Course 1: Greening Your Company 101

Welcome to the course! Please go through the content below

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction to Green

All around the world, humanity is embarking on an ambitious green transition to reduce our environmentally damaging practices and to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Countries, industries, and even communities are shaping their own localised approaches to the green transition based on their respective opportunities and needs.

Within this global green transition, there is a key role for businesses to play.

In fact, the imperative to better protect our planet presents myriad new market opportunities, backed by significant public and private investments. In the Middle East and North Africa, for example, the issuance of green, social, sustainable, and sustainable-linked bonds (GSSSB) reached over 19 billion USD by the end of 2023 (S&P Global), with GSSSB accounting for nearly 30% of the bonds issued in the region. National governments are also investing heavily in sectors such as renewable energy and natural resource management. For example, Egypt aims to generate 42% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2035 and is investing heavily in solar energy installations. Morocco meanwhile aims produce over half of its primary energy from renewable sources by 2030; no small feat given that the country’s energy needs are expected to triple during this period.

Alongside this significant investment, there is also great need for sustainable, market-driven solutions to respond to the challenges posed by climate change. According to the World Resources Institute, the MENA region is the most water-stressed region globally: A challenge further exacerbated by the negative impacts of climate change. In parallel, food insecurity remains an entrenched problem in the region and is expected to rise due to the combination of continued regional conflicts, the aftermath of the COVID19 pandemic, and political instability.

In summary, the challenges are great, but so is the opportunity for businesses to usher in a brighter tomorrow and reverse many troubling trends.

But where to start? In the MENA region, the green transition is presenting myriad opportunities in sectors such as:

  • Renewable Energy Development & Distribution: Renewable energy involves harnessing natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, and water—to generate electricity or heat. Renewable energy provides a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, thus reducing carbon emissions and contributing to localised climate adaptation. Examples include solar panels which harness sunlight to produce electricity, wind turbines that convert wind energy into power, and hydroelectric plants that use flowing water to generate energy.
  • Resource Efficiency Solutions: Resource efficiency solutions focus on reducing the amount of resources—typically electricity, gas, or water—required to perform a task or service. Increased efficiency typically lowers costs for consumers and reduces pollution, as less energy is needed to perform the same respective task or service as before. Examples of resource efficiency solutions include the installation of LED lighting systems that use less energy than traditional electric bulbs, IOT-based water management systems that track and optimise water usage, and smart thermostats that adjust heating and cooling based on occupancy.
  • Sustainable Agriculture: Sustainable agriculture aims to produce food in ways that are environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socially responsible, often using techniques that simultaneously conserve resources and reduce negative environmental impact. Examples include vertical farming which grows crops in stacked layers to save space, utilising techniques such as permaculture, and organic farming that avoids synthetic pesticides and fertilisers.
  • Water Management: Water management typically involves the efficient use, conservation, and treatment of water resources to ensure the sustainable provision of safe water to populations. Water management solutions often address scarcity and accessibility (including affordability) of potable water. Examples of water management solutions include advanced water treatment technologies that purify wastewater for reuse, desalination plants that convert seawater into potable water, and systems for capturing and recycling rainwater.
  • Waste Management: Waste management involves the collection, treatment, and disposal of waste materials in ways that minimise environmental impact and promote resource recovery, including often valorising waste as a key input or resource, as opposed to something which can only be discarded. Examples include recycling programs that process materials like paper, glass, and metals into reusable products, waste-to-energy facilities that convert waste into electricity or heat, and composting systems that turn organic waste into valuable fertiliser.
  • Green Construction & Real Estate Development: Green construction uses eco-friendly building materials/techniques during the building process as well as incorporates elements to reduce the building’s negative impact on the environment over the course of the building’s lifetime Examples include using recycled or low-impact construction materials including low-impact insulation that reduces heat loss and incorporating energy-efficient windows into buildings that minimise heating and cooling needs.
  • Ecotourism: Sustainable or “slow” tourism promotes travel and leisure activities that have a minimal or even regenerative impact on the environment, often with the aim to benefit local communities. Examples include ecolodges which offer locally based activities, support for environmental conservation efforts, and opportunities to meaningfully engage with surrounding communities in cultural or social activities.
  • Green Finance: Green finance refers to financial investments and services that support environmental sustainability and the transition to a low-carbon economy. Examples include green bonds used to fund renewable energy projects, sustainable investment funds that focus on environmentally responsible companies, and financial products that incentivise energy efficiency improvements.

