Green growth has been one of the topics of the World Economic Forum this week. CGTN's Hendrik Sybrandy is going to tell us how US firms are achieving economic growth while striving to be environmentally responsible.

New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado, is the eighth largest brewer in the U.S. Maker of Fat Tire beer and many others, New Belgium's founders had some lofty goals when they started in 1991.

KATIE WALLACE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MANAGER, NEW BELGIUM BREWING "They wanted to do more than just brew delicious beer and bring the Belgian style of brewing to the U.S. They wanted to make sure they were making a positive impact in the world."

New Belgium's Katie Wallace's job is minimizing the company's environmental footprint. Solar panels help power the bottling lines here. Glass recycling is a priority. Ninety-nine percent of New Belgium's waste has been diverted from the landfill and now makes money for the company. And this bubble captures methane gas from a water treatment facility which is then used to help generate electricity.

KATIE WALLACE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MANAGER, NEW BELGIUM BREWING "We started a lot of these practices because we felt like it was the right thing to do, but quickly we found that it made good business sense."

Seattle Fish Company in Denver has discovered the same thing. It too, uses solar panels and cells to produce energy. Much of the styrofoam in which fish arrives is compacted and sent to China to make picture frames. Millions of liters of water are reused. The seafood manufacturer works with fisheries to make them environmentally sustainable.

DEREK FIGUEROA, PRESIDENT SEATTLE FISH COMPANY "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."

HENDRIK SYBRANDY DENVER "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 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO "It has been shown survey after survey that those who are environmentally responsible in their practices far outperform those who are not."

Mark Meaney of the University of Colorado sees the trend only strengthening. Close to 13-thousand corporations worldwide have signed the United Nations Global Compact which commits those companies to adopting sustainable policies.

MARK MEANEY UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO "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."

It's a matter of survival, Wallace says, for the planet and companies like New Belgium.

KATIE WALLACE CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MANAGER, NEW BELGIUM BREWING "Today if you're not operating in this way, if you're not operating in an environmentally and socially conscious way, you're not going to be running a business in the future."

DEREK FIGUEROA, PRESIDENT SEATTLE FISH COMPANY "You're starting off being really altruistic, but then really being reinforced by just having a good business continues to keep us motivated, engaged and passionate."

The head of Seattle Fish Company says this is the new norm for businesses like his. Economic growth and a light environmental footprint. He believes you can have both. Hendrik Sybrandy, CGTN, Denver.