WASHINGTON, DC — A federal program that helped companies with environmental goals at facilities and was killed off in 2009 has been recreated as a non-profit with an expanded scope.
The concept behind the program now lives on in the non-profit Stewardship Action Council (SAC).
Members of Performance Track that wanted to see the program survive, along with other interested parties, began meeting after is demise to see what aspects of the program they could recreate and expand on, said Anne Vogel-Marr, executive director of SAC. Vogel-Marr was involved in the early years of Performance Track when she was working for National Energy and Gas Transmission, which had four facilities in the program, and later was involved independently in the creation of SAC.
The main aspect of Performance Track that is being continued, Vogel-Marr said, is the collaboration, information-sharing and learning between companies and other organizations.
“I cannot overemphasize the importance of the learning network, the dialogue that goes on around shared concerns of members,” she said.
One way the SAC is trying to differentiate itself from Performance Track is by not having any award or recognition aspects like Performance Track did. The idea, Vogel-Marr said, is that all organizations are traveling along the same continuum, with every company at different stages. The SAC is trying to drive companies along, she said, and not hold up certain ones as leaders or call out top performers.
“We’re looking to encourage that positive performance and positive direction over time,” Vogel-Marr said.
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