In addition to market opportunities, companies are being called upon to support the green transition by significantly reducing the negative impact of their operations, their products, and their services on the environment, which will be covered in greater detail in the next section.

But before you dive in this course, we would like to hear your opinion:

Course Objectives:

  • Comprehend the basic idea behind making a company “greener”
  • Develop the capacity to articulate the advantages of “green” for SMEs

Structure:

  • Chapter 1: Course introduction
  • Chapter 2: Introduction to key “green” concepts
  • Chapter 3: Exploration of different “pathways to green” for businesses (SMEs)
  • Chapter 4: Identifying specific pathway(s) for your company

Course length: 30 minutes (required content), up to 1 hour including optional materials

Why Should Companies Devote Close Attention to the Green Transition?

At the start of the course, we explored trends and opportunities related to the ongoing global green transition. But before we start, we would like to briefly refresh your memory:

INSERT FORM

In this section, we will begin by exploring the specific advantages to being a “green” company or making your existing company “greener”.

So why exactly should businesses engage with the green transition and global trends around reducing business’ negative impact on the environment?

When your company takes steps to reduce its harmful effects on the environment directly, or to provide solutions to others to do the same, you may:

+VIDEO: (Intro sentence) In this video, 4 diverse professionals discuss how becoming a greener company can lead to: 1) accessing financing; 2) discovering new business opportunities; 3) building a positive reputation or brand; and 4) improving employee satisfaction and retention.

Video 1: Advantages of Being Green

 

Chapter 2: Introduction to Key Concepts

In the previous section, we explored the advantages of “going green” for businesses. In this section, you will be introduced to the definitions of “green” and “greener” with respect to businesses, products, services, and market solutions.

The concept of green falls under the broader concept of sustainability. Sustainability represents an ambition to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Source: The Sustainable Development Agenda, United Nations). If we take the concept of sustainability one step further, the UN Sustainable Development Goals define sustainability as built around three core, interconnected elements: financial stability, inclusion, and environmental protection.

Within the concept of sustainability, “green” more narrowly focuses on reducing the negative impact of human activities on the environment, including business activities.

Green Company:

  • A “green” company is a business whose practices and policies are designed to significantly reduce the company’s negative environmental impact. Green companies often establish and prioritise sustainable operations within their company, such as using renewable energy, reducing waste, or offering eco-friendly products or services. They may also work towards increasing the sustainability of their supply or value chain.
  • The term green company also suggests a certain level of commitment to the environment, indicating that the company takes proactive steps to minimise its ecological footprint.
  • Being labelled as a green company can also be based on meeting certain industry standards or certifications which verify the sustainability of the company’s practices, such as LEED for building standards, BCorp certification for overall high standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability, or ISO 14001 for environmental management systems.

VIDEO 2

ILLUSTRATION

Greener Company:

  • A “greener” company suggests that the company is more environmentally conscious or has taken further steps towards sustainability than similar companies OR than this company previously had done in the past.
  • The term “greener” is relative and often used in comparison, indicating that while the company might not be the greenest of its peers, or completely sustainable, it is making continuous efforts to improve and outperform current or competitors’ practices.
  • This term acknowledges an ongoing process of becoming more sustainable (which is almost impossible to achieve in its entirety), suggesting continual improvement rather than a fixed status.

