How Your Brand Can Support Eco-Friendly Practices

Julie Starr • March 4, 2021



We all enjoy things in our life that make our life easier. The things that we buy, and the things that we do in business, all aim to make our life, or the lives of others, easier. However, when we look for things online, we can get them delivered to us quickly, but they can tend to be bundled up in a lot of plastic packaging, styrofoam, and other wasteful materials. 

The good news is that recently there has been a big switch in this. Retailers and consumers are much more aware of what they are buying and they do look for stores that are sustainable and do use materials and practices that are more ethical. For an eCommerce business , some of the things that make a business like this so convenient is what is now seen as problematic. So what can you do to have a more sustainable online business? Here are some things for your business to be thinking about. It can reduce the footprint of your business and hopefully get you new customers as a result.

Update your brand ethos

Your ethos is what customers can look at to see what you are like as a brand and what you hold and value. This is something that can be important to be taken seriously in the sea of online businesses, as well as showcasing your efforts to be more sustainable . As an online business, the ethos that your brand has is something that should be reflected across what you do, through your website and social channels. 

Sustainable shipping

There is a demand for fast shipping, but that also doesn’t impact the environment. The volume of items that are shipped all around the world is high, so you need to think about the kind of impact your online shop has. There are a number of many ways to reduce the impact that your shipping has, such as using plastic-free or 100% recyclable packaging, as well as having invoicing that is paperless, and using less ink on printing labels. Even the sortation of the warehouse or storage that you use can play a part in the shipping and packing process, so that needs to be assessed too, to look for ways that it could be improved. Try to discourage returns as well, because this can increase the amount of shipping that occurs.

Reduce energy waste

Sustainability is something that goes above and beyond just a shipping policy or making sure that your social media channels state how green your business is. By making some simple changes to the business, such as turning off machines or equipment when they aren’t being used, choosing LED lighting, reducing the office or warehouse temperature slightly, and recycling at work, can all be ways to improve the impact that your online business has. 

When you are serious about being sustainable, then it will show across your whole business. It won’t happen by accident, though, which is why making a plan for change starts now. 

 

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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