It can’t have escaped your notice that sustainability has become a focus in the business-to-business landscape in recent years. Incorporating environmentally-friendly marketing tactics and having ongoing discussions about the state of the planet is definitely a part of the zeitgeist. Yet, too many businesses are taking a cynical and not exactly honest approach to this.
Greenwashing is increasingly common in B2B. This is where companies use green branding and messaging to entice consumers, while doing very little to genuinely maintain sustainable operations. Naturally, you want to avoid associations with this unethical behavior. The good news is there are core strategies you can employ to keep sustainability at the heart of your organization in a way that has positive outcomes for your business, for stakeholders and for the planet.
The Imperatives of Sustainability
One of the mistakes that leads businesses to greenwashing is treating sustainability as a mere trend that will pass. It’s a deeply serious issue. Aside from the ethical duties companies have not to damage the planet, there are also significant business imperatives for B2B companies to engage with an authentic strategy.
Firstly, consumers – including B2B clients – are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on sustainability. One recent study found that 72% of B2B buyers are more likely to make a purchase if a company does well on socio-political issues clients consider important. At a time when more people are concerned about the environment, genuine sustainability can impact your profits.
Another key point of consideration is that climate change represents an emerging business continuity risk. Economic losses from more frequent and severe weather events – such as floods, storms and wildfires – are significant. Businesses that don’t take steps to be more climate resilient risk operational disruption that affects finances and is difficult to recover from. Being more climate-conscious enables B2B companies to identify and prepare for plausible scenarios, which means you can better safeguard against the impact of disasters.
Remember, too, that sustainability is a route to greater operational efficiency. Many of the measures that lead to authentically green businesses are focused on reducing unnecessary use of resources. Adopting energy-efficient protocols and waste management practices is good for the planet and can minimize your company overheads.
Taking a Holistic Approach
The key to going beyond greenwashing is to think about sustainability in a holistic way. It can’t just be about focusing on the most visible parts of your operations in order to capitalize on the marketing opportunities these offer. Rather, taking the time to ensure every part of your B2B organization is prioritizing green measures makes for a more consistently and authentically sustainable whole.
Building sustainability into the culture of your business is a great tool here. This basically involves choosing for green standards to be core parts of your company values. From here, you develop a clear set of green principles, revolving around encouraging your staff members at all levels of your business to consider the impact of their day-to-day actions. Outline these green values in onboarding documents and in regular meetings. This communicates to everyone that sustainability is central to your organization. Importantly, empower workers to spearhead green actions. Give them some latitude to make sustainable decisions, like offering electronic invoices rather than paper versions to clients or structuring their own work days so that their actions are more efficient and use fewer resources.
Another area to focus on that improves the authenticity and holistic nature of your green measures is to collaborate with contributors to your supply chain. This includes companies that provide your business with operational goods and services, alongside the partners that may be involved in getting your services to your B2B clients. Talk to these suppliers about their current measures and communicate how keen you are to develop mutually beneficial measures to boost the environmental friendliness of your chain.
Assessment and Improvement
Operational sustainability in B2B is a continuous process. It’s not something you’re likely to get right immediately, and there frequently are tools emerging that can help you become greener. Therefore, you need to commit to regularly gaining an accurate picture of how sustainable your business is and to making improvements.
An effective way to get accurate and actionable data about your efforts is to adopt digital sustainability tracking technology. These are tools you can incorporate into your networks and physical workplace. For instance, AI-driven environmental, social, and governance software provides you with reports outlining the real-time levels of carbon emissions and energy usage, among other data points. This not only helps you make swift adjustments to be more sustainable but allows you to be transparent about your efforts with stakeholders. Sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT) throughout your workplace also provide accurate data on resource use and employee activities. When the IoT is combined with data analytics tools, you can make more informed decisions about where to improve.
Don’t forget that client and staff feedback is also crucial for making sustainability improvements. Your employees will have an intimate understanding of their day-to-day activities and how these could be made more efficient or green. Clients, too, may suggest how you could act more sustainably from their perspectives. Adopting improvements based on these suggestions can help your environmental strategy while also demonstrating how valuable you consider stakeholder feedback, which may also enhance their engagement.
Sustainability must be a core strategy, not just for its ethical priorities, but also because there are various business imperatives. You can take a range of steps, from making environmental standards part of your culture and tracking your efforts in order to drive improvements, among other tactics. The more authentic and open you can be in your approach, the greater the impact you’re likely to have on the planet, your business, and your stakeholders.
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