Renew America Success Stories

New Jersey Office of Sustainability

Description
 
The New Jersey Office of Sustainability encourages sustainable business development in New Jersey.  The Office offers small business loans to help establish new, environmentally-friendly businesses, and it promotes the adoption of sustainable practices among existing businesses.  Finally, the Office provides technical assistance to help state government agencies procure goods and services from local, environmentally-sound firms.

The Office was created on Earth Day (April 22) 1997 by Governor Christine Todd Whitman and is the first state-level Office of Sustainability in the United States.

The Office defines a business as sustainable if it obtains raw materials from sustainable sources, employs manufacturing processes that do not have a significant negative impact on the environment and/or if it produces products that are environmentally benign or that provide a solution to an environmental problem or problems.

Robert Young, the Executive Director of the Office, says his main job is locating businesses that meet this definition.  "My job is to get to know what companies are out there and what obstacles they face," he says.  "Nobody has focused on them.  Part of our job is to focus on them and help grow this part of the economy."

To date, the Office has identified more than 2,000 companies that meet one or more of the characteristics of sustainability, including manufacturers of electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, pollution-eating plants, recycled building materials and solar power.  By identifying and promoting such sustainable businesses, the Office is helping make sustainable goods and services competitive with conventional goods and services.  Young points out, for example, that as the market for recycled goods has expanded nationally, the cost of recycled paper has become competitive with virgin paper.  The goal of the Office is to do the same with the sustainable market in New Jersey.

Young expects both small and large companies to pursue sustainability in their business practices as the economic benefits of doing so are revealed.  Large companies will want to pursue sustainable practices in order to eliminate waste, while smaller companies will be able to capitalize on the growing market for green technologies and to establish market niches.

"Businesses realize that environmental protection is here to stay," says Young.  "What's behind a sustainable economy is a new prosperity with economic growth and lots more jobs."

Program Highlights

The Office of Sustainability works to:

• Provide low- or no-interest loans to sustainable businesses.
• Develop comprehensive public procurement policy recommendations and guidelines for the purchasing of sustainable products by government agencies.
• The Office is working with the Department of Environmental Protection, Department of the Treasury, Department of Transportation and other state agencies to develop a series of recommendations to assist businesses in purchasing environmentally-friendly products.
• The Office is working with various state offices to increase procurement by the state of green products.
• The Office is helping to develop the New Jersey Green Link Program, which will help link producers of green products in New Jersey with state purchasing agencies.
• The Office is working to improve energy efficiency measures within state agencies.
• Study the sustainable business sector of the New Jersey economy.
• Through focus groups and a literature review, the Office developed and administered a survey to more than 2,400 New Jersey companies to develop a database of producers of environmentally-friendly goods.
• Assist in the expansion of sustainable businesses currently located in New Jersey.
• To help promote acceptance of sustainability throughout New Jersey and elsewhere, the Office maintains a schedule of speaking engagements throughout the United States and overseas.
• The Office is helping to develop an electric vehicle implementation program in New Jersey and has applied for a grant to become a state partner in the "million solar roofs" initiative.
• The Office hosted a series of Green Bag Lunches with representatives from the sustainable agriculture sector and renewable energy industry to discuss strategies for expanding both industries within the state.
• Assist in the conversion of traditional businesses to sustainable practices.
• The Office is helping to develop the Building a Greener New Jersey Program, which will assist the construction industry in incorporating environmentally-friendly construction practices and products.
• Assist in the creation of new sustainable businesses in New Jersey.
• The Office has encouraged the migration of businesses into the state that produce a variety of environmentally-sound products, including a manufacturer of electric vehicles, a non-polluting garment cleaning franchise and an organic fertilizer production facility.
• The Office is working with the Department of Commerce to develop a brownfields redevelopment strategy for the state.
• The Office helped convene the Greenleaf Group, a monthly meeting of Department of Commerce Division Directors focused on increasing the use of products offered by environmentally-sound companies.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The New Jersey Office of Sustainability is located within the Department of Commerce and Economic Development.  The Office works with the Economic Development Authority, Department of Environmental Planning, Office of Science and Technology and other New Jersey state agencies, private corporations and nonprofit organizations.

Budget: $2.1 million annually.

Community Served: Residents of New Jersey.

Measures of Success:

With the Governor's staff, the Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Authority, the Office helped secure a letter of intent from the Solectria Corporation to produce their electric car, the Sunrise, in New Jersey.  The Sunrise will be the most advanced electric car in the United States, and the factory will be the first facility in the nation to mass produce electric vehicles.

The Office has sent out loan application to more than 30 companies.  To date, the Office has approved three loan applications that are under review by the Economic Development Authority.

The Office has developed a database of more than 500 companies that offer environmental products and services in New Jersey.

Representatives from the Office have given speeches on sustainability to the Congressional Caucus on Sustainability, the President's Commission on Sustainable Development and at the International Workshop on Agricultural biotechnology in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Office has helped a manufacturer of low-toxicity inks identify commercial printers to test their products.

The Office has helped Kean College, Ramapo College and Rutgers University incorporate sustainable measures into management of the buildings, grounds and procurement.

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