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Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri (December 16, 2009) – Three Kansas City companies are at the forefront of the sustainability movement, recently pledging to become more sustainable businesses by implementing green best-practices. As progressive leaders in their industries, McRuer CPAs, BHC RHODES Civil Engineering and Surveying and McCormick Company have partnered with Austin-based Hondo Green, a division of The Hondo Group, to develop more sustainable business practices and reduce environmental impact.
Each company is undergoing an environmental assessment using a proprietary suite of tools developed by Hondo Green. Known as the Hondo Green Assessment Tool (HGAT), this unique web-based application provides an incredibly powerful, surprisingly easy way for businesses to measure, manage and monetize environmental impact across five key metrics: energy, materials, waste, travel and water. Once the initial assessment period is complete, HGAT takes the data gathered and recommends greening initiatives to bring resource usage down and profitability up.
The reporting functionality of HGAT is organized to provide true transparency of results, clearly demonstrating an organization’s progress on various initiatives as well as the actual cost savings realized from an efficiently managed sustainability program.
Though each company cites compellingly different reasons for going green, the goal for implementing more sustainable business practices is the same: reduce the environmental impact of doing business while bringing resource-related costs down.
Every firm currently doing business in today’s economy is concerned with the bottom line, and no one watches their bottom line closer than McRuer CPAs. The ability to tie an altruistic goal such as environmental stewardship to such a concrete concept as profitability was one of the reasons McRuer first began to consider the Hondo Green Assessment Tool as the perfect solution to addressing their firm’s environmental impact.
“We are excited to implement the Hondo Green Assessment Tool because we feel it will help us manage and reduce our environmental footprint, and share cost savings opportunities with our clients,” said Scott McRuer, founder of McRuer CPAs. “As experienced accountants, we understand the correlation between resource management and bottom line productivity.”
Founded in 1992, engineering firm BHC RHODES has made sustainability part of their business model, striving to incorporate the latest sustainable engineering design practices into every project.
“BHC RHODES long ago recognized and addressed the need to embrace sustainability and we’re continuously seeking innovative ways to achieve a higher level of sustainability,” said Kevin Honomichl, president. “We’re using the Hondo Green Assessment tool to manage and reduce our own environmental footprint, and potentially offer to our clients.”
25% of BHC RHODES’ civil engineers have achieved LEED accreditation, which enables the opportunity to help customers design and build or support redevelopment of environmentally sustainable buildings. “Adding HGAT to our service offering would allow us to offer a complete end-to-end sustainability package for customers”, added Honomichl.
As a recognized leader in their industry, BHC RHODES built their business by developing long term relationships with customers. With HGAT, they can extend that relationship further by adding additional value for their customers.
McCormick Company is not your typical advertising agency. Referring to themselves as “sales communications professionals,” the agency’s mission is to help clients grow sales by developing fully integrated, strategic and creative communications programs. For McCormick Company, going green allows the firm to share fresh ideas and new strategic directions with clients in the healthcare, financial services, agriculture, biotech and food marketing industries.
“McCormick Company is continuously looking for innovative, unique ideas to bring to our clients, which is why we were one of the first agencies to go green,” said Mark Perrin, president of McCormick Company. “By offering HGAT to our clients, we can easily demonstrate the wealth of messaging and marketing opportunities that a transparently managed sustainability program affords. Now, our clients can not only say they are “going green,” they can back that claim with verifiable data and concrete initiatives.”
There is a growing concern among businesses that sustainability issues can no longer be avoided. As government regulations become more stringent, consumer pressure is mounting. The 2009 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey revealed that 70% of consumers pay close attention to corporate environmental stewardship, while a staggering 85% believe companies should practice environmental stewardship constantly and consistently.*
“While challenging, the management of sustainability and climate change presents a great deal of opportunity for companies to reduce costs, enhance brand reputation, forge new partnerships, and reduce financial and legal risks,” commented Michael Berg, a consultant to Hondo Green and a frequent writer and contributor on sustainability to the American Bar Association. “The Hondo Green Assessment Tool not only provides companies with a great story to tell, but with the ability to easily calculate and report both cost savings and emissions reductions.”**
No matter what reason a company may cite for changing corporate behavior and embracing green business practices, going green has become more than just “the right thing to do.” It has become a business imperative closely watched by interested parties ranging from government regulatory bodies to the general consumer marketplace.
Companies following the lead of these three marquis Kansas City businesses will find out that, with the aid of tools like the Hondo Green Assessment Tool, addressing your business’s environmental impact may be the best thing you ever do. Not just for the environment, but for your business’s bottom line.
To learn more about Hondo Green and its services and the Hondo Green Assessment Tool, available by subscription on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis, visit www.hondogreen.com or contact Courtney Kleefuss at 512.502.5141 or courtney@hondogreen.com.
The Hondo Group is a marketing services company offering pioneering professional services and unique business planning and assessment tools. Experienced specialists in marketing communications, The Hondo Group is full of imaginative experts who appreciate the importance of an overarching marketing strategy with original creative executions, meticulously formulated to match your needs.
Hondo Green, a division of The Hondo Group, is a full-service sustainability firm providing the tools and expertise companies need to effectively manage every aspect of the greening process. Along with the Hondo Green Assessment Tool, Hondo Green offers Responsibility Marketing, Environmental Consulting Services and Event Sustainability Planning.
*Source: The 2009 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey presents the findings of an online survey conducted January 29-30, 2009 by Opinion Research Corporation among a demographically representative U.S. sample of 1,087 adults, comprising 518 men and 569 women 18 years of age and older. The margin of error associated with a sample of this size is ± 3%.
**Michael Berg, JD, is a consultant to Hondo Green and a leading advisor on corporate sustainability strategies and communications, as well as a frequent writer and contributor on sustainability to the American Bar Association, the “Eco-Health Footprint Guide” and the forthcoming book “Climate Change: A Guide to Carbon Law and Practice.”
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