Organic, Ecological, Fair, Social is what Green Branding and Sustainable Corporate Management really mean.

Meanwhile, you can find more and more organic products on the shelves and in the freezers of your supermarket. That’s why companies tend to emphasize that their goods are fairly traded and use their websites to focus on their health protection measures, their environmental management system or their ethical compass.

Nowadays, investors, customers and employees increasingly judge companies on the basis of their sustainable behaviour. The combination of sustainability and corporate value is gaining in relevance, with sustainability performance becoming a decisive competitive factor.

But what exactly makes corporate management sustainable? And when do you call a brand green?

Corporate Social Responsibility or Triple Bottom Line

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the international synonym for sustainable corporate management. However, this does not automatically include all social actions of a company, such as cultural and sporting events, donations/sponsoring and voluntary commitment or the establishment of a compliance complaints office. CSR is made up of ecological responsibility, social responsibility and economic responsibility. The triple bottom line approach describes sustainability as a permanent balance between economic, ecological and social performance. Thus, those who want to act sustainably must strike a balance between the following areas of responsibility:

Ecological responsibility

Reduction of resource and energy consumption, avoidance of pollution, development of eco- friendly technologies (e.g. recycling, purchase of organic and/or regional products, ecological product design developed to have a long life cycle and nature-oriented design of open spaces).

Social responsibility

Protection of employees' interests, no exploitation, no child labour (including fostering diversity and equal opportunities, health protection, equal pay, social benefits, training/education and employee participation).

Economic responsibility

Long-term profitability and market success, ensuring solvency, tax payments and local sourcing.

Sustainable corporate management is a mindset

Corporate social responsibility does not only include efforts to do business in a socially fair and eco-friendly manner. Sustainable corporate action is a holistic way of thinking that affects all areas of the company as well as the entire value chain and therefore fundamentally contributes to all corporate decisions. To put it in a nutshell, it is not about how to use the profits, but about the way in which the profits are to be generated.

Green branding reaches deep into a company’s DNA

Companies that want to effectively anchor and implement sustainability and green branding must get active and take tangible measures:

• Look critically at all resources and examine possibilities for improvement.

• Not only avoid environmental damage and save resources, but set ambitious goals and regenerate them actively.

• Implement sustainability in all company areas, including the core business.

• Promote appropriate competence among their employees, because they must be empowered to understand and integrate sustainable thinking into their daily work.

• Develop a concrete sustainability strategy for clear orientation and permanent anchoring in their

company.

• Transparency and communication, which means to communicate progress, goals and areas needing improvement. Green brands must be able to provide complete information about all areas of the value chain.

• Corporate culture means that sustainability must be lived by everyone on a daily basis and become part of each individual's personal goals for the company.

Sustainability and green branding change the entire corporate culture and thus have a strong influence on the overall strategy as well as on the values of a company.