Over the last couple of years, sustainability has become one of the hottest buzzwords across the entire business landscape, and this shouldn’t come off as a surprise to anyone. Even if we put aside all the environmental issues that are becoming more evident with each passing day, the modern fast-paced economy requires companies that are faster, leaner, less baggy, and more self-sufficient.
Of course, knowing about these issues is only a small part of the problem. In order to be effective, your sustainability initiatives have to be well-planned and financially viable. This is where sustainability consulting can be invaluable. Let us take a look then at how you can fine-tune sustainability strategies to meet these important requirements.
Focus your efforts
For a start, we all need to be aware that one company can’t save the world alone. Granted, in the grand scheme of things, every effort counts, no matter how small it may be. But there is a point where green initiatives can impede the efficiency of one business without producing significant results. That is why you shouldn’t try to cover too much ground at once and instead focus on the efforts that make the biggest difference, like, for instance, reducing the carbon footprint. Once these measures take effect and you get your finances in order, you can proceed to other initiatives.
Move your infrastructure to Cloud
The benefits of adopting digital documents and putting greater focus on Cloud-based assets are too numerous to count, but we are going to list some of the most important mentions. From a pure eco-friendly standpoint going all digital drastically cuts down the volume of paper and disposable materials, you will use on a daily basis and tremendously helps the environment.
Speaking in more practical terms, Cloud infrastructure and tools make your business leaner, easier to maintain, more open for outsourcing, and far more scalable. So, it’s really a win-win situation.
Use local green incentives
One of the reasons why sustainable initiatives are not employed on a wider scale is that most of them require considerable upfront investments, usually out of the reach of the SMB sector. Fortunately, national governments all around the world have noticed the issue and now offer various incentives that are designed to help smaller organizations join the sustainability game. If we take a look at Australia, we can find a number of interesting projects aimed at subsidizing small businesses for acquiring solar PVs, energy storage, etc. Check with local authorities to see if there’s something in store for you.
Rethink your waste disposal strategies
This is a very prudent move since taking better care of all the waste your business creates doesn’t entail major infrastructural overhauls but rather making your collection efforts more efficient and swapping the vendors. If we once again go Down Under to find the example of a country where sustainable practices have taken a very strong root, we can see that professional waste management in Australia now includes waste recycling services, operational waste management planning, and numerous other services that are often not covered by your communal waste removal plan.
Support green vendors
Sustainable companies should support each other to make the whole struggle more viable. So, instead of relying on regular vendors, you should offer your support to the brands that have higher stakes in the sustainability game. Not only are you going to do a great thing for the community, but you will also establish some very important connections and hopefully get an opportunity to engage in collaborative green projects and initiatives. Good relations with green companies will also allow you to learn, evolve and adopt some practices that have provided fruitful results in the past.
Leverage telecommuting and outsourcing
Last year’s outbreak of COVID-19 pushed the entire business world off the rails and forced all companies to adapt to the new normal. The silver lining in this unfortunate situation is we have all learned to become more nimble and adopt some new business practices we may haven’t considered before. Two mentions we want to point out are telecommuting and outsourcing.
Both these models can make the workspace much more frugal, drastically cut commuting hours, and make the company nimbler so they should definitely be on the list of your future green initiatives.
Bring your employees into the game
Last but not least, we have to mention that all of your efforts may provide subpar results if your staff is not on board and fully engaged. Fortunately, opportunities for tying in your employees closer are as numerous as they are beneficial. Start by forming a green committee and offering small incentives for participation.
This will take a lot of pressure off the management and spread responsibility down the ranks. Also, you should ask for accountability for breaching the company’s policies as well as invest more time in the education of your staff. All these efforts will provide excellent results in the long run.
Wrapping up
We hope these few mentions gave you some general idea about the direction in which you should steer your sustainability strategy in the future years. Green policies are only as viable as they are beneficial for all parties involved. When all is said and done, you have to make sure that the interests of your company are protected throughout the process. Now, you know where to start.
