Below, we’ve gathered the latest key stories in our industry, from coverage of the world’s greenest companies to the excessive waste created by households and businesses during the Christmas season. Take a look and let us know what your opinions are—we’re always happy to hear what you think.

Companies Taking Great Strides to be Green

More and more companies are taking a serious approach to maintaining a greener business profile. This can take many forms, from reducing waste through recycling, using less packaging, or even lowering overall energy consumption (leading to cheaper energy bills). In The Guardian, writer Keivan Zokaei covered the initiatives some leading corporations are investing in to reduce their impact on the environment. In the wake of the 2012 Rio+20 summit’s failure to birth the significant changes many wanted, corporations seem to be leading the environmental-ethics movement, overtaking stalling governments.

Such big-name companies as Tesco, Toyota, WalMart, Marks & Spencer, and General Electric have all made combating environmental waste, a “key economic driver”. For example, Tesco has announced plans to halve emissions from stores and distribution centres by 2020, with further aims to become a totally zero-carbon enterprise by 2050. While the motivations behind companies’ green approaches may include a genuine desire to help the environment, economic factors can also be an influence; for example, M&S claimed its ‘Plan A’ sustainability scheme was projected to cost beyond £200m in its first five years, but it has generated an income of £105m by 2011/12.

Here at eCO2 Greetings, we believe in the age of climate change and corporate social responsibility, it is becoming more popular that companies turn to economically friendly products, and work to reduce their carbon footprint.  Saving energy and production costs can also make a great saving on the ‘bottom line’ profit.  Having a greener outlook towards business can indeed give an edge on competitors as this topic is close to many people’s hearts.

As mentioned in the above story, numerous high-profile businesses include environmental concern and greener processes as central parts of their operations. The Environmental Leader analyses various global companies making great progress, with IBM, Volkswagen, Sony, Samsung, and Disney named as five of the most successful. For one, IBM has implemented eco-friendly measures since 1971, and received the European Union Code of Conduct for Data Centers Award in 2012 in honour of their extensive efforts. Disney, meanwhile, has a keen interest in ‘environmental stewardship’ and conservation, which they hope will help preserve the wonders of nature for generations to come.

Environmental Leader’s writer suggests companies can learn lessons from these leading companies, from having courage to innovate, to embracing a holistic approach across your entire business model, and create changes from the inside out with simple efficiency. As the trend for environmentally friendly processes increases, many companies can add value to their brand by leading by example. Whilst sending electronic greeting cards is a small step in all this, we’re thrilled that more companies are embracing this—the carbon footprint of cards sent to thousands of clients is tremendous.

Ecards and Christmas Waste

With Christmas fast approaching, many of us are unlikely to consider the amount of waste we produce whilst sending cards, unwrapping presents, and disposing of leftovers. However, significant amounts of waste are created every single festive period—according to The Guardian, the Love Food Hate Waste campaign estimates the equivalent of 2 million turkeys, 74 million mince pies and 5 million Christmas puddings are thrown out every year. Christmas cards are also a product of this waste—while most can be recycled, sending ecards has become more popular with many people and business organisations. Companies with strong green credentials prefer business ecards for their paperless benefits, but they also require less work, no postage costs and can be sent last-minute if need be. 

As much fun as Christmas is, it can be incredibly wasteful.  Although it is a time to be carefree and have fun, what better satisfaction can come from also knowing you have done your part to save the environment?  In the times of the electronic revolution, why not also switch from the standard Christmas card and approach a creative or interactive Christmas ecards business to meet your needs this year?

Much of this is encouraging news: large and small companies are working to reduce the impact their operations have on the environment on a short- and long-term level, and recycling is helping to combat domestic waste-production. At eCO2 Greetings, we hope to keep seeing more and more businesses and households lead by example, and hope to see governments wake up to the need for more proactivity in protecting our planet.