Have You Made Your Earth Month Plans Yet?
Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash
Earth Day is right around the corner, and EarthDay.org has already announced this year’s theme — Invest In Our Planet.
The organization is encouraging all individuals to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s also calling on individuals to urge businesses, governments, and their fellow citizens to work in partnership for the planet.
How can you, as a corporate social responsibility leader, assist in this movement?
Build new environmental initiatives: Studies show a correlation between sustainable business practices, share prices, and business performance. Research environmental initiatives that others in your industry have invested in and determine what will work best for your company.
Create employee volunteering opportunities: As part of Earth Month, we recommend offering in-person, virtual, and hybrid employee volunteering options. This will give your employees the ability to give back to the communities where they live, work, and play. Programs can be as simple as a beach, park, or river cleanups and as involved as starting a community garden. Virtual options could include assembling beehives or nesting boxes.
Highlight your past successes: Many companies have not realized yet how important their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) ratings are for their stakeholders. If you’ve made big strides in the last year, but haven’t yet announced them, provide a recap. It could be something as simple as a press release with a few well-placed quotes or a video placed on your website and shared via newsletters and social media.
Determine frameworks to measure your results: Although measuring environmental impact is much easier than looking at the results of your “social” or “governance” work, it’s still important to ensure that you’re using best practices. Consider deepening your knowledge of existing frameworks to ensure that you’re benchmarking and establishing KPIs correctly and, moreover, that you know how you'll be measuring and when you'll be reporting your results going forward. As you grow your CSR initiatives, you'll want to make sure all of your stakeholders understand when they can expect to see your accurate, transparent reporting.
Not ready to gather in person or need help with another part of your social impact work? We can host virtual or hybrid volunteer events, assist in developing your ESG strategy, and teach you to measure your results. Set up a free consultation.