Should You Stop Investing in Sustainability?
Today, many American businesses, including those in the professional cleaning industry, are dealing with an unexpected challenge: should they stay the course and continue investing in sustainability – reducing waste, fuel, and water, investing in renewable energy, and cutting back on emission, among other steps – or begin dismantling these efforts?
The challenge is unexpected because, until recently, most global businesses considered continuing their sustainability efforts as key to preserving their long-term value. Now, they are not so sure, and many now believe that putting sustainability on the back burner will help them reduce costs.
Of course, every business leader will have to determine what is best for their organization. However, before making a final decision, The Ashkin Group and Green2Sustainable would like you to consider the following:
Does Your Business Rely on Global Trade Partners?
The United States has never been alone in promoting sustainability efforts; today, many other countries around the globe have taken the lead in these efforts. Many multinational companies now determine who their international clients and partners will be based on whether their sustainability efforts align with their own. If an American company decides to reduce or eliminate their sustainability strategies, it risks losing these connections and paying financially as a result.
How Will Your Employees and Customers Respond to Your Efforts to Cut Back on Sustainability?
In today's polarized landscape, businesses face complex challenges when considering reductions in sustainability efforts. Regional attitudes toward environmental initiatives vary widely, impacting decision-making for companies around the country.
As to employees specifically, the 2024 13th edition of Deloitte’s Gen Z and Millennial Survey, involving 23,000 respondents in 44 countries, has found that “environmental sustainability continues to be among Gen Zs’ and millennials’ top priorities. It is a personal concern that consistently weighs heavily on them, with six in 10 Gen Zs and millennials saying they have felt worried or anxious about changes in our climate in the last month.”
Business leaders should assume these concerns apply to their customers as well.
Are you risking your company’s future by ignoring sustainability?
If there is one thing I learned from my advocacy for green cleaning, it is that the transition to green cleaning went far beyond being an industry trend – it became an industry transformation. The same is now proving true of sustainability.
Ask yourself: how will it impact my company financially if our competitors are pushing forward on selecting electric or hybrid vehicles, placing greater efforts on recyclable packaging, becoming more energy efficient, and investing in zero-waste operations?
In most cases, the answer is that not keeping up with your competitors when it comes to sustainability will leave your company further and further behind in the race for market relevance, potentially leading to loss of market share and decreased profitability.
What story do you want to tell your children and grandchildren about your company’s sustainability efforts in ten years?
If you have decided to pull back on sustainability, and if scenarios play out as advocates for sustainability and financial investors believe, you may be happy to tell them that your company did very well for about two or three quarters.
However, financial success is not based on two or three quarters. Long-term success – and the company’s legacy under your leadership – is about addressing the challenges of a changing climate, minimizing climate risk, protecting supply lines, and operating more efficiently. With these steps in place, you can proudly tell your children and grandchildren that you left your company on solid ground for future profits and business success.
-Steve