There are many things that get in the way of companies becoming more sustainable, but a major one is the fear that they may unknowingly engage in ‘greenwashing’.
With the brand’s reputation on the line, many businesses decide it is safer to simply not take any action at all. This is the wrong move. Not only for the planet, but for your business too.
This is because consumer demand for green products and services is higher than ever before. The Global Sustainability Study 2021 revealed that 85% of people worldwide have changed their purchasing behaviours to be more sustainable in the past five years.
It’s not just consumers either; it’s investors and potential new employees too.
However, trust in companies to actually follow through on their environmental claims is low and, while you may not think so, many will take the time to look at a company’s website to see exactly what it is they’re doing.
This is where greenwashing comes back into play. If you’re claiming a product, service, or our business as a whole is sustainable, climate positive, or eco-friendly, then you need to be able to back all of that up.
This means doing more than just marketing. It means being as transparent as possible.
Make Your Workforce Climate Positive
Marketing your efforts is, of course, important. Still, you definitely shouldn’t be spending more time and money presenting a business as green than spending it on actually making changes to become more sustainable.
However, for many businesses, greenwashing is simply a consequence of ineffective communication. This happens when companies do make the effort to change, but then use sweeping generalisations with terms such as ‘natural’ or ‘eco’ with no information to back these claims up.
Yet, avoiding this couldn’t be simpler and could be as easy as putting a page up on your website dedicated to explaining the work you do for the planet.
Not only could this help you attract more customers, but how a business presents its sustainability efforts on its website can directly inform whether a jobseeker chooses to apply to a company.
The webpage will, of course, be different for each and every business as there’s no one way of doing sustainability right. However, a good one would explain what you have done, what you’re currently doing and what you will do in the future. This means including specific goals and targets as well as your plans for achieving them.
It also helps if you focus not just on how you’re making a product or service more sustainable, but how your business as a whole is embracing the culture.
Remember, those looking will not expect you to be perfect, they just want to know that you’re trying to minimise your impact as much as you possibly can.
All Play it Green business members not only receive access to our Net Zero Framework, but will also be provided with a template and the tools needed to build their own sustainability webpage detailing their environmental and social impact through Play it Green.
Becoming a sustainable business won’t happen overnight, but Play it Green can help you on every step of your journey.
Our Net Zero Framework is free to access for all our business members and allows you to review, plan and set actions in 9 key programme areas that will ultimately take your business to Net Zero: Governance, Energy and Emissions, Food, Procurement, Transportation, Venue, Resource Use and Waste, Water, and Projects and Workforce.
Be Part of the Climate Solution
Your business can do more than you think.
Find out how Play it Green can help you:
