Sustainable... and Profitable?

Yes! You can be green while keeping the bottom line out of the red.

Most people see environmental initiatives as having a hefty price tag that will impact your ability to have a thriving, money making business.

And why should you sacrifice your quality of living to help in the fight against the climate disaster while governments and international conglomerates are the main contributors to the increase of greenhouse gases?

This dichotomy between profits and green initiatives is not entirely accurate... Implementing green initiatives into your business can have significant upfront costs, but it doesn't have to be that way.

The Not-So Secret Sauce

When we pursue profits, we can approach it in one of two ways. Increase revenues or decrease expenses.

When we strive for environmental sustainability, we look to make as much as possible with as little as possible.

These two business values align perfectly. By making more things you can increase revenues. And by using as little as possible you will decrease expenses.

Whether the strategies are planned and implemented in 3 months, or 10 years, you can be more profitable while becoming a more sustainable business.

For Example

To maximize your business consider selling byproducts produced. For example, pumping warm exhaust to a neighbouring greenhouse to heat it year round, or using an algae CO2 scrubber to produce algae that can be sold as animal feed or to the cosmetic industry.

The key to increasing revenues, is to think outside of the box. What are you already producing or servicing that you are not making money off? Then find existing businesses that are able to use your byproducts and create a new revenue channel for yourself.

Expenses are a little more straight forward, but still require effort. This can be as simple as ensuring all computer equipment is powered down every night, or the bay doors to your warehouse are only opened when needed and closed immediately after. Singling any one initiative out will not show any material change, however compounded with 10 or 20 others will result in decreased costs (yay for profits) and decreased environmental impact (yay for sustainability).

Stay tuned for upcoming blogs that will dive further into ways to increase revenues or decrease expenses in the name of sustainability and profitability.