Greater awareness is the first step to change
Raising awareness about climate change among your employees involves providing them with the resources and training they need to take action, as well as what you’re doing to make your business more climate-friendly. Your commitment to the climate could also inspire your employees and increase their job satisfaction. Many people are attracted to companies that are willing to act on climate change.
On average, SMEs that raised climate awarness of their employees took 9 months to recoup their investment.
Roadmap to raising climate awareness in your business
Communicate your plans and progress
Employees need to understand why climate action is important and how your company is participating. Start by sharing your climate plan with them along with concrete examples and initiatives. Then, regularly keep employees informed on your progress and share success stories to stay on track. Regularly seek your employees’ feedback.
Don’t forget that change usually comes with resistance. But if you have a clear climate plan, you will also become more attractive to new employees who want to work for a company with environmental values.
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Understanding climate change
Learn about the science, causes and impact of climate change from the government of Canada.
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Tips for improving your internal communications
Learn how to communicate your climate goals effectively with employees.
Find climate champions
Find climate champions who will lead by example and help build momentum. These employees can be your eyes and ears on the ground and help you find improvements or tweaks to make. They can also respond to climate-related concerns of colleagues and offer ideas of actions to undertake. For example, if you are switching to electric trucks or retrofitting your building, your climate champions could help ease the transition period by advocating for the change to the rest of your team.
Develop a climate campaign
Further raise awareness by providing resources on best practices for reducing GHG emissions at work and home. If you can, hire a climate expert or reach out to non-profits to guide awareness raising efforts and training on making your activities more carbon neutral.
A campaign is a fun way to raise awareness and rally employees to your goals. Your climate champions can also participate in designing the campaign—organizing events, holding contests, and sharing success stories and progress updates. Even if you don’t have a big project coming up, you can hold a contest for the best idea for saving energy or share stories about employees who switched to transit or cycling to commute.
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Government of Canada: Take climate action
Learn more about climate actions and find what you want to do.
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Creating effective internal communications
Learn how to communicate your climate goals effectively with employees.
Update performance management
You can use SMART environmental sustainability related objectives as part of your performance management system for managers and frontline employees to further raise awareness of the importance of these issues. To do this fairly, you will need to set achievable targets and then measure your progress over time. Create a climate action plan with a manageable list of projects and a realistic timeline to get your team involved.
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SMART employee performance management
Discover how to set up an employee performance management process that can be a win-win for your business and employees.
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How to find the right mix of salary and benefits
Find the right mix of salary and benefits when you build your team. Learn more about setting compensation in a tight labour market.
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Integrate climate into your business strategy
Create a comprehensive plan for reducing emissions in your business. It will include taking metrics on current emissions and setting goals for cutting them.
Recommended resources
Discover over 60 green governmental active grants, tax credits and loan programs.
Reducing your GHG emissions is a smart move for both your business and the planet. Discover the key areas in your business where you can take action now.
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