For smart consumers and business owners, greenwashing has become a part of the sustainability lexicon. We’ve all seen the “all-natural” label on chicken made in a factory farm. Or the “pure” labels on chemical cleaning products. What about “green” listed as the only descriptor alongside furniture or other products? These are all examples of greenwashing.

It’s simple to see how sustainability can apply to product-heavy companies. A mining company or direct-to-consumer start-up has a distinct environmental impact. But what about service-based companies and sustainability?

As a business owner or consumer, it’s easy to get drawn to labels and sustainability certifications touting benefits and claims. For sustainable businesses, they are multiple certifications to be aware of.

Corporate governance commitment is the secret of successful sustainability programs. You’ve got to have set alignment from the top of the organization to make sure your company is running a successful sustainability program.

After you’ve created an effective initiative, you need to get employees on board. After all, as we’ve talked about numerous times, employees complete sustainability tasks. Not a committee, the employees. 

You’ve got your initiative set and ready to distribute. You know who should be doing it, so now it’s time to bring those people on board.

Sustainability initiatives are how you take sustainability from idea to process. Many small businesses have an idea of what they want to do, have done their version of an audit, but aren’t sure how to create an effective initiative to make sustainability happen. An initiative usually comes after the audit.

In this case, an initiative is a task to make achieve sustainability in business. Whether you’re trying to reduce waste or water, you want to achieve something to make sustainability happen in your business.

"Stakeholders" and “stakeholder engagement” are prominent sustainability buzzwords. Stakeholders usually get associated with large companies tromping about in remote areas, or companies that are on a mea culpa tour for doing something bad. But stakeholder engagement can be crucial in building a smaller business. Businesses can use stakeholder relationships to boost their sustainability practices, or just to strengthen their business.

If you’re still deciding if this will be the year of sustainability, contemplate your options using an opportunity cost model. The benefits of sustainability are well documented in the press.

How do you tell your sustainability story without releasing a sustainability report? Large companies use sustainability reports because they are required to publish annual reports. They can be useful PR and publicity tools for companies.  It can be hard to find the time or money for smaller companies to publish such grandiose reports. Reports can also seem outdated for smaller companies.