How You Can Encourage Your Industry to Follow Your Sustinable Lead

Julie Starr • September 9, 2021



You may have already taken steps to make each department greener within your business, but the journey towards a more sustainable future does not start and finish at your company alone. If you want to make sustainable practices the norm, these practices must spread throughout your entire industry – and beyond. 

This is, of course, much easier said than achieved. You are only in control of your company . You do not have a stake in your competitors or even startups that want to offer an alternative to established corporations. While this can be a challenge, perhaps there are ways to make it a reality.  

Why Should It Be You? 

The big question is why should it be you ? Why of all people should your business be the one to lead the way, where others are perhaps more responsible for promoting unsustainable practices. 

The simple answer is that if not you, then who? You cannot rely on other businesses to take the lead when they might be satisfied doing things the way they always have done. If your brand has a passion for sustainability and an eco-friendly approach to running a business and providing a service, you should be the one to take the lead. 

There is the chance this will be met with some pushback, but this is something you should expect. You know by now that telling gets you nowhere. Instead, it is up to you to show how a sustainable approach to business is the best way to stay up to date with modern consumer trends and ensure your industry thrives. 

Show Them The Wider Benefits 

No one is expecting you to waltz into competitor offices and convince them that sustainability is the way forward. At best, they might humor you before asking you politely to leave. At worst, you may be kicked out before you have a chance to state your case. 

Instead, you must demonstrate the wider benefits of why sustainability is the only option for the next generation of business. One key factor that should prick up some ears and turn heads is how it can help attract young consumers . The current and future generation of customers wants to entertain businesses that emphasize eco-friendly practices, even if it means paying a little more. 

Give Them Alternatives

Changing your business operations will not happen in a day. It is unlikely to happen in a week. But, offering alternatives to businesses with your industry can make it easier for them to envision a future where sustainability is a top priority. 

Identifying popular locations to increase their companies’ scope or even working together to create co-working spaces that cut down on travel, electricity, and occupied office space may not seem possible right now, but it is something to consider for the future when making changes. 

Your competitors will not want you to come to them with mere problems. They want solutions as well. If you have these solutions, your argument will be much stronger. 

Set The Tone

It’s no secret that businesses study one another. This is not to steal ideas but rather to understand what you are doing and perhaps fund an alternative to get ahead of the competition. 

When focusing on sustainability, your business must set the tone, even if any industry please have fallen – for now – on deaf ears. Demonstrating that your sustainability pledge works will go a long way towards convincing the rest of your industry to make the changes that will benefit the planet and encourage healthy competition that will make everyone better. 

Offer Collaboration Opportunities 

Big brands often focus solely on themselves, and the idea of collaborative marketing is not something you see very often, at least not for companies in the same industry. 

However, sustainability is bigger than any competition, and failing to make beneficial changes will affect the entire industry. It can be challenging to shed the stigma that your industry is not dedicated to helping the planet. So, offering to work together to find sustainable solutions for everyday business operations will help everyone. It will show consumers that the entire industry is committed to updating their approach, shifting the opinion that allows your industry to thrive. 

Leading the Way 

The modern consumer, particularly the younger generation, will look for companies that share their views on sustainability. Therefore, you must take steps that encourage others to lead the way. Even industries that are set in their ways will soon see the benefit of sustainable emphasis, which will help normalize the idea of an eco-friendly industry for a brighter and healthier future.

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.

World Water Day 2025: How Beverage Brands Are Leading on Water—and Why Communicating It Matters

By Julie Starr • March 24, 2025
At Taiga Company, we work alongside brands who are not only doing the hard work of sustainability—but are learning how to talk about it in ways that connect with their stakeholders. This World Water Day , we’re reflecting on how leading beverage companies are advancing bold water stewardship goals and communicating those efforts clearly, thoughtfully, and strategically across digital platforms. Water is foundational to the beverage industry. From ingredient sourcing to packaging to community health, it’s a resource that demands attention—not just in terms of conservation, but in terms of how that commitment is shared with consumers, investors, regulators, and partners. Below, we’re highlighting three beverage companies whose recent water stewardship actions—and storytelling—stood out. PepsiCo: From Field to Community, Global Water Replenishment in Action PepsiCo launched 16 new water replenishment projects across nine countries in 2024 alone, restoring more than 1.7 billion liters of water to local ecosystems. These projects are practical and people-centered—ranging from irrigation efficiency in Texas to sustainable farming practices in the Dominican Republic. What stood out: clear project data, human-focused storytelling, and alignment with global frameworks. PepsiCo’s water webpage provides easy access to targets, progress updates, and case studies, helping stakeholders understand both the “why” and the “how.” Suntory Global Spirits: Water at the Heart of the Brand Suntory’s brands—from Maker’s Mark in Kentucky to Yamazaki in Japan—share a common origin: water. The company’s commitment to being net water positive by 2050 isn’t just a corporate goal—it’s integrated into brand storytelling, on-site conservation efforts, and supplier engagement. Their message is rooted in authenticity: water isn’t just an operational input, it’s an essential ingredient in their identity. Learn more on Suntory’s efforts via their LinkedIn post . Asahi Group Holdings: Building Local Water Resilience Together In the Netherlands, Asahi’s Koninklijke Grolsch partnered with stakeholders in the Twente region to develop a local water platform focused on reducing consumption and innovating wastewater reuse. This goes beyond operational efficiency—it’s about building water resilience within a shared ecosystem. Their community-first framing and long-term investment approach were key themes in this post . Why This Matters At Taiga Company, we believe that sustainability actions only go as far as their ability to be understood, felt, and trusted. Communicating water stewardship isn’t just about reporting metrics or sharing photos of wetlands (although both can help). It’s about giving stakeholders the context they need to see a company’s values in motion—clear commitments, thoughtful execution, and measurable impact.  If your team is evolving its water strategy—or simply looking for better ways to communicate what you're already doing—we’d love to be part of that conversation.
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