7.23.2004 ET

(CSRwire) SEATTLE--Studies have shown a clear link between a company's sustainability practices and its financial performance--this fall, a premiere conference will give businesses practical tools to make sustainability a profitable, integral part of their current and future operations. The Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability (NBIS), in partnership with the Future 500, today announced a benchmark conference -- Profitable Sustainability: The Future of Business. Designed to lay the groundwork for how the successful future business is operated, the event will feature the best practices for implementing sustainable business initiatives.

Key sponsors of the conference include Starbucks Coffee Company, the Russell Investment Group, REI, Nordstrom and Boeing. The conference will take place Sunday, September 26 - Wednesday, September 29, 2004 at the Westin Hotel in Seattle. An executive planning committee representative of Northwest business and civic leaders has participated in developing the conference.

Expert speakers, forums, workshops, and learning centers at the conference will demonstrate smart technologies, innovative business strategies, and provide solutions to everyday challenges and obstacles - concrete tools to implement sustainable practices.

"Behind nearly every sustainability strategy is a measurable rate of return. For example, organizations that improve energy performance outperform their competitors by as much as ten percent," said NBIS Director Karl Ostrom. "Companies that are able to adapt their practices to sustainable standards will be the leaders of the future -- they will trim costs, reduce risk, gain market share and investor confidence, set standards for others to follow, and be nimble in responding to opportunities. This one of a kind conference will enable business leaders to be a part of that future."

In a marketplace that increasingly requires conservation of resources, socially responsible practices, and accountability to a wide circle of stakeholders, business leaders who practice sustainability are laying the groundwork for how business is done. Profitable Sustainability: The Future of Business is a three-day intensive learning and demonstration event designed to:

• Equip businesses with the tools needed to practice sustainability in the workplace.
  
• Showcase best practices and groundbreaking companies, both local and international.
  
• Highlight the 'triple bottom line' benefits of sustainability - increased environmental, financial and community value.
  
• Focus on this increasing demand for sustainability and how it can propel businesses into the future.

• Portfolio 21, a Portland-based global equity fund that applies environmental sustainability criteria, has consistently beaten the S&P 500 Index as well as the MSCI World Equity Index, a benchmark for global mutual funds, by several percentage points since its inception in 1999. Last year, it garnered a 32.2% return for its investors. The fund invests in companies around the world that have made a commitment to environmental sustainability and have demonstrated this commitment through their business strategies, practices and investments.
  
  
• The Boeing Co. is streamlining the way it builds commercial airplanes by applying the principles of lean manufacturing and has made great strides improving the company's production system. Lean manufacturing eliminates waste, reduces the use of raw materials and chemicals in the manufacturing process. This production revolution at Boeing allows them to design, produce, deliver and support products more efficiently, in less time and with fewer defects. The approach enhances profit and sustains the company's ability to meet current and future global air transportation requirements.
  
  
• ShoreBank Pacific, a community development bank based in Ilwaco, Wash., delivers banking services to companies and individuals whose business, environmental and social practices promote sustainable communities. ShoreBank uses The Natural Step principles to guide its lending practices, and is developing an offset program to mitigate the company's global warming impact. Their guiding philosophy has helped ShoreBank build over $78 million in assets, with $27.6 million in loans and $68.2 million in deposits. The company's loan portfolio funds are allocated to projects involving efficiency (46%), community diversity (19%), spatial conservation (18%), green chemistry (10%) and natural productivity (7%).
  
  
• Coastwide Laboratories, the leading Pacific Northwest distributor of janitorial and sanitary maintenance products, is an innovator in manufacturing "green" cleaning chemicals. Their "Sustainable Earth" line is the first to receive third party certification for exceeding the most rigorous set of safety and environmental standards. The product line earned Coastwide Portland's 2003 BEST (Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow) award for Product Innovation, and in 2004 the company was a nominee for the EPA Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge.

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