— Sustainability in Business, WIFM?
We talk to Tom Greenwood, Co-Founder of Wholegrain Digital, about coming together to make a difference.
Are you familiar with the acronym WIFM? At Metta, we’ve typically heard “what’s in it for me” used in a sales context — but have also been asked a similar type of question in regards to making business more sustainable.
I was really excited to sit down and talk with Tom Greenwood for our first interview style chat about just that: Sustainability in Business, WIFM?
Tom is the Co-Founder of Wholegrain Digital, a Certified B Corp and ‘green’ trailblazer in the digital agency world. Tom is known for writing and speaking about how business, design, and web technology can be part of the solution to environmental issues and is author of the book, Sustainable Web Design.
In this interview, a follow on from our WIFM panel event, I spoke to Tom and asked similar questions to those from the panel with Asim and Aiyana. These interviews discuss the importance of sustainability* and climate action for businesses and employees, and provide some definitions and resources.
*As a preface to the discussion, we want to point out that when we say sustainability, we’re referring to it inclusive of social and environmental responsibility. So think, UN Sustainable development goals and this definition.
Hi Tom! Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about Wholegrain Digital?
I’m the Managing Director of Wholegrain Digital, a web design agency that I founded 15 years ago with my wife Vineeta. I came from a background of sustainable product design, when product design meant “real” things, and got into digital with the hope of creating things that made society better without the environmental impact of physical products.
Wholegrain Digital works with charities, positive businesses and the public sector to help them achieve their goals using digital design and technology, and has a big focus on reducing the energy and carbon impact of the web. We’ve led a number of projects in this field including creating the first website carbon calculator (WebsiteCarbon.com), the Sustainable Web Manifesto and I wrote the book, Sustainable Web Design, available from A Book Apart.
We’ve always tried to operate the business in a way that is responsible to both people and the planet, and in 2017 became Certified as a B Corporation.
Let’s do some level setting and talk about why sustainability and climate action are important. Why should companies and employees care — if they don’t already? And, if they don’t, how do you practically get anybody interested in talking about this?
The real questions are, why should we care about the future, and why should we care about others? If all we care about is ourselves, right now, then there is little reason to take any interest in sustainability and climate change.
However, if we care about other people, now and in the future, not to mention our future selves, then climate change and the growing ecological crisis is the most important issue that has ever faced us. All great civilisations of the past collapsed, and ours will be no different unless we create ways of living that can be sustained over the long term. Our current lifestyles, business models and economies cannot.
So caring about this issue is not a “nice to have”, but is a fundamental requirement of a positive future. If we want a positive future, we must all invest in the changes needed now and stop kicking the can down the road. It is already too late, so we cannot delay any longer.
For anyone who just doesn’t care, I think the solution is to show them how making necessary changes could directly benefit them now. It doesn’t matter if people do the right thing for the wrong reasons, so long as they do. We should show people where they need to go, make it easy for them to go there and appeal to their self interest.
What can people and businesses do? We can think about it holistically from individuals, to small businesses through to corporations. What are some of the nitty gritty things that people can really get their hands into to start making a difference?
There are changes to be made everywhere and I believe that it all starts by opening the conversation. If people are allowed to talk about sustainability openly, then ideas for improvement can emerge naturally, from small, simple initiatives to save energy or reduce waste, to behaviour change initiatives to reduce flying or meat consumption, to more fundamental ideas to change the business model of a company. We need to come from all angles, at all levels of an organisation.
In our recorded discussion with Asim and Aiyana, we spoke about how bottom up, grassroots initiatives really need to be driving the change and that some organisations are more open to change than others.
What happens if you are one of these grassroots change-makers and your C-suite is listening — what do you tell them? And on the same page, if you have a bit more of a challenging business and C-suite that isn’t interested, how can you inform them and drive them to change?
I think if you have the ear of the senior management, then it’s a gift that you should embrace. Be grateful for it, take your ideas and offer to help make changes, but also be open to listen to their concerns. Earn their trust and build a partnership where you can make progress together.
If you don’t have such enthusiastic senior management, it’s still worth trying to appeal to their good nature, but if that fails then as mentioned, I think it’s best to appeal to their self interest. Pitch sustainability initiatives in commercial terms, as money saved, marketing value or improved productivity. Or focus on what it means to employees and how supporting sustainability initiatives will help attract and retain the best people. Just be careful not to accidentally encourage them to greenwash.
What climate targets should companies be setting? What types of targets are out there? How can employees drive target setting?
Sustainability targets can be confusing. Terms like carbon neutral and net zero are often not well understood, and frameworks like Science Based Targets can be hard to get your head around.
In a perfect world, all businesses would have zero net negative impact on the environment, immediately. That’s not just greenhouse gas emissions, but other impacts like water usage, deforestation, waste production, soil degradation etc. So in theory, “zero negative impact now” should be the goal for all businesses.
