Are you passionate about being planet-friendly? If that’s a yes, the Business Champion, Sustainable Business Award could be right for your business.

Let’s face it, it takes a lot to become fully sustainable, changing internal and external systems has to factor in supply chains and their methods and values on sustainability too. It’s about creating an entire eco-system that’s future friendly.

Companies have to ensure that sustainability is embedded in their entire business culture. Every member of staff has to understand their own impact to see the total result of the company as a whole.

Championing business sustainability is no mean feat.

However, we know that a vast amount of companies are moving forwards not only in line with government plans for a sustainable future but from their own sense of responsibility to trade in the knowledge that their company isn’t costing our Earth.

Ten years ago being sustainable meant adding a sentence to the bottom of an email asking the reader to re-think whether it needed to be printed.

Now the entirety of a business, from methods of work to the products and packaging methods all can be considered with a mind to taking care of the future of our planet.

Are you eligible to apply? Can you tick off any of these from our sustainability check-list?

– Ensuring that you’re only working with suppliers who are practising the same methods of sustainability in their business as you are

– Promoting a ride your bike to work scheme or car pooling

– Using alternative energy sources for powering machinery and office blocks

– Zoom meetings instead of air travel where possible

– Enabling staff to work from home and lowering carbon footprint via travel needs

– Having charging points for electric cars in the car park

– Conserving water

– Using green energy appliances

– Switching all paper products to recycled/recyclable, planet-friendly ones

So what will the judges be looking for?

It’s important to remember that whilst companies that have completely changed their entire ethos are amazing – they’re also few and far between at this point. To crown the winner of the Business Champions Sustainability Award, the judges will be looking at the amount of change that any company has had to undergo in order to become sustainable.

It requires a massive investment to change the way that a business that has functioned in a specific way for years and years. To look at the running of the company and get the team on board with the changes all requires a lot of potential extra logistics, new suppliers and a sturdy plan.

Embedded values within the company, its employees and new recruits.

Messaging customers about the changes you’ve made to raise environmental awareness across the nation

It’s worth noting that the judges are well aware that these changes do not occur overnight, they are interested to hear your stories, moments of realisations, synergies, collaborations and innovative method of thinking in this area …

Vision within the business

Change does not happen within a company without the strong vision of the leader. Whether it’s been a staff initiative driving the leadership team or the other way around, your story to being sustainable is interesting and they are looking forward to hearing of it.

The good work shouldn’t stop there, keep innovating …

Being sustainable is opening up new realms of businesses overall. Businesses that are being innovative when it comes to new methods of production are actually creating whole new businesses in themselves. We’re seeing new companies evolving to create air purifying paint, breathable buildings for staff to work in and crucially over the next ten years, more companies will be looking into how to dispose of or repurpose lithium car batteries to make the whole EV powered car market more sustainable too.

Considering becoming more sustainable in 2022? Here’s two extra reasons why being sustainable will benefit the longevity and positivity within your company …

At some point the lesser planet-friendly products will be siphoned out of existence by government measures that are coming in over the next few years. You can see it within the EV powered car market with the government’s initiative to stop producing fossil fuel led vehicles by 2030. Preparing your business for the change early is going to make the transition a lot smoother in the long term.

More and more people are looking to the values that a company stands for, if your business is actively conscious about sustainability and it’s not just a mantra on the wall, then you’re going to attract like-minded employees that will help to expand your vision further.

Go for it. Make this world a better place, please!