Common Sustainability Mistakes Companies Make

Julie Starr • May 26, 2021



It’s no secret that companies need to focus their energy on ensuring that their practices are sustainable. We all need to do our part if we’re going to stand any chance of avoiding climate change catastrophe, and that includes both at a personal and corporate level. Companies that do work to improve their environmental record won’t just be doing the right thing, either — they’ll also be more likely to win over customers. The public is increasingly opting to give their money to businesses that show a wider moral conscience, especially younger customers.

Of course, sheer will won’t make your company more sustainable. You need to work on making it so. During the process, you’ll want to avoid some of the common mistakes that many companies make when they’re transitioning to more eco-friendly practices. We take a look at some of the most common errors below.

Token Gestures 

If you’re going to transition to become an environmentally friendly business, then it’s important that you’re doing more than just token gestures. Recycling your paper is important, but it won’t get to the heart of the problem. It’s best to look at making large changes that’ll have an impact 5, 10 years down the line. The world is going to move towards being more environmentally friendly, not less. If you’re just doing the bare minimum, then you’ll always be playing catch up, so look at dedicating time, energy, and money to getting things right at the first time of asking.

Where They Work

It’s not just the working practices that impact a company’s environmental record. The stuff around those practices has an impact, too. For example, let’s take the building . A company could enact plenty of eco-friendly aspects into their day-to-day operations, but if they’re working in a building that is decidedly bad for the environment, then the effects of their efforts will be minimal. The extent to how much you can impact the eco-qualities of your building will depend on whether you own or rent the building, but there’s always something that you can do.

Outdated Appliances 

As well as the building, it’s worthwhile looking at your company’s infrastructure. They might not be as good for the environment as they could be. If you haven’t updated your printer, lights, and other hardware in some time, then it’s possible that they’re energy-drainers. Investing in newer models won’t only be good for the planet, but they’ll likely save you money. These things do require a greater upfront investment, but they end up paying for themselves, as well as bringing other benefits to your company.

Sustainable Communication

There’s always a way to do things in a manner that benefits the planet. Take how you communicate with your customers. If you’re sending out paper marketing, or they need to visit you in person every time they have an issue, then you’ll be using up more resources than are necessary. Instead, look at doing things in a smarter way. In the digital age, there’s no reason for companies to send out printed materials. How your customers communicate with you can also change. Rather than asking the public to visit them in person, companies should offer digital communication methods. Looking to add chat to your website or having a customer service telephone number will reduce your carbon footprint while still ensuring that the customer experience remains positive. It’s what all the big companies are doing.

Lack of Investment 

You have to spend money to make money. It’s true that not all environmental changes will come free, or cheap. Sometimes, the changes that you have to make will come at what seems like a considerable cost. However, it’s worthwhile paying the price — for starters, those changes will last for many years. Second, it’s an investment . They’ll pay for themselves eventually. Plus, in an age when companies that don’t show a concern for the environment will be left behind, not making the investment could prove to be a big error later on down the line.

Conducting a Full Analysis 

You can’t figure out where you need to go until you know where you are. It’s worthwhile looking at your current setup and identifying where you’re currently acting in an unsustainable way. Everyone knows the basics of switching to an environmentally friendly operation. However, while there are things that all companies can do, it’s important to remember that each business is different. If you can perform a thorough review of current practices, you might just discover that you have one or two issues that are causing more damage than you realized. 

Trying To Do Everything Themselves

It can pay to bring outsiders in. After all, you don’t have all the skills needed to run your business. Indeed, your expertise will lie in the products or services that you offer. Other things, such as marketing and legal and the rest, will require help from elsewhere. This principle can apply to your environmental practices, too. There are companies and individuals out there that can provide a more detailed analysis of what you should change than you can. In an age when it’s easier than ever to outsource work, there’s no reason to do everything all by yourself.

