Businesses who participate in environmentally friendly practices will become more profitable. There are difficulties and costs that a business will face and profit takes time but is proven to positively impact a business. “The reluctance to address the forces that are polluting the planet always comes down to money (Smith, “6 Reasons Nations Don't Go Green.”). Implementing environmentally friendly practices within a company “will win them customers, and increase profits” (McDonald, “Why Do (or Don’t) Companies Go Green?”). Many global companies today carry out environmental management tools to adapt to environmentally friendly practices, which helps gain customers, and in turn becomes more profitable. In this paper, I will go into further detail explaining why businesses should be more environmentally friendly, the benefits to be gained, costs that come with being environmentally friendly, and management ways that help a company become environmentally friendly.
Introduction
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?
“There is overwhelming scientific consensus that human
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
Executive summary of How an Environmental Management System (EMS) Helps Create a Sustainable Business A Travis Perkins Case Study Ensuring the long-term prosperity and sustainable development in business with a focus on generating profit for shareholders, require environment protection. This report focuses on how Travis Perkins (TP) could protect environment through an Environmental Management System (EMS). It includes set of regulations and rules which enables companies and employees to ensure standards of environmental care. Travis Perkins is listed as one of UK’s top 200 companies, it is critical for TP to be sustainable in business and secure its public reputation which includes environmental performance as well. Therefore, Travis Perkins
Since 1940 organisations have had addition pressure from the public to become more ethically aware and take more care of the environment. With this many companies saw an opportunity to exploit this using green marketing tactics to differentiate themselves from other companies with a unique selling point creating a competitive advantage. Some companies truly believed that they should be more environmentally friendly so they set up sustainable practices throughout their
LO1: Understand the principles supporting environmental sustainability in a business environment 1.1 Describe current legislation in relation to environmental sustainability in a business environment The UK’s economy relies on global trade and resources. Issues such as climate change and a growing world population mean there is more pressure on energy, natural resources and the wider environment. A more efficient use of resources such as water, energy and natural resources directly benefits businesses in the UK. Savings of up to £23 billion a year, reducing carbon emissions and more resilience to climate change and inflated prices of supplies are a few benefits that have been anticipated.
Make the company “go green” by encouraging a greener environment inside the company as well as making any future banks sustainable
To be environmentally responsible a corporation must bring the environment impact of each decision into the decision making process. They must weigh the pros and cons of the way that a decision of the organization could impact the environment now and in the future. A key factor of being a responsible corporation means to act on issues before they are a requirement from the government, in other words it means to be proactive. Being environmentally responsible means to put profitability or returns on their investments on the sidelines and focusing fully on what decisions are best for the environment. Corporations that decide to join this journey are focused on
Therefore, it is unethical for businesses to refuse this opportunity. An article titled “Large And Dirty' Companies Adopting Greener Strategies To Earn More Green”, published by ScienceDaily, offers a look at a development in corporate policies. In the article, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore named Phillip H. Phan presents a new trend in business strategies. When referring to formerly wasteful companies, Phan states, “Now they view concern for the environment as an opportunity to embed innovations that save production costs in the long term and that also improve their standing as good corporate citizens in the public mind” (qtd. in “Large And Dirty'” 1). Phan is insisting that many companies are now adopting environmentally friendly policies. Most see these strategies as an advantage in the end. In turn, the economy continues to grow while corporations maintain conservation. The question remains, why implement environmental regulations? As the evidence has shown, more businesses have begun to use environmentally friendly policies. While this is a positive change, other companies have yet to embrace these strategies. For this reason, the point is not to drive a stake between conservation and business but to find mutual benefits. Above all, governments must set better standards based on the
Companies today are heavily influenced by the demands of customers and stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to the social and environmental responsibility policies and practices developed by an organization to increase its positive influence and reduce its negative activity towards society (Parks, 2008). The business approach and corporate philosophy of an organization is easily altered due to economic pressures, technological improvement and stakeholder needs and demands. "Going green" or being eco-friendly is one such demand. Environmental and sustainability concerns originate most often from governments, consumer activists, and the general public (Schlosser, 2008). Thus, organizations must implement sustainability into daily practices. In addition, sustainability alters the nature of competition and drives companies to think differently about products, processes, and technologies (Parks, 2008).
The company could save millions of dollars over a period of time. Companies like LogiCore, and Tec-Master have save millions of dollars annually by going green. As the country moves closer to some kind of cap and trade system that can provide economic incentives for pollution reduction. The adoption of going with green technologies for companies could increase. By creating an environment where people can freely share their ideals, one ideal could bounce off another one and creates lots of other options for the company.
Going green means reducing the overall environmental impact of your business. This term "going green” involves a few objectives such as improving the efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of the business, using sustainable materials and eliminating waste, complying with environmental regulations and buying green products, equipment and services. Global warming, if unchecked will ruin our planet. I believe businesses choose to “go green” in order to become more environmentally sustainable for the good of the environment. This will have a positive outcome on a business in terms of better publicity, an increase in profits and better consumer satisfaction, productivity and retention. Today there are numerous environmental issues, such as fracking, emissions from industries and manufacturing activities, this is when manufacturing industries and power plants emit high levels of carbon monoxide, organic compounds, and chemicals into the air. The burning of fossil fuels, cars, trucks, trains and many other transportation options burn many fossil fuels as emissions from the engines contain both primary and secondary pollutants. The use of household and farming chemicals, such as Crop dusting, fumigating homes, household cleaning products or painting supplies all release harmful chemicals into the air and cause pollution. These activities may adversely affect the sustainability of our
With the growth of the world environmental concerns, it has required many businesses to implement new environmental strategies.
Can a company be profitable and environmentally friendly? More companies are reporting profitability from environmentally friendly practices. When one thinks of environmentally friendly businesses, some companies come immediately to mind; Whole Foods, Annie’s, Seventh Generation, and Method, for example, are all known for their commitment to being green. However, there are other firms putting a lot of resources into planet-helping initiatives, companies whose green tactics are far less recognized, and may even come as a surprise to you. I will provide the research that I found about which companies are environmentally-friendly and how these companies are changing the standards of how energy and water can be used efficiently.
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.
Isn’t it interesting how, as a business, we can make such a powerful impact on the environment around us? From the amount of paper we use, to the lights that are left on in the office, and from where we source our raw materials. Environmentally and socially responsible businesses are becoming more predominant and popular amongst consumers. Not only can we lower long-term costs and risks, but it also engages employees on a different level that increases their skills and knowledge to deliver products or services that are of high quality. Sounds ideal but how can we achieve this ourselves?
Companies can also change a certain process or activity in their production to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. An example of this is Cisco, a manufacturing company of network equipment. The company’s vision is to reduce greenhouse gas emission in each of their business functions and processes to build environmental sustainability. After 5 years, they were able to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, save $500,000 from reducing their business travels, and through the use of well-known collaborative tools, they were able to increase its revenue by 30 percent (Cisco Systems Inc., 2014). This illustrates that companies practicing CSR can reduce expenses and increase sales after a certain amount of years after the implementation of CSR which increases the profit of the company that benefits the owners or shareholders.