Envirowise is a major UK Government programme that helps companies be more resource efficient. Programme Director Martin Gibson has helped formulate many of the key approaches of Envirowise and promotes the messages to business and stakeholders. He is interested in how to influence behaviour change and feels this is usually more important than technology in improving environmental performance. Martin sits on the Welsh Assembly Government's Expert Panel on Resources Management and is a judge for awards, including the Business in the Community Eco-Efficiency Awards.

What does Envirowise do that other organisations don't?

"Envirowise focuses on helping businesses to reduce the use of materials, water and the energy that they use indirectly through materials and services that they buy and dispose of. For many companies, the materials they use will make up the largest proportion of their carbon footprint. Reducing the material and water used can be an important way to reduce their contribution to climate change.

"The less reliant a company is on water and materials, the lower the impact and any disruption to supply arising from extreme climate conditions. We also help companies work with suppliers to improve the efficiency of resource use. Good relationships with suppliers can help in overcoming issues associated with a less predictable climate."

What are the most popular requests or questions Envirowise receives from UK businesses?

"We get calls on a very wide range of environmental issues. Three that are currently popular are environmental management, environmental legislation and general waste management. The legislation queries are often about packaging and the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive. On waste management, people often should be asking, why are we producing this waste?"

What are your proudest personal achievements at Envirowise?

"Leading a team that has helped businesses to make measurable environmental improvements. In 2006 alone, businesses said that Envirowise helped them to reduce raw material use by 71,000 tonnes, waste production by 1.5 million tonnes and water use by over 13 million cubic metres. This led to cost savings of over £100 million."

What are the biggest challenges you face in your role?

"The biggest challenge continues to be to get people in business to recognise that positive changes to their everyday activities can be beneficial for the environment and the bottom line. Some larger businesses have recognised this but many businesses have not. "There is also a challenge to keep getting to new audiences and encouraging those who are doing things to do more. It takes continual marketing and frequent introduction of new approaches.

"Another big challenge is to get across the message that changes in behaviour make a difference. Many people seem to be obsessed with technology. However, if we just made better use of the technologies and management techniques that we already have, we could go a long way to removing many key environmental problems. I'm afraid it seems to take a lot of repetition of this message to get people to recognise the truth in it. After all, changing behaviour is hard and it makes installing technology seem the easier option."

What have been the most successful Envirowise initiatives?

"There have been a lot! Our Supply Chain Partnerships stand out because they have demonstrated that working together can be very powerful. The Big Splash Campaign on water reduction has been both effective and fun to promote - not many people have taken camels into central London and set up an office in a tank in the London Aquarium.

"Working with regional partners has also been very successful. Individuals who have made a difference always inspire me and there are many across the UK. Envirowise has helped them by providing material, time and encouragement."

In which ways is Government leading the way in mitigating the effects of climate change and in which ways is it lagging behind?

"I think the new Climate Change Bill shows real leadership. Embedding improvements to greenhouse gas emissions in law is a bold step. We seem to lag behind in promoting small scale energy generation. We also need to do something about the energy efficiency of existing buildings but we aren't alone in this."

When will renewable energy stop being prohibitively costly?

"I think two things influence this: perception and the imperfections of our economic system. On perception, some renewable energy systems, such as solar thermal, are already reasonable. The issue is that most people prefer to pay for energy as a revenue, rather than a capital cost. The only real costs are in the installation, so you pay in advance for energy. The longer you have an installation, the cheaper it becomes.

"The second issue, our economic system, may take a while to sort out. The true cost of using fossil fuel isn't covered by the price. Society picks up the costs associated with climate change and these will become larger. Mechanisms such as offsetting and emissions trading are ways of addressing the discrepancy but will only work if they are widespread and true costs of climate change are factored in."

What emerging energy usage trends do you predict?

"Industry has been increasing its energy efficiency consistently for many years but domestic and transport use are still rising. I think there will be more emphasis on improving the energy performance of buildings and vehicles. The trouble is, these are less interesting topics for the media than renewable energy and nuclear power.

"The other thing I'd like to see is more efficient use of the power that goes into generation. District heating and combined heat and power schemes could greatly reduce the amount of fuel that we use."

What trends in terms of low carbon technologies do you predict?

"I'd like to see more flexibility in our electricity supply system so that it can be better suited to input from diverse micro-generation schemes. I suppose in the longer term, we will have renewable energy that mimics photosynthesis but it seems a long way off."

What would you advise someone taking on your role?

"It is a wonderfully rewarding role. Remember to keep asking people in business to tell you what they have done to improve the environment - there are lots of people doing a lot. Also, be prepared to persevere with the same message - it will eventually pay off. People feel that they have done their bit when they recycle. Continue to show them that reducing resource use is more important and more rewarding."

