Project Management 411

Carbon Footprint Taxation is Here! Get Your PLM Systems in Shape

by Bob Turek on May 22nd, 2008

European Supply Chain Management magazine’s story about how a Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) system can assist a green strategy reveals some fascinating complications of the green agenda:

There is a tax already in place in the Netherlands based on the carbon footprint of product packaging. The challenge many manufacturers face is not simply adapting to the new demands but also ensuring their product is still safe, effective and profitable.

For products in development, these new pieces of green legislation may cause more than change - they can cause a product to be pulled indefinitely, causing heavy losses. Again PLM can help in mitigating this cost and even salvaging a product.

Yes, you heard it right. The contrived carbon footprint model is going to lead to taxation of businesses. It’s starting in Europe and will quickly be followed by my “bleeding edge” state, California. This is the worst anti-free market action that a government can take; innovation squelching taxation based on a flimsy rationale designed to appeal to a politicians constituency.

The idea of carbon footprinting your business is generally viewed to be as onerous as Sarbanes-Oxley (see my post on this). First their were fears of penalties associated with a poor carbon footprint and now taxation. So- why PLM systems to counter this? Those systems do a great job of catching all the guidelines and restrictions that you must adhere to during the design phase. In other words, and unfortunately, you will be required to design “green” into your products or suffer the consequences of taxation and even worse, INDEFINITE pulling of your products off the market. Don’t get me wrong, there are benefits to a green strategy (energy and packaging cost reductions) but taxation of business based on this is ridiculous.

How do you feel about the direction of carbon footprinting and taxation based on it? Does your company have a plan to fight this type of legislation and taxation? Does your industry have a marketing approach to counter perceptions of your “greeness”?

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