Conscious consumption as a sustainable HR initiative

Sustainable business growth cannot work without the employees . Generating awareness by promoting environmentally friendly behavior among the workforce - for private as well as business decisions. The ideal sustainability initiative.

Conscious consumption is supposed to make the world a better place? Hard to believe for some. But consumption is already changing the world - unfortunately often for the worse. However, producing and consuming in a way that is not using up the earth's limited natural resources is possible. We want to take part in this.

Consumption describes the act of obtaining, using, and disposing goods and services. To satisfy our needs for food, shelter, clothing, or mobility, we cannot avoid daily consumption. But how can this consumption be carried out responsibly?

Sustainability is about living now in such a way that everyone everywhere can live this way in the future. This could mean for example, that only as much carbon dioxide is generated as can be absorbed by plants.

But you have guessed it right, although the goal of being climate-neutral by 2045 is targeted by the German Bundestag, we are far from it right now. The aim would be to annually produce less than 1t CO2 by one person in Germany, however, 11.2 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions have been caused in 2020. Around 24% of that is attributable to housing and electricity, 19% to mobility, and 15% to food. But the biggest chunk, 34%, gets caused by our consumables, including the production of furniture, textiles and other goods and services.

This stresses the importance of our daily consumption regarding our ecological footprint. And the necessity to change our purchase decisions towards products and brands with more positive impact.

Think about how our market works: There are offers and there is demand, and somewhere in between, consumers and producers meet. And as money makes the world go round, the power of the conscious consumer lies in actively saying yes to environmentally friendly, ethical offers and therefore urging the industry to produce after those principles, ultimately reducing its negative impact.

The beauty of this is that anyone can join in. After all, we make consumer decisions every day anyway - it just costs a few more thoughts to make them consciously. And while not everyone wants to become a political activist or can put money in CO2 compensation, everyone can inform themselves about how their consumables affect our environment and choose the sustainable and ethical alternative.

For businesses and their employees, which make up 75.5% of the German population, this responsibility doesn’t stop and is more demanded than ever. Designed by the HR department and management level, the goal of sustainable actions should not be about appearing as a green business on the outside, but ultimately embracing sustainable behavior from within the company - starting with the everyday behavior of employees. The key is to find ways to make sustainability personally relevant to employees such that private and business decisions are conducted through this ecological lens.

However, enforcing the willingness of change in the workforce is not only done by sending an occasional e-mail or hanging up posters about proper waste separation (although that is a good start). Real incentives are needed. And that’s where we, FutureBens, step in and support businesses on their way of implementing green HR initiatives.

We make it hassle-free and simple to connect employees with meaningful perks that encourage a conscious lifestyle. Our digital platform enables companies to offer their employees purpose-driven products and services at a reduced price, creating real monetary benefits to choose the sustainable alternative. We only ever work with brands that produce under ethical and sustainable conditions, which we select based on a diverse criteria catalog. Through that, we facilitate access to consumption that does not come at the expense of our environment, while also providing a strong platform for emerging, forward-looking brands.

You want to help to foster planet-friendly habits and create a culture of social responsibility from within your company?

Reach out to us for free, customized access: hi@futurebens.co or directly schedule a call with Roxana: https://calendly.com/rr_futurebens/

‍