Contact: Tom Eggert, Executive Director, WI Sustainable Business Council,
sustain@bus.wisc.edu, 608 267-2761
Wisconsin one of only states to issue a triple bottom line sustainability report
June 9, 2011 – The Wisconsin Sustainable Business Council announces the publication of the 2010 Wisconsin Sustainable Business Report at http://www.wisustainabilityreport.com. This second annual report looks at the State of Wisconsin through a triple-bottom line, sustainability lens. We identify the key economic, environmental and social indicators for the state.
Some of the highlights of the report include:
* Gross State Product (a measure of the state’s economic activity) declined 2.1% in 2009. However, this was the smallest decline of any Great Lakes state.
* Energy expenditures (for petroleum, natural gas, coal and electricity) declined to $18.7 billion in 2009. 87% of that amount (or $16.3 billion) was sent to other states or countries.
* Water use in the state is down 12.2% over the last 5 years while retail customers have increased 4.5%
* Wind energy generated in the state increased 117% since 2008.
* WI has lost 170,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000. Even so, we have lost a lower percent of manufacturing jobs than any other Midwestern state, and currently have more manufacturing jobs per capita than any state in the country.
* The median hourly wage in Wisconsin is 77 cents higher than it was 30 years ago. This translates to a median annual increase of 2.5 cents.
* Voter turnout in Wisconsin is greater than any other state other than Minnesota.
* Wisconsin is second only to Vermont in the percent of students that graduate from high school.
This report is modeled on sustainability reports (or corporate social responsibility reports) published by leading businesses such as SCJohnson, MillerCoors and most recently Kohl’s Department Stores. We have identified leading metrics that track the state’s successes over the last year, and metrics that indicate where there is still room for improvement.
This report is targeted at the business community and political decision-makers. We stand with the current administration in our belief that creating jobs should be the focus of the coming year. Our belief is that by understanding the importance of environmental and social issues to the economic bottom line, we can better identify jobs that will exist not only next year, but twenty years into the future.