 VIDEO 3

Green Products or Services

  • A “green” product or service is designed, manufactured, and/or used in a way that minimises its negative impact on the environment throughout its entire life cycle, from the start.
  • Although the end goal is focused on the specific product or service itself, as opposed to the product or service’s green impact, these products or services are explicitly conceptualised, designed, and deployed with the aim to conserve finite resources, reduce or eliminate pollution, and/or minimise negative environmental impacts They may also meet a specific standard or certification.
  • Green products and services differ from green solutions (see subsequent section) in that that they are designed from the start with the aim of reducing their negative environmental impact, as opposed to being a tool or means for making a company’s operations, and/or its existing products or services green or greener. In other words, these products and services aim to meet a specific market need or consumer preference in an environmentally friendly way.
  • For example, green products and services include: Products made from recycled materials, products made from long-lasting or easily recycled materials, energy efficient appliances, transportation companies providing electric or hybrid vehicles, ecotourism, green cleaning products, green building materials, etc.

 

Greener Products or Services

A “greener” product or service suggests that the company is taking efforts to make its existing product(s) or service(s) more environmentally friendly than it had been in the past.

The term “greener” is relative and often used in comparison, indicating that while the offered product or service might not be the greenest or completely sustainable, it may be greener than before, or greener than competitors’ products or services.

The term “greener” also acknowledges an ongoing process of becoming more sustainable, suggesting continual improvement rather than a fixed status.

One example of making a product greener would be a textile company which transitions to using low-impact, non-toxic dyes that reduce water pollution, thus ultimately producing its fabrics in a way that has a less negative impact on the environment than the company’s previous production methods.

An example of making a service greener might be a professional laundry service which installs solar thermal heaters to heat water used for cleaning processes, thus reducing the laundry’s usage of electricity produced by a nearby coal-powered energy plant. In this way, the cleaning service provided by the laundry now has less of a negative environmental impact than before the installation of the solar thermal heater.

NOTE: To make a product or service greener, companies will often use green solutions to identify a) where the company can significantly reduce its negative impact on the environment and then, b) incorporate new technologies, processes, methods, or inputs for the company to make the necessary changes to reduce their negative impact on the environment. (For example, a transportation company may purchase a fleet management system which tracks the carbon emissions of its vehicles (green solution). To make its delivery services greener, the company then uses this fleet management software to optimise its delivery routes so that its vehicles spend less time on the road, thus reducing its overall emissions overall to provide the same delivery services (greener service).

ILLUSTRATION

  • A “green solution” explicitly aims to prevent, reduce, or measure the negative effect of human activities on the environment, typically as a B2B or B2C product or service.
  • Green solutions typically fall into two categories: 1) tools to assess or measure a company’s significant negative impacts on the environment (e.g. dashboard to measure carbon emissions, testing systems which monitor airborne, water, or ground pollutants, tracking systems for overseeing nonrecyclable or nonreusable waste produced, etc.) and 2) tools, methods, or processes which a company can adopt to mitigate or reduce these negative environmental impacts identified, often which will be provided by another company or service provider (e.g. a company which installs filters for factories to capture and safely dispose of airborne pollutants, or a company which sells compostable packaging to a grocery store chain to help the chain to reduce its food packaging waste
  • Many green solutions in fact help companies to become “greener” by providing them with the tools to make their operations, products, or services greener
  • A company may also use green solutions to introduce new green products and services
  • Building off the point above, green solutions differ slightly from green products or services is that their purpose is to assist with making operations, services, products, and even inputs greener, not necessarily providing these products or services.

Example 1: Renewable Energy Provision – A solar energy company, such as Agrisolar in Egypt, installs solar pumps and solar panels to provide renewable energy, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. By supporting customers to use clean, renewable energy, this green solution contributes to cleaner air and a decrease in carbon emissions.

Example 2: Fresh Water Provision – Designed for regions struggling with water scarcity, companies like Aquaporo in Jordan are using new technologies to produce clean, drinkable water from water vapor in the air. This solution helps to provide safe, fresh drinking water to consumers directly and at increasingly affordable prices. Solutions such as this also reduce unsustainable water sourcing behaviours, such as digging deeper wells, which contribute to salination and desertification, or reliance on expensive practices like water delivery trucks, which contribute to air pollution and are often only available to wealthier subsets of the population.

