Ben Packard

Some people like their coffee black, but Ben Packard likes his joe green. Packard is the environmental commander-in-chief at Starbucks Corp., where he leads the coffee giant's efforts to tread more lightly on the planet. Packard calls it his "dream job," but in some ways it's mission impossible. "At first glance, it can be extremely overwhelming because, where do you start?" he said. "There can be hundreds of environmental impacts, right?" Making a grande, two-pump, vanilla, nonfat, extra hot latte doesn't spew fumes into the air or spit chemicals into the water. Yet all of the growing, roasting, brewing and packaging needed to produce a cup of coffee eats up resources and gnaws at nature in ways both subtle and significant. That's especially true for a company that goes through roughly 300 million pounds of coffee beans a year. Starbucks was a much smaller business in 1992 when it adopted a mission statement that included a vow to "contribute positively" to the environment. That was the year Seattle-based Starbucks went public and began its ascent from 165 stores to nearly 16,000 stores -- and counting -- at the end of 2007. No more flying under Mother Nature's radar. As Starbucks has grown, so has the challenge of walking the mission statement's talk. "It's complex. It's not easy," Packard said. "But it's part of who we are." Packard joined Starbucks in 1998 as environmental affairs manager. He was later promoted to director of environmental affairs. Earlier this year, he was named interim director of corporate social responsibility -- one rung higher --- while the company decides who will fill the corporate social responsibility director post permanently. Starbucks had already busted some unusually green moves for a mainstream retailer -- starting with mentioning the "E word" in its mission statement -- when Packard arrived. The company had incorporated recycled content in its napkins, hired an environmental staff and worked closely with a green nonprofit, all revolutionary strategies for their time, Packard said. Teaming with Environmental Defense, the first of many subsequent partnerships with green nonprofits, helped Starbucks understand how much wood and energy it takes to make its cups and how much wastewater and solid waste is involved. It also caused many observers to think Starbucks was sticking its neck out, Packard said. "You can imagine the kind of reaction that more classic mainstream business people thought from the outside," he said, "but it was actually brilliant because (Environmental Defense) brought an expertise around addressing an environmental issue." Now, every Starbucks hot cup in the U.S. and Canada is made from material that contains 10 percent recycled fiber, saving 78,000 trees and removing 3 million pounds from the solid waste stream every year, according to Environmental Defense estimates. Opportunities like that are why Packard jumped at the chance to join Starbucks after returning to school to earn his MBA and a certificate in environmental management from the University of Washington in 1998.