What does environmental sustainability mean to my business?

Environmental sustainability is key to whether your business will survive in the long term. We only have finite resources available and if you are not operating in a way that balances your demands with the environment, your business days may be numbered.

Why should I green my business?

To cuts costs. Surprised? You needn’t be. Greening a business is about creating a clean and lean business strategy. Lowering your operational costs, reducing your impact on the environment, finding clever green solutions to add value to your products or services that result in savings. But these savings are only one of the many benefits of accepting this greater change towards a green business.

Even while facing these increasingly difficult circumstances, Svenmill still manages to focus on their sustainability.

(video is copyright - ABN Digital)

In his State of the Nation Address last week, the President made very little reference to the environment, as may be expected.  However, rest assured, Green is well and truly on the agenda in government this year.  This was demonstrated in the 38-page National Climate Change Response Green Paper released early this month by the Department of Environmental Affairs.

It's always been said that prevention is better than cure, so it shouldn't be surprising then to read that the UN are proving that it is more expensive for us to fix our pathological environmental damage than it would cost us to prevent it.  Moreover, studies are being conducted to show that business as usual will soon become more expensive than moving towards sustainable business solutions.

Western Cape Launches GreenCape Initiative
On Friday 6^th November 2010, we attended the 5^th Renewable Energy and Green Economy Conference at The River Club in Observatory.  There were an impressive number of people packed tightly into the large conference room, whereas back in 2005 it was but a handful - the numbers have doubled every year since.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, we humans have been taking advantage of the planet’s ecological services free of charge.  Today we are paying the price in many ways, and yet still we dig our heels in when it comes to shouldering that burden of debt.  Radical reform of our economy is required but until the powers that be get their heads around that one, we need to look at intermediate solutions.

When it comes to Human Capital, the big question in boardrooms throughout the world is: “Can we leverage our human capital towards business success without throwing more money at it?”.  The answer is YES.  In fact, throwing more money at it – pay rises; promotions; bonuses etc. – is one of the least effective ways to leverage this potential, because money is only a short-term motivator.  So, how can this be done?