Why is sustainable behaviour change important in the workplace?

To limit the environmental damage of the climate emergency, governments across the world are creating carbon reduction initiatives and net zero policies that could impact organisations. Some organisations, such as Oatly, have their sustainability values and carbon emission data readily available for consumers to see, thanks to development and feedback from staff at every level.

According to The Energy Research Partnership, the UK’s net zero target could be missed without a substantial and sustainable change in public and corporate behaviour. Achieving net zero largely depends on convincing people to adopt more sustainable behaviours and habits.

As businesses are responsible for about 18% of the UK’s carbon emissions, solutions that can significantly reduce their environmental impacts from office and fleet operations, as well as inspire sustainable change in their workforce, are needed. These kinds of changes can have a positive impact in helping the wider business to achieve sustainability targets, and increase energy efficiency in employee homes. Around 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions are currently accounted for by household energy use, which also needs to be reduced to meet the net zero target.

How can corporate sustainability impact behaviour change?

Ethical consumers and employees are keen to implement ways to live more sustainably. Creating a long-term strategy implementing both ethical and environmentally friendly targets will help your organisation in achieving a greener future.

There are a few things you should consider for your corporate sustainability plans.

Effectiveness

Whilst it may sound daunting to develop an effective corporate sustainability strategy considering carbon measurements, stakeholder engagement, achievable yet ambitious targets and constant revision, it is important to get it right.

Employee engagement

A core part of your strategy should be to get your staff on board with your sustainability goals. This needs to be a priority, as driving behavioural change on an organisational level may increase employee retention rate and help to develop new initiatives for energy efficiency.

Planning for the future

The UK’s 2050 net zero target isn’t the only one you should be thinking about. The sooner your company can achieve net zero, the better. Especially with increasingly common new green policies from governments.

Transparency

Better informing stakeholders and customers of your organisation’s environmental goals to reduce carbon emissions and increase efficiency could help get them on board and encourage personal changes to their own sustainable behaviours.

Corporate sustainability should be part of everything your organisation does, and not just a tick box exercise. Changing your organisation’s behaviour at every level, enabling more sustainable lifestyles for your employees inside and outside of work, can get them to really think about the bigger picture. This can influence your future policies, product development and infrastructure in supporting your organisation’s role in the green recovery.

Creating a sustainable behaviour culture may also help to influence ethical consumers searching for products or services from businesses that align with their own values. As consumers look for more sustainable options, major consumer brands such as Unilever are looking to introduce carbon footprint labels that describe the greenhouse gases emitted as a by-product of the product's lifecycle, from sourcing raw materials to disposal.

Committing to cracking down on emissions and being transparent in your communications about it could positively influence the rate of ethical purchases even further.

What are the best ways to inspire behaviour change?

Once your organisation’s sustainability strategy is outlined, you should get your employees on board. Different messages resonate with different people, so it’s important to know your audience and incorporate multiple ways for them to get involved.

Great ways to do this could be through creating sustainable policies like flexible working to reduce long commutes, promoting energy efficiency with your internal communications and training, and asking them to think about their own work practices to bring forward their ideas.

You could also:

• hold workshops and meetings to introduce your sustainability goals and focus on the wider personal and economic benefits to reducing carbon emissions
• set up a sustainability group or energy champion to motivate staff and create a mutual goal to work towards being more energy efficient
• involve your teams in themed national causes like Earth Hour or Earth Day, providing them with the resources and prompts to encourage them in forming sustainable habits.

It can take from 18 to 254 days to form a new habit, according to Healthline. Some habits are easier to form than others for different people. Whilst there is no one-size-fits-all solution, your employees are more likely to achieve a positive outcome with sustainability habits with your support and encouragement.

More sustainability advice

If you’re looking for more advice on sustainable behaviour in the workplace, you can visit Energy Saving Trust’s blog.