There are many reasons to address your company's carbon footprint - read on and learn why
1. Attract and retain talent
Sustainability and CSR are increasingly becoming a deciding factor when graduates are looking for their next employer. According to Cone Communications, up to 64% of Millenials - who will soon represent the majority of the labor market - will turn down a job if the company does not have strong CSR values. At the same time, we know that 71% say they are actually willing to take a pay cut to work for a company they share values with.
There is evidence to suggest that you need to take action on your CSR strategy if you want to stay competitive - and transparency about your carbon footprint is an obvious way to do this. Carbon footprint transparency is an obvious way to do this. Fortunately, there are many good examples of companies that do this. Zetland, for example, has been one of those who have been incredibly transparent in their approach to CO2 measurement in Denmark.
2. Protect your revenue
According to Unily, a study on workplace climate policy, around 83% of employees believe that their workplace is not doing enough for the climate. Knowing that companies that don't do enough for the climate can lose up to 25% of their turnover due to potential employee strikes and decreased employee engagement, it's clear that there can also be direct financial consequences if a company doesn't take its climate policy seriously.
This is supported by CDP, which shows that companies that actively work with their climate policy have an 18% higher return on investment compared to companies that do not. Still, that's pretty impressive.
It just emphasizes that green business is also necessarily good business.
3. Adapt to legislation
At the time of writing, there are no specific rules in Denmark that require companies to comply with non-financial reporting requirements. However, such requirements have been discussed for some time, and most recently we have seen the EU taxonomy, which requires greater sustainable transparency from larger companies.
These requirements may not apply to your company, but we are increasingly starting to see ambitious requirements from some of the largest companies in the country. Most recently, Novo Nordisk has set a requirement for 100% green power for all suppliers by 2030. We'll see more of this more "autonomous" legislation in the future.
Carbon reporting will become a must-have sooner or later. As a company, you might as well look ahead and start implementing practices that support CO2 measurement and sustainability transparency. It certainly won 't hurt your competitiveness to be at the forefront of this particular area.
4. Keep your customers
Consumers increasingly value sustainability: According to a report from IBM, around 6/10 would change their purchasing habits to lower their carbon footprint. In the group of consumers who consider sustainability to be very or extremely important, over 70% are willing to pay up to 35% more for products and brands that take responsibility for the climate.
There are a number of examples of companies that have successfully incorporated a brand narrative with sustainability at its core. Perhaps best known is outdoor giant Patagonia, one of the top scorers in the B Corp movement. They have achieved a turnover of approximately 5.5 billion dollars annually with over 70% recycled materials in their clothing and exclusively organic cotton. They are a great example of a company that has achieved great customer loyalty and popularity due to their transparent climate policy and results.
If you are interested in starting a dialogue about climate action and CO2 measurement in your company or organization, feel free to contact me at oskar@climaider.com
