Sustainability – 10 good business sense reasons to do it

Bridget Marsh — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:43:06 +0000

It’s time to stop thinking about sustainability as a green option. Sustainability is a core strategic competence for business in 2010 for businesses that want to be around for the long term.

Here’s 10 ways becoming sustainable will improve your bottom line.

1. It makes good business sense to find ways to use less resources and do things more efficiently.

Sustainability should be considered not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it makes business sense. If an initiative cannot be justified from a strategic, financial, operational, marketing, or employee recruitment/retention perspective, don’t do it.

In almost every corner of a business there is a fundamental business reason for being more sustainable i.e. looking for how things can be done more efficiently and effectively with less resources, less impact. Energy savings alone can cover any of the costs involved in becoming more sustainable.

2. The Y generation want to work for a business that is interested in more than bottom line and profits for the boss.

It’s now proven that in a business with the feel good factor of a sustainablility initiative staff will work harder, give more of themselves and stay longer. The highly educated, mobile and tech-savvy age group that falls within the demographic band known as Generation Y wants a workplace that’s like them: urban, flexible, collaborative, environmentally sensitive and unconventional.

For them, work isn’t just a place they go to from 9 to 5, then go home. They want an office and a work culture that’s an extension of themselves and their home life — a place that supports what they value — and it better be green, according to a new study by Johnson Controls Inc. that has implications for employers, facility managers, human resources departments and building and office space designers.

3. There’s money to be made from reselling used products and materials.

Many companies have found they can resell used products and materials that were formerly considered waste. When Verizon focused on creating more sustainable operations, the company generated $27 million by sorting out and selling recyclable materials from its waste stream, while also saving over a million dollars in waste removal costs.

4. It’s for big small and large companies

Smaller companies have an advantage because their competitiveness often depends on being lean, resourceful, and nimble, which sustainability enables.

Bigger companies do have an advantage when it comes to influencing their supply chain to be sustainable and in influencing policy at the government level, but smaller companies can be just as effective, if not more so, at almost everything else.

5. Consumers and customers are asking for it

Sustainability is not just about environmental issues. Its about how you treat your staff, your customers, the livelihoods of the people where your supplies come from, its about more for all and less for none.

Who makes purchase decisions at companies? No points for the right answer. We are hearing from an increasing number of large B2B companies that their customers and prospects are asking about their sustainability efforts. You will find it put explicitly in purchase criteria of an increasing number of companies e.g. RWC official suppliers that preference will be given to sustainable organizations.

An increasing number of customers care whom they buy from, whether they are consumers or million-dollar companies.

6. Becoming more transparent about what you do with your waste, how you are affecting your environment, what you policies are with regard to working conditions increases the level of trust

7. Companies that set meaningful goals, and achieve them, have every right to tout their successes and the media takes note increasing profile and exposure – for all the right reasons.

But transparency becomes an important element in this process not just for achievements, but also for failures. There is nothing better for building the credibility of your success like admitting to your failures. And as the next item illustrates, partnering with NGOs can help build credibility about some of the claims.

8. Partnering with NGO’s adds to opportunity

Many companies think of NGOs as adversaries, and are quite content if they are not approached by them. We believe this is a missed opportunity to benefit from their expertise in material sourcing, water treatment and a host of other issues. Organizations like Forest and Bird serve as partners to advance many leading companies’ sustainability efforts.

Bonnie Nixon said that HP realized many years ago that an adversarial relationship was counterproductive and now partners with several NGOs.

9. Even if you don’t make things – it makes good sense

Some companies claim that because they don’t make things, they don’t buy much, and hence don’t have much of a carbon footprint. Or that their products don’t consume much energy, so their environmental impacts are minimal.

Walmart is a prime example of a company that doesn’t make things, yet is developing a supplier index for its tens of thousands of suppliers to measure the carbon impact from the things they sell to the company.

According to Matt Kistler, Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Walmart, 88 percent of the company’s environmental footprint is in its supply chain, and only 12 percent is under its direct control. So if the company is going to achieve its goal of carbon neutrality, it is going to need to address most of its reductions in its supply chain. With their purchasing power, they have a tremendous opportunity to influence the supply chain and reduce their (indirect) environmental impact.

10. If you don’t do it now it’s likely that regulation will force you to do it and regulation is always more costly.

Becoming a sustainable business is a strategic decision…. Companies that choose to turn a blind eye to the benefits from becoming more sustainable are putting themselves at an immediate competitive disadvantage, and quite possibly set themselves up as targets for regulation in the long run. ** ** **

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/11/23/8-myths-about-sustainability-business?page=full#ixzz0oGlCKn5S

Creating What Mattersimproving bottom line

Sustainability – 10 good business sense reasons to do it