Sometimes, it can feel as though it’s difficult to balance growing your business with making sure that your company is as environmentally friendly as possible. You may have to make compromises in one way or another, which results in less optimal strategies on both sides.
A green business is designed to function in a way that doesn’t negatively impact the environment or society as a whole. But why bother with green business practices? And how can you still grow your business, while being environmentally friendly?
Why You Should Go Green
The short answer is that people care more about sustainability than ever before. People pay attention to what your business is doing and, if your practices sacrifice the environment for quick profits, people will notice.
While you might see better profits in the short term, you will lose the goodwill of your customers and they may move to greener pastures. According to a corporate social responsibility study, around 73% of Americans would stop buying from a company that doesn’t care about climate change. Those are your customers that you risk alienating.
As well as customer perceptions, your employees are also paying attention to the green practices, or lack thereof, of your company. Younger employees, such as millennials and Gen Z, are particularly aware of these issues, and you could miss out on promising talent because people choose to work with more environmentally conscious businesses.
Governments around the world are also encouraging businesses to be more environmentally friendly, which means that refusing to do so could lead to fines. Avieco’s tcfd recommendations can provide guidance in this case.
There’s also the fact that short sighted business practices don’t just impact your business because customers and employees choose to go elsewhere, but they can also make it more difficult and expensive to grow in the long term. Resources are finite, and using them irresponsibly hurts the environment and future business dealings.
Going green doesn’t just improve your reputation and protect future investments, but it can even save you money now. Utility bills can add up, which means that reducing your energy and water usage can improve your finances. Get rid of unnecessary waste and find more sustainable sources of energy and water, and you could save money and the environment.
How to Sustainably Grow Your Business
One good bit of news is that many of the strategies for business growth can work just as well for a green business. For example, creating a sales funnel, where your business is designed to encourage customers to buy a product or service, only requires a bit of work on your part without using many resources.
You may also want to physically grow your business, improving your business premises by renovating them or moving to a whole new location. This could potentially impact the environment, as construction sites typically involve a lot of pollution and potential waste.
However, by researching materials and construction methods, you should be able to come up with a plan to cause as little disruption as possible. You can even redesign your business to follow green practices, by incorporating solar panels and water filtration systems.
