BSR Insight | BSR’s Olson Calls for Sustainability Investments, Incentives
During the recent Commonwealth Club event “Measure What?” BSR Senior Vice President Eric Olson discussed how companies’ sustainability investments can help them gain new customers and increase market competitiveness.
The panelists agreed that tools such as carbon accounting software could help win consumers’ trust in green claims. But Olson added that companies should not wait for customers to ask for the solution:
“There is a school of thought that says what we are talking about is so complex that what consumers want is for us to solve the problem for them. They’re not going to sit down and ask for Fair Trade coffee—they don’t even know what that is. But they do know that they want a product that doesn’t have practices behind it that they wouldn’t believe in.”
In speaking about how companies are vying for a “green edge,” Olson added:
“We need a level playing field. We need incentives. We need long-term, predictable signals around the cost of energy sources in order to be as competitive as we should be.”
—Eric Olson, Senior Vice President, BSR (April 18, 2011)
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