AS global environmental issues become essential factors in business marketing, a Gold Coast developed program is educating corporations of the fine line between being environmentally friendly and ‘green-washing’ the consumers.
Bond University’s Students in Free Enterprise president Chris Taylor, says the marketing component of the team’s award winning ‘enviroprenurial education’ program GrassRoots has been well received.
Taylor says around 65 businesses have downloaded the free program which aims to ‘encourage entrepreneurial environmentally responsible business’.
While the first component of the software which calculates the annual carbon emissions and potential cost-savings of a business is considered innovative, the marketing component is just as essential to the program’s success.
As many businesses receive public backlash for ‘jumping on the green bandwagon’ Taylor says the program suggests a diverse range of business strategies for companies to effectively market themselves as environmentally friendly.
“The GrassRoots program encourages businesses to communicate their actions to the public effectively without falling into the trap of producing unfounded green-wash,” he says.
Taylor says the SIFE team will work more with CSIRO over the next six months to further refine the program.
“We intended this program to provide an incentive for businesses to become more environmental friendly and decided it would be counter-productive to create a cost in doing so,” he says.
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