Hummers out of fashion

If I look on the streets of Estonia, it seems to me that the time where a size of a car directly correlated with the owner's authority, prestige etc. have started to pass. Reasons could be many, but clearly there's no practical and real need for anyone to own a massive car like, for example, Hummer in Estonia.
I have seen fewer of these on the streets than 2 years ago. Or so it seems at least. That even though people have become wealthier. The reasons might be purely financial, its still expensive to maintain a vechicle like that.

And anyway, in the era of ours (the sustainability perspective!), can anyone really be proud of driving a powerful car that, by no means, is really justified?
I'm just curious to know, how the people that do drive these kinds of cars, think.

This thought came to me, when a shiny, majestetic (red!) Hummer passed me by in Tallinn the other day.

And then I read that General Motors itself is having some doubts about the future of the brand:
"It [GM] may also discontinue or sell off its well-known Hummer brand in a bid to develop more environmentally friendly vehicles as oil prices soar, the company said on Tuesday." by Al Jazeera News.


On 03/07/2008, a comment:
After a re-think, I don't think the mainstream has changed in Estonia. Being sustainable is not in fashion, but true, the segment of the "englightened elite", although still a niche, is still growing. I would have to explain that a bit, I'll come to that, when I come to that.

Banco Real receives 2 FT Sustainable Banking awards!

This week, The Financial Times and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group announced the winners of the 2008 FT Sustainable Banking Awards, with Banco Real of Brazil named as Sustainable Bank of the Year and also taking the overall Emerging Markets prize.

Now in their third year, the awards recognise banks and other financial institutions that have shown leadership and innovation in integrating social, environmental and corporate governance considerations into their operations.The programme has grown in popularity and this year’s winners were selected from a record 182 entries from 129 institutions across 54 countries.

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Just really proud of Banco Real and its team (congrats to all!!!), and happy for having had a chance to work there!
The experience was beyond enlightening, encouraging, inspiring!

I remember a comment from an international consultant that worked with the sustainability team of Banco Real (ABN at that time), saying that Banco Real is of its own league, thus it's hard to even benchmark it against anyone else as its being benchmark for others!
Of course its not perfect, but the scale of changes made, the challenges taken up and the extent of trying to integrate sustainability into the core business was very encouraging to witness.

BBC World Debate - is business accountable?

How Accountable is Business?
Can openness and profitability go hand in hand?

This BBC World Debate took place at the GRI Annual Conf in the beginning of May. Take a look, it's worth it.
Check it out, featuring also my boss-to-be (if I get this looong waited visa, of course) Alessandro Carlucci from Natura.

My work: introduction

A snapshot, really.

Today me and my colleague were putting together an overview of sustainability (socio-evironmental) products the bank offers to its clients: investments into environmentally friendly technology, into working capital, mobility and education related products etc.

While doing that we had a meeting with a guy from products department, he's responsible for sustainability products and here's something I wanted to share.

Earlier today, a representative of a company had come to him to know more about what the bank can offer for his business. And that company itself is whom I wanted to introduce you.

A company called GOOC, a Brazilian one, founded by a Vietnamese businessman who immigrated to Brazil about 30 years ago or so. Do check out the web site as well. What was amazing is that all he produces is made of recycled materials: sandals, clothes, bags, wallets etc etc etc.
Very very nice things.
He has 500 manual workers here in Sao Paulo, offering employment for the underprivileged and less educated groups in society.

A business like that amazes me with how they see their role in society, the way they do business, understand the life cycle of products and resources etc etc. It's seems like such a sophisticated way of doing business, especially compared to the lectures I remember from uni highlighting the "obvious" role of business - to make as much money as possible.

"The objective of business is to maximize its profits" drums in my head from uni.
Luckily I have come a long way since then, and maybe see a bit bigger picture. Longer term at least.

In this new context of doing business, the role of banks is definitely changing. "I hate banking" said another great person I encountered today "in its traditional sense, like it was 10 years ago or so". Today surely the business is changing.

What's the economic, social and environmental impact of each dollar invested, we ask today.

Guys, I am sooooo excited being part of the process of asking and trying to answer these questions.