This afternoon I met a friend who is part of a large organization's Go Green Initiative. He has pioneered global reporting initiative for the past year or so. He is a quite gentleman with an unassuming stature. His organization, a major player in the global consulting space, has reported their sustainability initiative in the GRI format. There are a handful companies in India, amongst a group of a bagful of such companies worldwide, who have adopted the GRI framework for going green. The report looked very impressive in the first look although when I looked at it deeply I could not decipher the business driver for the whole initiative. Here is a consulting company that is growing 10 to 15% quarter to quarter with most of its business coming from an annuity model, which essentially means the business is more or less predictable and assured. The industry to which this company belongs to contributes to less than 2% of the green house gas emissions. Even if they become carbon neutral in five or ten years the impact isn't going to be anything great. Why, then, should they go green, I asked?

After playing ping pong ball on the topic back and forth, my friend told me that the reason could perhaps be to mitigate the reputation risk in the future.

I learned a new thing today. What is Reputation risk? How big is this perceived to be? I would figure it out soon. When I do, I shall write about it here.

--
I Am New,
Krish Murali Eswar.
Picture Courtesy: Trends Spotting