10 Green NGOs Businesses Should Know About

GreenBiz (Herrera) - Nonprofit organizations, or NGOs, have become a growing tool for companies as they strive to reduce their environmental footprints while garnering business value. NGOs have invested heavily in building expertise in a range of areas, while at the same, the animosity that once existed between NGOs and the business community has steadily thawed. Many now view NGO-business partnerships as the rule, rather than the exception.

Who are the NGOs that companies turn to most often -- and most effectively? To answer that question, we spoke with companies with long experience working with nonprofits, scanned our coverage over the last 10 years, and compared notes. Several NGOs stood out for their efforts to show the business community how they could operate leaner, greener, more profitably and more transparently.

1. Carbon Trust -- The U.K. government established the Carbon Trust as a nonprofit to help the business community move toward a low carbon economy. Its menu of resources is broad and seems to keep growing with programs aimed at companies both large and small.

2. Ceres -- Since 1989, Ceres has brought together investors environmental and public interest groups to promote corporate responsibility with the goal of getting the marketplace to recognize and reward companies that incorporate sustainability into their business practices. It works year-round with its network of companies that have committed to sustainability reporting, stakeholder engagement and continuous improvement. It also takes on environmental issues at the sector-level, such as the oil, electric power, insurance and hotel industries.  Read More