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What does it mean to be a green company, and what are the easiest ways that a business can transition to make their mission align with the environmental values necessary to reduce carbon emissions and fight against climate change?
With so many terms tossed around in the media these days like sustainability, eco-friendly, or environmentally conscious – it’s hard to remember the difference between going green and something else.
In short, going green refers to a company doing anything and everything they can to help the environment – from sustainable fashion to creating office spaces that can help to reduce emissions. If you’re doing something that helps the environment – you’ve got a company going green on your hands.
Becoming a green company means doing what you can to reduce your environmental impact. This can be done through small actions like striving to use recycled materials, reducing the amount of resources your company uses, or trying out eco-friendly packaging.
Any company can go green, but the important thing is to stay green – and increase the frequency and strength of your already existing, environmentally friendly products, services, and business practices.
It’s easy to get confused between terms like, “going green” and “eco-friendly” these days, but they aren’t quite the same thing. To be environmentally or eco-friendly means that the product or service provided by the company doesn’t put the environment in harm's way. Whereas on the other hand, to be green is a broader term – and means that a company contributes to something that helps the environment or aids to reduce the negative impact they may have previously had on the planet.
If so many companies are striving towards carbon neutrality and reaching net-zero emissions, then why is it pivotal for your own business to become a green company?
Global warming has never been as bad as it is right now. Natural disasters, insidious heatwaves, depleting water resources, and new climate legislation in the U.S. shows that climate change is a problem that needs to be addressed before it continues to get worse.
Climate change will only change if we all change – and that’s why it’s so important that all companies make the effort to reduce emissions and become more sustainable.
It’s important for us all as individuals to play our part in the fight against climate change, but it’s imperative that companies recognise the importance of sustainability and reducing emissions – as a bigger group of people can make a bigger difference.
When an organization decides to become a green company, they aren’t only improving amongst the current, poor environmental circumstances – but they’re improving upon their potential business opportunities as well. Investors, customers, and employees alike are becoming more interested in investing, contributing, or working for a company that pertains to their environmental values and aims for corporate social responsibility.
In fact, an overwhelming 90% of CEOs today recognise that sustainability is essential to a successful business – as more consumers are growing interested in the importance of sustainable businesses and environmentally friendly practices or products. As climate change continues to worsen, customers want to ensure that their part in the fight against global warming is done – and the easiest way to do that i to trust that the products they buy are eco-friendly. Studies show that today’s consumers don’t mind spending a little more money than they usually would if it means the product or service they are purchasing doesn't negatively harm the environment. Consumers also view the environmental responsibility of the company to be equally as important as the value for their money. In other words, people want to buy eco-friendly products – so it’s important for businesses everywhere to realise this shift in consumerism.
Going green can help to reduce pressure from regulators, create a better brand image, and actually reduce your business costs – despite the fact that many believe it is more expensive to run a green company.
So, your company is convinced that going green is the way to go?
Here are four tips to help your business become a green company.
The first, most important step towards becoming a green company is to do a carbon assessment to measure your company’s current carbon emissions. It’s next to impossible to become a green company if your company doesn't even know where to start in terms of improving sustainability or reducing emissions. Seeking third-party assistance, like Greenly, can help your company to do a carbon assessment and better understand how they are negatively impacting the environment – and what can ultimately be done to reduce their emissions.
It’s hard for a company that wants to go green to achieve their goals, or any goals for that matter – if they don’t clearly define them in the first place.
A business seeking to become a green company should think about all of the goals they want to achieve. For instance, companies can reduce their emissions to contribute to tackling global warming, but there are many other ways that they can benefit the environment while still benefiting their business: such as through impact investing, purchasing carbon credits, or striving to reach net-zero emissions – which all prevent greenwashing and ultimately create better transparency for a better business.
It’s important that any company looking to go green clearly delineates their values in line with their mission statement so that their goals can be both attainable and sustainable. For instance, reforestation is a common carbon offsetting project, but companies should strive to find other ways to protect the animals that deforestation negatively impacts – as protecting our ecosystems are important, especially given the several wildfires the world has been facing.
