Business with a Purpose: How the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Can Inspire Positive Change

In September 2015, the United Nations launched 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the aim of ending poverty, protecting the planet, and enabling universal access to economic benefits and opportunities.

The SDGs are designed to be a blueprint for a better and more sustainable future for everyone, and businesses have an important role to play in achieving these goals. By aligning their operations with the SDGs, companies can create a positive impact on the world, while also achieving long-term success and profitability.

So, what does this all mean?

One of the key benefits of aligning with the SDGs is that it provides businesses with a roadmap for sustainable growth. The goals cover a wide range of sustainability issues, including poverty, hunger, health and wellbeing, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, and more. All the things we want to be improved in society, right?

By aligning their operations with the SDGs, businesses can identify the areas where they can have the most positive impact and focus their efforts in these areas.

The power to the people

As conscious customers are becoming increasingly aware of the impact of their purchasing decisions, they are looking for companies that are committed to sustainability. By aligning with the SDGs, businesses can prove their commitment to sustainability and appeal to customers who care about the environment, social, and ethical issues. The same is true for employees, who are increasingly looking for employers who share their values and are committed to making a positive impact on the world

Inspiring positive change

Last year, just one of our Willow Alexander electric vehicles from our garden maintenance fleet travelled over 5,280km to perform over 1872 customer visits, that’s:

• 1872 lawns mowed
• 1500kg of waste recycled
• 2000kg of green waste composted.

This equates to over 973kg of CO² not being released into the atmosphere from this one operating process alone! This is one tiny drop in the ocean that illustrates what a vast difference one can make on a collective scale.

Turning objectives into a reality

These are some of our goals for land and water that Willow Alexander are working towards over the next 5 years:

• Getting our clients and community members to dedicate 1m² of their garden to wildflowers for bugs, insects, and pollinators – we could create 62 acres.
• By using the eco products from our services teams we would have stopped more than 200,000 litres of chemicals being used in UK households being washed down drains and into rivers and seas.
• By using certified compostable waste bags our dog walkers would have saved nearly 3 million plastic bags from being thrown into the waste system.

Within 5 years we aim to be educating and supporting our 2,000 partners in managing their own sustainable businesses to aid in local green economy across the UK. Our vision is focused on the emotional and educational wellbeing of our partners and how our network can support each other through a community-driven proposition to change the way we deliver trade services in the UK.

Our passion project, launching Sustainabli+

Sustainabli+ will be the first of its kind – a lifestyle membership connecting customers to certified carbon-neutral Home & Garden maintenance services and a carbon offsetting programme. It allows members to tackle their household carbon footprint by offsetting what they can’t control and choosing the right service that tackles what they can control. Accredited by One Carbon World, Sustainabli+ allow its users to have a greater connection to the projects they support, and our conscientious clients can pick where they want to direct their impact.

• Through our Sustainabli+ membership community, we will reduce the footprint of over 250,000 households simply by using our services.
• If we educate them in reduction techniques to meet the government target of 4.5 tonnes per year, this will save 925,000 tonnes of CO².

By working with an organization like One Carbon World, companies can ensure that their investment in carbon offsets supports verified and high-quality projects, and they can also receive support and guidance on reducing their emissions and improving their sustainability practices.

By aligning all our operations with the SDGs, all businesses can create a positive impact on people, the planet, and their bottom line. It’s a win-win-win situation for all parties involved, and as Aristotle reminds us – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts – we remember the importance of every difference that can be made to save our planet.