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 it 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 staygreen – and increase the frequency and strength of your already existing, environmentally friendly products, services, and business practices.
What is the difference between going green and being an eco-friendly company?
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.
Why is it important for your company to go green?
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 allchange – and that’s why it’s so important that all companies make the effort to reduce emissions and become more sustainable.
What are the benefits of your company going green?
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 wantto 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.
4 tips for going green
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.
Do a Carbon Assessment
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.
Define Your Goals
It’s hard for a company that wants to go green to achieve its 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.
Teach Your Employees the Importance of Going Green
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.
Spread Awareness on Becoming 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 withinthe 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.
By Stephanie Safdie for Greenly
