Talking about their carbon footprint is the new conversation in board rooms throughout the corporate world. This awareness is good, but is industry overlooking their biggest sources of pollution?

 Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have tracked how companies measure their climate pollution,  and found that they're missing large parts of their "footprints."

The study's abstract, posted on CM's website, reads:

"By far, most companies are pursuing very limited footprints - toe prints really- instead of comprehensive ones," said Matthews, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon.

In a recent article for Environmental Science & Technology, the authors report that two-thirds of U.S. industries would overlook 75 percent of their total greenhouse gas emissions if they continue to use the same tier-one or tier-two reporting boundaries. The average industry has only 14 percent of its total greenhouse gas emissions in tier one and 12 percent in tier two for a total of 26 percent.

I had suspected it! That's one of the reasons I have spent the better part of a year scouring the country and investigating thousands of companies to find those with the most sustainable supply chains and the smallest footprints. These are the companies listed on the ecobly website. Most use recycled components, which have much smaller energy intensity. Most source their materials and manufacture locally removing all that transportation pollution.

 So, when consumers see the ecobly label, they can be assured they are buying a product with a small footprint -- not just a green toe. As scrutiny of "green" claims increases, the real green stars will rise to the top!

 Join us for a cleaner, greener future!

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