Led by staff of the EarthWays Center, the St. Louis Green Business Challenge has completed ten years of making Green work for companies doing business across our bi-state region.
An awards event hosted at the Saint Louis Zoo celebrated the achievements of 61 companies, non-profits, and local government entities, recognizing their work during 2019 to integrate sustainable policies and practices into both everyday operations and business innovations. As keynote speaker, Zoo Director, Michael Machek described the importance and business benefits of the Zoo’s efforts to address climate change.
Who won top honors in the 2019 Challenge? Click here to find out!
Check out the 2019 Challenge Accomplishments and Innovations Book!
The St. Louis Green Business Challenge supports voluntary efforts to:
- conserve energy and water,
- reduce waste through recycling, composting and other practices,
- implement purchasing and supply chain sustainability,
- promote green transportation options,
- enhance biodiversity on company property,
- educate and engage employees around green options for both work and home.
Company Green Teams use Challenge scorecards and other program tools to guide strategic adoption of green measures. Customized coaching encourages each participant to identify and implement measures in accord with their unique company goals and culture. Challenge services help participants evaluate and act on sustainability options in ways that optimize cost-effectiveness and efficiency and reduce environmental impacts.
Since the program launched in 2010, 233 businesses, non-profits and municipalities have joined the Challenge. Their efforts have engaged over 155,000 employees and nearly 470,000 residents, for a total of over 620,000 individuals influenced by this work. Ongoing sustainability commitment is strong: 46% of these companies have participated in the Challenge for two or more years. Twelve companies comprise the Challenge Green Decade Honor Roll, as participants for all ten program years.
Join the CHALLENGE in 2020! Registration opens in February 4, activity begins on Wednesday morning March 11 with a Kickoff Seminar and B-to-B Resource Fair, held at the Garden’s Commerce Bank Center for Science Education. Click here to get the Challenge eNews with all dates and details.
The Missouri Botanical Garden also participates in the Challenge with intensity! Last year staff from the Garden's sustainability, communications, and education divisions worked together on an innovation project. Highlighted accomplishments included...
- Creation of a digital self-guided Garden sustainability tour, planned to lead to several different self-guided sustainability tours in the future that utilize a variety of interpretative resources.
- Built staff “library” of Garden tour stops featuring sustainability operations and principles.
- Expansion of interpretation at annual Green Living Festival with the creation of a Sustainability of "Historic Homes Quick Reference Guide" for staff and volunteers at Tower Grove House, highlighting historic green elements and sustainability of Henry Shaw’s historic home.
- Development of a new YouTube sustainability playlist to give the Garden’s 1.44K subscribers easier access to 13 green-themed videos ranging in topics from students conducting school waste audits to an introduction to RainScaping.
Click here to view the Accomplishments and Innovations Challenge Companies made in 2019 (the Garden is featured on page 43).
Pictured left to right are the staff who make the St. Louis Green Business Challenge possible: Glenda Abney, Jean Ponzi, Angelina O'Donnell, and Rob Kennedy.