It may sound like a joke but businesses can have less impact on the environment while making a profit. Sustainable businesses are needed to be the future.
We need to start working together to stop killing our planet.
What does it mean to be a sustainable business?
A sustainable business focuses on having a minimal negative impact or potentially a positive effect on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy.
Why are businesses becoming more sustainable?
Retaining the best talent while attracting and retaining more customers are high priorities for any business. The brand enhancement that comes with putting sustainability at the heart of business will help with all this. There’s also the opportunity to save money from efficiencies and develop new products and services that get them ahead of the curve.
The push to be more eco-friendly is in full swing, with almost half of UK companies planning to increase their environment-related spending between now and summer 2021, according to HSBC’s Made for the Future report.
Among the 2,500 organisations surveyed, 69% will be focusing their budgets on making manufacturing more sustainable, 66% will be improving internal practices and 63% will be updating buildings and equipment.
How can your business become more sustainable?
There are many different ways a business can become sustainable, for example: by reducing waste, preventing pollution, adopting clean energy, conserving water, planting trees. Businesses can also use sustainable materials and make their more products sustainable; they can also adopt sustainable business policies.
For example;
- Limiting the need to travel by hosting video conferences
Video conferencing positively affects People (better work-life balance), Planet (fewer CO2-emissions) and Profit (less travel, less wasted time, fewer costs).
OR
- Offsetting CO2 emissions
Businesses can invest in CO2 reduction projects (eg. planting trees) and encouraging employees to buy their flight (if a flight is necessary) on websites such as FlyGRN, which offsets a flight’s CO2 emissions for free.
Sustainable Businesses: Companies & Their Practices
According to Rank a Brand, Patagonia is one of the most sustainable clothing brands in the sport & outdoor sector. Patagonia has been striving to be an environmentally friendly business for more than twenty years. 1% of their revenue goes to environmental organisations, and they organise workshops where consumers learn how to repair their own clothing and belongings. They also encourage sustainable travel by organising a yearly event in June, when their bicycle-loving employees come together and celebrate.
In 2019, CEO Rose Marcario announced that the outdoor clothing brand strives to be completely CO2 neutral by 2025. Patagonia will try to have a fully sustainable production cycle by that time. They will use solar energy and comply with strict standards in terms of production materials and the use of raw materials.
Triodos Bank believes in a different way of banking: ethical banking. They use the money of their customers to invest in companies that are sustainable or are working to create a better world. For example, instead of loaning your money to the fossil fuels sector, as ABN Amro and ING do, Triodos invests it in renewable energy. It has been doing this since the company was founded in 1980. They also provide customers with useful sustainability tips.
The computer company integrates alternative, recycled and recyclable materials in its product and packaging design, improvements in energy efficiency, and design for end-of-life and recyclability. One of the company’s commitments was to reduce the energy intensity of its product portfolio by 80% by 2020.
As a sustainability impact agency, betternotstop can help your company or business to become more socially and environmentally responsible. Read our blog What A Sustainability Impact Agency Does And How We Can Help Your Business to learn more.
For more help or to ask any questions on how to make your business more sustainable visit our website at www.betternotstop.com or send us email to info@betternotstop.com
