Principles and Policies Overview

Successful efforts to increase sustainability require a long-term commitment. Deciding to “go green” means incorporating environmental considerations into decisions about the products and services you buy and offer, in tandem with other factors such as cost, product quality, and availability. This guide contains a range of suggestions and tools to help you improve your business’s environmental performance, but the most important thing is simply to get started. By implementing some of the ideas in this guide, your company can build momentum and support for additional improvements in the future.

The suggestions outlined in this guide are diverse, and implementation strategies may vary among them. In some cases, suggested improvements could involve minor adjustments. In others—such as encouraging recycling—improvements might involve more substantial adjustments. In all cases, however, there are certain steps that your company can take to facilitate implementation of its environmental priorities. These include:

• Clearly defining environmental goals
• Involving staff at all levels in the process
• Soliciting a strong commitment from senior executives
• Emphasizing that real progress is made through long-term commitment
• Educating staff
• Measuring and documenting current environmental impacts, setting specific goals for reduction, and tracking progress toward meeting these goals