Tensie Whelen, the President of the Rainforest Alliance was in London this week; but not in person. Tensie was speaking at a major business conference called BASE, Where Business Meets Sustainability. Tensie’s appearance, via video link from New York, was a graphic demonstration of what companies and businesses can do to reduce their impact on the planet. In Tensie’s case reduce the need for air travel by joining meetings via video link.
The BASE conference, according to its website, was attended by over 2000 delegates from across business and the environment and sustainability world. It attracted two Secretaries and State and a host of top speakers. This was a chance for many businesses’s to discuss what they could, and indeed should be doing about sustainability.
In her presentation Tensie was clear in her demands for business. There are six simple steps you can take to help your business address the impact it is having on the planet:
· Assess your environmental impact across your full footprint and then focus your efforts on a combination of high impact activities (which may take a long time to change) and a few easy successes (to help keep motivation up and deliver you some quick wins and potential cost savings).
· Engage the whole community in what you are doing. This includes all your staff, your suppliers, your customers and stakeholders, they will all have useful things to contribute and you could find your brand and reputation is enhanced.
· Look for partners, be they friendly NGO’s, business associations or other companies. Don’t try and do it alone but learn from what others are doing and from the advice that is out there.
· Set targets, measure your performance and most importantly reward progress rather than punish failure. Sustainability is a journey and frankly one that we shall be on for a long time. Success should be celebrated; even if it seems small it can help to lead you onto bigger and better things.
· Don’t greenwash, you’ll get found out and your credibility will be shot. But many companies have a good story to tell, so tell it, clearly, honestly and transparently.
· Source sustainably across everything you buy. Whether it is the tea and coffee you buy for the office, the paper you use or the energy you require, you have the option of buying sustainably. And in doing so showing your staff, customers and competitors that there is a different, better, way of doing business.
Here at the Rainforest Alliance we’re working on many of the issues that can help to make your business sustainable. Across our agricultural programme certifying products and awarding our green frog seal. In our forestry programme, as the largest certify of FSC timber and timber products and through our Smartsource programme. And even in tourism helping that important industry to address sustainability.
