Environment
With climate change and society's responsibility to the environment featuring heavily in political and media campaigns, the need to engage with 'green' practices has never been greater - and Corporate Social Responsibility also incorporates the importance of environmentally friendly practices.
Considering the environment as one of the wider contexts which a business operates within and engages with, the importance of recognising - and then taking responsibility for - the effects of a business on the environment is indisputable.
Benefits
Business benefits of an effective environmental policy can include:
- Financial savings
- Improved company image
- Increased efficiency
- Development of innovative products and services
- Enhanced customer base eg. Public Sector working
- Reduced risk to reputation
- Sustainability and long term development
Employees participating in such schemes can benefit through:
- Improved environmental awareness and opportunities to engage with these practices
- Pride in working for an environmentally responsible business
- Improved morale, particularly if employees are encouraged to contribute ideas
- A healthier, and cleaner, working environment
- Fitter staff if they walk, or cycle, rather than relying on their cars.
Process
Many employees are well aware of the importance of minimising waste, recycling paper and saving power - both at work and at home - and this is the first step towards taking responsibility for your organisation's impact on the environment.
Using this as a foundation, there are many different ways that businesses can reduce the harmful effects that they have on the environment, and the following steps support you in realising this objective.
- Carry out an audit to analyse the environmental impact of all company activities. This may include features such as your immediate office environment; transport, delivery and travel; packaging and resources.
- Decide on what environmental initiatives to implement and the order in which you want to tackle them. Identify the easily acheivable and low costs actions, as well as your business' priorities.
- Identify local stakeholders or partners that could support and share your practices. For example, is there a local community group that could use your old office furniture? Would entering recycling schemes with a neighbouring business be more efficient? Could travel or transport be reduced through using local providers?
- Identify any costs that these new measures will incur - and the benefits, both financial and long term, that you anticipate.
Environmental policies are not a short term solution or a quick fix. In order to maximise both their success and the benefits which they offer, a more long term and integrated approach is required:
- Institute ongoing measurement and evaluation of initiatives;
- Ask suppliers to improve their own environmental impact;
- Feedback on progress to all stakeholders / partners;
- Embed environmentally friendly practices in corporate policies and practices.
The rewards from such an approach are well worth the effort - for employers, employees, the wider community and future generations.
