Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: the path to sustainability. I. Funding sustainable startups. Leaders of the pack: Khosla Ventures and KPCB -- Scaling up: Intel Capital and Google Ventures -- II. Business models. Follow the sun: First Solar and Suntech -- Making a revolution: Tesla and Better Place -- III. The macroenvironment and industry context. Ticket to ride: Toyota and General Motors -- Blowing in the wind: Vestas and General Electric -- IV. Finding customers. Carrying that weight: General Mills and Kellogg's -- Bridge over troubled waters: Pepsi and Coca-Cola -- V. Competition between mission and non-mission based business. Consensus capitalism: Whole Foods and Walmart -- Sustainability's next frontier: DuPont and Monsanto -- Concluding observations: the journey continues.

"To what extent can competition between companies encourage innovations in sustainability that have the potential to solve some of the world's major challenges? Using a series of case studies, this book pits closely related competitors against each other to examine the progress in and obstacles to the evolution of sustainable innovations in energy efficiency, solar power, electric vehicles and hybrids, wind energy, healthy eating, and agricultural productivity. It delves into the efforts of Tesla Motors to bring about a revolution in personal transportation, and the challenges Toyota and General Motors (GM) confront in commercializing hybrids. It explores the movement to healthy food by cereal companies General Mills and Kellogg's, and depicts the battles between Whole Foods and Walmart for the world's palate..."--Page 4 of cover.