Only Showing Concern For The Environment Through Marketing

By far the greatest danger — to the environment and the company’s reputation — is to focus on greenwashing your company . It’s easy to incorporate earth-friendly rhetoric into your marketing materials, but if you’re only paying lip service to the environment, then eventually, it’ll backfire. The world is shifting to greener policies, and in a few years, the businesses that didn’t take it seriously will be left behind. Plus, let’s not forget that customers aren’t stupid. They can see through companies that are just saying what they think the public wants to hear. So make sure that your earth-friendly operations run through all that you do, rather than just being something that you say to curry favor with consumers.

Eco Supply Chain 

You’re not running your company in isolation. You’ll have suppliers, partners, and so on. So it’s worthwhile looking at the eco-credentials of the other companies that you work with. While you might have good practices at your company, if you’re hiring companies with a less than stellar environmental record, then that’ll fall on you, too. Plus, the world will only change if people and companies stop giving their money to businesses that cause harm to the environment. Have the same standards for the companies you hire as you do for your own company. 

Not Taking the Employee’s Views on Board 

The environmental policies that you enact at your company should come from the bottom up, not the top down. Part of the logic behind this is because eco-friendly policies must run through everything you do, rather than just at the top level of your operations. The other reason is that you’ll be more likely to miss something if you focus at the top. A good way to get around this common mistake is to take your employees’ views on board. They’ll likely know where things could be improved, simply because they’re working on the “shop floor” every day. If all the decisions are made at an executive level, then something will be overlooked. This is a generally good rule for all decisions related to your company, not just ones related to the environment.

Overly Ambitious Goals 

It’s good to be driven by passion when it comes to making improvements to your business. But if you’ve never thought about your company’s environmental record before, then it’s a good idea to start slow. While it’s noble to want to change everything and to become a champion of the environment, if you have overly ambitious goals, then it’ll be more likely that you’ll lose focus. Get the basics under control and then you can think about stepping up and doing more. If you are going to set ambitious goals, then be sure to make your plans as detailed as possible, with realistic time frames in mind.

Getting Stuck 

Finally, let’s think about your ongoing commitment to the environment. It’s good to start with the basics, but that shouldn’t be the end of your journey. There are new eco-friendly practices coming out all the time. Indeed, in the space of a couple of years, there’ll be new ways of doing things. Once you’ve finished your current transition to earth-friendly practices, keep on top of what new developments are coming out and other ways that you can improve. You could consider creating an environment officer role at your business; it’ll be their job to stay abreast of developments. It’s all about developing in line with new ways of doing things. 

Conclusion

It’s up to all of us to do better for the planet. Take our tips above, and it won’t be long before you can feel like you’re playing your role. In an age when concern for the climate is becoming more mainstream and important than ever, now’s the perfect time to look at improving your business. 

Earth Day is a Moment. Sustainability is a Journey.

By Julie Starr • April 7, 2025
Every April 22nd, Earth Day reminds us of our shared responsibility to care for the planet. It’s a powerful moment for reflection, recognition, and renewed commitment to environmental stewardship. But for companies like Taiga, Earth Day is not just a day—it's a checkpoint in a journey that spans all 365 days of the year. Beyond the Day: The Power of Year-Round Storytelling While Earth Day is an excellent opportunity to spotlight your company's environmental efforts, the true impact lies in consistent, transparent communication about your sustainability strategy. Customers, investors, employees, and partners are increasingly interested in how companies plan, act, and improve over time. To build trust and inspire action, companies should: Share clear targets: What are your goals for emissions reduction, circularity, or biodiversity? Make them specific and time-bound. Report results honestly: Celebrate wins and be candid about setbacks. Progress, not perfection, is the story. Connect efforts to impact: Highlight how your initiatives benefit ecosystems, communities, or supply chains. Leveraging Earth Day as a Strategic Moment Think of Earth Day as a milestone that anchors your broader communications. Some ideas: Launch or preview new initiatives that reinforce your long-term strategy. Tell human stories: Showcase employees, community members, or suppliers contributing to sustainability. Host interactive events: Webinars, volunteer days, or innovation showcases invite people into the journey. Publish a sustainability snapshot: A visual, engaging recap of the past year's progress. Engaging Stakeholders Year-Round To keep the momentum going beyond April: Create a sustainability content calendar to share updates, behind-the-scenes looks, and educational content. Invite feedback: Use surveys or listening sessions to understand stakeholder priorities and ideas. Collaborate: Partner with NGOs, academics, or startups aligned with your mission. Recognize champions: Celebrate employees and partners who go above and beyond. Bringing It Together: A Continuous Narrative Earth Day is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness, but lasting impact comes from building a continuous narrative. At Taiga, we see sustainability not as a series of campaigns but as a shared journey with our stakeholders . When we connect the dots between moments like Earth Day and the year-round work behind the scenes, we not only deepen engagement—we accelerate change. So this Earth Day, let’s celebrate progress and recommit to transparency, collaboration, and bold action. The planet needs more than promises. It needs a plan. And it needs all of us.

