Edenark Group has a relationship with OneBlueOcean and the CEOs of the two companies are friends.

OneBlueOcean is pursuing a noble cause and is doing wonderful work. 

If you have a passion for our oceans, they are an organization you should know.

We will occasionally share some of the videos produced by OneBlueOcean.

Let’s start with Episode 1 of the In Search of Sunrise series.

Enjoy!

Per a study of +18,000 investment products discussed in this article, only 4% of funds with the word ‘sustainability’, or some version of it in the name, actually comply with all current and planned requirements of the US, UK and EU.

Point is, we have two problems.  First, different governments have different rules.  Second, as governments raise the bar against Greenwashing, funds that have invested in companies with home-grown, non-certified, non-verified, sustainability programs, struggle to meet the requirements of regulations that align with established, recognized, respected sustainability standards.

These funds will need to either remove their sustainability claims, remove their investment in companies that cannot verify sustainability claims (which will make for a very small fund), or convince their portfolio companies to become certified sustainable under a globally-respected program that is acceptable across all borders.  

Edenark Group provides a solution.  Our standard, the most respected and deployed in the world, is used in 171 of the world’s 195 countries.     

In an overwhelming 544 in favor, 18 against and 17 abstentions, vote, discussed in this article, the EU Parliament supported a new rule that

• Bans the use of generic environmental claims, such as ‘environmentally friendly’, ‘natural’, ‘biodegradable’ or ‘eco’ if not supported by evidence;
• Bans green claims about whole products when only a part is sustainable;
• Only allows sustainability labels based on official certification schemes recognized or established by public authorities (ie, no more self-certification).

For organizations custom-building and self-certifying their sustainability claims, this move will force a choice between abandonment of claims or certification under a legitimate 3^rd party certification program.

Are You Doing All You Can to Grow Your Company?

HAVE YOU DONE EVERYTHING TO MAXIMIZE MARGINS?

Per Nielsen, a certified sustainable company, promoting same, enjoys a 5% year-on-year price increase.  Its non-sustainable competitors grow prices 1% year-on-year.

If you are not a certified sustainable company, and enjoying the promotional benefits of same, per Nielsen, you are leaving 4% on the table, year-on-year.

HOW ARE YOU DIFFERENTIATING YOUR BUSINESS?

Per MIT / BCG, the biggest challenge facing your business is competitive differentiation.

Yet, per Cone / Ebiquity Global CSR, 84% of consumers seek companies that have differentiated by becoming certified sustainable.

Per Symbola, companies that have differentiated with our standard are growing 20x faster than their non-certified competitive peers.

HOW WILL YOU INFLUENCE THE LARGEST BUYING GROUP?

Per Forbes, the largest buying group (19 – 39 year olds) disbelieve 99% of all advertising that does not have 3^rd party verification/certification.

Further, per Forbes, before visiting a company or purchasing a product, they review a company’s environmental standing and 9 out of 10 (87%) of them will then purchase from, and remain loyal to, a company that has proven (certified) its environmental standing.

WILL YOU BE A MARKET SHARE GIVER OR TAKER?

Per a number of studies/reports, including Unilever, there is a +$2 Trillion gap between consumers looking to move their business to certified sustainable organizations….and the availability of same.

This takes us back to the Symbola study showing that certified sustainable small to mid-sized businesses are growing 20x faster than their non-certified competitive peers.

WILL YOU BE TOO BUSY TO TAKE BUSINESS FROM YOUR COMPETITORS?

Per an A. T. Kearney study, sustainable companies outperform their peers by 15%.

Yet, the top reason executives give for not pursuing sustainability is, “I’m too busy.”  

This video does a good job of giving a few of the many component examples of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance).

If you are confused by the phrases ‘Net Zero’ and ‘Carbon Neutral’, this is an excellent article.

