Why Every Business Should Focus on Sustainability
Regardless if you believe in climate change or not, there are many benefits for a business to focus on sustainability. And not all of them center around money or public image.
In fact, there are several reasons that simply make sense from a financial standpoint.
Today, let’s take a look at why sustainability is in everyone’s best interest.
How Sustainability Can Affect the Business
No matter how you view the world climate, there are some aspects that just make sense from a financial perspective. From cost-cutting LED bulbs to attracting more customers, sustainability matters.
How you go about it, though, depends on how much of an impact you’ll make on your checkbook.
Saving Money
First of all, being as sustainable as possible helps streamline the budget. This is especially helpful for the new business just trying to get off the ground.
Some of the obvious ways to save money include:
- Saving money on the electric bill.
Using LED bulbs, light timers, shutting down electronics at night, and more can help you save quite a bit of money over the course of a year. And this isn’t including the prospect of installing solar or wind generators. - Reducing the amount spent on water.
Water-reducing faucets can cut back how much is used in the bathrooms by employees. - Going completely digital
Many businesses nowadays do everything digitally. This saves an incredible amount of money in office supplies.
And this is just the tip of an incredibly large iceberg. There’s a wide variety of things you can do to promote sustainability in the workplace while keeping more money available for things like marketing.
Next Gen Consumers
There’s no denying that the next generation of consumers are far more eco-conscious than any other before. In fact, as many as 88% of consumers want brands to help them become more environmentally friendly.
The more you promote an eco-friendly workplace and sustainable business practice, the better your reputation. And this translates into making more money in the long-run.
Think about it; Burger King, Apple, and IKEA are pushing for sustainability in their business models. Sure, it helps them save money. But they also realize the potential of appealing to the next generation of consumers.
Keeping Employees Around
Being sustainable helps with employee turnover. Now, this is seen in a myriad of ways. A lot of workers relish the idea of working for a company that makes a difference in the world.
But it also contributes to overall health and fitness. And when you consider that happy employees are less likely to call in sick, your business gets more bang for its buck in productivity.
Remaining Competitive
As many companies are moving to sustainability, you want to remain competitive. Otherwise, the next generation of consumers will simply buy from someone else.
And let’s not forget the amount of free press that can come from promoting sustainability. How many brands do you see in the news because of something it did to promote an eco-friendly atmosphere?
Before long, not being sustainable may be just as taboo as smoking in the break room.
Reducing Waste
By working more towards being green, you’re helping reduce waste. And let’s face it, there is a lot of waste in the world. You see it every day when walking down the street.
Especially in 2020, when it seems like there’s a latex glove and facemask on the ground every 50 feet or so. What drives me nuts is when I see them on the ground less than two feet away from a trash can.
No matter how you slice it, the amount of waste generated by the world’s population needs to go somewhere. If everyone did their part in reducing what is thrown out, expanding landfills would no longer be a necessity and our natural habit wouldn’t be riddled with junk.
It’s sad when I walk through the park and find a myriad of trash littering the landscape.
A Breathable Atmosphere
By focusing more on sustainability, you’re contributing to improving the air quality in your local area. Of course, this works better if everyone involved had the same mindset.
I’ve lived in two locations where air quality warnings appeared on the phone. This means you don’t want to go for a jog that day as the pollution can choke you out.
Unfortunately, this just might be a feature of everyday life.
Sustainability Only Makes Sense
This is but a short and simple breakdown of how sustainability is beneficial from a business standpoint. The above are practical reasons to do your part to promote a healthier environment.
Even if you don’t care about breathable air, at least consider the cost savings overall. I’m sure many businesses, sole freelancers included, can do more to reduce the carbon footprint of capitalism.
There is such a thing as being profitable and eco-friendly at the same time.
Michael has been interested in the practicality of living green for quite some time. He works closely with GreenGeeks Web Hosting as the Content Marketing Team Lead and an author of various articles.
