WASHINGTON, DC: Edward J. Markey (D-MA), chairman, Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming will serve as morning keynote PRWeek’s Target Green conference, on October 3^rd in Washington, DC.

Beth Lowery, VP energy, environment, and safety policy, General Motors is the afternoon keynote.

Remarks from the 16^th-term congressman and GM’s “chief environmental officer” will highlight the day-long event, which also features speakers from Procter & Gamble; Gap, Inc.; Discovery Communications; Treehugger.com; Canon; the US Green Building Council; AMD, Clear Channel; and the Environmental Protection Agency. To register, click here. To read more about the conference, click here.

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Things are getting ugly in London, where climate change activists are getting into scuffles with police at Heathrow Airport. Per the BBC:

The BAA protest forms part of 24 hours of “direct action” by the Camp for Climate Action.

Police in riot gear are at the scene surrounding protesters in the car park at the company’s offices.

Protesters and members of the local community also symbolically walked the 3km (1.8 mile) route of Heathrow airport’s proposed third runway.

They are campaigning against Heathrow’s planned expansion because, they say, it will contribute to climate change.

BERKELEY, CA: A nonprofit group called The Green Chamber has been founded “to serve the practical and legislative needs of thousands of ‘green’ businesses and organizations.” The group says it will promote green practices for members and serve as a clearinghouse for the green business movement. It will have 17 regional directors across the country. Its Web site is Thegreenchamber.org

Eric Borsum, LA GM and sustainability leader, PainePR

PainePR’s green/sustainability practice is housed with its corporate/reputation management team. It is a multi-disciplined group that “engages PainePR clients to provide strategic planning and creative development of programs that further drive corporate and brand positioning initiatives while underscoring commitments to sustainable operations. “

“It has been our experience that many companies are hesitant to talk sustainability because they haven’t yet figured out how to save the world with their products. Our work focuses on helping clients see that environmental responsibility includes both large initiatives and small steps, and that it is perfectly acceptable to be proud of small steps and to highlight them in an appropriate, transparent and credible way.”

What is the easiest thing a client can do today to kickstart a green image?

If someone wants to kickstart a “green” image, they may be thinking of this in the wrong way. We usually begin this type of discussion by helping clients determine whether it makes sense to move in this direction and why or why not. To determine if there’s a story to tell, they can start by documenting current “green” successes, next they can determine upcoming “green” initiatives, and finally they can examine future activities that can make their “green” story even more robust. Many businesses offer recycling programs internally, use recycled paper, or encourage carpooling. Another opportunity is to look at the industries in which a client participates to see how simple changes in everyday operations can have a significant effect on the negative footprint a client leaves behind. Our clients are amazed everyday at how powerful a simple change can be. Simple changes are what will drive sustainable success stories of the future because they are at the core of how a business functions every day.

What is the most important thing a client could do tomorrow to maintain serious green cred?

Be completely transparent about what they are doing from a sustainability standpoint. Many companies feel pressure to jump on the green bandwagon and will seriously damage their credibility in the long term because they are trying to inflate the importance of what they are doing today in order to keep up with competitors or other thought leaders.

What NGOs are good partners for a solid green initiative?

Matching a corporation with an NGO to create the right program can be a bit of a balancing act. A company must determine its goals for green initiatives and whether they will resonate with vendors, business partners, or consumers. Further, organizations should confirm that marketing expectations between partners are aligned.

What is your agency doing to become greener?

PainePR recycles bottles, cans, paper, and toner cartridges. We also try to use eco-friendly products, whenever possible. We encourage our employees to participate in volunteer efforts as part of our myGoodDeed.org volunteer benefit that allows employees to spend one workday each year helping a nonprofit organization at the company’s expense. Additionally, we encourage carpooling and the use of public transportation. In our Los Angeles office for example, three-fourths of our employees take buses or trains to work each day.

What company (non-client) do you think is doing an exemplary job of promoting its green status?

Wal-Mart is an obvious choice because their efforts are holistic and touch every piece of their business. In addition, they’ve made CEO Lee Scott the voice of their sustainability initiative showing the degree of importance their sustainability initiatives are given. They’ve also been humble in their approach, which has helped them achieve widespread positive publicity. Though they admit to getting into the sustainability game late, they’ve made up for lost ground by making efforts to “green” every aspect of their business, and they’ve aligned themselves with key influencers like Al Gore who was invited to speak during a company-wide showing of “An Inconvenient Truth.” In addition, they’ve effectively incorporated their sustainability efforts into their business model, which centers around providing cost savings to consumers.

How should companies avoid the label of “greenwashing?”

Again, companies need to be completely transparent and realistic about what they are doing. This is key to avoid being grouped as green wannabes or those that are simply greenwashing their image. In addition, they should make sure their “greening” efforts don’t conflict with their business model, a situation that could make them appear hypocritical and involved in the sustainability game only for financial gain.

What regions around the world are doing the most to advance environmental innovation?

Our efforts are focused mostly on what’s happening here in the US But we have been following interesting things going on in the UK, Canada, and India.

According to the Environmental Sustainability Index that was created by Yale University Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Columbia’s Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) and the World Economic Forum (from highest to lowest), the top nations doing the most to advance environmental innovation are: Finland, Norway, Uruguay, Sweden, Iceland, Canada, and Switzerland.

MWW announced, via press release, that it has launched a campaign to create a “green company.”

As an important part of the “Take Charge, Initiate Change, Get Green”
campaign, the firm has partnered with Carbonfund.org, a non-profit
organization that supports renewable energy efficiency and reforestation
projects that reduce and offset carbon dioxide emissions. As a result of
the firm’s contribution to projects that will offset its carbon foot print,
MWW Group is now a carbon neutral company.

The firm is also instituting a number of new administrative protocols
concerning energy use and environmental responsibility. Among the new
policies, MWW Group will now require that all offices recycle aluminum
cans, plastic and glass bottles, and where possible, the agency will
continue to recycle the hundreds of pounds of newspaper received by its
offices. The firm is also changing all bulbs in its offices to Energy Star
fluorescent, which use 2/3 less energy than standard incandescent bulbs.

It will be interesting to hear more from the agency, when we get their answers back for our Agency Q&A series.

How remiss were we to forget to point out that Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth won best documentary? Well, it did. Here’s the Sierra Club’s take.