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When we think about workplace climate action, we often default to personal choices: bringing a reusable cup, biking to work, or advocating for plant-based meals at company events. These actions matter. They help employees align their habits with their values, spark conversations, and can serve as powerful entry points into climate action. But they represent just one shade of green in the broader spectrum of corporate climate impact.
It’s no coincidence that many companies encourage employees to reduce their personal carbon footprints, while paying less attention to the larger structural and systemic changes needed within the business itself. While individual efforts can be meaningful, their true power lies in serving as a gateway to more ambitious, company-wide, and industry-level action.
Rather than prescribing a single approach, this article explores how personal, company-wide, and systemic green actions fit together - and how employees, no matter where they are in their journey, can work collectively to steer their organisations (and industries!) toward meaningful, lasting climate impact.
Personal green: leading by example (and its limitations)
The simplest way that employees engage in climate action at work is through their own behaviour. Cycling or walking instead of driving, reducing flights, choosing the plant based option - you know the drill. And while these actions might seem small, they can set a visible example, sparking conversations and encouraging others to do the same.
Beyond individual habits, many companies provide opportunities for employees to engage in sustainability through initiatives like volunteering for environmental causes, participating in beach clean-ups, or organising zero-waste workshops. These activities can be valuable for engagement and community-building, but they rarely address the company’s core environmental impact. A business that organises tree-planting days while ignoring its fossil-fuel investments or supply-chain emissions is missing the bigger picture.
Some personal actions do contribute to reducing a company’s carbon footprint, particularly within Scope 3 emissions (such as employee commuting and business travel). However, it’s worth noting that these actions typically account for a small fraction of a company’s total impact. The biggest levers for change often lie in areas like corporate investments, supply chains, and energy sourcing; areas that individual behaviour alone cannot shift.
✅ Opportunities: Personal green can inspire workplace conversations and provide an ‘entry point’ for deeper climate action. Some actions, such as moving a pension to an ethical fund or discussing climate in team meetings, can even go beyond the individual and start to nudge company policies, influence market signals, and create momentum for broader change.
⚠️ Risks: Personal sustainability efforts can become a distraction tactic—a way for companies to appear green while avoiding real systemic changes. Employees might feel satisfied reducing waste in the office kitchen while the company continues unsustainable business practices at scale.
Personal green in action:
As well as individual behaviours like car sharing, some companies have formalised personal green initiatives into their policies and programs, providing employees with structured ways to participate. For example:
- Salesforce's ‘Giving Tuesday’ initiative, which supports employee volunteerism and environmental philanthropy.
- Pledge for the Planet, which encourages employees to make personal green commitments.
Company green: shaping business practices
Beyond personal choices, employees can drive change by contributing to the climate transformation of their company. They can advocate for things like switching to 100% renewable energy, cutting emissions in supply chains, or embedding sustainability into company strategy.
The impact here is bigger than one person. A finance team could shift company investments towards sustainable funds. A procurement manager might prioritise suppliers with strong climate commitments, nudging an entire supply chain towards lower emissions. An HR team could make a green pension the default option, helping hundreds of employees shift their savings to support renewables over fossil fuels.
When businesses take serious climate action, it doesn’t just reduce emissions in their own operations; it can help shape industries and markets. Companies that lead on sustainability set new expectations for competitors, influence consumer behaviour, and build momentum for wider change.
But bold action rarely happens by itself. It happens when employees make the case for it together; whether by engaging leadership, gathering evidence, or pushing for ambitious sustainability targets.
✅ Opportunities: Company-wide action has far greater leverage than individual efforts. Shifting corporate policies, investments, and supply chains can cut emissions at scale.
⚠️ Risks: Some companies focus on sustainability in isolated areas (such as switching to recycled office paper) while leaving core business decisions untouched. Employees pushing for change should ask: Is our sustainability strategy tackling the biggest sources of our emissions?
Company green in action:
- How WorkforClimate Academy graduate Bernie helped Who Gives A Crap go solar
- One sustainability professional’s journey for climate justice
- Meet the engineer who switched his firm to renewable energy
Systemic green: changing the rules of the game
Some employees go beyond their own company, working to change the rules of the game. Even the most sustainable businesses operate within a system of regulations, incentives, and industry norms that can either drive or block progress.
This might mean:
- Forming employee climate networks across companies to push for stronger action.
- Engaging with investors to prioritise decarbonisation.
- Challenging trade associations that lobby against climate policy.
- Supporting shareholder resolutions that push for deeper sustainability commitments.
Even the greenest company operates within a wider system of laws, economic incentives, and industry expectations. Often, the biggest barriers to corporate climate action aren’t internal; they come from industry lobbying, outdated policies, or market structures that make sustainable choices harder.
✅ Opportunities: Systemic green has the greatest potential for impact. Changing policies, regulations, and industry standards creates a ripple effect across entire sectors.
⚠️ Risks: Employees may feel this level of action is too big or beyond their control. However, history shows that real change happens when people organise and challenge the status quo. Organised groups have been at the heart of every major movement for justice—from labour rights to civil rights. The climate crisis is no different.
Systemic green in action:
- Maren Costa organised her colleagues at Amazon
- How this industry managed to collaborate (instead of compete) to drive climate action
How the levels connect
It’s important to note that these layers of action (personal, company-wide, and systemic) aren’t separate. They build on each other. Personal actions can spark conversations, company-wide efforts can unlock resources and commitments, and systemic engagement can reshape entire industries and policies.
It’s easy to dismiss individual choices as too small or see systemic change as too overwhelming. But the reality is, they’re all part of the same movement. The person who starts by bringing a reusable cup to work might later join a green team. That green team might push the company to switch to a 100% renewable energy provider. And once the company makes that transition, it might advocate for stronger climate policies, setting a precedent for its entire industry.
The climate crisis is too big for any one person, one company, or one sector to solve alone. But when employees, businesses, and movements work together, incredible things can happen. So, the question isn’t which shade of green you are; it’s how we bring these shades together to create a movement strong enough to make a real dent.
Join the movement
Ready to turn your job into a force for climate action? Whether you’re just getting started or already influencing company decisions, WorkforClimate can help you take the next step. Sign up for our Academy or join one of our free online workshops to gain the skills, confidence, and community to turn ambition into impact.
