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Andrew Winston
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Andrew Winston is a globally recognized expert on how business can profit from environmental thinking. He advises some of the world’s leading companies, including Bank of America, HP, J&J, Pepsi, and Bayer. Andrew also serves on the Sustainability Advisory Board of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the Executive Environmental Advisory Council for Hewlett-Packard (HP), and as a Sustainability Advisor to PwC. He is the author of Green Recovery and co-author of Green to Gold, the best-selling guide to what works – and what doesn’t – when companies go green, with over 100,000 copies sold. Andrew is a highly respected and dynamic speaker, exploring the business benefits of sustainability with audiences around the world. Andrew’s earlier career included corporate strategy at Boston Consulting Group and management positions in marketing and business development at Time Warner and MTV. He received his BA in Economics from Princeton, an MBA from Columbia, and a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale. He lives in Greenwich, CT with his wife and two sons.

Blog Entries by Andrew Winston

The Fallacy of the China Defense

(9) Comments | Posted March 20, 2013 | 4:14 PM

For anyone who doesn't want to reduce carbon emissions, China seems like a great scapegoat. The defenders of the status quo argue that U.S. companies will be at a disadvantage if we tax carbon or invest in clean energy because "China's not doing anything."

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio recently

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The Inside Story of Diageo's Stunning Carbon Achievement

(8) Comments | Posted March 1, 2013 | 8:49 PM

This is the exclusive, short story of how Diageo North America, with creativity and guts, both in operations and in the senior ranks, achieved the holy grail of carbon emissions reductions. They did it without using carbon offsets -- and about 38 years earlier than they had to.

Here's what...

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Top 10 Sustainable Business Stories of 2012

(0) Comments | Posted December 23, 2012 | 9:44 AM

It's time once again to try and summarize the last 12 months in a handy list. But before I dive in, some quick thoughts.

It was an odd year for green business, and it began with some mixed signals about how far companies were coming on sustainability....

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Despite Prop 37 Vote on GMOs, Transparency Will Win Out

(3) Comments | Posted December 13, 2012 | 4:12 PM

Now that the long national nightmare of 24/7 presidential election coverage is well behind us, we can get around to discussing some other important voting results. In particular, I've been thinking about a result that got much less attention than it deserved: the defeat of Proposition 37 in...

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The Challenge of Climate Math

(96) Comments | Posted November 26, 2012 | 10:04 AM

A nerd hasn't been this popular since, well, ever. Nate Silver, the creator of the election poll statistical hub FiveThirtyEight was declared the clear winner in the presidential election. And on Fox News, election math was at the center of one of the most

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Should Companies Care If Hurricane Sandy Was "Caused" By Climate Change?

(6) Comments | Posted November 5, 2012 | 5:24 PM

Hurricane Sandy has killed more than 100 people in the U.S. and the Caribbean, and caused billions of dollars in damage. The scene around my Connecticut home is not pretty, with downed trees and power lines everywhere. It's a serious time, and a time for some serious questions....

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How Walmart's Green Performance Reviews Could Change Retail for Good

(0) Comments | Posted October 11, 2012 | 3:56 PM

Walmart's efforts to green its supply chain are about to get much more effective. Sustainability will now play a role in its merchants' performance reviews, which help determine pay raises and potential for future promotion. This is a big deal: These merchants are high-level managers responsible for multibillion-dollar buying decisions....

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The Supposed Decline of Green Energy

(5) Comments | Posted October 1, 2012 | 10:41 AM

Here's a surprising new fact about energy in the United States: the percentage of our electricity coming from the greenest sources -- that is, the non-hydroelectric renewables such as solar, wind, geothermal and biomass -- has doubled in just four years to nearly 6 percent. (Thanks to climate...

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Politicians Who Deny Climate Change Cannot Be "Pro-Business"

(0) Comments | Posted September 12, 2012 | 8:05 AM

It finally seems to be dawning on many Americans that there's something to this climate change thing. The historic drought has been hard to ignore. While belief in a long-term trend because it's hot out right now is a bit ridiculous, it's a start.

