2022 Sustainability And Business Support Report Released

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR)’s Sustainability and Business Support (SBS) program today announced the release of its 2022 report highlighting the department’s free, non-regulatory services that support Wisconsin’s businesses and local governments wherever they are on the path to sustainability.

The report focuses on the resilience shown by businesses and local governments as they faced new and evolving challenges over the past two years, highlighting the improved resources developed by SBS to help customers across Wisconsin.

The report also shows how the Small Business Environmental Assistance Program helps clarify regulations for small businesses. Additionally, readers will find information on recent legislative changes to Wisconsin’s environmental compliance audit program, Enviro-Check, aligning it more closely with the Environmental Protection Agency.

Highlights of this year’s report include:

SBS Successes:

• The Small Business Environmental Assistance Program’s business support providing services and resources to more than 130,000 contacts
• Enviro-Check participants taking their compliance into their own hands while reducing risks to their business
• The newest businesses to join Green Tier who have proven to be environmental leaders in their communities
• The reductions in total air emissions, energy and water use and solid waste disposal achieved by Green Tier companies in 2020 and 2021
• The development of a resource portal for environmental improvement ideas

Green Tier Participant Successes:

• A nutritional supplement manufacturer’s innovative process to drastically reduce water use at its facility
• How an electric and gas utility expanded its environmental management system to cover all its operations, which in turn streamlined its ability to monitor and address environmental risk across the company as a whole
• The successful collaboration among multiple stakeholders in Dane County and the surrounding area to reduce sediment runoff to local and regional bodies of water

The full 2022 Sustainability & Business Support Biennial report is available on the SBS webpage. The report is in a scrollable, interactive format. There is also an “At-a-Glance” two-page PDF version of this report which can be used as a printable companion piece to the scrollable report. The At-a-Glance can be accessed at the same SBS webpage linked above.

To answer questions about the report or for more information on programs within Sustainability & Business Support, please contact our team at DNRBusinessSupport@Wisconsin.gov or visit our website.