Greenwash or Greening?
What do you think when you hear companies like DuPont and Wal-mart are greening their businesses? Is there a business case for going green or is it a “greenwash” designed to make them look environmentally friendly?
Fred Wellington, senior financial analyst for the environmental group World Resources Institute, doesn’t think so. “The strategies that are being implemented by some of the leading-edge companies are done to maximize profits and to mitigate risk.”
And just what kind of profit maximizing are we talking about? Well, try this on for size: DuPont, once was considered among America’s worst polluters, estimates it’s saved $3 billion from a nearly two-decade effort to reduce carbon emissions.
Pat Tiernan, Hewlett-Packard’s vice president for social and environmental responsibility thinks that’s a strong business case for going green: “sustainability is about making business sense. We don’t do things just to be good… most of the things that we do, it has to make business sense.”
What are the top business reasons to make sustainability a part of your company strategy?
Save Money
Being a sustainable organization can add to your bottom line. How’s this for an example. A company that turns over $1 million. Saving 20% on their $40,00 annual energy costs is equivalent to increasing their profit by 8%.
| Turnover | $1 million |
| Profit (10%) | $100,000 |
| Energy cost | $40,000 |
| Savings potential on energy costs (20%) | $8,000 |
| Profit increased by 8% | $108,000 |
Sound too good to be true? Well, the financial advantages of going green don’t end there.
Cut Your Tax Bill
Governments across the world offer tax breaks for companies going green. In Canada, DuPont took advantage of energy performance contracting to allow them to gain over $23 million worth of energy efficiency upgrades and operational improvements with no up-front investment. Understanding accounting rules allowed DuPont to go ahead with this major energy efficiency project without incurring debt to the company.
The result? A handy boost to cash flow, with an investment that takes less time to pay for itself. Strengthen your business case for going green by finding out about government incentives where you live.
Your People Can Save You Money
Protecting our planet has become an important issue for many people. It’s very likely that your staff will want to make a real difference – and they may already be taking action outside work. Encouraging it in the office can tap into that commitment within your team.
That’s where Green Ray Coaching comes in. We understand that even the biggest organization is made up of individuals. That’s why we concentrate on what each person can do and how their behaviour changes the environmental stance of the organization they work in.
We give people a direct experience of the impact of their behaviour and help them find their reasons to change. Changes in individual behaviour have a way of adding up.
Take paper use for example. According to the Sierra Club, the average U.S. office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of copy paper a year. In Canada, at a cost of $6.00 a ream of 500 pages that’s $120.00 per worker. And whether you’re dealing with dollars, pounds or euros, multiply that by an organization with 1000 employees and the numbers stack up. Cut just 10% off paper consumption and you see how the savings start adding up.
Stay Ahead of the Competition… and Legislation
Legislation is changing around the world as governments react to the threat of global warming. In the UK the 2008 Climate Change Act commits the UK to reducing emissions by at least 80% in 2050 from 1990 levels and to building a low-carbon economy. The Canadian Government has targeted areas to combat climate change in areas as diverse as strategic investments to clean technology.
In fact, through Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), the Government has supported more than 245 clean technology projects that are part of an SDTC portfolio now valued at more than $2 billion, of which $1.4 billion is leveraged from partners in the private sector. Everything from electrical vehicle charging stations to wind hybrid power plants.
Improve Your Brand and Competitiveness
Consumers and companies are increasingly showing their environmental awareness by choosing to deal with responsible companies. So taking a green stance can give you credibility – and the edge over the competition.
Attracting and Retaining the Best Employees
There’s a whole generation of younger workers who’ve grown up learning about the importance of environmental issues – and it’s now a key social concern.
For example, the popularity of films like An Inconvenient Truth on university campuses shows how green issues are really resonating with younger people. This was shown in a recent survey by global law firm Eversheds. Two-thirds of employees said that their working environment had a significant influence on whether or not they’d accept a job.
Reflecting those ideas at work can attract and retain employees. If your team sees your company doing good work, you’re more likely to have a happy, well-motivated and loyal workforce.
Pro-environmental Behaviour Change with Green Ray Coaching and You
Pro-environmental behaviour coaching aims to create enduring change in the environmental behaviour of individuals.
Our programs give delegates a direct experience of the impact of their behaviour on the environment. And, because everyone only does what makes sense to them, delegates discover their own meaningful reasons to change habitual environmental actions — changes that’ll produce the kinds of benefits we’ve been talking about.
All our pro-environmental behaviour change programs are bespoke to suit the needs, challenges and budget of your organization.
We offer programs that enhance an existing pro-environmental stance as well as a programs that help you introduce and cascade pro-environmental behaviours throughout your organization.
© Joe Britto and Green Ray Coaching, 2014. All rights reserved.