Edenark Group Explains How to Select the Right Sustainability Certification Program for Your Organization

Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 25, 2020 --(PR.com)-- Edenark Group, which provides a premier sustainability certification program, offers this guide to help make the process of selecting a certification, easier.

Whether it is because a company’s leadership decided to do the right thing to protect the environment and future generations; or because they continue to read about the +$1 trillion in consumer/corporate spending looking to move to certified sustainable organizations; or they have seen the studies that show certified sustainable organizations are out-performing their non-certified peers; or they want to improve brand image; or increase productivity, health and happiness of their employees; or lower costs; they have decided to become a certified sustainable organization.

Now what?

There are over 400 sustainability certification programs around the world.

How do they evaluate which is right for their organization?

This list will, hopefully, help organizations understand the eight key things to consider.

First, let’s address the question of “Why does a company need a ‘certification’ at all? Why can’t it just pursue a sustainability program internally?” The simple answer is, the market is skeptical of organizations that self-certify. No matter if we are talking sustainability or other achievements, even if a company does everything right internally, it seldom gains the brand recognition or revenue-side benefit if it self-certifies.

Therefore, if a company wants to maximize becoming sustainable, it should use a certification standard that meets the below criteria.

1 - Employee Performance/Health Enhancement – Sustainability is not just about energy savings or Greening Up. It is about people, and how people live and work in the environment. If a program, claiming to be a sustainability certification, does not have a "people piece" that can quantify improvement in the performance and health of the employees of the business, it is not a sustainability program. Every organization in the world suffers from the Big 5 – employee insomnia, stress, anxiety, physical pain, and mental acuity. Studies show the cost of the Big 5 to US organizations is $7,000 - $12,000 in lost sales per year, per full time employee. Similar studies have been conducted, with similar results, in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Australia, Japan and France. Net, we start with this point, as it typically has the biggest economic impact on an organization.

2 - Certify the business, not the box – Building-centric certifications are seldom sustainability programs, as they only care about the energy reduction of the building (ie, box). They seldom concern themselves with what goes on inside the box, which is what people care more about. This includes things like people (#1 above), water, waste, safety, community, vendors, clients, et cetera. Further, building-centric programs are hard to promote and tie to sales/revenue. It is hard to grow sales by saying "Buy more of our product as we office in an energy efficient building." But, with a true sustainability certification of the business, it can say "Buy more of our product as it is made by a sustainable company." This resonates better and will impact sales/revenues.

3 - 3rd party audit - Regardless of industry, any certification program must have a 3rd party audit process to maintain credibility. Without this, an organization can make exaggerated claims and the certification loses credibility and value to the marketplace.

4 - Use a global standard to maximize credibility - If a company wishes to maximize the market's positive response to its sustainability certification, it should select a standard that is globally recognized. Preferably, pick a standard that has already been successfully used, and is respected in, more than ten countries. A local, regional, or even national, certification may meet all the other points made here, but if it is not recognized and respected globally, the company will not maximize the brand-building or revenue-side benefit of having it.

5 – Promotion of the certification - If the company does not talk about it, the market will never know the company did it and will not reward the company for it. So, pick one that is designed to help promote the certification.

6 - Continual improvement – Find a program that follows the concept of continual improvement. This will allow the organization to start from wherever it is, move at its own pace, achieve goals, enjoy the process and start believing in the benefit of always striving to be a little bit better.

7 - Annual update - Sustainability should be a continual process. Every year, the organization needs to get a little better and its certification needs to reflect that, inclusive of the audit to verify same.

8 – Cost – The components of cost include a) certification prep/application; b) improvements to qualify for certification; c) audit; and d) staff’s time. Pick a certification program that delivers on the above seven points without crashing on any of the four components of cost.

The good news is there are sustainability certification programs that deliver on all eight of the above points. If the company follows this guide, it will find a program that it will be happy with.

About the author:

David Goodman is the Chairman/CEO of Edenark Group, which, since 1997, has been providing performance enhancement services to organizations throughout the world.