Tips To Make A Business More Environmentally Minded

by Startacus Admin

Joss Ford, the founder of Enviral, the ethical brand marketing agency shares his tips and advice on ensuring your business is more environmentally minded...

We know sustainability can be confusing - from choosing the right energy supplier to changing your diet, navigating the environmental landscape can be a minefield. Yet, we all want to do the right thing when it comes to protecting the planet, especially when it also brings benefits to business. Now more than ever people are considering the environmental impacts of the brands and businesses they choose to support. In fact, 73% of millennials are willing to pay more for sustainable goods.

It’s not just millennials who are prioritising sustainable brands either, there is rising consumer demand from all generations, as people vote with their purses to help support brands who put purpose over profit.

Transforming your business to become greener starts with your internal purpose, your vision and your mission. If you’re going to communicate sustainability externally then this needs to be reflected from within - consumers can spot greenwash a mile off, so if you’re shouting about your sustainability initiatives then you need to ensure these are genuine.

This means looking at your internal engagement - everyone working within your organisation needs to know what your mission is and how social or environmental sustainability plays into that. Sustainability is more than just a recycling bin in the office, it needs to run through the entire organisation.

When talking about sustainability, people always forget the social aspect - be sure to put processes in place which promote workplace wellbeing and training opportunities or truly take steps to understand the impacts of your supply chain.

For many businesses, the biggest advocates are your employees, so ensuring they are on board with your sustainability messages is key. Take steps to get the team enthused regularly, and in a fun and engaging way, so you can be sure that these new measures stick. Think about appointing an ‘eco influencer’ - someone who takes on the role of being your internal voice for all things green. Arm them with ideas to help inspire team members and offer incentives for those who take part - we’re thining meat-free Mondays or car share schemes.

Listen to everyone within your business, sustainability can’t just be a top-down approach. For you to make real, long-lasting changes, you need to make sure your employees are truly engaged.

So if you’re looking for ways to make your business more environmentally minded, but don’t know where to start, we’ve outlined our top tips below…

• Choose 100% renewable energy (check out our friends at Good Energy)
• Implement sustainability councils or leaders which are armed with adequate training, this will help hold you accountable to really implement change
• Get involved in activism to inspire your employees - we’re thinking Fridays For Future or Creatives For Climate etc
• Introduce meat-free Mondays or shared community lunches to minimise food waste
• Develop a workplace volunteering policy and monthly charity programmes
• Host tree planting afternoons and regular trips outdoors to get employees connecting with nature
• Support the likes of Cool Earth and Eden Projects for carbon offsetting
• Educate and inspire your workforce through eco-book clubs or carbon literacy training
• Social inclusion focusing on diversity equity and inclusion within the workplace
• Partner up with other great purpose-driven organisations whether that’s local printers or ethical recruiters, you can vote with your pounds to work with organisations who share your values
• Look at the B-Corp model

Use your voice, use your business as a vehicle for good and don’t preach or blame. We can’t emphasise enough the importance of being transparent - greenwash can be spotted a mile away.

Take these steps to produce a sustainability roadmap for your business to stick to, and remember to continue to revisit your strategy - sustainability is about continuous improvement not perfection from the offset!

We’ve got eco-tips coming out of our ears, so if you need some more be sure to get in touch on our website, or via social on our Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Joss Ford is the Founder of Enviral, an ethical brand marketing agency that works with brands to create and communicate their environmental and social purpose.

 

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Published on: 16th February 2020