Daily Archives: November 18, 2008

Lee Kuan Yew on the Green movement in China and India

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From the Staits Times (via China Digital Times):

He singled out China and India as the two populous countries key to resolving the climate change problem during a dialogue with 400 delegates after he a keynote address at the conference

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The problem the world faces, he said, is that ‘China and India want to achieve what they think they have missed in life – the quality and standards of living which Japan, Europe and especially the Americans have reached’.

He believed some Chinese are realising that economic growth should not come at the expense of environmental degradation, though he was doubtful they could reach the same sensitivity to the environment as the Europeans within the next 10 or 20 years.

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As for India, he did not sense an urgency to act against climate change because industrialisation has proceeded more slowly. But as the country builds up its infrastructure over the next 10 to 20 years, its energy consumption would go up.

ECO Opportunities for 2009

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Trendwatching has some amazing examples and ideas for Eco-business for 2009.

When designing your 2009 eco product line, don’t mirror what’s already out there in the non-eco world, but make it bold, original, distinguishable, and yes, iconic. Whether it’s cars, shoes or detergents. Find your own Jonathan Ive (by engaging in a bit of CROWD MINING perhaps?) and give your customers something that will yield them instant respect and status from other green-minded consumers.

Quick exercise: name three ECO-ICONIC products in your industry? And how can you do better, learning from ECO-ICONIC leaders in other industries (hence this briefing)?

Prepare for much more regulation in years to come as it is the only way to embed sustainability into mature and emerging economies. (China, anyone?) Which means new markets for anything and everything. So joining in, instead of fighting the inevitable, may be a smart move. Why wait until something becomes mandatory—especially if you can see it coming for miles and miles—to then (yet again) be lumped in with the laggards?

Quick exercise: come up with at least three products and services in your portfolio that are most likely to be replaced with ‘embedded’ alternatives in the near future. Are you in any way prepared to make money from those alternatives?

Count on merely being sustainable, or merely being carbon-neutral to soon be the starting point, not the end goal. So start thinking about how your brand can actually boost the environment instead of just limiting the damage. Call it PR or responsibility or both. As long as you’re going out of your way to do something extra, everyone wins.

Quick exercise: come up with at least one headline-worthy (and honest!) ECO-BOOSTER to be implemented before the year is over, learning from the examples in this briefing.