Greener Clicks: How to Reduce Your Environmental Impact with Sustainable Digital Marketing

By Julie Starr • March 31, 2025
In the race to decarbonize our world, one area often overlooked is digital marketing. While it might seem inherently clean compared to print or physical campaigns, our online activities have a real and measurable environmental footprint. From servers powering your website to emails filling up inboxes, every click, stream, and scroll contributes to carbon emissions. At Taiga Company, we believe digital strategies can be powerful and low-impact. Here’s how to get started. Optimize for a Low-Carbon Web Why it matters: Websites and digital ads are hosted on servers that consume electricity, often powered by fossil fuels. Every time a user loads your site or ad, it uses energy. How to reduce your impact: Host green: Choose web hosts that use renewable energy or offset emissions. Clean up your code: Streamlined, efficient code reduces load times and energy use. Compress and reduce images: Smaller files mean faster pages and fewer emissions. Limit heavy media: Videos and animations are carbon-intensive; use them mindfully. A faster, leaner website isn’t just better for the planet—it also boosts SEO and user experience. Email Marketing with Intention Why it matters: Every email sent, received, and stored requires energy. Multiply that by millions of sends, and the impact adds up. How to reduce your impact: Clean your lists: Remove inactive subscribers to avoid waste. Segment wisely: Only send emails to those who will truly benefit. Use plain-text when possible: It’s lower in data and often more accessible. Reduce frequency: Send fewer, higher-quality emails with genuine value. Intentional emailing reduces not only emissions but also improves deliverability and engagement. Sustainable SEO and Content Strategy Why it matters: Search engines crawl, index, and serve up billions of web pages daily. Thoughtless content and bloated sites add to the load. How to reduce your impact: Create evergreen content: Focus on high-quality pages that stay relevant longer. Streamline your site structure: Fewer clicks to find content = less energy use. Use minimal plugins and scripts: Especially ones that load on every page. Green your CMS: Some content management systems are more resource-efficient than others. Sustainable SEO isn’t just eco-friendly—it’s good strategy. Fewer, better pieces often perform better than content mills. Rethink Marketing Automation Why it matters: Automated emails, ads, and data syncing can create a lot of digital clutter. That clutter eats up storage and energy. How to reduce your impact: Audit regularly: Retire old workflows and outdated automations. Optimize syncing: Reduce how often and how much data is transferred. Segment with purpose: Better targeting means fewer wasted sends. Use expiration dates: Don’t let outdated content or assets live forever. Efficient automation can reduce emissions and improve performance. Digital marketing isn’t going away—and it shouldn’t. It offers powerful tools for connection, education, and growth. But like all tools, it can be used more sustainably. At Taiga Company, we’re committed to helping organizations lower their environmental impact without sacrificing reach or results. Sustainable digital marketing is not only possible; it’s essential. Ready to make your marketing aligned with your company's corporate sustainability plan? Let’s start the conversation.
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