When the world's single largest computer buyer, the United States government, was directed by
President Clinton in 1993 to buy only computer equipment that met energy-efficiency standards
described under the government's Energy Star program, it set into motion a massive overhaul of
the consumer market. Today, largely as a result of this increased demand, 95 percent of all
monitors, 80 percent of computers, and 99 percent of printers sold in North America meet
Energy Star standards.
A high-profile campaign by the Rainforest Action Network, aimed at pressuring leading U.S.
home improvement retailer Home Depot to improve its wood buying practices, provided the
impetus for the company's adoption of a green purchasing policy in 1999. Within a year of this
shift, retailers accounting for well over one-fifth of the wood sold for the U.S. home remodeling
market announced that they too would phase out endangered wood products and favor wood
coming from certified sustainably managed forests. Two of the nation's biggest homebuilders
also pledged not to buy endangered wood.
Government purchasing is credited with spurring the rise of recycled paper to the level of
standard office supply in many European countries. And analysts link a jump in the
environmental performance of Japanese electronics to that country's preeminence in the green
purchasing of computers and other high tech products.
But while green purchasing initiatives are blossoming in the world's wealthier nations, the
question remains of how to jump start a similar movement in the developing world. Although
overall resource use in these countries is still relatively low compared to industrial countries,
rising consumer demand will make strengthening local markets for environmentally sound
technologies—from renewable energy to non-chorine bleached recycled paper—increasingly
important.
President Clinton in 1993 to buy only computer equipment that met energy-efficiency standards
described under the government's Energy Star program, it set into motion a massive overhaul of
the consumer market. Today, largely as a result of this increased demand, 95 percent of all
monitors, 80 percent of computers, and 99 percent of printers sold in North America meet
Energy Star standards.
A high-profile campaign by the Rainforest Action Network, aimed at pressuring leading U.S.
home improvement retailer Home Depot to improve its wood buying practices, provided the
impetus for the company's adoption of a green purchasing policy in 1999. Within a year of this
shift, retailers accounting for well over one-fifth of the wood sold for the U.S. home remodeling
market announced that they too would phase out endangered wood products and favor wood
coming from certified sustainably managed forests. Two of the nation's biggest homebuilders
also pledged not to buy endangered wood.
Government purchasing is credited with spurring the rise of recycled paper to the level of
standard office supply in many European countries. And analysts link a jump in the
environmental performance of Japanese electronics to that country's preeminence in the green
purchasing of computers and other high tech products.
But while green purchasing initiatives are blossoming in the world's wealthier nations, the
question remains of how to jump start a similar movement in the developing world. Although
overall resource use in these countries is still relatively low compared to industrial countries,
rising consumer demand will make strengthening local markets for environmentally sound
technologies—from renewable energy to non-chorine bleached recycled paper—increasingly
important.
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By seeking to buy a greater portion of their goods and services from local green
suppliers, leading international players like the United Nations, the World Bank,
and multinational corporations can not only stimulate green markets, but also
combat mounting criticism about the environmental impacts of their activities.
Green purchasing will never be a magic solution to the world's rampant resource
consumption, but it does offer tremendous opportunities for lessening the impacts
, and as more and more institutions realize the benefits of buying green—in terms
of employee health, the environment, and their own bottom-lines—groups that
disregard environmental factors risk being left behind.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1774
Join us in helping to build a better world!
suppliers, leading international players like the United Nations, the World Bank,
and multinational corporations can not only stimulate green markets, but also
combat mounting criticism about the environmental impacts of their activities.
Green purchasing will never be a magic solution to the world's rampant resource
consumption, but it does offer tremendous opportunities for lessening the impacts
, and as more and more institutions realize the benefits of buying green—in terms
of employee health, the environment, and their own bottom-lines—groups that
disregard environmental factors risk being left behind.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1774
Join us in helping to build a better world!
