2009 in Review
Published by Paulette Fréchette on February 24, 2010
A Year of Growth and Success for Five Winds
2009 was a year of sustainability headlines; climate change, water, supply chain management, sustainability as a survival strategy in a tough economy, and other topics littered newspapers and blogs from January to December. For Five Winds International—a sustainability management consulting company founded in 1998 with offices across the globe—2009 was a year of growth and productivity as well. Read on to see what we achieved last year to help clients understand sustainability, improve their performance and succeed in the marketplace.
In 2009, Five Winds was engaged in about 150 projects representing a variety of client needs and industries, including:
• Retail & Consumer products
• Mining & Metals
• Building & Construction Products
• Food and Beverage
• Governmental and Non-governmental organizations
Some projects included:
• Corporate Sustainability Vision and Strategy
• Carbon Footprint and Management Strategy
• Green Procurement Policy
• Eco-product Design Process Development
• Sustainable Packaging Development and Evaluation
• Sustainability Report strategy and development
• Environmental Product Declarations
• Management System Development & Implementation
Descriptions of our client solutions can be found in our Patterns newsletter or on our recently updated website.
Five Winds changed the way people think about sustainability.
We expanded our knowledge resource center.
- Five Winds introduced its quarterly newsletter, "Patterns," to share the experiences of our clients in identifying and solving a key sustainability challenge. Our goal with the newsletter is to be a tangible resource for readers to identify a particular action or strategy that might be relevant to their obstacles as well.
- Five Winds published "Retail: A Pivot Point for Sustainability" to provide guidance on how to develop a strategic response to the retailers' efforts in a way that will position your company for long-term business success.
- Five Winds expanded its expertise with 11 new consultants (including 2 senior consultants) and 3 new administrative staff to the organization to better serve our clients, and added offices in Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Göteborg (Sweden). The new members of the Five Winds team bring skills and experience from the Metals and Mining, Retail, Agriculture, Transportation, Hospitality and Manufacturing Sectors. In addition, Five Winds has broadened our knowledge base in corporate responsibility, sustainable supply chain management, carbon management, natural resource management, environmental policy, environmental science, and data analysis. Two Five Winds consultants—Jeff Yorzyk and Jenn Clipsham—were promoted to senior consultants in 2009, as well.
- Five Winds helped companies around the world better understand, improve, and succeed with their sustainability initiatives through the following sampling of conferences, seminars, and webinars:
- "Tuning Out the Noise: Focusing on Leadership" (A.D.Latornell Conservation Symposium)
- "Life Cycle Assessment: A Key Tool in Sustainability" (Sustainable Opportunities Summit in Denver, CO)
- "Mining Main Street: Urban mining and a new look at building ownership", and several other education sessions (GreenBuild 2009)
- "Sustainable Development: Clean-Up, Green-Up" (Workshops with National Brownfield Association)
- "Green & Sustainable Moves to the Mainstream: Management Strategies for the 21st Century" (Chester County, PA Chamber of Commerce)
- "Sustainable Business Frameworks" (Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance)
- "The Race to Trace Supply Chains" (Webinar)
- "Sustainability Dashboard" (Webinar)
- "Best practices in streamlining carbon management." (Webinar)
We helped define the rules of the game.
- Five Winds facilitated development of the Common Carbon Metric for measuring energy use and reporting greenhouse gas emissions from building operations launched at COP15 and signed the Copenhagen Communiqué.
- Five Winds led a discussion with business leaders, Wharton faculty, and students on challenges in water management, resulting in a draft research agenda proposal for Wharton's Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL).
- Five Winds is participating in the development of a green chemistry standard being led by NSF-ISR that is designed to develop a certification standard for green chemicals and processes.
- Five Winds and our sister company PE International are actively participating in the Steering Committee and 4 Technical Working Groups developing and road testing the WBCSD/WRI GHG Protocol's two "next generation" carbon footprint Standards for Products and Scope 3 (corporate value chain).
- Five Winds personnel also continue to serve leadership roles with UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, the US Green Building Council, ISO, the Green Products Roundtable, and more.
We made the news.
- The data management tool, SoFi, offered by our partner PE International, became the first software certified by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
- Five Winds verified the first North American Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
Five Winds improved its own environmental sustainability.
Five Winds is continually working to manage our own environmental impacts, including reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and working to green our offices.
- All of Five Winds' offices follow initiatives to green their offices. Five Winds follows a sustainable purchasing policy, conserves materials through recycling and reuse, implements a green printing policy, encourages digital deliverables, webinars and teleconferencing and encourages employees to use public transit and hosting meetings in local areas whenever possible.
- Our new Paoli office received the "Gold" Philadelphia Green Business Award for its work implementing green initiatives in the office. The office location was chosen for its proximity to all modes of public transportation, uses refurbished office furniture, and houses a compost bin for organic materials.
- In 2009, Five Winds purchased carbon offsets from TerraPass for its 2008 emissions, as part of our 2006 commitment to be a carbon neutral company. As a result, we have become a partner in TerraPass' Carbon Balanced Business Program. Five Winds received a TerraPass Blue Badge for reducing 215 metric tons of carbon emissions in 2008 through the purchase of carbon offsets.
For more information about Five Winds, contact Jim Fava at +1 (610) 640-2302 ext. 101.
