Carbon Solution Integrator and Mentorpreneur: PlanetShifter.com Interviews Ian Browde, CEO, Greening Point, Inc.

"Enabling More Sustainable Communities" -
The Community Carbon Management Program accelerates community action on climate change. Cities, counties, regional governments, universities, public utilities and other organizations can more effectively engage their communities in measuring, managing and reducing the total carbon footprint. Commercial enterprises can also use the program as part of employee and customer outreach programs promoting sustainability.

Business and government is always concerned with sustainability programs that turn out to be just green washing. Comments?

This is a legitimate concern, and it's important that sustainability programs have real results. However, we've found that many organizations, governments in particular, shy away from some of the most potentially effective programs because of this fear. To limit their perceived risk, and avoid having to say that they have chosen a 'soft solution', they tend to fund only programs that have precise claims with numbers attached, such as installing solar panels or more efficient light bulbs.

While we are certainly supportive of 'hard' solutions like renewable energy and other ways to reduce emissions and increase sustainability, we are also clear that the greatest leverage is behavior change. In fact, we are persuaded that fostering appropriate behavior changes can easily have an order of magnitude higher payoff on the same investment, albeit that the results are harder to measure precisely. So while we certainly understand and even applaud some measure of concern, we would love to engage in the deeper conversation so both business and government could be a little less fearful and a little more proactive.

What business development services are envisioned in support of CRD Analytics?

We will find corporate accounts nationwide for CRD Analytics' products and services. We will base the value aspect of the conversation on the premise that organizations that are doing sustainability properly (even if they have not fully integrated it into their core business strategy) are outperforming their peers by around 15% from a stock value perspective.

Starting in late February 2010, we will offer CRD Analytics' SmartView reports and workshops so companies can understand how they are doing specifically and how they are stacking up against the competition in their industry or market sector from a triple-bottom-line perspective. We are also working with CRD Analytics on producing both public and invitation-only events such as roundtables and conferences.

How does this partnership address the poor economy? What makes it sustainable business move?

Evidence increasingly shows that sustainability promotes innovation and business efficiency, so it's all the more important in a poor economy. There are already companies and banks that understand that both government and business are not nearly as efficient as they could be and can thus offer their products, like LED lights for example, or services, like energy audits/management plans, with payments to be made out of monies saved. This approach keeps organizations cash flow positive while achieving the sustainability goal.

The CRD Analytics – Greening Point partnership will provide businesses the tools to understand their practice so they can take immediate steps to improve on both the cost and the innovation side of the ledger. If we add to that the fact that many of the jobs in the future will have to be green jobs if we really want our civilization to survive beyond 7 generations, we see the kind of information we provide assisting that growing momentum too. In a nutshell, we see ourselves as playing a small part in a much bigger picture, one in which we should all be artists rather than paint throwers.

Speaking of the poor economy, while it is a global issue, we in the US may be missing opportunities for leadership and for righting our ship of state. For example, it appears leadership in solar power is going to Germany and China unless we do something radical, fast. To revitalize our economy as a nation we should be more assertive, and truthful, in reducing our fossil fuel dependence and in creating the jobs of the future. If we do not, we risk a slide that could be even more severe than we have seen to date.

What is the state of the art at Greening Point for carbon management services?

We offer enterprise carbon management technology from Zerofootprint, a global thought-leader in environmental impact reduction. We also provide community carbon solutions, to help city and regional governments foster positive behavior changes in their communities. And finally, we have a superb team of sustainability and energy efficiency consultants ready to analyze an organization's energy consumption and carbon emissions and uncover high-payoff actions that yield big returns.

How does CRD Analytics select the 5000 firms in their system?

(This is a question for CRD Analytics: We believe the answer is that the SmartView database is currently based on public companies using publicly available information.)

What new cities will benefit from regular SmartView Workshops in the months ahead? Will the Workshop be online, too?

The SmartView Workshops are aimed at publicly traded businesses and will be scheduled in New York and San Francisco based on client demand. Arrangements can be made for Workshops in other locations if required. The Workshops are customized to each client and include on-site expert delivery. So in the near term we aren't planning an online version.

How has the partnership impacted Greening Point staffing?

We've been building a business development team in anticipation of partners like CRD Analytics, so initially we'll be carrying out our activities with existing resources. We do see a fantastic expansion opportunity here, although it's too soon to put a number on it. We believe that CRD Analytics has the potential to account for 30-40% of our business if things go as we hope.

Please give us five Metrics that Matter.

Since CRD Analytics' SmartView uses a comprehensive approach covering Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs), Social Performance Indicators (SPIs), Governance Performance Indicators (GPIs) and Key Financial Performance Indicators (KPIs) with over 150 of these indicators being used for all companies, this is really question for CRD Analytics.

Is Berkeley-based Natural Logic a competitor? Who else is a player in this sector?

Natural Logic could be a competitor, although we haven't encountered them directly. There are a lot of people moving into the green business and green tech areas, too many to list. However most have areas of focus, for example by client size, strategic/planning services vs. tactical/implementation services, technology/products vs. professional services, hardware (e.g. solar panels) vs. software (e.g. carbon management software), etc.

Who are your key public-side collaborators to date?

We have been working closely with Santa Cruz city and their climate action team and have been introduced to the Tri-County Green Business Program (Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito).

Ian Browde Bio -

Ian is a seasoned business executive with diverse experience in both entrepreneurial and large corporate environments.
He led international business development for Apple, when the company expanded into Europe, Asia and Latin America. He oversaw the Apple University Consortium in Europe and the partnership with Xerox, Apple's channel partner in Latin America.

He established Apple's first computer lab in Chengdu, China by partnering with the University of Western China for the Medical Sciences. He devised the innovative Apple Managers' Seminar, and trained Apple's Education sales force that served 70% of the U.S. education market. At SCO, he led the company's partnership with Compaq in the Americas.

At Nokia he led business development, managing the strategic alliance with Check Point Software that was responsible for over 95% of the company's annual security revenue. He filed a patent claim for a methodology to design user interfaces for devices, Internet applications and services, and he facilitated the consumer business partnership in China between Nokia and ETS that resulted in English language learning via mobile handsets. Also at Nokia, he led the company's pioneering messaging security initiative.

Ian is an exceptional public speaker, a world class partnership executive, a highly effective manager and a renowned 'out-of-the-box' strategic thinker. He serves on the board of the Center for Electronic Business at San Francisco State University, has served as advisor to The Coalition for a New California Infrastructure (CNCI) and was a Nokia Diversity Champion. He holds a BA from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and a JD from the Santa Clara University Law School. Ian describes himself as a 'mentorpreneur' given his commitment to helping others achieve their personal business aspirations.

Connections –
Ian Browde, CEO
Greening Point, Inc.
ian dot browde at greeningpoint dot com
(831) 440.3016 x103