CENTER FOR BUSINESS
AS AN AGENT OF WORLD BENEFIT

Bank ABN AMRO has made sustainability a cornerstone of its business. The bank strives to include a concern for social and environmental issues in the decision-making of every strategic business unit. These activities have gained such prominence that a special unit, the Sustainable Development Group was organized to coordinate sustainability work across the organization. The innovativeness of this sustainability mindset has led to numerous activities that are creating a shift in the impact of ABN AMRO on environment and society.

Alcoa is the world’s leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina, and is active in all major aspects of the industry. The company, which employs 131,000 people in 43 countries, serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, and industrial markets. Alcoa’s vision is to be the best company in the world, through the eyes of its customers, shareholders, communities and people. To achieve its vision, Alcoa has taken an innovative approach to the environment and societies in which it operates. By developing technologies and solutions twenty years in advance, Alcoa can operate ahead of the curve. Alcoa has created a commitment to sustainability through its vision for 2020.

Among the many rural businesses of post-communist Russia, ALVI Inc. offers a new model of self-reliance and sustainable development. By aligning community interest and business interest, the company has successfully grown into a multi-product organization with high productivity levels and a flourishing community.

One specialty group of medical providers has largely shielded itself from the rising cost of medical-malpractice insurance. Over the past two decades, anesthesiologists have advocated the use of devices that alert doctors to potentially fatal problems in the operating room. Their innovative practices have resulted in lower fatalities and low malpractice premiums.

“Partnership with a vision brought about the largest “Steel Winds” energy project on the Great Lakes,” says Keith Nagel, director of environmental affairs and real estate for ArcelorMittal USA. This partnership was born when ArcelorMittal USA’s predecessor company, Mittal Steel USA, assumed liabilities of a massive 1,200-acre Brownfield site during the acquisition of a major integrated steel facility in Lackawanna, N.Y. The blazing wind speeds at the site encouraged Keith to install a meteorological tower in order to record wind patterns. A local university was recruited to understand and evaluate the data. The results confirmed the latent potential the site held for windmill energy generation. With a vivid plan to establish beneficial reuse of this massive Brownfield site ArcelorMittal partnered with BQ Energy, UPC Wind Management LLC and Clipper Windpower, Inc. to start in the Fall of 2006, ‘Steel Winds’- one of the nation’s largest urban wind farms. The project had a “slag breaking” ceremony on September 15, 2006. The first of eight 400-foot state-of-the-art wind mills was put into place in December 2006. The wind farm resides on 160 (of the total 1,200) acres along the eastern shore of Lake Erie proudly visible from the major highway that runs along Lake Erie and through the city of Lackawanna, New York.

Bamboo Hardwoods, founded in 1990, operates a successful and environmentally sustainable company that is working to slow the degradation of natural resources. By using bamboo (which is a grass) as an alternative source material for flooring, the company has demonstrated that deforestation of traditional hardwoods can be prevented. The company values its relationships with employees and suppliers, and actively promotes their well being.

It is possible for a very small number of committed, enterprising people to make substantive positive change. The development of the Beachland Ballroom & Tavern in Cleveland’s North Collinwood neighborhood has served as an impetus for community redevelopment and urban renewal. Its owners continue to promote the area’s improvement with an eye toward business growth and economic stability that will revitalize the district.

The Benetech Initiative is a non-profit venture that provides social benefits by harnessing the power of technology. It delivers these benefits using a new model of social entrepreneurship which combines market forces with philanthropic capital and entrepreneurial drive. Benetech focuses the efforts of technology and technologists to solve important problems facing society. A quick sampling of projects currently underway illustrates the power and promise of Benetech. Bookshare.org is a legal book-sharing community of people with disabilities, meeting the stringent copyright law exemption for providing accessible books. The Martus Project provides critical tools for the reporting and dissemination of human rights information, improving the effectiveness of the human rights sector worldwide. The Landmine Detector Project will transfer exciting new technologies developed by U.S. Department of Defense to applications to meet the needs of humanitarian landmine removal efforts around the world.

Blast Internet Services (Blast), a web development company, supports environmental issues, sustainable growth, family-friendly policies, and personal empowerment. Its community involvement activities range from sponsorship of an after school program to free web services to area non-profit agencies. Its headquarters has been built in an environmentally friendly building, and its employees embrace and practice the company philosophy of ecological responsibility.

