The program is run by the Environmental Defense Fund under the banner – Climate Corps – and sees some of the best and brightest of US business schools getting placed in major corporations like Yahoo to advise on all matters sustainable.

Climate Corps is the first program of its kind to put MBA students’ financial and analytical skills—as well as a passion for the environment—to work developing an economic rationale for energy efficiency.

Recruits from top business schools undergo intensive training in fundamental energy efficiency strategies. They are then placed as Climate Corps Fellows at carefully selected companies that agree to to provide a dedicated high-level project sponsor, grant access to relevant areas of the company and ultimately take action.

Over the course of 10-12 weeks, the Climate Corps Fellows develop detailed business cases for their final recommendations. The end result is a thoroughly-researched set of recommendations and tools to drive next steps. Results from the first year of the program demonstrate the impact of this innovative approach.

As a growing number of MBA students seek to address environmental challenges, Climate Corps helps them and host companies break new ground for energy efficiency and bottom-line impact.

This is the kind of thing that more Australian business schools should get involved in.  It seems so few of them have strong internship programs, or at least far less developed than some of their American counterparts.

I also think they need to place a much stronger emphasis on integrating sustainability into their curriculum.  For now, we don’t seem to have enough forward thinking business practitioners that see sustainability as a real competitive advantage, rather than just a cost.

I’m hoping I can do my part to persuade MGSM (the school where I am currently doing my MBA) to do more to inspire the next generation of business leaders.  In my mind, it’s a great way to differentiate yourself and show you see opportunity where others see problems – which really is all we could ask from a business leader.

In 2004, he argued in a widely discussed speech that environmentalism had hit a wall because it focused on green issues rather than a larger goal: sustainability – an argument that still resonates today.

His willingness to help Wal-Mart’s efforts to achieve it made him still more controversial among environmentalists, but is probably one of the great corporate sustainability success stories, and is a strong precursor to much of the corporate sustainability programs that we see today.

Adam points out that of the world’s 100 largest economic entities, 63 are corporations, not countries – a statistic that is both terrifying and inspiring.  Imagine how much easier managing environmental issues would be if made a priority by the world’s largest corporations, and not stagnated by the in-fighting that characterises most government dealings.

He goes on to talk about how true sustainability has four equal components:

• social, to address conditions that affect us all, including poverty, violence, injustice, education, public health, and labor and human rights
• economic, to help people and businesses meet their economic needs—for people: securing food, water, shelter, and creature comforts; for businesses: turning a profit
• environmental, to protect and restore the Earth—for example, by controlling climate change, preserving natural resources, and preventing waste
• cultural, to protect and value the diversity through which communities manifest their identity and cultivate traditions across generations

Although the challenges to sustainability are acute, there has never been a better time than the present for a company to play a critical role in helping to resolve them while building up its business.  Many of the social and environmental trends we face are sad, even tragic, but sustainability isn’t about throwing your business down the drain and embracing your inner saint – it’s about finding a way to tie sustainability in with corporate strategy, and ultimately making a strong profit by doing the right thing.

You can check out the full article here (may require free sign-up, but trust me it’s worth it – those McKinsey people are clever cookies, and have some fantastic articles).

So I was pleased to read today about how Green Rock Energy is set to build Western Australia’s first commercial-scale geothermal energy project.

The great thing about geothermal is that it doesn’t have the intermittent supply problems that affect wind and solar, and can generate power all day everyday.  In fact, this is why geothermal is being tipped as a great substitute for base load power from coal-fired power stations.

Green Rock Energy will tap the hot water aquifers that lie deep beneath Perth to provide geothermal-powered air conditioning for the University of Western Australia, the first project of its type in Australia.

After securing the geothermal exploration project for the metropolitan area, Perth-based Green Rock has struck a deal to provide geothermal-powered absorption chillers for UWA, replacing 5 megawatts of grid-based energy used to power conventional chillers.

And if that works well, chief executive Adrian Larking hopes the UWA project will be expanded, and the company hopes to strike a deal to provide heating and cooling to the new 40,000-home Alkimos housing estate to be built north of Perth, which could replace 50MW of power.

Check out the press release here.

Well, the training course is fast approaching, and we are starting to see some great press coverage.

Check out this article in the Sydney Morning Herald – Gore mines new source of climate change messengers.

If you’d like to find out more, check out www.theclimateproject.org or http://www.acfonline.org.au/default.asp?section_id=193

And if you’d be interested in having a presentation on climate change, and how you can play a role in driving positive change, be sure to send me a message and I’d be happy to help.

have been accepted to train with Al Gore

Already there are signs that investors, communities and non government organisations will be taking companies to court over their claims on the environment.

As I wrote a few posts back, the Australian Conservation Foundation lodged a complaint with the  Australian Competition and Consumer Commission asking it to investigate whether six companies – Rio Tinto, Woodside, Xstrata, Boral, Caltex and BlueScope Steel – had misled investors with their claims about the impact of the Australian Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Then we have reports from America that there has been a rise in companies getting sued for greenwashing and making bogus claims about their products being environment-friendly. Lawyers say these sorts of claims are really a case of false advertising.  See my earlier post ‘Ad Land to the Rescue?’ for my take on greenwashing in Australia.

It’s not hard to see climate change triggering a spate of law suits.

Consider these scenarios: a utility has a power blackout caused by a climate change-related event about extreme weather. The area is plunged into darkness and chaos, businesses lose a fortune and launch a lawsuit against the utility.

Or shareholders who sue a company for ignoring their resolutions calling on the business to tackle climate change. The plaintiffs might claim the company sat on its hands, and as a result the business was hit hard by climate change-related events, and the share price tanked.

Impossible? Think of the lawsuits taken out against tobacco and fast food companies. Think asbestos.

Indeed, we have a report (pdf here) from Insurance giant Swiss Re now warning that climate change litigation will develop faster than asbestos related claims.

There have been a number of cases in the US, where lawsuits have been brought against coal producers (and others) for their role in driving climate change. For now, none of these types of claims have been successful on the basis of non-justiciability, or lack of specificity, but it can’t be long til someone makes a compelling case.  Plus, this kind of thing hasn’t happened here in Australia, so we don’t know whether it would be easier to apportion blame under Australian law.

Already in Australia we have seen claims brought against property companies for developing in areas prone to future impacts of climate change.  In other news, property owners on the NSW North Coast have been fighting council to do more to protect their property from king tides and coastal inundation.

Of course, the Council doesn’t want to do very much to assist, perhaps in fear this will create a legal precedent, and obligate them to compensate anyone that loses out from rising sea levels.  Just think what will happen to the billions of dollars worth of real estate fronting Australia’s beaches and waterways if sea levels continue to rise.  There will be a huge number of angry former coastal dwellers looking to point the finger of blame at someone, and there is a good chance it will be the local government authority for allowing development in the first place.

If nothing else, this wave of litigation will be another reminder to companies that taking care of the environment is actually good business.