You can see a...

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Kaiser Permanente Links Climate Change to Health Care

(7) Comments | Posted June 19, 2012 | 11:32 PM

Kaiser Permanente (KP), one of the largest health care providers in America, has a clear mission: improve health. In a surprising and welcome twist, KP is publicly recognizing that climate change threatens that mission. This health care leader is showing how an authentic, mission-driven connection to global issues can drive...

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Microsoft Taxes Itself to Go Carbon Neutral

(0) Comments | Posted May 15, 2012 | 11:14 AM

This week, Microsoft is announcing an unusual initiative that it hopes will change how the company operates: an internal fee on carbon.

Starting July 1 -- the beginning of the company's fiscal year 2013 -- the software giant will charge all of its 100-plus global offices and data...

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Missing the Point on Climate

(3) Comments | Posted May 2, 2012 | 11:09 AM

The media seems intent on giving climate skeptics much more than equal time. Today the New York Times printed a cover story about the last arrow in the climate skeptics arsenal, the argument that cloud cover will adjust to a warming world and let more heat escape to space.

...
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Growth Isn't Going to Last Forever

(5) Comments | Posted April 26, 2012 | 12:56 PM

Aside from tiny Bhutan and their pursuit of Gross National Happiness, every country bases economic policy on the pursuit of endless GDP growth, and companies are right there with them. But common sense tells us that nothing can grow forever, and thus national and corporate-level goals alike have...

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Corporate Sustainability Efforts -- Feast or Famine?

(1) Comments | Posted March 26, 2012 | 12:11 PM

Is corporate sustainability on the wane or growing more important to top executives? At the beginning of the year, two big-picture reports on the state of green business painted divergent pictures.

In GreenBiz's annual review of 20 indicators of "how business is doing" on green, we learn that...

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Eco-Labeling: The Critical Questions to Ask

(1) Comments | Posted February 29, 2012 | 12:26 PM

Will we see the day when all products carry environmental labels with data on carbon emissions and other impacts? Recent news tells us a definitive... maybe. Within a couple days of each other, GM announced new eco-labels for some Chevy models, while UK mega-retailer Tesco pulled...

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Apple's Greatness and Its Shame

(31) Comments | Posted February 10, 2012 | 10:31 AM

Is there such a thing as too much profit? A disciple of Milton Friedman would say "never." The idea that companies should only maximize shareholder value has had a stranglehold on the business world for decades. It's time to rethink this assumption.

A couple of weeks ago, Apple reported

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Ecosystem Economics: Navigating the Water-Food-Energy Nexus

(2) Comments | Posted February 1, 2012 | 8:56 AM

(Note: This blog is co-authored with Andy Wales, Global Head of Sustainable Development for SABMiller plc, one of the world's largest brewers).

When we talk about natural resource constraints on business -- such as shortages in water or increases in the cost of energy or agricultural products --...

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New Year's Resolution: Optimism

(2) Comments | Posted January 3, 2012 | 1:00 PM

In the days right before this last, zen week of family time and no email, I read a few news items about the sorry state of our global commons. From the real costs of extreme weather ($52 billion in damages in the U.S. alone in 2011) to massive dangers...

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Top 10 Green Business Stories of 2011

(2) Comments | Posted December 22, 2011 | 11:22 AM

Yes, it's December again somehow: time to look back on what we've learned and oversimplify into a handy list. Here's my take on the 10 big stories in sustainability and green business this year:

1. The usual sustainability drivers got stronger
Ok, this one is cheating a bit, but...

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Water's Economics as Muddy as Ever

(1) Comments | Posted November 30, 2011 | 11:10 AM

(Note: This blog is co-authored with Andy Wales, Global Head of Sustainable Development for SABMiller plc, one of the world's largest brewers)

It's hard to put into words how dry and hot Texas was this past summer. "Off the charts" is both figuratively and literally accurate:

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