Everyone wants to make a positive impact on the environment, but whilst the goals of businesses, their employees and their customers are broadly aligned when it comes to sustainability, they may have different answers to the same question.
The aim of carbon consultancy is not just to provide opportunities to improve sustainability in certain product-specific areas, but instead to take a root-and-branch approach to auditing where unnecessary carbon emissions emerge and what we all can do to change this.
The importance of we is essential here, as it cannot just take place in the boardroom but in every office, industrial complex and retail establishment, and that means that everyone, from customers to employees at all levels to the largest stakeholders, all need to buy in.
Thankfully, as several major reports suggest, the divide is not that deep, but to cross it requires more than token gestures.
Genuine Vs Symbolic Sustainability
The main reason why there is a divide is that it is easy to talk about sustainability and corporate social responsibility more broadly, but they must also be connected to decisive action and a clear, transformative direction away from wasteful and polluting practices.
It is clear that environmental awareness and sustainability are important because customers and employees outright demand it. The problem is that the scourge of greenwashing has taken advantage of these good intentions by engaging in deceptive practices.
People are far more aware that whilst individual actions are important, they need to be paired with systemic change. Business leaders need to seize the opportunity to be the change they want to see in the world, and employees will be engaged to help this vision.
Create A Culture Of Sustainability
The strongest way to turn a desire for a sustainable, low-carbon business is to build it into the core fabric of your business.
You cannot just bolt on sustainability; it needs to be a core part of the vision and goals of the business, with these lofty ambitions being paired with a clearly defined, actionable environmental policy.
If you have this policy in place, it becomes far easier for employees to buy in; they have clear environmental policies to follow and clear reasons to follow them.
The more you can seamlessly embed environmental policy into the workplace without creating a box-ticking exercise, the more likely that employees will not only help but also actively engage, innovate and evangelise.
Be Transparent
One of the biggest telltale signs of potential greenwashing is a lack of open engagement with their employees and stakeholders on their environmental policies and their effects.
This helps to create a bidirectional respect that further helps employees to buy in and know exactly what their efforts are working towards.
Do Not Focus On Low-Hanging Fruit
There are a lot of sustainability practices you can undertake at relatively little cost that sound impressive but do not make a proportionate level of difference.
Adding plants to the office to improve air quality, running a paper-free office and fitting solar panels to the roof of the office will all help, but if the main cause of carbon emissions takes place on the factory floor, that is where you should prioritise your efforts.
