Be More Green: embedding a green innovation culture

A key theme that emerged from the Be More Green campaign, was the importance of embedding a green innovation culture into businesses wanting to make real progress on their decarbonisation journey.

In this roundtable the CBI asked businesses who are leading the way how they have successfully built and embedded this culture into their firm. Find out what they said.

1. Innovation is fundamental to becoming more sustainable

Many of the businesses in the room are prioritising innovation because they realise that, without it, driving sustainability is simply not possible. They also recognise that it is unrealistic to expect significant change without a strong cultural commitment to innovation within a business – to drive new ideas and problem-solving, as well as adoption of existing technologies.

The commitment to green innovation must be embedded throughout a project or throughout the development of new products and processes. As Design Council’s Chief Executive Minnie Moll underlined at the conference workshop, 80% of the environmental impact of a product is determined at the design stage.

Embedding a green innovation culture into a business’ DNA isn’t straightforward, and for some businesses it will require significant change.

2. Commit to ESG in full

Businesses highlighted the importance of considering green commitments alongside strong social and governance practices (ESG), rather than in insolation. Many green innovation initiatives can have benefits for local communities and supply chains as well as the environment, and vice versa.

Businesses should look at their sustainability holistically, taking into account environmental and social impacts, for example when considering the raw materials being used in the generation of renewable energy, accounting for approaches to modern slavery, or their sourcing of local ingredients for their staff canteen.

3. There isn’t a single approach to embedding a green innovation culture

A green innovation culture can be set from the top…

Businesses that have successfully embedded sustainability into their cultures often tie commitment and progress to senior leadership team targets and compensation. Boardrooms need someone who understands ESG and who is willing to lead the business in a new way of working. And someone can champion and articulate the vision to align brand, customers, supply chain and logistics behind the vision. For some businesses it works best to establish a dedicated role, such as a Chief Sustainability Officer, while others seek a champion from their existing senior team.  

…It can also be driven bottom-up…

Businesses in the room discussed initiatives such as:

• Innovation portals for colleagues from across the company to submit new ideas to progress the sustainability agenda
• Employee rewards schemes that convert into trees planted
• One business had changed their default search engine to one that plants trees with every search
• Lunchtime innovation labs
• Lunch and learns on decarbonising supply chains.

…and can be championed through collaboration

Businesses are also considering the impact they can have working with other businesses in their supply chains: both learning from those further along the journey, as well as sharing their experiences with businesses who are earlier on.

Working with smaller, younger innovators can help to build solutions for the future and inject an element of disruptive thinking into established business, inspiring them to solve challenges. Smaller businesses can also benefit from the reach and resource of larger businesses to scale their ideas.

Decarbonisation and sustainability are objectives shared by all, so why not work together where we can?

4. Building a green innovation culture attracts talent

Businesses in the room that are already working to embed green innovation cultures reported experiencing benefits they hadn’t anticipated. The experience is increasingly that businesses with strong ESG agendas are more likely to be invested in, bought from and worked for.

Businesses told us that candidates and new employees increasingly expect them to be authentic about their green credentials and progress. Being open and transparent about their journeys is supporting businesses to attract and retain talent.

5. Bring people on the journey

Three pieces of advice that businesses would give to others starting to think about how they embed a green innovation culture are:

• Don’t use jargon. Green innovation needs to be digestible for the whole organisation, from the Board to your newest employee
• Take advantage of ‘low hanging fruit’ opportunities for green innovation, to demonstrate value and impact and build buy-in early
• Ensure your senior team, including CFO and COO, are on board by building and using financial arguments for sustainability and innovation.