Blue Sky Hauling is an Oakland, California-based hauling company that is redefining the hauling industry and globally helping underserved populations at the same time. Unlike traditional hauling or recycling companies, Blue Sky Hauling removes unwanted items and materials from homes and businesses and then partners with local, national, and international organizations to deliver useable items and materials to places that have immediate need. By taking recycling one step further, Blue Sky Hauling is successfully partnering with non-profit organizations both locally and around the world to benefit the disadvantaged and those in crises.

British Petroleum, like many other fuel and energy producting companies, is always on the hunt for fuel that is in abundant supply and is non-polluting. The company believes that such a fuel may be hydrogen, a chemical element that carries energy and can be stored in either liquid or gaseous form. With an increasing world consciousness toward the impact of human activities on the environment and, specifically, the impact of emissions from urban air pollution to global warming, BP is looking for a cleaner energy supply.

British Petroleum, (BP) is one of the world's largest energy companies, it's origins dating back to May 1901. Despite BP's reputation as an oil and gas giant, it has taken highly innovative steps to move away from fossil fuels and toward the development of alternative energy sources. BP states that, as a global energy business, its aim is clear: to reduce its environmental footprint by producing cleaner products and encouraging customers to use them safely and efficiently

Cascade Engineering is a leader in engineered plastic systems for the automotive, solid waste and industrial markets. Cascade certainly is driven by the “Triple Bottom Line” philosophy. The company’s objectives are to create a higher level of organizational accountability and transparency; foster a balanced approach to continuous improvement; and provide a learning tool and framework for other medium sized companies. Cascade’s innovations include developing and issuing an annual report titled the Triple Bottom Line Report. This report includes a “sustainability scorecard which illustrates Cascade’s strong commitment to transforming what many people view as a ‘good idea’ into long term strategic advantage,” said Fred Keller, Cascade Engineering Chairman and CEO. “ In measuring our many areas of progress, and some remaining performance gaps, Cascade is inviting its many stakeholders and industry peers to take a close look at our multi-year effort to realize the potential of three vital and interrelated ‘bottom lines’. We believe that social and environmental initiatives can contribute to positive business results, and that sustainability will continue to gain momentum through the open exchange of ideas and best practices”.

The third largest cement manufacturer in the world, CEMEX, decided it needed to move from selling materials to selling solutions. Using low fixed prices, materials on credit, pre-costed housing designs, and supervised construction services for Mexicans, CEMEX developed its "Patrimonio Hoy" program to make housing affordable and possible for 70,000 of the poor in Mexico.

Run by The Chef's Garden, Veggie U is the non-profit arm of their Culinary Vegetable Institute. Veggie U innovatively promotes an ‘earth to table’ educational approach for elementary children to learn how better eating leads to better health. Through educational programming, seminars and outreach programs to schools, Veggie U not only promotes good eating practices among children, but also helps to educate them about sustainable agriculture practices.

Located unobtrusively on the implicit boundary between the District of Columbia’s well-to-do neighborhoods to the west and the less prosperous ones to the east, City First Bank of D.C. has been on a mission since its inception to make a difference in the communities that most need assistance. City First has found, quite intentionally, an ideal integration of its social concerns and the necessity of maintaining a solid bottom line. They are especially skilled in financing the acquisition and renovation of affordable housing, facilities and working capital for nonprofit and faith-based organizations, and small businesses.

Coca-Cola is the largest private sector employer in Africa, with more than 60,000 employees. It has operated in Africa for more than 75 years and over the last five years has invested more than $600 million in new plants, updated equipments and employee training. Africa has been a profitable region for the company with continuous increase in revenues as well as unit case volume. But this rate of growth is threatened by the prevalence of AIDS/HIV crisis in the continent. The company has launched several initiatives to educate, protect and curb the crisis for its employees, in turn helping the economic growth of the whole region. Through partnerships and collaborations several innovative programs have been institutionalized. The prevention and education within the company cascade down, contributing to the health and development of the whole community.

CoxHealth is a large not-for-profit, integrated health care organization providing healthcare in a twenty-one county area in Southwest Missouri. The organization celebrates its 100th year of providing healthcare in 2006. Currently the system is the largest employer in the region with over 9,000 employees among its three hospitals, long-term care, home health, physician clinics, rural health clinics, full service behavioral health, and multiple other healthcare offerings. The mission of the organization is to “Improve the health of the communities we serve through quality health care, education, and research.” The core values guide and shape the way business is done through compassion, respect, and integrity at CoxHealth. CoxHealth has initiated a program titled Business Associated Student Education (BASE). This program offers a unique learning opportunity for appropriate special education students at risk, yet with untapped potential. The most significant opportunity is to create an easy transition to the real world for these students. They can gain basic life skills to be as independent as possible, to negotiate the world and care for themselves, be employed, and create a productive life for themselves. At the present time there are around seventy students divided among seven jobsites participating in this program. Three of the jobsites are at CoxHealth facilities. Cox was the original business to step out and begin this partnership.

