Is your business green?

Theres a lot of talk these days about green or eco friendly businesses, but what does it really mean?

The cynical side of me thinks playing the green card is just a PR exercise, and there are very few genuine green businesses, or is this viewpoint unfair?

How do other peoples businesses stack up, can you call yourself a green business, or do you have plans to become more eco friendly?

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cheers Steve
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I feel that we could call ourselves green, due to being paper free (there is exceptions from time to time) but I think its a huge bowl of stew this green thing, I can imagine companies twisting certain policies to make themselves look greener, but not totally sure I trust these green badges and carbon footprint badges on larger corporate sites, like you I see them as a PR spin, if you want to help the environment, it should be for your kids and their downline (think they are called Grand-Kids!) not to gain a few extra clients.

If the intention is purely to grab more clients, surely this is not an ethical approach but a selfish one.

Bring on the discussion!
PS: Screen dump on its way Steve!

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I like the idea that you buy certain goods, and a surcharge goes towards sustainability, I dunno, like you buy a car, and "x" number of trees are planted to offset the carbon emmissions that are generated producing your new pride and joy.

I know some airlines do this now as well, you pay for your flight which includes some kind of eco offset. Suppose its down to trust, I have to trust that 200 trees will be planted, but the idea is good.

Was reading a car mag today, and there was an article on some big German Autoshow, where most car manafacturers have turned up with electric or hybrid models. So if nothing else, the economic downturn has made the big boys rethink, as consumers want cheaper more economical alternatives. Even BMW is doing a 4x4 hybrid eco friendly model.

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Clive

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Hello,

This is my 1st post so please advise of any incorrect way I may have posted or replied..

It really is a matter of principal and company standards, I am in the financial and investment industry [ actually 1 of 4 I am in ] and I see 2 types of green waves happening, the ones driven by corporate profits and the ones that are looking towards a standard way in operating.

Example on profits: one of our clients holds a "green" trade show for VCs every 3 months or so.. and it is manly looking for new business and investors.. I mean passing out food and speaking of awareness is good.. but not unless profitable.

Example of standards:
A new start-up is into carbon trading... and green private equity, they are paperless and encourage recycling and invest only on true renewable investment companies. They place their company standards before profits, even though I am not too sure if they will survive.

Green is both a market avenue and a corner stone of operations. Your call.

JC.

I imagine it's easier for a startup to start off on a green path, but I agree, green company standards before profits is very admirable, but I wonder how long this will hold up under genuine economic pressure and realities.

paperless office, thats one thing I'd at least like to achieve, but our accountants insist on hardcopy invoices

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cheers Steve
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It is different for start-ups and I truly don't see them growing much with pressure from investors mounting... but again they are my clients so I am all for them and value their company motto of being green.

Do you use a CPA? they are some still old fashion, we are working with an outsource company in the UK that offers paperless invoicing by providing high-end scanners.. again not sure if they having a bit of hi-end over head.

JC

What about the cost to produce some office equipment and vehicles, seldom mentioned, but a lot of the new Environmentally Safe Equipment using a lot more energy to produce than it will save on the planet, I cannot qoute on anything here, but I remember reading about this, I think it was one of the "Eco Cars" that sparked the debate.

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To be honest, theres no reason why any of our invoices need to be printed, it could be done online, but its what our accountants ask for. Not sure if there is a particular legal requirement to keep hardcopy invoices for tax inspections etc.

In my mind, backed up data is as good as a peice of paper, but I never was any good at the legal stuff, so I leave that to the accountants and lawyers

Good point from Kip, people do sometimes forget the bigger picture. With the current climate, the car scrappage scheme/cash for clunkers is an interesting one.

Manfacturers tell us we need to trade our cars in and buy more modern fuel efficient ones etc. But comparing the fuel economy between my perfectly working but unefficient car and my new shiny efficient car, the slightly lower emmissions etc, does this counter act the energy and emmissions used to produce the new shiny car? I suspect I would have to do an awful lot of milage over many years before my new shiny car counter acted the initial production process.

Then of course, the manafacturer will try and sell me a new one, with even lower planet saving emissions.

Do I sound cynical? In my mind, it's no more than green gestures made to make us lemmings feel better about ourselves, as we buy new shiny things.

reality is, we need to be driving around in electric cars, or even better, walking! Let the kids walk to school, mom doesn't need a 4.5 litre SUV that does 15 mpg.

Trouble is, we are all in love with our gas guzzling cars... me especially (with unefficient Nissan Patrol parked outside, but I love it)

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I worked for Three as a Sales Manager many years ago, and we had a paperless call-centre, mostly for Data Protection etc, but sure they would now turn that to the green advantage, ie we did it before it was fashionable!

Must ask the Mrs about hard copies of invoices etc, she has already taken the right off me to do invoices, apparently I balls them up

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I suppose there is a bit of a trend occurring, however this must be down to more and more individuals influencing each other to influence their businesses to take more and more responsibility for their environment and communitiy.

Considering this thread is almost a year old now, it would be interesting to hear what people's opinions are on green business now? What does sustainability mean a year on?

Chris

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Chris Price - Tork UK
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