Good for the environment, good for business — our 21st century corporations can do it all 

During his tragically short time as president, John F. Kennedy created the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award for exceptionally meritorious contributions to society, national security or world peace. 

Over the last 60 years, 11 presidents have awarded the medal to more than 650 people, including athletes, entertainers, foreign dignitaries and leaders in arts, science, labor, civil rights and government. But very few business leaders are on the list, fewer still from the manufacturing sector. 

There are nearly 250,000 manufacturing companies in the United States. They contribute almost $2.5 trillion to the economy every year. But beyond GDP, their record could be much better. In 2021, they produced 12 percent of America’s greenhouse gas emissions, 70 percent of which came from their supply chains. From the standpoint of global warming, they are on a dangerous trajectory: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates corporate greenhouse gas emissions will grow 17 percent between now and 2050. 

Global warming is just one indicator of the industry’s destructive footprint. According to The World Counts, a website that raises awareness of global environmental challenges, companies worldwide produce over 450 million metric tons of plastic each year, much of it ending up in the environment. Over 4.5 million tons of plastic have been dumped in oceans so far this year. 

The World Counts says global production of man-made chemicals grew 40,000 percent in one generation, contaminating every ecosystem on the planet. Some 700 chemicals “not supposed to be there” are found in humans.  

Much of our hazardous waste originates in industry, principally the manufacture of chemicals, fossil fuel products, agricultural chemicals, iron and steel. The world’s manufacturers recycle only about 7 percent of the raw materials they use. 

As editors of the influential business magazine Fast Company argue, responsible business leaders “must work together to make the business world safer and more environmentally sustainable.” And as ecologist and entrepreneur Paul Hawken points out, “There is only one institution on earth large enough, powerful enough, pervasive enough, and influential enough to really lead humankind in a different direction. And that is the institution of business and industry.” 

The manufacturing sector needs a role model of a proper 21st-century corporation. Fortunately, we have one based in Atlanta. The company and its founder deserve the Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden, who can spotlight it as an example of corporate sustainability worldwide. 

Interface Inc. is an international manufacturer of carpet products. It was founded in 1973 by Ray Anderson, a soft-spoken visionary who had an epiphany about the harm his corporation was doing to current and future generations. 

Carpet manufacturing was notable for its wastes and dependence on petroleum products. Even today, nearly 90 percent of discarded carpet ends up in landfills — some 4 billion tons of material that takes centuries to break down. When it does, it produces methane and toxic chemicals that leach into the environment. Burning it produces more greenhouse gases than coal. 

In 1994, a customer accused Interface of ignoring its environmental and social impacts. At about the same time, Anderson happened upon Hawken’s seminal book, “The Ecology of Commerce.” Anderson said the book hit him like a “spear in the chest.” 

Knowing little about sustainable development, he created an “Eco Dream Team” of prominent environmental leaders, among them Hawken, biomimicry advocate Janine Benyus, energy guru Amory Lovins, green building strategist Bill Browning, green architect Bill McDonough, natural capital authority Hunter Lovins, and several other leaders who belong in a Planetary Stewards’ Hall of Fame if only there were one. 

Anderson recast the company’s vision as “Mission Zero” to reduce, eliminate and reverse its adverse environmental footprint. The result is a dramatic transformation that continues today — a compelling story best told in the documentary “Beyond Zero.” 

Over the decades, Interface reinvented its manufacturing process, made carpet backing out of recycled materials, and developed “floating floors” installed without glue, a source of unhealthy volatile organic compounds. It specialized in making carpet tiles so worn flooring could be replaced without recarpeting the entire space. 

Anderson died of cancer in 2011, but his vision continues guiding Interface. Last year, renewable energy powered 100 percent of the company’s operations. It was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential companies. In 2022, Newsweek cited it as one of America’s most responsible companies, while another study put Interface in the top 10 of companies worldwide that integrated sustainability in their businesses. 

In April, Interface announced a new commitment: It will become carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon negative by 2040. In other words, it will not only decarbonize its operations and supply chain, it also will keep carbon out of the atmosphere by storing it in its products. It will not use carbon offsets to reach this goal.  

Interface provides ongoing evidence that protecting the planet is profitable; its sales totaled nearly $1.3 billion last year, with net income of $44.5 million. 

Anderson rejected the neo-liberal doctrine that businesses’ only responsibility is to earn profits for shareholders. He was not shy about explaining what motivated him. In his warm southern drawl, he often recited a poem by a former employee, Glenn Thomas: 

Tomorrow’s Child 

Without a name; an unseen face 
and knowing not your time nor place, 
Tomorrow’s Child, though yet unborn 
I met you first last Tuesday morn. 

A wise friend introduced us two, 
and through his shining point of view 
I saw a day that you would see; 
a day for you, but not for me. 

Knowing you has changed my thinking 
for I never had an inkling 
That perhaps the things I do 
might someday, somehow, threaten you. 

Tomorrow’s Child, my daughter/son 
I’m afraid I’ve just begun 
To think of you and of your good, 
though always having known I should. 

Begin I will to weigh the cost 
of what I squander; what is lost 
If ever I forget that you 
will someday come to live here too. 

In the magazine Textile World last fall, business consultant Ken Gregoire noted, “The relentless pursuit of profit under traditional capitalism has resulted in devastating damage to society and the planet as a whole. Many are left wondering whether the system can provide a viable solution to the very problems it created. 

“Yet, in recent years, an alternative model of capitalism has emerged to offer hope. … However, the story of Interface, a global leader in sustainability that helped ignite the movement toward stakeholder capitalism, remains largely and tragically unknown.” 

A Presidential Medal of Freedom for Ray Anderson would remedy that. 

William S. Becker is a former regional director at the U.S. Department of Energy and author of several books on climate change and national disaster policies, including the “100-Day Action Plan to Save the Planet,” and “The Creeks Will Rise: People Co-Existing with Floods.”