Companies Embracing Sustainability Often Do It To Reap Financial Rewards
Industrial owners worldwide have led the fight against limits on carbon-dioxide emissions. Now, having been dragged to the table, many are finding that the green diet tastes more of filet than crow. Even U.S. companies, shielded from the Kyoto strictures by their government’s rejection of the treaty, are joining the party and reaping benefits of efficiency, cost reduction and image.
Sweden-based Volvo renovated its Goteborg truck plant last year to operate solely on wind and bio-fuel power. A similar plant being built in Ghent, Belgium, will begin production this year. Volvo claims they are the first carbon-free auto plants in the world. “We hope this project will inspire other companies. The technology is there. It’s a question of daring,” says Patrick Collignon, managing director at Volvo Trucks Europe.