The Impact Of Being Green Benefits Companies And Organisations

Although there is no formal definition for the term, individuals have tried to define sustainability according to their function or area of study. The term “sustainability,” once an obscure ecological concept, has now been adopted by many in the business world to connote the principles of social and environmental responsibility (Joseph Fiksel, Jonathan Low and Jim Thomas). Further, sustainability can be seen through the eyes of business as a way to create value. More likely than not, the term sustainability can be linked to the ability of decreasing costs, wastes and inefficiencies. According to the vice president of General Electric,

Going “Green” is a trendy topic and is growing around the world. There are many proven facts showing that reducing emissions, waste, and gas help the environment, but the question remains to companies if they should take action to help the environment within their company. Will this help organizations with their overall success or will the cost of implementing environmentally friendly policies outweigh the organizations profits?

Many firms are learning that being environmentally friendly and sustainable has numerous benefits. (O.C Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2015). This could enable them to increase goodwill from various stakeholders and also save money in the long term. This will mean that they are being more efficient and less wasteful of resources, which will enable them to be more competitive by satisfying stakeholders. The CEO of

As we have seen an increase in awareness around sustainability and climate change, with the help of Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth documentary in 2006, we see organizations moving towards mitigating the effects of climate change in various ways (Al Gore, n.d). As this corporate social responsibility has become more prevalent, organizations are now pushing their green agenda by publishing sustainability reports, doing mass marketing and implementing sustainable business practices to portray the image that they too are working towards protecting the earth’s natural environment all the while focusing on their underlying goal of selling their products and

Sustainability is defined as the ability to endure.(1) Though the idea of sustainability can be applied to most anything from a sustainable ecosystem that has survived thousands of years to a sustainable workplace that uses green technologies. Paul Hawken captured today’s connotation of sustainability in saying “Sustainability is about stabilizing the currently disruptive relationship between earth’s two most complex systems—human culture and the living world.” (2) There are countless ways to live, work, and produce sustainably. Sustainability not only needs to be practiced by citizens, but businesses need to join the green movement as well. Without creating, following, and enforcing green policies, negative effects will be evident and innumerable

environmental awareness training and education for our employees, alongside effective communication with employees and recognition of their initiatives and achievements towards environmental improvement;

Sustainability is a topic that has become very important in recent years. Sustainability is defined as, “the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely.” ("Finding and Resolving the Root Causes of the Sustainability Problem", 2014)

As people get more aware of the environmental issues, the demand of sustainable products will rise. Many companies believes that as you get more environmental friendly, the level of competitiveness will decline. This is not the case as the authors of the article “Why sustainability is now the key driver of innovation” describe. They believe that it is a smart move to conform to the rules before they are enforced.

Being sustainable can be financially beneficial to a firm in regards to their costs. Decreased energy consumption reduces a firms operating costs which increases the firm’s share prices (Peloza & Yachnin 2008). This shows that sustainable energy consumption can help firms to be more profitable as they can reduce their day to day running costs. An example of this would be Marks and Spencer. Marks and Spencer put into action a program called Plan A in order to improve their sustainability. This plan was focused on making the business become more energy efficient and reducing their carbon footprint through a variety of methods such as reducing Co2 emissions and reducing wastage in packaging. Marks and Spencer’s plan a report showed that their energy consumption for warehouses, stores and offices increased in efficiency by 34% since putting plan A into action. The innovation and new ways of doing things stimulated by Plan A was leading to savings of £50m p.a. (Grayson 2011).

Carbon footprint essentially measures the total carbon emission produced by a company contributing to climate change (Swallow, 2009). After the trucking incident in Indonesia, E227 Global Solutions is determined to reduce its carbon footprint by 25% next year. By doing so, E227 Global Solutions will improve its public image while simultaneously protecting the environment. While efforts of “going green” can be seen with E227 Global Solutions’ local initiatives, it is crucial to do so within the company. Currently the company does not have a structured green initiatives for the internal work environment.

Is it a dark and mature shade of forest green, or is it a vibrant jungle green that large companies are striving for? The answer in 98% of the firms which have adopted the ‘green’ practice is actually neither. The fact is that the only true color that most of these so called ‘green’ companies are looking forward to, is that of the dull and dry green that money reflects. The term ‘greening’ is a metaphor pertaining to the amount of marketable exposure that a company may intake towards being ecological and environmentally friendly. Greening though, must be thought of as an act of humility and betterment for society and the world as a whole. The biggest issue with greening is that companies twist this term to their advantage and consequently use it for personal deceptive altruism and eventual betterment of their sales and market share. An example of this is General Motors Company with their so called “Hybrid” Sport Utility Vehicles that may take the title of green but in fact are still gas guzzling giants. So in fact, most companies don’t actually see greening as a way to make the world a more sustainable place. Therefore, the reality of the matter is that our society is fishing in eco-friendly waters with their money, and consequently, companies are only guided to this state of being by the fishing line that is pulling on those dollar bills. Of course companies know that efficient

Some years ago, the environmental issues that are a priority today were not as important back then. There are numerous arguments that debate whether or not operating an environmentally friendly business is a main priority for national and international businesses. Because of things such as climate change and global warming, the environment has become a major influence on many businesses. Businesses depend on and affect the environment in so many different ways. Being environmentally friendly can not only save a company money, but it creates great publicity and attracts brand new customers.

Sustainability is one of the main keys to success for corporate companies in the 21st century. Research has shown that companies that successfully maintain sustainability within their companies usually have long-term success over companies that have not achieved sustainability within the company. One reason that sustainability is important for companies to have is because by addressing it can improve operational efficiency and also lower many costs. Another reason why that the concept of sustainability is important is because it merges social, environmental, political and ethical issues that can be detrimental to a company internally and externally, if they are not handled in an appropriate manner and incorporated into company policies or follow policies already in place. In order to avoid these problems from occurring or if they do occur they will not be detrimental and cause huge problems that cannot be fixed for a company, sustainability is very important to have in place already or strive to achieve. Sustainability drives companies to develop specific goals to address those social, environmental, political and legal issues. Importantly having the proper sustainability within a company can hopefully address all those issues altogether.

We as a human species need to fix the problems that we have caused. Not just as individuals but businesses as a whole can have a big impact. There are many ways that businesses can reduce pollution in the air and climate change. Managing and reducing emissions is the key thing that we need to strive for. Some businesses are beginning to understand how to manage their greenhouse gas emissions and are getting involved by preparing annual greenhouse gas inventories in order to

Going Green” is considered to be a new trend that some companies are pushing towards. Green business changes the principles, policies, and practices that will help improve the quality of life for customers, employees, and the communities. Companies are starting to find different ways like document handling, recycling, or becoming more energy efficient in order to be sustainable and to avoid any further damage towards the environment.