Cummins is a global power leader and family of four inter-related, yet diversified businesses that create or enhance value as a result of doing business with each other or having those relationships. It averages more than $6 billion in annual sales and is a technology leader in the diesel engine market, providing cutting-edge solutions to the increasingly difficult challenge of producing cleaner-running engines. Currently, Cummins clean diesel engines are powering transit buses in Southern China.

Daimler Chrysler is putting its sustainable development into practice in many ways, placing its highest priority on the battle against HIV/AIDS faced by many of the workers at its South African plant. Since the early 1990's, Daimler Chrysler South Africa's Workplace Initiative on HIV/AIDS has been working to combat acquired immune deficiency syndrome and for the social integration of HIV-positive persons at its headquarters just outside Pretoria.

Deep Water Ventures’ president, Brad Ives, has turned his interests in wood, sailing and ecology into a thriving business. The company is committed to forest stewardship and the method of selective cutting, which preserves a forest’s biodiversity, provides long-term benefits to the local population, and generates profit without adversely affecting the region’s ecosystem. By association with an independent agency that carefully monitors logging operations, the company can assure its customers that the product they are purchasing comes from sustainable forests.

Doty and Miller, Architects has promoted innovative sustainability for years. The firm specializes in "adaptive reuse" of old buildings, and historic preservation. They have proven in an unusual way that recycled materials can be economically used in almost every component of the building process.

For corporate law departments and the law firms that serve them, the DuPont Legal Model offers instructive principles and processes that can improve the practice of corporate law. Since 1992, the DuPont Legal Model has given the company a framework for meeting new challenges and guided them through a period of tremendous change. By applying “business discipline” to the practice of law, the Legal Model has focused Dupont’s resources and made strategic partnering, information technology, metrics, diversity and other initiatives the cornerstones of their approach. Through this Legal Model, Du Pont Legal has embraced a diversity agenda. This model makes it a requirement that DuPont’s various law firms meet specified diversity requirements. This strategy has prompted a shift in the legal community to embrace greater diversity.

E7 is an international environmental NPO comprised of the world's leading electric utilities. Major global environmental and social issues that affect the electric utility industry are considered to be the top priorities of the E7.Each E7 member considers the management of environmental issues among its highest corporate priorities, and all support the concept of Sustainable Development. The E7 electricity companies operate on the national territories of the G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and United States). Membership in the E7 is by invitation. The E7 may also invite other organizations from around the world to become Partners and contribute to the implementation of the E7’s goals. The number of E7 members from any single country is limited to a maximum of two (2) and these. must be the largest, or among the two largest, electricity producing companies, in the country that is under consideration. The E7 has a unique operational knowledge of the electricity sector. In other words, the E7’s diversity of experience and expertise complement each other granting it an all-encompassing scope of the global electricity industry. Sharing this wealth of experience with countries facing new pressures on their electrical industry is the most valuable way the E7 can contribute to sustainable development throughout the world.

Edun is a socially conscious clothing company created by Ali Hewson and her rock star husband, U2's Bono, with New York clothing designer Rogan Gregory. Launched in spring 2005, the company aims to bring the issue of sustainable employment to the world of high fashion. EDUN was born as an alternative approach to creating beautiful clothes in a respectful, sustainable manner and to shift the focus away from aid to trade in the developing world, particularly Africa.

The Social Enterprise El Pan de Cada Día (Our Daily Bread) was born in 2003 as the first of its kind in Peru and the only enterprise of its kind to exclusively employ disabled persons (Personas con Discapacidad a/k/a PCD). The company rescues, recuperates and reinserts into society disabled persons of low economic resources that are totally abandoned and that live in extreme poverty in places like the province of Trujillo in La Libertad. The PCD are given dignified living conditions and the opportunity to work regularly for the first time in their lives. The bread and pastry Our Daily Bread produces is sold to approximately 15,000 persons every day in what Peruvians term the "D and E social strata". This segment of the population benefit from the cost and quality of the products created by Our Daily Bread. Working within that poor population the company is fighting against poverty by combining the employment of those at the bottom of the economic pyramid with producing an affordable product for the same.