Example 3: Waste Management Solutions – A startup, such as CompoRoll in Tunisia, produces composting containers which make it easy and hygienic to compost organic waste and transform this waste into fertiliser. The company offers a range of products designed for individual homes, small businesses, restaurants and hotels, farms, and more. Composting reduces the amount of waste that goes into landfills, thus reducing emissions produced by transporting organic waste to dump sites, and preventing other environmentally damaging disposal methods such as burning or dumping in landfills.

For additional resources on how to think about different categories of “green” and “greener” for companies, visit the “Resources” section at the end of this course.

Chapter 3: Pathways to Green

Introduction to Pathways to Green

In the last section, you explored key concepts behind green and greener companies. In this section, we explore four distinct “pathways” to green for companies…and the ways in which they may intersect. The purpose of this chapter is to help you imagine how your company can become greener as the first step of this process and also understand how these different pathways to green often intersect, overlap, or build on one another.

By determining where you want to go, you can then identify the concrete steps to getting there and make informed decisions to support this journey.

Pathways to Green for Companies:

Pathway 1: Making organisational processes greener: Businesses can make their organisational processes greener by implementing energy-efficient technologies, reducing waste through optimisation, recycling or upcycling materials, using greener inputs, or developing/adopting environmental safeguards relevant to their industry or location.
Pathway 2: Making existing products/services greener: Businesses can redesign their products or services to use fewer resources overall, incorporate eco-friendly or greener materials, source environmentally friendly materials, engage green/greener suppliers within their company’s value chain, and/or reduce the amount of waste that the products or services produce.
Pathway 3: Offering green solutions: Businesses can provide green solutions to other businesses (B2B) or directly to customers (B2C), thus directly supporting other businesses to make their organisational processes, existing products, and/or existing services greener.
Pathway 4: Offering new green products/services: Businesses may introduce new green products or services to complement their existing offerings or even replace them. These new services often come out of R&D or innovation investments by the company.

Pathway 1: Making Organisational Processes Greener

Making organisational processes greener by improving the environmental sustainability of internal operations and procedures. This includes implementing measures to reduce carbon emissions, optimising resource utilisation, and integrating sustainable practices throughout various aspects of the business’ workflow.

Examples of activities in this pathway:

●      Decreasing of energy consumption and/or use greener energy sources

●      Decreasing water consumption through water-saving measures

●      Prioritising sourcing sustainably produced inputs and materials

●      Decreasing the overall amount of waste generated in the company through reducing usage of single-use materials, minimising paper usage, and composting organic waste onsite

●      Putting in place internal environmental policies or obtaining environmental certifications

●      Adopting procurement standards to incentivise working with eco-friendly suppliers

VIDEO4

To enhance the environmental friendliness of existing products and services, a company may implement iterative measures to diminish carbon emissions, curtail resource usage, and adopt sustainable practices, all which recognise the relative nature of “greenness”.

Examples of activities in this pathway:

●      Changing packaging to reduce environmental impact of a specific product

●      Incorporating (or increasing the % of) upcycled, reused, or recycled materials and/or inputs used within the product or service

●      Switching to suppliers which provide eco-friendly inputs for making the company’s final products, such as fibres produced without toxic chemicals or synthetic fertilisers/pesticides, or sustainable building materials like cork or bamboo

●      Creating new methods for cutting materials during the production process (e.g. fabric, metal, paper, etc.), thus reducing the overall waste produced in creating a specific product

●      Redesigning the irrigation system for a farm to reduce water usage and/or water waste in the food production process

●      Prioritising suppliers or service providers which use renewable sources of energy within a company’s value chain

Green solutions are designed to assess and mitigate the (typically negative) impact of human activities on the environment. These solutions might be targeted at companies, governments, or even individuals. Green solutions very often support companies to make their processes, products, or services more environmentally friendly, i.e. making these companies “greener”.

