As a real estate agent, it's my responsibility to advise my clients on the best homes and buildings for their needs. I prioritize sustainable building practices by recommending homes and buildings built with energy-efficient materials, efficient heating and cooling systems, and non-toxic materials. I also guide my clients to consider their local ecosystem, energy sources, and water conservation when making their decisions. I also advise my clients to consider green building certifications, such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, when selecting their homes and buildings. These certifications help ensure that the home or building has met high energy efficiency and sustainability standards.
I find that one of the most important aspects of incorporating sustainability into your company’s operations is transparency. Customers can be turned off if they feel your company is “greenwashing,” i.e. misrepresenting how sustainable your company really is. By publishing statistics on your company’s website regarding specific, measurable actions your company has taken to improve the supply chain, you can help establish trust from the consumer. And be honest if your company has areas to improve or has missed certain targets. Hold yourself and your company accountable, and the customers will reward you for your efforts. Remember that sustainability can be good for both your company's bottomline and the planet itself: a total win-win scenario! In fact, according to McKinsey & Company, the increased efficiency from a sustainable business strategy can boost operational profits by up to 60%! Sustainable practices reduce costs, protect your company’s reputation, and fuel economic growth.
One way to integrate sustainability into a company's core values and operations is the practice of "upcycling," or transforming existing products or materials into new, higher value items. This uncommon strategy can help businesses reduce their environmental footprint while investing less in production costs. For example, old single-use plastic bottles can be converted into yarn that can be used to make apparel or even furniture. By upcycling, companies show their consumers they're focused on taking responsibility for environmental preservation. Additionally, this strategy also helps reduce waste and encourages businesses to reuse resources instead of buying new ones.
There are numerous ways for businesses to adopt a more sustainable approach, but the practicality of it may vary for each of them. This is why it’s crucial to identify which sustainability goals work for you. This means identifying ways you can become more sustainable without losing out on your profits. Whether it’s through eco-friendly packaging, CSR initiatives, or improvements in the supply chain, find out the best ways to meet your sustainability goals. This works most effectively when you avoid making it too challenging for the overall operations to adapt.
What are your company’s environmental objectives for the next 5 years or 10 years? If you define the corporate sustainability goals clearly, then achieving them can be easier. This way, you can also integrate sustainability into your company’s core values and operations. Consider all stakeholders like employees, customers, suppliers, and the local community when you define the sustainability goals. It will help you create inclusive and robust goals. As a result, this strategy will increase the chances of getting the desired outcome in the set time. First focus on the business processes that are easy to change to achieve sustainability goals. Prioritize the low-cost and high-impact initiatives. And most importantly, avoid shying away from lofty endeavors. Although defining the corporate sustainability goals is time taking process, it will make the later steps easy for the company.
As a tech company, our operations use a lot of energy. To help reduce our carbon footprint, we work with our clients to identify areas of energy waste and suggest solutions, such as optimizing power settings, implementing an automated shutdown schedule, and utilizing energy-efficient hardware. The one place where we are able to make the biggest impact and drive sustainable practices is in how we manage our customers' cloud resources. Servers are a major energy hog, so rather than letting them run continuously, we use automation to determine when servers need to be running and shut them down when they don't. We also encourage our customers to move away from physical servers and into the cloud, as this can dramatically reduce their energy consumption.
Setting goals and objectives is essential for any company looking to integrate sustainability into its core values and operations. Take a look at the current state of your business, analyze your operations, identify areas of improvement, and establish measurable targets that will help you achieve a more sustainable future. This can be done through an environmental and/or sustainability audit, which can be used to identify areas of improvement that should be addressed in order to reduce your company's negative environmental impacts.
My tip is: can you reduce your consumables at all? It might be as simple as switching from paper towels in the bathrooms to energy efficient hand dryers. Or it could be that you invest in a new piece of tech that has the added benefit of improving the service you provide for your clients. We recently invested in Real-time Radiography (RTR) which allows us to perform non-destructive testing in a more environmentally friendly way. RTR allows you to X-ray components and view the image on a digital screen. Old traditional methods of Radiography require films to be processed with chemicals to reveal the image. These chemicals and films produce waste that is difficult or impossible to recycle. The new digital method required a short-term investment from us, but significantly reduces waste. It will save us money in the long-term, but also speed up testing. This is of huge benefit to us and our clients.
Reach out to influencers who thrive on development and growth. Influencer marketing does not only require partnering with an influencer who has succeeded in your field of business. It is important for influencers' storytelling to encourage, inspire, and move audiences, and the most effective way to accomplish this is through sharing their own struggles and strengths. Consider influencers whose stories can shift perspectives.