The Sunday Times Green List 2012

‘It is with great regret that we have to inform you that The Sunday Times Green List will not be published in 2012.’
Alastair McCall
Editor, The Sunday Times Green List
8 Nov 2011

This is the time of year that The Sunday Times publishes its list of companies ranked on how green they are, but not this year. The cover of yesterday’s paper had nothing even remotely green in the stories that made the front page.

The Sunday Times Green List was first published in 2008 ‘to reflect the changing mood in the business world’ (as the paper explained when launching the initiative). This year the list has been withdrawn. Is this also a reflection of the changing mood in the business world? Are companies under too much financial pressure to bother to be green and have shelved their aspirations?Or is there something more significant going on?

The reason given by the paper’s owner, News International is that the list has been withdrawn because the supplement did not attract sufficient advertising revenue. Publishing the Green List was simply not commercially viable so has been cut.

A deduction that could be made is that companies have decided that green doesn’t pay so they are no longer doing green. Financial and commercial pressures mean that there is no fat in the budget for going green. If this is true, the logic would be that we must wait until the economy picks up before observing the next phase of greening industry and commerce.

There is a different interpretation of the withdrawal of this high profile media list. Companies have realised that green PR spin aimed at enhancing the reputation of the corporation doesn’t work. Paying the fees to enter the selection, and paying for advertising when it’s published, is not a good return on investment. The companies that really understand green are getting on with building the company, not shouting about their aspirations. In these challenging financial times, effort should go into core business activities. Saving money through more efficient operations (greener) gets funded; paying to be on a list in The Sunday Times does not.

Which of these is right? Is green now dead and no longer seen as a business imperative? Or, are green companies coming of age and building real businesses based on performance rather than green spin?

Looking for the answer, I noted that at last week’s Sustainable Business conference in Birmingham, UK there was an upbeat attitude and reports that the green technology sector had been bucking the trend with strong growth. I believe that the withdrawal of financial support from companies to fund The Sunday Times Green List is a sign of sound commercial objectives replacing fluffy greenery. If there are regrets these will come from News International for backing off from a good initiative without seeing it as an investment in the future.