Monday's green books series: Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy?

Today on our Monday's green books series, we're talking business and covering a new book which is actually a memo to the CEO. Maybe one of the most important ones that should be put on their table.

Our book for today is:

Climate Change: What's Your Business Strategy?

Authors: Andrew J. Hoffman and John G. Woody

Andrew (Andy) Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan, a position that holds joint appointments at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. Within this role, he also serves as associate director of the Frederick A. and Barbara M. Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise.

John Woody is a Deal Associate at MMA Renewable Ventures in San Francisco, where he works on the development and financing of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Publisher: Harvard Business School Press

Publication day: May 1, 2008

What it is about (from the publisher's website): Believe or not - climate change is one of the most pressing challenges facing the world today. Most of all, it is quickly becoming a crucial business issue. But how will you and your company respond? You need fast and reliable advice from the world's foremost experts. Climate Change delivers just that: four strategies from two MBA professors with broad and deep experience with environmental issues.

Written in a concise, actionable style, authors Andrew Hoffman and John Woody explain how to: measure your organization's carbon footprint; set a climate target that meets environmental needs--and your own; actively engage your operations in climate change initiatives; and help shape future regulations by gaining a seat at the policy development table. Climate Change gives you a first-hand look at how world-class thinkers would react to this pressing issue if they were in your shoes.

Why you should get it:
I like very much the authors' business approach to climate change (you can read more about it here - http://www.hbrgreen.org/2008/02/winners_and_losers_in_a_carbon.html). They see climate change as an important element in the business grid that CEOs and managements shouldn't and can't ignore not because they're green and care about the environment (which is a good thing, don't get me wrong here..), but because of strategic reasons.

Climate change is already they say and you can decide if it will become a risk to your business or an opportunity. It all the depends on the way you choose to respond to climate change and this book is meant to help managements to do the right thing.

These times are full with confusion of businesses that do not really know or sure how to digest global warming and other environmental issues. Many of them see processes such as assessing and reducing their carbon footprint as an expense that is a burden on the bottom line and really not that pressing. Hoffman and Woody show how this is exactly the opposite and how you should react if you want to become a winner and not a loser in the business world.

Some may not like the authors' point of view that the environmental language and the moral language should be taken out of the discussion, when it comes to businesses and only see it as solely business issues, but whether we like it or not, for many businesses - that's the only language they know.

This book is part of HBS Press' new Memo to the CEO series, and it definitely looks like a memo that CEOs should receive and urgently I would add (and not only for the sake of the environment, but for the sake of their businesses as the authors might add..).

One last thing - I liked the fact that there's an option to buy and download the book as a PDF file (it's a relatively short book - 'only' 97 pages).

If you're looking for other interesting green books, you are invited to check out our green books page on our website's green resources section.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: plant a tree for every book you read!