Every business can have a more positive impact on the environment, regardless of its size or industry.
That’s a firm belief of everyone at WolfPeak and underpins our dedication to providing environmental consulting services to meet your business where it’s at.
Whether you have multiple offices across borders or you’ve just started a new business at the corner store, there are always opportunities to become more sustainable and this journey is an exciting one.
The first step is to understand what a sustainable business looks like and the measures your business is already taking to become this perfect picture of sustainability.
If you need any guidance to paint this picture, get in touch with WolfPeak and we’ll point you in the right direction. You’ll be amazed at what benefits can be gained from taking a few simple steps.
Assessing your current situation
Business Queensland has provided a helpful guide on what an environmentally friendly business looks like. If you’re unsure where your business stands in terms of its sustainability performance, take a look at their points and ask yourself some important questions:
- Which of your business processes might cause damage to the environment?
- Where do your supplies come from and how they are made?
- How do your processes or products generate unnecessary waste?
To get started, it is best to conduct an environmental impact audit (or have the experts do it), which considers how you procure resources, create products or deliver services, and deal with waste. To properly assess your impact, you’ll want to consider these three things at all stages of your operations – also known as the product or service lifecycle. The audit will give you a sense of your largest impacts and areas to focus your sustainability efforts.
Pick your poison…and reduce it
Not every business can do everything all at once to improve sustainability – in fact, the experts recommend against this approach.
Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the breadth of ways to reduce their environmental impact, small to medium business should focus their limited resources on a selection of their business functions and incorporate some sustainable practices. This could include something like sustainable packaging, solar power, or paperless operations.
Once you commit to a few initiatives, you’ll realise the benefits for your bottom line and the environment.
Reducing your business’s impact is a journey and it takes time to build up the knowledge, resources and commitment to make this happen. The most important thing is to simply get started! No one expects your business to do more than is possible to fight climate change all on its own. So long as you’re transparent about your efforts and show that you have a plan to reduce your impact, consumers can be confident that you’re doing your part.
Using the results of your audit, it should become clear which areas require the most attention. If you feel unsure and don’t want to waste resources in the wrong area, contact WolfPeak for some expert guidance.
Why should businesses be more sustainable?
You may be pondering this equally important question: “Why is all this so important? I’ve got a business to run!”
Well, sustainability doesn’t only relate to the environment. Rather, a sustainable business improves the future of itself and the environment simultaneously.
Many business owners fail to realise the economic benefits of becoming more sustainable, even as customers begin to prefer more responsible companies.
It makes sense too that reducing your waste would save money – fewer resources equal fewer costs. Similarly, recycling your waste and turning it into more products reduces the overall cost per unit as fewer materials need to be sourced.
As just mentioned, customers are increasingly likely to choose a brand based on its responsible practices and how they align with a customer’s values.
There has been a range of research to prove this from reliable sources such as IBM, Deloitte and McKinsey & Co.
Finally, Australian regulations are becoming stricter (or threatening to do so) on irresponsible businesses that fail to take climate change seriously. Now more than ever is the time to take action and make your business more sustainable.
Contact WolfPeak
We’re proud to provide expert environmental consulting services to our clients across Australia and hope that blogs like this can spark your journey to running an even better business.
If you need support conducting that environmental impact audit, prioritising your efforts, or finding more proof of the value of sustainability, get in touch with our team today.
Image Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-s-left-hand-holding-green-leaf-plant-886521/
