Why Big Businesses are Addicted to Going Green

In a perfect world, business owners would have to fill their bottom line with revenue from selling products. Unfortunately, in the real world sometimes going green is simply a smart move for a company’s bottom line.

  The problem with these types of companies is that often they do not actually want to go green—it doesn’t always maximize profits. They need another reason to adopt new practices and technologies, and that reason may be helping them get ahead of their competitors or helping them avoid lawsuits.   

         There are many great examples of how going green can be profitable for both companies and consumers:

         –   One such example starts out by taking a look at the GMO labelling battle. A U.S. law passed in 2016 requires food manufacturers to label products containing GMOs. However, the law provides wiggle room for companies to claim their product does not contain GMOs if it is subject to an approved petition process.  

         This allows companies like PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Nestle to avoid putting “contains GMOs” on their drinks until they are allowed to do so without fear of lawsuits. These three major beverage brands are currently involved in individually approved petitions that will allow them to omit the GMO labels once they reach the final government approval stages.  

             – Another great example of how businesses can go green and profit off of it is by producing energy. One successful company is Tesla Inc., which recently acquired SolarCity. The move gives Tesla access to the company’s solar panels as well as its installation capabilities, and it helps clear up manufacturing bottlenecks for Tesla’s “Powerwall” residential battery pack.   

         The production of these technologies not only contributes to the greater good by having a net-positive effect on the environment—it also helps increase revenue and ultimately makes their investors happy.  

         Going green is great for your business, but there are other factors that can motivate companies to adopt new practices or technologies: avoiding lawsuits, satisfying government regulations, or becoming more competitive. If going green doesn’t make sense from a bottom-line perspective, there are plenty of other incentives out there businesses can use if want to help go green.

  While a business’ overall bottom line is ultimately best served by maximizing profits, sometimes going green is a smart move. It not only benefits the environment and consumers of the products you produce but also helps protect your company from lawsuits or unfavourable government regulations—and can even help you boost profit margins.   

         If there isn’t an immediate financial benefit to going green for big businesses, then why are they doing it? In many cases it’s because of one or more of the following reasons: avoiding lawsuits, satisfying government regulations, boosting profit margins, or becoming more competitive. No matter what their motivation may be, going green can often make a great deal of sense for large companies who want to increase profits while helping out Mother Earth.