Green on the Business Beat

By Ashley Macha
June 18, 2008 05:02 PM

Hot-topic issues such as climate change, high gas prices and greenhouse gas emissions have prompted many businesses to buy locally-sourced and organic products or recycle a bit more, consume a bit less. The way these green habits transcend into business practices, new technology and consumer spending provides endless story possibilities for the business beat.

But just because you might be familiar with hot environmental trends, make sure you fully educate yourself on all things green before tackling your next story.

Matthew Wald, a business reporter for The New York Times, suggests that reporters have a firm understanding of environmental regulations and terms. Also, he said reporters should take a breather from their reporting to ask themselves why a new method is being used to dissect what the change really means for a business and its consumers.

“Listen with great care and see what makes sense,” Wald said. “They (reporters) need to get a perspective on what has been tried before…Improving the quality of their business reporting on green issues depends on their knowledge and understanding. Never commit ink to paper with something you don’t understand.”

Patrick O’Grady, a reporter for the Phoenix Business Journal, is always searching for business stories that encompass multiple disciplines. Businesses are beginning to recognize how being sustainable increases efficiency and profitability. Major factors in a business, such a product development, marketing, packaging, carbon and emission tracking and employee commuting are changing to focus on the environment.

For example, Cox Communications, the third largest cable provider in the nation, has developed a new computer technology allowing its telemarketing employees to work from home verses having to commute to work every day. This environmentally friendly method has resulted in a better carbon footprint for the company.

Not only are businesses beginning to recycle, reduce and reuse a little bit more, but some are launching themselves as a resource that creates sustainable products or services.

“Renewable energy is massive and it’s just starting,” O’Grady said. “Everyone is breaking into the market on the ground floor.”

New policies and procedures that could also affect many businesses are popping up.

The Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill, supported by presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, would cap the carbon amount companies can use. The legislation could also create markets so companies can trade carbon credits between one another.

Need a jumpstart on covering the green side of the business beat? Try mastering these key environmental terms:

Alternative Fuels: substitutes for traditional liquid, oil-derived motor vehicle fuels like gasoline and diesel and includes mixtures of alcohol-based fuels with gasoline, methanol, ethanol, compressed natural gas, and others.
Biodegradable: capable of decomposing under natural conditions.
Carbon Tax: a charge of fossil fuels based on their carbon content. When burned, the carbon in these fuels becomes carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. 
Climate Change: (also referred to as ‘global warming’) sometimes used to refer to all forms of climatic inconsistency, but because the Earth’s climate is never static, the term is more properly used to imply a significant change from one climatic condition to another.
Emissions cap: a limit on the amount of greenhouse gases that a company or country can legally emit.
Fossil Fuel: fuel, such as coal, oil and natural gas, produced.
Greenhouse Effect: the process that raises the temperature of air in the lower atmosphere due to heat trapped by greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide or methane.
Renewable Energy: energy resources such as wind power or solar energy that can keep producing indefinitely without being depleted.

Source: www.epa.gov and www.nrdc.org.

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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism