We continue to see articles like this one, talking about sustainability programs that are being questioned.  Simply stated, like all things in life, there are many sustainability programs that are not worth the investment.

Like any purchase process, look hard, know what questions to ask, and make sure you get truthful answers to those questions.

Per this master class, here are the eight things you want in a sustainability program for your company:

• It MUST include Employee Performance / Health
  • Sustainability is not just about energy savings or ‘Greening Up’, it is about people
  • For most businesses, the employees are one of the biggest costs, one of the biggest risks (mistakes, insurance, law suits) and one of the biggest opportunities (new ideas, collaboration, product knowledge)
  • Every organization suffers from the Big 5 – insomnia, stress, anxiety, physical pain, mental acuity
  • You are losing 5% of your corporate profit/year to the Big 5
  • It takes a lot of LEDs to make up for one worker comp or workplace violence case
  • Make sure your program has a ‘people piece’ that addresses employee performance, health and happiness

• It MUST certify the business not the box
  • People care about things that involve people
  • Most building (ie, ‘Box’) certifications only care about building energy
  • Building certifications are expensive and hard to market (poor ROI)
  • You want to say, “Buy more of my product because we are a certified sustainable business”
  • You do not get much value from, “Buy more of my product because we are in an energy efficient building”
  • You want the certification on your business, not the building your business is in

• It MUST have a 3^rd party audit component
  • Oversight delivers credibility and trust
  • From passing your driving test, to getting your college diploma, to passing a bar exam, we use 3^rd parties to ensure compliance
  • There are many sustainability programs that deliver a certification based on your ‘word’…..and your payment
  • Don’t do it!
  • Make sure the program you choose uses a 3^rd party to validate your work

• It MUST follow a respected and integrated global standard
  • The sustainability industry is maturing and coalescing around few standards
  • The UN has created its SDGs (17 sustainability development goals)
  • 50% of the world’s economies require sustainability reporting
  • Greenwashing lawsuits are growing
  • Don’t pick a program that is not globally respected by, and integrated with, the world leadership groups; and that does not have the ability to integrate the other three legs of the stool – carbon neutrality, ESG and net zero
  • No reason to spend the time and money, then find you are not following the same programs and protocols that the leadership groups have adopted

• It MUST include promotion of the certification
  • Historically, sustainability has been a cost-side play
  • Most programs and providers have been 100% trained and focused on cost-side measures – energy reduction, carbon reduction, waste reduction, water reduction, travel reduction (ie, engineering)
  • But we know consumers are searching for certified sustainable companies
  • If you don’t talk about being certified sustainable they will never know you are (ie, marketing)
  • You want a program provider that is built to do the cost-side work AND the revenue-side work; and helps you promote your certification

• It MUST pursue continual improvement
  • Sustainability is not finite. It requires long-term commitment
  • But…change is hard for all of us
  • If the bar is set too high, we can get frustrated and give up
  • You want a program that lets you come as you are and allows you to continually improve
  • This will keep everyone happy and committed year after year

• It MUST require annual updates
  • Current = credible
  • Sustainability is not finite; we need to continually improve
  • You don’t want a program that does not have a date attached to its certification
  • You want to continually improve, see your success, and annually update your certification to show you are current and credible in your actions

• It MUST be at a price you can afford and produce a positive ROI
  • We could have started with cost but you need the above seven components at a price you can afford
  • It needs to show a positive and rapid ROI
  • The cost includes both money and time and covers everything – the certification, the 3^rd party audit and your work to become certified

If you use a program that delivers all of the above, you will be happy.

Contact us with questions.

….we suggest you review this quick 10-slide presentation.

Doing the Right Thing can lead to a Good Thing!

Per our current consumption we need 1.7 Earths.

We have been over-consuming since 1971.

If you over-spent your household budget for 52 straight years, would you still have a house?

If you can’t think of any place else to go, maybe we work a bit harder on hanging on to the place we have.

If you would like to be part of the solution, contact us.

Per this article, Canadian apparel manufacturer Lululemon has been named in a legal complaint, calling for regulators to launch a greenwashing investigation.

Per the complaint, Lululemon has been exaggerating its environmentally-friendly actions.

