Sustainable development can rhyme with profitability
Companies that have invested in recycling and anticipated environmental expectations are double winners today
Like Monsieur Jourdain with prose, Xerox, the American printer giant, has been doing “sustainable development” for a quarter of a century without knowing it. By common sense. And, above all, concern for savings. Because reusing the material from expired products, rather than letting it go in the garbage or supplying the second-hand market, makes it possible to sell new machines cheaper, and therefore to gain market share from the competition.
“More than 90% of our printers are subject to a rental contract. This allows us to control the return of the machine for recycling. This is not a fashion effect for us, insists Jacques Guers, the CEO of Xerox France, because the cost price of our printers takes into account the reuse of 95% of the weight of old machines. It would therefore be more costly for us not to recover them. "
In the context of awareness of climate change, and while it is fashionable to attach a voluminous report on sustainable development to its annual accounts, Xerox finds itself set up as a corporate citizen. Except that a printer giant, through its activities, leads to overconsumption of paper (and therefore trees) and ink cartridges (with containers that are not very ecological).
One billion dollars in research and development
To counter this double trial, but also to prepare for the dematerialization society, the group is investing a billion dollars (730 million euros, or 6% of turnover) in research and development. An ink process, disappearing 16 hours later, is being finalized. This “temporary paper” is intended for e-mails that are printed for more comfortable reading, but not for archiving.
In addition, colored wax sticks tend to replace old cartridges, thereby reducing 80% of waste. “Sustainable development comes at a cost if it is poorly integrated. If it is at the heart of the production process, you can no longer do without it economically, ”concludes Jacques Guers.
The American appliance giant Whirlpool has also generalized the practice of recycling. "The responsible measures taken today will produce the competitive advantages of tomorrow" is the credo of this company, which boasts that it was one of the first to sign, in 2003, the Kyoto Protocol.
Whirlpool has thus pledged "to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3% by 2008 in a context of increasing global production by 40% over the next decade". To this end, the group's laboratories are working on the reuse of the water from the last wash (practically clean) for the next detergent or the operation of part of the wash cycles with solar energy (using 'a photovoltaic battery).
A plant with cleansing properties
It is also a question of being able to use a plant with cleaning properties or a machine that no longer requires any detergent. “It's about creating added value for the future. We believe that within 50 years, products that consume too much energy will be banned from the market, ”says Jean-Jacques Blanc, the new president of Wirlpool France.
This vision was shared by most of the participants in the conference on international investments, which took place in La Baule at the end of June and whose theme was the environment. Veolia Environnement CEO Henri Proglio thus insisted on the "absolute necessity" for companies to introduce "a new economic model allowing their profitability to be based on a global management of environmental issues".
According to him, companies must rely on research and development and training in order to put in place solutions allowing to "reduce the use of natural resources, rationalize transport volumes and recover waste".
DoCoMo, the Japanese mobile phone giant, for example, has signed an environmental charter in which it undertakes to produce ecological telephones (using as many recycled products and made from substances that are less harmful to the environment).
3,4 million jobs
More anecdotal, employees climb Mount Fuji every year to raise awareness of global warming. They are also allowed to take off their jacket and tie as soon as it is 25 ° to avoid putting too much strain on the air conditioning, which is particularly harmful to the environment.
For the conglomerate General Electric (GE) CEO Jeffrey Immelt, respect for the environment even offers a new source of profitability and jobs. “New technologies related to the environment are only in their infancy. Their development is what will allow us to create jobs and develop our activities if we know how to approach them correctly. "
Today in Europe, activities related to the preservation of the environment and environmental technologies represent nearly 3,4 million jobs, according to the European statistical office Eurostat. In 2006 alone, new foreign investments produced by the good image and European innovations in environmental matters have created 40.000 jobs, according to the audit firm Ernst & Young.
These new jobs, linked to environmental concerns, could increase employment in Europe by 1,5% by 2030, according to European experts. These changes should however lead to a profound reallocation of posts between sectors, according to the European Commission.
By 2030, those in equipment (+ 50 jobs), housing (+000 million), renewable energies (+ 2,5%) or transport (+ 50) will see their numbers increase. Conversely, the steel industry could lose up to 500 jobs, as could the oil sector (- 000) or electricity production (- 50.000%).
Aude CARASCO
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