Let’s aim for climate-positive rather than simply carbon neutral.
Having worked closely with the Carbon Trust on improving their digital campaigns during the past year, the teams at Novi have grown familiar with the industry, and now we are looking specifically for businesses to work alongside in the sustainability space.
Last year, I attended a number of events relating to Climate Change, including the Purpose Disruptors event focused on how Agencies can make a difference in reducing unnecessary consumer purchases. An example included how, instead of working with businesses to sell new products, they could focus on working with businesses that upcycle and/or recycle products to make new ones.
In short, the aim for reduction isn’t sufficient to achieve carbon neutrality; we need to do more and actually focus on removing carbon rather than simply getting it to a “stable” level.
Who do we want to work with?
We want to work with businesses that have solutions to replace gas and oil, plastics, and environmentally damaging outputs. All of this is an effort to help grow and promote carbon-neutral and carbon-positive businesses using our digital marketing service while helping to diminish the market share of those who damage the environment.
How can novi.digital help?
From my perspective and as research has shown (here and here), UK businesses are struggling to adopt the approaches quickly enough. The rate of change is faster than adoption, and in tandem, the global carbon emissions are worsening faster than we are able to reduce them. This is exactly why we want to use digital marketing to grow these businesses and help make them much more autonomous, efficient, and productive in terms of what they are achieving.
As a low-carbon-footprint business ourselves, we practise what we preach.
It is not just a case of working with solely eco- and sustainability-driven clients, but we are also strongly encouraging our clients, partners, suppliers, and contacts to use businesses like the Carbon Trust to reduce their carbon footprint. We have always promoted our clients in more ways than simply digital marketing, such as referring one client to another to increase effectiveness by way of partnering and achieving collective thinking.
As a business, we are also very strict about the businesses we won’t work with, proactively avoiding clients that work in adult content, plastics, vaping/cigarettes, and fossil fuels, to name but a few. This aligns closely with our overriding moral compass.
With sustainability being one of our 6 core values, it is especially close to our hearts. But sustainability doesn’t stop at eco and environmental improvements; sustainability, in our eyes, involves the sustainability of people and the sustainability of the business in terms of profits and cash flow. Sustainable businesses need to make a profit in order to make the business sustainable in and of itself, as well as have satisfied employees who are not just dedicating their time for free, but are actually doing better because they are choosing to work for a successful sustainable company.
What is Novi doing?
As a business, we focus on being carbon neutral by taking steps such as video conferencing instead of travelling long distances, using e-signatures instead of printing, and only producing branded merchandise that is eco-friendly, such as multi-use cotton shopping bags or refillable water bottles. We don’t use business cards and haven’t done so for many years. People are slowly getting used to not being handed a business card; instead, we connect with them on LinkedIn. Initially, there was a reluctance from clients to adopt video conferencing, but we are getting there, step by step. In addition to this, we also encourage our employees to work remotely, providing up to four days per month, thus reducing emissions when travelling.
You might be asking, “What’s in it for my business?”
If a business can show that it is adopting sustainability measures, then we are able to offer discounts and incentives on our SEO and PPC services. We are opening this up to any business, not just those that provide eco, environmental and sustainable products or services, but any business that shows that it is taking steps to improve and reduce its carbon footprint.
What can I do to help?
Please help us share this message with the hashtag #sustainablemarketing2020. We are also looking for partners who can help us achieve this goal.