Why would they do this?  Because they see the data – 7 out of 10 consumers will leave their existing vendor in favor of a vendor they believe is sustainable.

According to the complaint, Lululemon wanted to win those consumers….but didn’t want to actually do the things it was claiming.

In the few days since the complaint, the company has already lost 5% of its value and the slide continues.

This is not where you want your brand to be.

Either a) make no environmental / eco / sustainability / Green claims; or b) become certified sustainable via a globally-recognized program with 3^rd party validation, and have them help you make claims that are consistent with your certification achievements. 

Environmentally certified sustainable companies are growing up to 20x faster than their non-certified peers.

Here is what you want in a certification program.

Contact us to discuss.

Unlimited Auto Wash located at Lighthouse Drive in North Palm Beach, FL, is part of the seven-location Unlimited Auto Wash Club that serves South Florida.  Unlimited Auto Wash is a 100% Full Service Hand Car Wash with over 170 employees.  It cares deeply about the environment and the community it serves, and has pursued and attained the Edenark Group ISO 14001 environmental sustainability certification for 2024.

The Edenark Group ISO 14001 is the world’s premier environmental sustainability certification program and allows SMEs (small to mid-sized enterprises) the ability to attain the world’s most popular environmental certification standard via a program designed and priced specifically for them.  This allows an organization to validate, via 3^rd party audit against the world’s top standard, its environmental / sustainability / green / eco-friendly actions.

The program, which allows companies to progressively improve at a pace that works for their needs, helps the organization define how it interacts internally, externally, and with the environment.  It incorporates energy/waste/water, employee health and performance enhancement, community involvement, procurement and suppliers, compliance and regulations, emergency/security, and stakeholder engagement.  Benefits include creating a culture of continual improvement, stakeholder engagement, lower costs, higher revenues and profits, improved employee performance, and…… doing the right thing for the environment for current and future generations.                                                                                                     

“We are the first, and only, environmentally certified sustainable car wash operation in Palm Beach County, Florida.   Many organizations, looking to cash in on consumer demand, claim to be environmentally friendly, but most practice greenwashing by self-auditing or self-certifying or using non-globally-recognized programs.  We wanted to raise the bar as we are a leader in our industry,” says Kevin Dalton, CEO of Unlimited Auto Wash.  “We decided we were going to pursue environmental sustainability the way we run our business – the right way.  The Edenark Group ISO 14001 sustainability certification program provides us that opportunity.  This will be wonderful for all our stakeholders; our customers, our employees, our company and our community.” 

“When an organization pursues, and attains, the Edenark Group ISO 14001 sustainability certification, they are not just doing it to see their costs go down and revenues and profits go up.  They are setting a higher bar for their organization and sending a message to all those around them that may be claiming to be environmentally-supportive, but are in truth greenwashing by not validating their actions under a global 3^rd party certification,” says David Goodman, CEO of Edenark Group.  “Companies who are agreeing to adhere to the world’s Gold standard for sustainability certification are allowing their actions to be reviewed; are choosing to be a leader and part of the solution, not the problem; and are joining an elite fraternity of over 400,000 organizations, in over 150 countries, that have committed to continually improving in every way.”

Unlimited Auto Wash can be reached at +1 561-WASH-ME-2

Edenark Group can be reached at +1 561.512.2257     

release

Per this article, greenwashing is soaring:

• The #1 issue in the world is the environment and consumers are rewarding companies they feel are environmentally friendly
• This causes companies to misrepresent their sustainability achievements, which is greenwashing
• It also creates an opportunity to make a bad decision on the program you select
• Net, many are knowingly misrepresenting; others are aligning with the wrong program – either choice risks exposure for greenwashing 

This post explains what we believe a sustainability program should include.  This master class explains why you should consider it.

If this makes sense to you, contact us.

As we have continually stressed:

• If you are self-certified, or self-audited, or aligned with a non-global sustainability standard, or aligned with no standard, or do not have 3rd party validation, odds are, your sustainability/environmental/eco/green claims will be questioned and possibly attacked
• This could lead to litigation

This article talks about litigation and delisting and includes discussions on

• The EU Taxonomy for endorsing planes and ships that use weak standards
• Starbucks
• Major food and drink companies that are making misleading claims about recycling
• London Metal Exchange delisting 10% of its members

Bottom line, if you are going to make claims, get certified under a globally-respected program that includes 3^rd party auditing as part of the certification process.

