Autumn 2009

Leadership is a moving target. When we founded Five Winds in 1998, leadership on climate change meant acknowledging it was an issue and having plans to reduce energy use; leadership on green products was having eco-labeled products and making detailed environmental profiles available to business customers. At that time, industry association leadership on sustainability was rare and where it existed it consisted of having an environmental policy and, in some cases, an associated voluntary set of programs for members.

Times have changed considerably and today leadership means so much more. In this edition of Patterns, you will learn about JohnsonDiversey's ambitious and comprehensive carbon management activities and their membership in the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program. You will get a view of 21st century industry association leadership in the form of the Sustainable Winegrowing Program (SWP) run by the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA), a non-profit collaboration between the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers. On the green product front, you will see how a comprehensive and integrated product strategy has helped Cabot understand and manage the increasingly complex web of sustainability drivers that can impact the value chain of a product. You will also see how BASF is attempting to stay in front of the tsunami of environmental claims and labelling schemes.

At Five Winds, we have always been students of leadership and our teachers are the companies we work for, the case studies we have conducted (over 100 and counting), the stakeholder interviews we conduct, and the vast array of academics, consultants, researchers, NGOs, and government policy makers with which we interact. Over the years we have developed a picture of what leadership looks like at both the corporate and the product level. We are pleased to be able to share some examples with you in this newsletter and hope that you find them inspiring.

Kevin Brady
Director
Five Winds International

SUSTAINABILITY SOLUTIONS

Read about recent efforts by Five Winds to create value for our clients:

Industrial strength strategy establishes path to sustainable cleaning
JohnsonDiversey becomes first company in cleaning industry to join WWF Climate Savers

Sustainable products from the start
An eco-labeling tool helps a leading supplier stay ahead of the curve

Growing Sustainability
A California wine trade association uses third party verification to move the industry toward sustainability

Product Alignment Strategy
Cabot Corporation's Case Study in B2B Competitive Advantage

From the archives: Biobased Product Tool
Integrating sustainability criteria into decision-making

In addition to case studies about company solutions to complex issues of sustainability, each newsletter also includes 3-4 notable news items from around the world of sustainable business as well as from the Five Winds team.