Sustainability

What does sustainability mean exactly? Sustainability means that a company is aware of the impact and effects that it has in the community and environment that surround it. For a company to be considered socially and environmentally responsible, it must prove that what works and what’s good for them, is also good for the environment and society in general. In other words, companies should always function and meet their goals while remaining socially and environmentally conscious, where they can increase their profits and their wealth while balancing the effects they have on every other element and/or player that participates in the operating and production process of the company.
Because of the increasing importance of how much impact businesses can have on the environment, many companies have been implementing new and improved sustainability initiatives across the globe. Some have organized recycling programs, while others have developed water conservation initiatives, approaches to support climate change, energy conservation, energy building, and more. For the purpose of this assignment, I’m going to focus on Starbuck’s sustainability practice to create green stores across all its company-owned outlets.
Starbucks has always been known for its responsible practices and the approaches that it takes to produce the coffee grains and other ingredients that it uses on its worldwide-known beverages. However, in 2009, Starbucks set a new goal which would focus on achieving a LEED certification, which is a green building certification program that would allow them to adopt the best sustainability practices possible within their industry. Ever since Starbucks began this green initiative, however, a number of questions came up as to whether they would have to build brand new stores that would achieve LEED certification standards, or whether they could use their already existent stores and simply remodel them in a way that supports their new “green” initiative.
Starbucks, as the coffee giant that it is, has over 17,000 retail stores all over the world and they realized the challenge it would represent to try to transform every single one of these stores into green building locations that achieve LEED certification standards. That said, their new goal was to build new and improved company-owned outlets and, by the end of 2011, 121 new company-owned stores were built to achieve this new green standard.
By creating these so-called “green” stores, Starbucks has been successful at reducing the expenses related to the operation of every single one of its stores around the world, as well as the impact each one of these stores has on the communities and environments where they operate. Part of this green building strategy requires stores to set their air conditioned temperatures inside every store at 75°F, whereas before the majority of them were set at 72°F. Another requirement that stores must also comply with is that the elements and materials used to build the inside of each location must follow certain characteristics, such as cabinets made with mostly post-industrial material, recycled elements, etc.
Thanks to Starbucks’ LEED certification program, its stores are now able to generate 60% less construction waste; they use 30% less energy for lighting, and over 50% less water than they used before the company adopted this new “green” initiative. In 2011, Starbucks was recognized for its incredible efforts to bring more awareness to environment and social sustainability and for the excellent results they had achieved after adopting the LEED standards, and they were awarded the Sustainable Design Award from Global Green USA.
Even though Starbucks has achieved a great deal of success with this green building initiative, they didn’t think it would be such a practical approach for a company in the retail industry when they first considered this idea. After doing extensive research and really understanding how the LEED certification program worked and what it entailed, Starbucks executives realized that this program didn’t quite fit Starbuck’s business model. Therefore, in order for them to succeed building green stores according to LEED standards, they would have to adjust and adapt to external factors they weren’t used to.
That said, Starbucks’ efforts paid off! Starbucks was never discouraged by the requirements and high standards set by the LEED certification program and, since the very beginning, they believed that it was Starbuck’s responsibility to adjust and change as much as they needed to in order to be more environmentally and socially responsible.
Sustainability was always part of Starbucks’ culture and they understood the importance of building new stores to improve and maintain the communities where they operated because of the direct impact that the climate crisis was having on Starbucks’ supply chain participants (e.g. the coffee growers).
Even before Starbucks executives decided they wanted to take a different approach on how they give back and maintain their communities and environments, and even before they decided they wanted to follow a green building program, they had already established a number of objectives that would become the focus of the entire organizational culture. Some of their goals were to reduce energy and water utilization, utilize local construction materials, and make sure that both employees and customers think of Starbucks as an innovative and healthy environment.
It’s important to note that Starbucks was the first company in the retail industry that decided to take this building initiative around the globe. Since there were no other competitors that had already gone through this experience and that perhaps would have helped Starbucks learn what works and what doesn’t, Starbucks had to learn the tools and strategies necessary to succeed at this idea. They had to learn from their own mistakes what wasn’t convenient for them in their specific markets, and also make projections as to how receptive certain communities would be of this new approach.
They have encountered several obstacles along the way, such as geographic constraints and cultural barriers that have kept them from successfully implementing LEED standards in all company-owned outlets. However, they will continue to work on responding and adapting to these changes the best way that benefits the company and the customers as well.
Deciding to join the LEED certification program was just the beginning for Starbucks as far as their journey towards more sustainable practices go. They have set the bar high for its competitors as businesses are now, more than ever, expected to limit the impact that their operating activities have on the environment and communities where they are established. Now we can all learn to value a little more the quality of the products that Starbucks is so known for, as the same efforts that go into making their exquisite beverages also goes into building environmentally friendly stores.

References:

* http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/10/28/how-starbucks-took-lead-leed * http://cleantechies.com/2012/02/20/top-ten-sustainability-initiatives-of-starbucks-corporation/ * http://www.starbucks.com/responsibility/global-report/environmental-stewardship/green-building