This post explains what you should look for and this master class explains why.

Contact us with questions.

There are 14 subgroups including Blue Whales, Gray Whales, Right Whales and Humpback Whales that are part of the Baleen Whale group.

We’ve lost 95% of them over the past few hundred years, but there are 800,000 – 1,000,000 of them left.

Per this video and this article, the value to us of a Baleen Whale’s poo is approximately $2,000,000 per whale, or $2T in total; as it feeds phytoplankton, which, besides feeding small fish, absorbs CO2 and creates 50% of the oxygen we breathe.

Oxygen is sort of important. 

Keeping whales happily pooping should be on all our to-do lists.  Not just in our words, but in how we act and run our businesses.     

Per this article

• Nearly 4% of SMEs measure carbon emissions
• Almost 5% of SMEs measure their renewable energy use
• 27% have sustainability leadership positions
• And, almost 33% have social / environmental committees

Are these numbers lower than we want?  Of course.

But are these numbers much larger than they were a few years ago?  Absolutely!

When you think about the fact that there are millions of SMEs around the world; and a few years ago, all four of these would have been under 1%; we are definitely moving in the right direction.

Edenark Group serves as the sustainability department for a number of companies, we chair/advise social/environmental committees, and we help organizations measure their carbon emissions and renewable energy use.  We speak from experience when we say that SMEs are becoming aware of how important their role is and how much the market is expecting them to lead.

If you would like to talk with us about your company starting a sustainability program, contact us here.

Unlimited Auto Wash located at Frenchman’s, in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, is part of the seven-location Unlimited Auto Wash Club that serves South Florida.  Unlimited Auto Wash is a 100% Full Service Hand Car Wash with over 170 employees.  It cares deeply about the environment and the community it serves, and has pursued and attained the Edenark Group ISO 14001 environmental sustainability certification for 2024.

The Edenark Group ISO 14001 is the world’s premier environmental sustainability certification program and allows SMEs (small to mid-sized enterprises) the ability to attain the world’s most popular environmental certification standard via a program designed and priced specifically for them.  This allows an organization to validate, via 3^rd party audit against the world’s top standard, its environmental / sustainability / green / eco-friendly actions.

The program, which allows companies to progressively improve at a pace that works for their needs, helps the organization define how it interacts internally, externally, and with the environment.  It incorporates energy/waste/water, employee health and performance enhancement, community involvement, procurement and suppliers, compliance and regulations, emergency/security, and stakeholder engagement.  Benefits include creating a culture of continual improvement, stakeholder engagement, lower costs, higher revenues and profits, improved employee performance, and…… doing the right thing for the environment for current and future generations.                                                                                                

“Consumers have been unaware how much Greenwashing there is in the car wash industry.  Many organizations, looking to cash in on consumer demand, claim to be environmentally friendly, but most practice greenwashing by self-auditing or self-certifying or using non-globally-recognized programs.  We wanted to be the first certified sustainable car wash in the region as we are a leader in our industry,” says Kevin Dalton, CEO of Unlimited Auto Wash.  “We decided we were going to pursue environmental sustainability the way we run our business – the right way.  The Edenark Group ISO 14001 sustainability certification program provides us that opportunity.  This will be wonderful for all our stakeholders; our customers, our employees, our company and our community.” 

“When an organization pursues, and attains, the Edenark Group ISO 14001 sustainability certification, they are not just doing it to see their costs go down and revenues and profits go up.  They are setting a higher bar for their organization and sending a message to all those around them that may be claiming to be environmentally-supportive, but are in truth greenwashing by not validating their actions under a global 3^rd party certification,” says David Goodman, CEO of Edenark Group.  “Companies who are agreeing to adhere to the world’s Gold standard for sustainability certification are allowing their actions to be reviewed; are choosing to be a leader and part of the solution, not the problem; and are joining an elite fraternity of over 400,000 organizations, in over 150 countries, that have committed to continually improving in every way.”

Unlimited Auto Wash can be reached at +1 561-WASH-ME-2

Edenark Group can be reached at +1 561.512.2257