US companies seek profits and sustainability

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Green growth has been one of the hot topics during this week's World Economic Forum. Some US companies already are achieving economic growth while striving to be environmentally responsible.

New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, state of Colorado, was founded in 1991 and has been the eighth largest brewer in the US of Fat Tire beer and many others.

Katie Wallace, the company's corporate social responsibility manager, said that the New Belgium wanted to do more than just brew beer.

Wallace’s job is minimizing the company’s environmental footprint.

Solar panels help power the bottling lines here and glass recycling is a priority.

Moreover, about 99 percent of New Belgium’s waste has been diverted from the landfill and now makes money for the company.

Solar panels at New Belgium. /New Belgium Photo

"We started a lot of these practices because we felt like it was the right thing to do, but quickly we found that it also made good business sense," said Wallace.

Seattle Fish Company in Denver also discovered the same thing.

Derek Figueroa, president of Seattle Fish Company, said that "It was really driven by our need to make sure we assured our supply of seafood continued to be available for us going into the future."

Sustainability is now a prominent feature of many corporations’ mission statements. More and more companies have concluded that concern for the environment and economic growth can go hand in hand.

Mark Meaney, Executive Director of Center for Education on Social Responsibility, University of Colorado, sees the trend only strengthening.

About 13,000 corporations worldwide have signed the United Nations Global Compact, which commits those companies to adopting sustainable policies.

"The more consumers become aware of these challenges to our planet, the more they’re going to be looking to corporations who are not doing damage and in fact are helping to remediate our environment,” Meaney explained.

It’s a matter of survival, and also a new norm for businesses – economic growth with a light environmental footprint.