Company management should evaluate and prioritize green options while remaining aligned with their organization’s overall business mission. In this post, Susan Buchanan advises organizations that are just beginning the approach to sustainability to start with the low hanging fruit, i.e. the relatively achievable and lower cost green initiatives that can deliver short-term paybacks by reducing energy and natural resource consumption. Starting with an objective evaluation of their current state of sustainability and the options for change both in terms of financial metrics of course, but also looking at other metrics such as footprint and life cycle costing. Once these baseline metrics are established then the many green opportunities become more clear.
The implementation of de-risking by consumers (and potentially voters) is a growing force for restoring the economy, environment and jobs. There is emerging market research that point to consumers embracing de-risking as a key lifestyle component. And there is also growing business documentation that aligning with this de-risking trend affords an attractive revenue growth path for businesses offering de-risking solutions.
Today I attended a great session at Sustainable Brands conference by Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO of theShelton Group. Mainstream consumers are complicated. They know just enough buzz words to make you think they know more than they do, and most don’t actually go green to save the planet. How do mainstream consumers ACTUALLY make decisions about which green products to buy?
It may seem like big businesses are the only companies getting buzz for going green, but for small and medium-sized enterprises, there are countless ways to reap rewards by adopting sustainable practices.
Even through consumers are more eco aware and seek to purchase green products, it has become increasingly difficult to do so as greenwashing affects 98% of products with ‘all-natural’ and ‘organic’ labelling. Shoppers are confused and frustrated by false and misleading claims and indecipherable ingredient lists on labels. With this in mind, Green Seal has developed a standard to help consumers identify what is really green and what isn’t when shopping the personal care aisle.
There are more products claiming to be green on the shelves of stores these days, however those ‘all-natural’ and ‘organic’ products are likely committing at least one of the Seven Sins of Greenwashing, by not telling the complete truth. Between 2007 and 2009, the in-store availability of so-called ‘green’ products has increased between 40% and 176%, with 98% of products surveyed still committing at least one Sin of Greenwashing, according to a report on the Seven Sins of Greenwashing released last week by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing.