want to attach it to the bottom line, and we want to achieve that for all of our clients. What I've found is that companies are very interested in exploring suitability and how it can be integrated into their business practices. Sustainability goes beyond "greening" a company – it's part of a bigger picture. When we introduce the potential benefits of adopting sustainable business practices that's when we start getting the ears of people at high levels within a company, because they understand that it can actually help more than just the environment.
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