Sustainability Leadership Perspective: Internet, Software, & MediaDownload a PDF version of this report or return to Mapping the Future of Green Innovation
Internet, Software & Media Certainly, the flow of words, ideas and entertainment seems clean enough. But major Internet and software companies are some of the largest corporations in the world — with employees across the globe, countless suppliers and distributors, and a stronghold on our hearts and minds. Innovation has always been the name of the game in Silicon Valley, but we expect the way these successful companies affect climate change leadership during the next decade will be among their most important ideas to date. How do the best-known players in this sector stack up on climate protection? It appears that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo rank higher in consumer perception (despite having significantly lower “actual” scores) than General Electric — considered to be one of the pioneers of green products and green communication. Relatively speaking, there is a distinct perceived difference between producing tangible products and producing something as ethereal (and seemingly nonpolluting) as binary code. Media companies, while perhaps best known for their role in worldwide communications, are large conglomerates that have their hands in scores of different businesses. With their astounding influence in the marketplace, we anticipate this group will need to play an even larger role in delivering green innovation across their portfolio and in providing substantive green information to audiences that are ready for it. We believe the ones that take the lead will do more good AND make more money.
|