However, there is no company in the world that is close to achieving this. So what we need are targets to move us forward, toward better, as quickly as possible. The targets should be ambitious and have a target date that is close enough for us to feel the need to take action now. I don’t think we should be dogmatic, but pursue relentless forward progress in the knowledge that the perfect goal would be “zero negative impact now”. If a target motivates people to take radical action quickly, then it’s a good target.
Employees can help by voicing the need for ambitious targets and challenging targets to ensure that they are not just robust, but actually being actioned.
Using Metta as an example, we’re a small company and we‘re a fully remote team. How can we ensure that we will make a difference?
It’s true that a small number of large companies create a large proportion of the environmental impact globally, but it’s also true that the ecological crisis is the sum of all of our impacts. Most people are employed by small and medium sized businesses, so our collective impact is huge. Furthermore, when small businesses take positive action, it helps lead the way and encourage large businesses to follow their lead.
Let’s talk about ‘what’s in it for me’? What impact does being a sustainable / responsible business have on my bottom line? Can you talk to us about how being a sustainable business can actually save you money in the long run?
Yes, so there are a number of commercial benefits to consider. The most obvious is the potential to save money by reducing energy, water and material consumption, as well as the cost of waste disposal. Another benefit is that if you produce more energy efficient or eco-friendly products, this can be a selling feature for your customers, making your products more appealing and perhaps increasing their perceived value. Related to this is that showing that you are taking environmental issues seriously improves your brand image and makes you more trustworthy as an organisation, which can increase customer loyalty, word of mouth marketing and make you more appealing to your customers. Then there is the fact that getting ahead of the competition in reducing your environmental impact makes your organisation more resilient to future environmental regulations, helping mitigate risk ahead of time and providing you with a competitive advantage over less proactive competitors.
And then there are the employees. Every business needs talented, motivated people to remain competitive. Demonstrating that you are a company that cares about the environment but also about people, makes your business more appealing to potential employees and helps attract the best talent. Furthermore, it also contributes to the wellbeing and motivation of existing employees, helping retain staff for longer and contributing to them performing at their best.
Add all of these things together and it’s a pretty compelling business case.
If you’re relatively new to the space and want to improve your climate literacy, how do you do it? Even so ‘basic’ as definitions, how do you know what’s what and where do you find out?
I think some of the environmental NGO’s have good information as a starting point. For example WWF has good information and a personal carbon calculator tool. If you want to really get into detail, Extinction Rebellion’s guide to the facts of climate change is very thorough.
What industries are you personally especially excited about in terms of the progress in climate solutions, sustainability, etc. And which worries you the most?
I’m particularly excited about some of the transformations happening in the transport sector, including the electrification of road vehicles, boats and continuing electrification of railways. The exception to this is air travel, where there are some exciting initiatives but real world solutions seem a very long way away.
Other industries that worry me are agriculture, which despite some great initiatives in regenerative farming, broadly are moving more towards further industrialisation of techno-fixes, which when dealing with such large natural systems I believe is a highly misguided approach for the world to take.
And finally, my own industry, the digital sector, worries me greatly. Not just is our increasing reliance on digital technology resulting in huge energy consumption, but also vast amounts of electronic waste and most worrying of all, the effect of disconnecting us from the natural world around us and dulling our senses to the complexity of the ecosystems we depend on.
What can job seekers do to find companies that are leaders in clean tech when they’re looking for a job? Is there an overview of who is doing what in terms of their goals and their track records? Maybe we can talk about certifications here, too!
I think communities like ClimateAction.Tech are great places to find news and events relating to clean tech, which in turn leads to the companies taking action. Likewise, blogs and newsletters (like our Curiously Green newsletter) shine a light on who’s doing what in this field.
In terms of certifications, it’s important to look at the ones that are the most robust in order to avoid greenwash. The two I would recommend looking at are B Corp Certification, which although not perfect is arguably the most robust independent standard out there, and 1% for the Planet, as any company signed up to this is clearly committed to putting its money where its mouth is.
Whatever companies you come across, take a look to see if there is any depth to the environmental claims that they make, and whether they provide any evidence for their claims. As a general rule, organisations doing good things want to shout about them, so ask lots of questions and if they are forthcoming then it’s a good sign, and if they are cagey, that might tell you something.
Do you have any references as a new company starting out and looking to become more sustainable?
I would highly recommend using the B Impact Assessment tool (used for B Corp Certification) as a way of learning about your company’s social and environmental performance and a guide on how to improve. It’s free to use online.
Small99 is a really great place to get started on the journey of making a business more sustainable, especially for SME’s. And Business Declares have resources and events to support businesses looking to play an active role in solving the climate crisis.
And in terms of starting to calculate your business emissions, this can be very confusing but services like Inhabit can make the process a lot easier.
For more information about Metta and the work we do, head to our website. Check out our podcast Metta Talks to hear the latest about startups, innovation, and sustainability. The team is also on Twitter — reach out to us @mettatalks.
Want to learn more about Metta? Let’s talk 🗣
Heather Baden — heather@metta.partners | linkedin.com/in/heatherbaden