Examples of activities in this pathway:

●      Installing solar panels, solar pumps, and solar thermal heaters

●      Developing and selling water-saving installations (e.g. low-flow faucets and toilets)

●      Providing tools and services to calculate carbon emissions

●      Creating fleet management systems for companies which analyse drivers’ routes and fuel usage and then suggest alternative routes and/or vehicle deployment which optimises overall driving time and fuel usage

●      Selling environmentally friendly source ingredients for cleaning products or cosmetics, such that producers can then use these ingredients to produce soaps, shampoos, cleaning products, lotions, etc.

VIDEO6

A company may offer new green products or services to an existing portfolio. These new products are designed, manufactured, and utilised in a manner that minimises adverse environmental effects across products’ entire lifecycle or the entire service provision.

Examples of activities in this pathway:

●      Rental car company offers EV vehicles for customers to rent

●      Retail company sells clothes made from 100% reused or upcycled materials

●      Food delivery company sells pre-made meals in compostable containers

●      A bicycle manufacturing company begins selling bikes whose frames are made from upcycled scrap metal

●      An industrial printing company starts to offer printing on recycled materials, including paper, cardboard, fabrics, etc.

●      A hotel offers ecofriendly rooms that use energy-saving appliances, water-saving devices, ecofriendly toiletries, and non-toxic cleaning products

VIDEO7

“Greenwashing”, or the promotion of false or misleading information about the positive environmental impact of a company or product, presents a significant obstacle to tackling climate change.

Why is greenwashing bad? Greenwashing undermines credible efforts to reduce emissions and address the climate crisis. In particular, greenwashing:

  1. Promotes false solutions to the climate crisis
  2. Distracts from and delays concrete and credible action
  3. Misleads consumers into buying or supporting activities which have a negative impact on the environment
  4. Reduces collective capacities to hold companies or governments to account for negative environmental activities

Greenwashing takes various forms, some more subtle than others. Examples include:

  • Claiming that a company is reducing its carbon emissions, but without a plan to do so
  • Using misleading or ambiguous language regarding a company’s operations or materials to obscure negative environmental practices
  • Applying broad, vague labels like “environmentally-conscious” or “eco-friendly” as a marketing ploy to sell products with no documentation for its labels
  • Making irrelevant, often cosmetic changes to a product and then labelling it as “green” or “ecofriendly” when this change did not in fact reduce the product’s negative impact on the environment (e.g. changing the colour or texture of packaging and labelling it as “eco-friendly” packaging)
  • Exaggerating the impact of minor improvements in reducing a company’s negative environmental impact, like installing an electric vehicle charging station for employees while continuing to pollute through other company activities
  • Focusing on a single environmental aspect (e.g. reducing paper usage) while disregarding the company’s other practices (e.g. high levels of carbon emissions from extensive air travel)
  • Claiming to avoid illegal or undesirable practices which are unrelated to the company or its product (e.g. highlighting that a company does not use old growth wood when the company’s product never utilised nor required this type of input)

VIDEO 8 

For additional resources on how to identify or work on your company’s pathway to green, as well as how to spot and avoid greenwashing, visit the “Resources” section at the end of this course.

Link to the “Resources” section when uploaded to the platform.

Chapter 4: Now What? The Journey Towards Green

Identifying a change for your company

Now that you had some time to explore what it means to green a company, we invite you to start thinking about your own company in concrete terms: How can you make it greener?

The first step to do so is to answer three simple questions:

  1. Which pathway makes the most sense for your company in its current context?
  2. Within this pathway, what is a specific activity that you could undertake?
  3. What is the first step needed to implement this activity?