What's next for Envirowise?

"Envirowise has made a good start on helping designers think about reducing the impact of their products on resource use but there is more to do. I think there will be greater combined working with other bodies in sectors like construction. The messages about focusing on use of resources rather than waste will need to continue."

Why Is Low Carbon An Issue For The Boardroom?

The arrival of triple bottom line accounting as a standard for organisations committed to long-term sustainability will bring profound changes to the way businesses are led. In the past it was enough for a business to produce a set of accounts for its shareholders that showed the level of profit or loss that the business had made with a general comment about business performance and future outlook.

But the spread of triple bottom line thinking in wider society means this approach no longer satisfies all those who have an interest in the business. These include stakeholders and community as well as shareholders and staff.

All those with an interest in a business or organisation have a legitimate concern to ask questions about the way in which that business or organisation goes about its activity. They want to know how the business acts on a social level: the impact of its conduct on staff, stakeholders, clients, customers and community; and on an environmental level: how it uses resources, how it sources those resources and the energy it consumes to create its goods and services using those resources.

The changing climate of wealth creation

Most recently, public concern about climate change has pushed the environmental aspect of business and organisational behaviour higher up the agenda than anyone might have predicted even two or three years ago. As we begin to understand that climate change is real and taking place at a rate unprecedented in human history, so we worry about how climate change will affect our future.

As we understand that significant quantities of greenhouse gases are produced by our use of fossil fuels to drive the wealth creation that underpins the global economy, so we feel entitled to ask, as never before, if a business or organisation is harnessing energy wisely for the future or squandering it recklessly for today.

The basic problem facing us all is that climate change is a very long-term problem and the only plausible way to avoid catastrophic impacts on our way of life in the future is to reduce output of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases right now.

Mass thinking and reputation management

The idea that the wellbeing of our future depends on the planet’s ecosystems is new in terms of mass thinking. But it is precisely this idea that gives individuals their claim to a moral right to ask questions about how businesses and organisations are using energy to produce the goods and services that they as individuals wish to consume. And it is this basic shift in the way people now see energy, rather than any specific new law or regulation, that will transform the way businesses and organisations make decisions about the way that they chose to do what they do.

The most pressing concern emerging for the majority of consumers - a term that in its widest sense includes staff, stakeholders, clients, customers and community - is to see evidence that a business or organisation is actively reducing its production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Reducing consumption of fossil-fuel energy is the most transparent and compelling way to prove this.

So the first demand for any business or organisation seeking sustainable competitive advantage in any market place is to show that it has taken every conceivable measure to cut down its need for fossil fuel. This is beginning to hold as true for sole traders as for global giants. And the activity of organisations like the Carbon Trust are beginning to develop a set of energy consumption and carbon dioxide/greenhouse gas production metrics that allow sole traders and global giants to compare their approaches on an equivalent if not yet exactly like for like basis.

Put simply, the proposition is that a business or organisation should be carbon-neutral or carbon-negative to win consumers’ loyalty. A carbon neutral business or organisation is one that is not adding to the climate change problem of the future. A carbon negative business or organisation is one that is actively helping to solve climate change for the future by reducing the proportion of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere right now.

Early action and long-term collaboration

As few businesses or organisations are able to be carbon negative in the short term, carbon offsetting is likely to become prevalent. We should be in no doubt that this is only a makeshift response: consumers will judge those who turn to carbon offsetting but fail to tackle fossil fuel reduction almost as harshly as those who fail to do anything in either sphere at all. All of which now puts carbon reduction right at the heart of protecting the reputation of a business. Being able to proclaim - and prove - carbon-neutral or carbon-negative status is going to be as crucial to securing a stake in the future as basic profitability. Consumers may forgive some ambiguity in the metrics now used by businesses and organisations to justify the energy consumption decisions they make, but this forgiveness is likely to be very short-lived.

All of which means that debate around energy metrics and carbon production and offsetting is going to be heated and highly contested in the years to come. But we should be in no doubt: even if politicians, accountants and experts are divided as to which are most accurate, cost-effective or convenient, consumers will expect to see fit-for-purpose carbon-metrics in triple bottom line accounts.

It is likely that developing such fit-for-purpose metrics will require collaborative research from businesses and organisations in both the public and private sector.

Those firms and organisations that work hardest now to be able to rigorously substantiate their carbon-neutral or carbon-negative status are likely to be the most profitable winners in the very near future.

Richard Kemp is Director of Executive Programmes at Henley Management College. His new leadership programmes Leading for Sustainability and Our World Working consider the interplay of sustainability and wealth creation.