Who We Work With
GreenPlus
The American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE) has partnered with the North Carolina Research Triangle-based Institute for Sustainable Development to offer Green PlusTM, a program to help small businesses succeed while becoming stronger stewards of the environment and their communities.
What Is Green Plus?
Businesses participating in Green PlusTM are evaluated on their business, environmental and community engagement practices, receive university-based coaching, access to a national business network, and may be Certified Green PlusTM upon achieving high scores across three categories. Green PlusTM certification is not industry or product specific, but instead is a recognition program that works across sectors for small businesses in any industry.
"Small and medium sized businesses are critical employers and engines of new job creation - and often have the fewest resources to pursue sustainability. Today, they are under more pressure to demonstrate positive stewardship of their environment and communities," said ACCE President Mick Fleming. "Green PlusTM will help America's chambers of commerce lead on these issues and give their members a competitive edge in changing times," Fleming concluded.
The partnership will make Green PlusTM widely accessible to the 1.2 million businesses represented by the ACCE's chamber of commerce members, building the brand value of Green PlusTM certification for smaller enterprises and creating a stronger network through which participating businesses can develop leads and share expertise with one another.
ACCE and its foundation will be the key marketing channel for Green PlusTM nationwide, and will engage its chamber executive members in ongoing improvement and expansion of the program. Green PlusTM will be ACCE's lead sustainability training, networking and certification program for small and medium sized enterprises. Through Green PlusTM, the Institute for Sustainable Development will work with its chamber and university partners to prepare small enterprises for new trends in business, the environment and corporate social responsibility.
"Retail customers and large private and public sector purchasers are increasing requiring smaller enterprises to be conscious of their environmental impact and community engagement," said Chris Carmody, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. "As these kinds of standards become the norm, American small business will need affordable assistance in meeting them," Carmody concluded.
What Is the Institute for Sustainable Development?
The Institute for Sustainable Development is a non-profit partnership between universities, chambers of commerce, business leaders and sustainability experts. The Institute's mission is to democratize triple bottom line sustainability by making it accessible to smaller employers and their communities, fostering a new generation of sustainability leaders, and developing a common understanding of sustainability principles across cultures.
In 2007, Tony Waldrop, Vice Chancellor of Research and Economic Development at UNC Chapel Hill, commissioned the development of a business plan to assist small and medium sized businesses nationwide in becoming more sustainable. After the plan was developed by the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at UNC's Kenan-Flagler School of Business, the Institute worked with chambers of commerce and smaller enterprises in the Midwest and southeast to beta test the Green PlusTM tool and build a university and peer-training network.