For a company –

Net Zero incorporates all emissions involved with the process of the business, including things outside of your direct control, like suppliers.  It incorporates:

• Scope 1 – Direct carbon emissions from company-owned and controlled resources
• Scope 2 – Indirect carbon emissions from a company’s utility-provided purchased energy
• Scope 3 – Indirect carbon emissions (not in #1 or #2) that are part of the value chain, including waste, travel, commuting, purchased goods/services (both production of product-related and non-production-related), transportation/distribution (from both suppliers and customers), fuel/energy (not in #1 or #2), capital goods (equipment, building), investments, franchises, leased assets, used/sold products, end of life treatment.

Carbon Neutral has fewer barriers and occurs when a company is making, or creating, no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, especially as a result of carbon offsetting.  In effect, a company can become carbon-neutral by defining its carbon footprint and purchasing carbon offsets.

We like to view carbon neutrality like training wheels on a bicycle – Your parents gave you a bicycle for your birthday and you want to ride it, but you need those training wheels.  It initially feels great.  But, pretty soon, you want to be able to ride that bike without those training wheels.  We view carbon offsets as the training wheels – they get you to where you want to be instantly, but they are not what you want to use forever.  You don’t want the expense, nor do you want to continually ‘buy’ your carbon neutrality.

We believe you should use the following process for you company:

• Become certified sustainable via a program that meets the criteria discussed in this PPP.  If you pick the right one, it will also serve as a foundation for the rest of the work discussed below;
• Quantify your carbon footprint via a professional who is certified (as an Auditor or Lead Auditor) in both sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions. This person should not only quantify your carbon footprint and help you purchase legitimate, globally-recognized and respected, carbon offsets; but also help you adjust your sustainability program’s project plan to, over time, become less dependent on those offsets, ultimately not needing them at all;
• Start your ESG program, using your sustainability program as foundation (it is the E and, if you picked the right program, will also help you with the S and the G);
• Build your ESG program slowly, not expanding faster than you can manage;
• Quantify your entire Net Zero score via a professional who is certified (as an Auditor or Lead Auditor) in both sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions. Again, you want your sustainability program to do most of the work for you and if you selected the right one at the beginning, it will;
• Start your Net Zero pursuit, using your sustainability program as foundation.

Many organizations look at sustainability, carbon neutrality, ESG and Net Zero as independent things and attack them as one-offs.  However, if you start with a globally-accepted sustainability program that can serve as the foundation for the others, you can grow at a pace that is comfortable for your organization and the entire process is less expensive, less time consuming and far easier.

This article in MassBio News asks the question “How does your company define sustainability?”

At Edenark Group, we have always felt the answer to this question is key as to whether an organization decides to become environmentally sustainable….and if that organization remains sustainable year after year.

This is why we start our website presentation with the same question – “How Would You Define Corporate Environmental Sustainability?” and we give our answer –

“Maximize performance and return without compromising the environment or future generations; via continual improvement of awareness, health, operation and efficiency of the organization and promotion of sustainability certification and performance achievements and successes to all internal and external stakeholders.”

Our clients realize our mission is to help them maximize performance and return….and to help them continually improve.  We use sustainability as a tool to accomplish that.

In our service model, sustainability is not in conflict with performance and return, it is a driver of performance and return.

Per this article, later this month, on the 22^nd of March, 2023, the European Commission will publish a proposal for a new directive on Green Claims made by products/services.

We all know consumers want companies to be sustainable.

We all know data shows sustainable companies perform dramatically better than their non-sustainable peers.

This puts tremendous pressure on non-sustainable companies to Greenwash (exaggerate their sustainability claims).

Per a 2020 study by the Commission, 53% of the sustainability claims they investigated were too vague, misleading or simply unfounded.  Further, 40% did not have adequate evidence.

Besides the Commission, there are many groups and individuals devoted to finding and exposing organizations that Greenwash.

For those of you who know your company is Greenwashing, time is not on your side.

Watch this webinar and give us a call.  We can help.