BPI and Sustainability
Business Performance Improvement (BPI) is committed to sustainability, which can be summarized by the concept of the Triple Bottom Line:
- Profit – Finances
- People – Nonprofits, society and community
- Planet – Environment
BPI is a member of 1% for the Planet.
When businesses make decisions that maximize all three areas (not just profit), they move towards a business that is rewarding to work at (for employees) and work with (for customers).
As a result, your business is more likely to survive the ups and downs of the economy. It may seem strange, but when you stop focusing on profits and focus on people and the environment, it actually improves your profitability in the long run.
BPI is working on sustainability through four initiatives:
- Donations (Planet and People)
- Environmental Consulting (Planet)
- Nonprofit Consulting (People)
- Sustainable Operations (People/Planet)
Donations
Planet
Everybody Solar, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. They help other non-profit U.S. charities go solar by raising money to install solar panels, thus reducing the energy costs for the organization. This allows them to spend their money on achieving their mission, while reducing their impact on the environment. A truly sustainable solution!
BPI donates $200 per month, which equates to 1 solar panel.
By working with us, you can help us contribute even more to Everybody Solar, which will allow them to have a bigger impact on other non-profit organizations. This also qualifies us for membership in 1% for the Planet.
People
Starting in 2024, we are donating $300 each year to the Six Sigma Racial Equity Institute (SSREI) to provide a discount scholarship for their Yellow Belt online program. SSREI exposes Black women and Black Latinas to a powerful methodology (Six Sigma) that can be applied across sectors. Through the leading and implementation of racial equity projects, the program upskills these women to be complex problem solvers. Most certified inviduals do not include women or people of color, so they are disrupting this inequity of access and opportunity.
Each month, we donate $50 to the James P. Womack Scholarship & Philanthropy Fund (JPW Fund). The fund provides creative learning experiences in partnership with schools teaching lean thinking and community-based service organizations willing to provide Gemba-based learning and improvement opportunities.
Carbon Offsets
Want to offset your own carbon footprint? Consider donating a solar panel to them, instead of buying carbon credits.
Starting in 2016, we began implementing an internal carbon tax for all airline travel. We calculate the carbon emissions of our flight, and convert it to number of solar panels, and donate that amount to Everybody Solar.
For example, the average solar panel (at a typical cost of $200) produces about 8,000 kWh (or 6.2 metric tons or 12,395 pounds or 5,622 kgs of CO2) over a 25-year lifespan1. If you produce 3 metric tons of carbon (use EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator to determine your impact) , then consider donating $100 towards a solar panel.
Let’s look at an example: I took at trip for business. For my flight, we calculated the carbon emissions of our flight using the International Civil Aviation Organization carbon calculator. Next, calculate the emissions for each flight segment. For our trip, segment 1 was 502 lbs, and segment 2 was 224 lbs CO2. Round trip, my carbon footprint for the flight was (502 + 224) x 2 (round trip) = 1,452 lbs of CO2 emitted.
When I compare the amount produced by one solar panel (12,395 lbs) vs the impact of our flight (1,452 lbs), it is equivalent to (1452/12395) 12% of a solar panel. Therefore, to offset my trip, I paid for 12% of a solar panel, as a donation to Everybody Solar, or $200 X 12% = $23.
Download this simple Excel calculator tool to determine your recommended offset donation amount.
If you want help with this, just contact us.
Although offsetting our carbon impact is important, we ultimately want to reduce our usage. In 2017, we generated 5 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions for scope 2, and 10 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions for scope 3. We have a goal for 2018 to reduce the amount of emissions by 5% for both scope 2 and scope 3.
Environmental Consulting
You can learn more about our efforts to apply Lean and Six Sigma techniques to environmental problems at our website at LeanSixSigmaEnvironment.org
We can also help your facility achieve a Zero Waste certification through GBCI. Contact us to learn how we can assist you as a TRUE Advisor.
Nonprofit Consulting
You can learn more about our support of the efforts to apply Lean and Six Sigma techniques to nonprofits in the Portland (Oregon) metro area at LeanPortland.com. If you live outside Portland, check out LeanSixSigmaforGood.com to see what others are doing, and to learn how to setup your own local group.
In addition to our revenue donation commitment above, we also commit to donate our consulting service and expertise time (pro bono) to nonprofit organizations.
We are also the sponsor of an award through the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE), called Excellence in Sustainable Development. The award was created to recognize successful improvement projects conducted with a not-for-profit (government agency, nonprofit or benefit organization, or non-government organization (NGO)), that supports at least one of the 17 UN sustainable development goals, and utilizes techniques and tools related to industrial and systems engineering, including lean and Six Sigma.
Read about the past award winners, starting in 2019
Sustainable Operations
BPI was a Certified B Corporation starting in January 12, 2018, but did not maintain the certification with the updated criteria in Sept 2021.
We do not use many natural resources, but we do have an environmental footprint that we are trying to reduce. In the future, we would like to develop a carbon footprint report. In the meantime, here is the impacts and how we are addressing them.
On March 29, 2018, BPI registered with the State of Oregon as a Benefit Company. In January 2023, we moved to South Florida near Fort Lauderdale, but there is no benefit company designation at this time.
Resource | How Utilized | Offset |
Electricity | Charge laptop and smartphones. Heat, cool and light a small office. | Participating in Blue Sky Renewable Energy program |
Office Supplies and Paper | Training materials and handouts, hard copy book publishing | Buy paper and supplies used from Goodwill, Scrap, or buy new with recycled content from Postal Annex. Using 100% recycled paper content for book pages. |
Fuel | Airline flights and train rides to teach classes, and transportation services within training location. | Carbon offset program (see above) |
We also strive to work with local, minority-owned and sustainable suppliers whenever possible.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or would like a free consultation.