Brita Reaffirms GSA's Commitment to Sustainability

Jun 15, 2010 (General Services Administration Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- Speech excerpt

I'd like to highlight one area in particular where your skills and insights will be particularly useful: sustainability.

In Executive Order 13514 of Oct. 5, President Obama required all agencies to "leverage agency acquisitions to foster markets for sustainable technologies and environmentally preferable materials, products, and services" and to "design, construct, maintain, and operate high performance sustainable buildings." As the federal government's landlord and product contractor, GSA has a big role to play here. The president has put GSA squarely on his "green team," along with the Department of Energy and the Council on Environmental Quality. We have embraced his confidence in us, and we have committed ourselves to achieving a zero environmental footprint across the federal government.

Let me be clear: We're not aiming for limited carbon emissions from our fleet, and we're not aiming for marginal decreases in our building's energy needs. We are aiming for zero environmental footprint. That means zero emissions from our fleet, zero footprint from our buildings, zero waste byproducts from our supplies and suppliers.

And we're not just talking about the old ideas of reduce, reuse, and recycle at the product level. We're dealing with a new paradigm: a cradle-to-cradle philosophy where products, services, and buildings are conceived, designed, created, used, and reincarnated with green thinking as the driving force behind the entire process.

We are, in short, aiming for zero environmental footprint and design excellence across our building portfolio, across our supply program, and across the government. It's a bold agenda, but it's one that we stand by and are eager to move on aggressively. And we need your help.

But this agenda stretches across all of government and not only to our internal operations. As our partners, you know that GSA's core mission is to support our client agencies so that they can focus on their core missions. It is not enough for us to simply green our buildings or our fleet, we need to help and lead other agencies in their greening missions. We must become and remain the government's trusted adviser, helping to make their acquisition processes easier and more sustainable, and we must weave sustainability into the fabric of government. This isn't about one administration or one political philosophy; this is about long-term, deliberate change that will benefit our nation for generations.

Our sustainability agenda is about more than being socially responsible and ethically intelligent, though it is both of those. Our agenda is about better government through better business thinking. I know you heard from Tim Sanders earlier today. In his book "Saving the World at Work," Tim describes what he sees as a "responsibility revolution" where companies are increasingly competing not simply for the bottom line and profit-line market share, but also for the socially responsible market share.

He believes that this revolution will "redefine innovation, branding, leadership, management excellence, and courage in the business world." We at GSA couldn't agree more. This new agenda is smart business thinking, and it will help our clients ---- the American people ---- get a bigger and, importantly, better return on investment.

Look, for example, at Wal-Mart and UPS, two business behemoths that have embraced social responsibility as a core tenet of their business model and have done well because of it.

Wal-Mart is eliminating excessive packaging, making their trucks more energy-efficient, reducing solid waste, and putting more organic food on shelves. Each of these sends a large and powerful signal that can shift behaviors in the market. Wal-Mart has also experimented with heating stores via used cooking oil and, while not profitable in one store, they see profit potential in scaling that project up. We should all keep an eye on such activity.

Or take a look at UPS, a company that has used new technologies to shave ---- in one recent year ---- 28.5 million miles off of its fleet's odometer and thus save 3 million gallons of gas and 31,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide. How? By eliminating left turns from their delivery routes. It's that simple. And that savings is significant enough to hit their bottom line. You can bet other transportation companies are noticing how straightforward it was in that case to wring out savings and subsequent profit.

As the business arm of the federal government, GSA will act as a fulcrum with which to leverage the government's buying power and create green market ripples throughout the system and along the supply chain.

I mention all this to say that sustainability has shown itself to be better for business, and we're going to pass that better-business model on to the taxpayer. This is why we at GSA are so excited about NIB's lines of bio-friendly products. We are looking to create not just an expanded green aisle of goods for our client agencies but move to a single nongreen aisle of goods; we are aiming for deep market penetration of reliable, high-quality, truly sustainable products across our supply program.

As we begin to put a premium on green suppliers ---- say, by listing not just the monetary price of a given product in the supply catalog but also its environmental price and carbon footprint ---- NIB is already well ahead of the curve; that will surely stand you in good stead and give you a competitive market advantage in the years ahead.

Many of your nonprofit agency partners such as LHB Industries, SABVI, IB Milwaukee, and South Texas Lighthouse ---- just to name a few ---- have begun to roll out new green supplies. But there isn't time to rest on your laurels and consider the work done because we are only beginning. As we leap forward together to a greener and more productive future, we at GSA have a challenge for you as our industry partners. We challenge you to be ever more creative and ever more innovative. Partner with us, embrace the challenges, and see every challenge as an opportunity. With this proactive stance, together we will continue to find the innovative solutions that built our country and upon which we now stand. So work with us; let's harmonize our needs to your supplies and services.

Rather than wait for us to ask for the product, seize the initiative, and supply proactive solutions to future needs and demands. Talk to us about your successes and your failures, tell us your best practices and your not-so-best practices. Explain to us your industry's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

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