A company’s plan to reduce their emissions should be personalised, and not copy the model of another business. This unique strategy should be contingent on the company’s individual targets. This is precisely why completing a carbon assessment through a third party is vital to successfully becoming a green company.
Before establishing any plan to reduce emissions or benefit the environment, the best thing to do is to train employees on eco-gestures, so that sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint can become a part of their daily professional lives. This should be the priority, as it is the foundation for any company seeking to go green – just like the pillars of a house. The pillars of a house are what keep the house standing up straight, just as employees are the vessel for a smooth, sustainable company. After a company trains their employees on the importance of eco-friendliness – a company can then go deeper and help their employees develop sufficient knowledge about global warming and how it impacts the entire world.
By doing this, companies can ensure they have the right employees on their hands to upkeep with the intrinsic motivation to become and stay a green company.
Once you’ve become a green company, you shouldn’t stop there – you and your company should start spreading the word!
We often don’t realise that contributing in the fight against climate change does not only pertain to our own actions, but how we influence others to become more aware. This is a fundamental part of “going green” that many of us often forget, but is essential to reduce emissions worldwide. This is because the level of awareness about global warming is not the same around the world, and varies depending on the population, country, or even within the country.
Easy ways to spread awareness are through hosting a fundraising event, or even easier – taking the importance of climate change to your company’s social media accounts.
So many businesses are deciding to become a green company, but which companies have led the way towards sustainability and environmentally friendly business practices?
Did you know that one of the biggest culprits to global emissions is the meat industry?
A plant-based diet isn’t compulsory yet, but given how unsustainable meat is – we might get there one day. Beyond Meat is revitalizing the food industry by showing how we can create more sustainable alternatives that taste like meat, without the need for excessive water, emissions, or animal harm.
Beyond Meat also partners with other eco-friendly companies like Subway and Dunkin’ Donuts to integrate even more of their sustainable, plant-based products on the go.
Lush is a well-known company most recognizable for their popular bath bombs – but did you know they’re also one of the most eco-friendly brands on the planet?
Lush is an all natural business that provides customers with skin, facial, and hair care that doesn’t test on animals or make use of dangerous, toxic chemicals. They have created trends from solid shampoos that eschew the need for plastic bottles to tubs that customers can bring back to the store to mitigate superfluous waste – and earn rewards for doing so.
Lush has done what all companies should do: give back to the customers who take part in the fight against climate change and reduce their environmental impact. Starbucks has implemented the same ideal in recent years, where if customers come to the popular coffee-shop chain with a reusable cup – they get ten cents off their drink.
TOMS is another one of the globe’s greenest companies, as they don’t only strive for sustainability – but social justice and improvement. Even from the start, the company was born with whole-hearted intentions – as Blake Mycoskie, original designer of TOMS, realised how many children around the world were growing up without shoes when he was traveling abroad. The company seeks to donate a pair of shoes every time a customer buys a pair, as well as provide drinkable water, eye-care, and other health benefits to those in struggling communities around the world.
TOMS demonstrates to other organizations seeking to become a green company that you can sell both valuable, desirable fashion while still finding a way to give back and make the world a better place.
These days, becoming a green company presents your business with more opportunities than it does setbacks. Investors, customers, and employees will be more satisfied with your company and willing to financially support your company in addition to mitigating climate change.
Going green doesn’t have to be an instantaneous event – it can be done in small steps, like using eco-friendly packaging or reducing your water or electricity consumption in the office. However, the main point of going green is to continuously build upon the already existing efforts – so that the more green your company becomes, the more planet Earth can breathe once again.
If reading this article on four tips to become a green company has made you interested in reducing your carbon emissions to further fight against climate change – Greenly can help you!
Greenly can help you make an environmental change for the better, starting with a carbon footprint assessment to know how much carbon emissions your company produces.
Click here to learn more about Greenly and how we can help you reduce your carbon footprint.
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