For example: X is a company that produces and sells natural creams and soaps. Although X’s products are considered relatively green, its founders decide they would like to make them greener. They then reflect on the three questions and come up with the following answers:

  1. Pathway 2, making existing products greener, is what makes more sense to their company. They are not interested in offering new products.
  2. The best way to make their products greener is to change the product containers. The founders realised that 75% of the containers they use are particularly bad for the environment and they are interested in investing time and energy to change this.
  3. After brainstorming, they identify the first step to changing their containers: Doing market research on available alternatives for each of the four different containers they are currently using.

Short Quiz (directly on the platform)

Knowledge Check: Now it is your turn to reflect on your company. Answer 3 simple questions in this   to start reflecting on how your company can begin its journey towards green.

VIDEO9

Resources Bank

Please find below a list of relevant videos and articles for those who would like to further explore topics introduced in the course.

Chapter 1: Course Introduction

Title

Description

Type

Link

SME Climate Hub

The SME Climate Hub is a non-profit global initiative that empowers small to medium sized companies to take climate action and build resilient businesses for the future.

Website

ENG

 

AR

 

The Climate Justice Playbook for Business: How to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice

This playbook is a practical guide helps business leaders understand the intersection of climate action and social justice and advance a justice-centred approach to climate action.

Manual

ENG

The Triple Bottom Line: What It Is and Why It Is Important

How can we think about sustainable business strategies? One approach is the “triple bottom line”, which provides a framework for businesses to measure their social and environmental impact alongside financial performance.

Article

ENG

OECD Platform on Financing SMEs for Sustainability

The OECD Platform on Financing SMEs for Sustainability aims to accelerate SMEs’ and financial institutions’ green and net-zero transition through analysis, knowledge-sharing and policy dialogue.

Platform

ENG

 

FR

World Bank Group’s Middle East and North Africa Roadmap (2021–2025)

The World Bank Group’s Middle East and North Africa Roadmap (2021–2025) provides a practical framework for classifying climate action projects,

Report

ENG

 

Chapter 2: Introduction to Key Concepts Behind Greening Your Business

Title

Description

Type

Link

The Sustainable Development Agenda

An introduction to the UNDP sustainable development agenda, including key definitions for sustainability, the SDGs, and more.

Website

ENG

 

FR

 

AR

Green Business: Sources of Information, the Library of Congress

This guide provides resources on business sustainability in general and in select industries, and offers useful information for businesses striving to implement green practices and for consumers considering a switch to an earth-friendly lifestyle.

Website

ENG

 

Chapter 3: Pathways to Green

Title

Description

Type

Link

UNDP Social and Environmental Standards Toolkit

Guidance on how companies can translate their commitment to mainstream social and environmental sustainability into their company’s operations.

Toolkit

ENG

How To Choose the Right Green Business Certification

An overview of green business certifications for different types of businesses.

Article

ENG

Finance Support to Reduce Emissions

An overview of resources designed to help SMEs find the right financial support in its journey towards net zero emissions.

 

Website

AR

Greenwashing – the Deceptive Tactics Behind Environmental Claims

Introduction to the concept of “greenwashing” and how to recognise it.

Website

ENG

 

AR

 

FR

 

Chapter 4: Now What? The Journey Towards Green

Title

Description

Type

Link

Green Entrepreneurship

This course offers a step-by-step framework for transforming a green business idea into a viable business plan. It will provide the tools needed to generate, test, and refine an idea for a green business, together with successful examples of green entrepreneurs’ paths from business ideas to value-generating, market-fit solutions.

 

E-course

ENG

 

FR

 

Create Your Green Business!

A handbook for green entrepreneurs on how to create and launch an innovative business model that creates environmental and social value, as well on how to manage a leading company active in the green sector and create green jobs, with a focus on entrepreneurs in the Mediterranean region.

Manual

ENG

 

 

Ecodesign for Improved Business Performance

Resources for how to use ecodesign principles to create more value within your company processes and services and to increase company performance.

 

Website

FR

B Impact Assessment Support Portal

A database of toolkits to support businesses to assess their environmental impact and tools for minimising negative impact through improved practices, increased transparency, and structured decision making.

Toolkit(s)

ENG