Green business and sustainable business certifications are valuable programs that can help companies demonstrate their sustainable products, services and practices to employees, customers, partners and investors. If you want your business to be a great business with passionate employees and customers who respect and admire your business and brand, you’ll need to credibly and transparently show them you care about the environment and social responsibility. A green business certification can help accomplish this.
Sustainability and Green Business Certification
Have your sustainability verified. Tell your story. Share your results.
What Is a Green Business Certification?
Green Business Bureau Certification Benefits
We know consumers and employees prefer green businesses. They flock to companies that care about the environment and are socially responsible. They avoid “greenwashers” like the plague. By greenwashers, we mean companies that make false claims about their positive impact on the environment just to drive sales and profit. A certification by a trusted third-party organization like Green Business Bureau will prove your company’s green credibility and avoid green washing.
HIGHLIGHTS
- INCREASED TRANSPARENCY & TRUST – By sharing your completed initiatives and certification level publicly, you demonstrate your commitment to sustainability openly and create a more trustworthy relationship with your stakeholders.
- IMPROVED REPUTATION – Companies that are greener tend to be perceived as more ethical, reliable, and responsible.
- ELEVATED BRAND – Letting people know your business cares about the environment and society will associate “good” with your brand and improve your overall brand identity. Sustainable businesses are also perceived as being more honest, with higher quality products and services.
- HIGHER SALES – Being known as a green business will attract new customers, specifically consumers and companies who seek out sustainable businesses, products, and services. Customers and employees are looking for companies who are socially responsible, sustainable, and more importantly, have credibility of their sustainability.
- COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION – Being sustainable allows you to stand out when competing for business. In fact, it is common today to see requests for proposals requiring sustainability information from competing vendors bidding on a contract.
- STRONGER WORKFORCE – Employees, especially the younger generation, seek out employers who are social and environmentally responsible. Being green and promoting this will attract the best employees and enable you to hire exceptional purpose-driven employees.
- IMPROVED MORALE – Employees care about the environment and want to know the company they work for also cares. Your employees will be more fulfilled and satisfied knowing they work for a company that is environmentally responsible.
Green Business Bureau Certification Overview
Green Business Bureau’s program is a robust program for helping companies of all sizes become more sustainable and includes the online EcoAssessment and EcoPlanner tools and green business certification.
The GBB certification is the most automated and guided certification available. GBB’s certification process is entirely online and initiative based, so a company will receive points for each and every activity it has completed. Initiatives are very granular and well-defined and the library is designed to capture your completed initiatives and give you full credit for all your accomplishments. This even includes initiatives completed before joining the program.
As more initiatives are fulfilled over time, your EcoScore will increase, granting an opportunity to reach Gold and Platinum certification levels. Initiatives are organized by the business area they impact, such as building, cafeteria, transportation or office materials, and further marked by the effort, cost and greening impact of the initiative. This simple but flexible structure ensures a company can easily target and implement the efforts that best suit the company’s needs and opportunities.
Green Business Bureau Seal
The GBB seal is well-recognized so member businesses get the positive recognition of their commitment to sustainability and the environment.
Green Business Bureau provides a collection of tools and opportunities for member companies to share, differentiate and be recognized for their greening achievements with customers, prospects, partners, regulators and communities alike. A ‘clickable’ web seal takes customers and employees to a personal sustainability webpage that shows a business’s certification level, total points, sustainability mission and accomplishments.
