Any entrepreneur is faced with tough decisions on a daily basis – often these decisions go beyond affecting just business, and have wider effects on the environment. Consequently government agencies and environmental campaigners have long encouraged companies to go green by looking at their sustainability roadmap and cutting carbon emissions among other things.
Perhaps because of this encouragement many entrepreneurs believe that a business is usually profitable in spite of having a green company – after all, if being environmentally responsible was good for the bottom line, why would anyone need convincing in the first place?
The truth is that while nobody’s in any doubt that going green helps to protect the environment, more and more people are becoming aware that investing in energy efficient appliances and sustainable energy also makes good business sense.
Who cares? Your customers and employees
For a start, having an environmental conscience can give your company some much needed kudos. A growing number of people care about your environmental and sustainability policies – if you respect the environment people are more likely to respect your business model and are more likely to become customers.
It’s not just your customers that want you to have a green business – your employees do too. Study after study has shown that employees want to work for environmentally considerate employers. Greater productivity thanks to raised morale and improved staff retention are just two potential benefits of a motivated workforce proud to be working for a company that cares about the planet.
Tangible benefits
While it’s hard to quantify the financial benefit of a more efficient workforce or customers gained through your green approach to business, it’s easy enough to see the benefits in terms of savings on utilities bills and reduced waste. While it’s true that you shouldn’t need a nudge from the government to take another look at how you can be a more sustainable business, the rewards on offer do make it an even more worthwhile use of your time, as you could end up paying less in tax. This could be in the form of reductions on the Climate Change Levy, or simply being exempt from road tax by using low-emission vehicles. Your tax advisor will be one of the first to tell you that a healthy business and environmentally responsible business can go hand in hand.
Your reputation
Your reputation can be built on a number of things such as the quality of your product, your customer service, or simply how long you have been in business. While you can’t magically make your company older, changing the way you do business from an environmental perspective is straightforward.
A minority think that green business is a trend, but if anything it will only become more important. A more environmentally conscious approach to business will help your business both immediately and in the long term.
Written by Amanda Stockhill who works for green cleaning company Ecocleen, providers of eco-friendly cleaning services and solutions.