Being green in the world of business is becoming more and more important. We have the chance to cut carbon emissions across the globe, and make the planet a much friendlier place to be for all living things alike. And in both the corporate and non corporate world, that means focusing on turning your business operations inside out, and creating something environmentally conscious out of the ashes.
Being environmentally conscious can mean a lot of different things, depending on where in the world your business is operating, as well as what kind of business it is. But the questions and queries you should keep in mind are generally the same, and we’ve detailed them below. Be sure to keep them in mind if you’re wondering about improving your operations for the next quarter, and making a more sustainable, positive impact on the world around you.
Knowing Your Impact
The first thing to work out, before you make any efforts to turn into a greener business, is to know your current impact. You have a couple of questions to ask yourself here, to really determine what’s going on in your company. First, how far do your operations currently stretch? And second, what are these operations doing to affect both human activities and the surrounding nature?
Of course, answering these questions, in terms of working out your environmental impact, can be hard. There are no substantiated or regulated rules to work with, but there is plenty of flexibility in finding a way to work out the scope of your operations. There are guidelines from the UN that you can make good use of, but you can also use the GRI’s guidelines, and put advice from the CDP to good use in collecting the right data.
You may want to take a leaf out of the success stories from fellow businesses.Because even when you work in one of the most industrial sectors on the planet, things can still be done to make a change for the better. For example, look into forestry services, to determine what’s being done to make the forestry industry a lot less impactful. Yes, unsustainable rates of deforestation have only become worse in recent years, adding up to 1.3 million kilometers squared per year, and because of that, it’s more imperative than ever to work with sustainable developments around the world.
Focusing on the Benefits
There are many ways in which going green can benefit your business, and it’s important to note that these benefits outweigh the negatives. Of course, one of the main benefits is the effect on your profits, but that deserves a section of its own!
In the meantime, we have selected other benefits to go through. The number one benefit here is a much healthier working environment and culture, which goes on to have a real knock on effect for the productivity of your company. You’re going to see your employees working smarter and harder, with plenty of productive work days cutting down the time needed to complete quarterly tasks. Imagine this on a large and continued scale, all thanks to your ability to cut down on the emissions of your working bubble.
You’ll also be able to build a real team here too. You’ll retain employees for much longer, and you’ll be able to recruit much more skilled and experienced people to your team too. Employees looking for gainful recruitment are worried about the way their prospective employees operate, and believe a company they’re a part of should be aware of their environmental impact. So, all in all, you’ve got a great chance to refine your hiring strategy here, which is a great way to build your reputation.
The Effect on Profits
Sustainability can be very profitable in the modern world. Plenty of research has been done to show the effects of going green on a company’s bottom line, and the research has come back very favorable. Most of all, if you go green, and work sustainably, you can cut the costs of operating on both a large and small scale, and even increase the amount of shares that are in your business.
When you make your business sustainable, you’ll be able to save a lot more money, if not make a lot more money within the time frame you’re looking to make a return. A sustainable operating process is going to ensure you have more and more resources to reap down the line, which cuts down your supplier turnover, and means you can set a real bottom line for operations in the future. That’ll improve your budget by tenfold!
And not only does this work out in your favor in terms of finances, but it also ensures you have a much better green reputation to talk about. You’re not just paying lip service here; you’ve shown you can do better, and you’re taking strides towards doing so, and that’s invaluable in bringing more and more customers towards your business.
And as we noted above, if you operate sustainably, you attract more and more investors, and the value of your shares goes up. Of course, every company is going to have different values and different assets to show off, and that means your mileage may vary here. But with at least 160 academic studies indicating a positive correlation here, you can bet that your company will become a lot more attractive if you work towards these goals in the future.
The Bottom Line
Building an environmentally conscious business means going back to the drawing board, and taking your time to assess how you’re affecting the world around you. Take stock of professional advice and guidelines, yes, but also be sure to focus on the areas of your business that you want to improve the most. And to do that, there are three main factors to consider in your efforts to cut emissions and turn into a green business, so be sure to keep the points above in mind.
