The Green Pages directory, which lists some 2,400 eco-responsible businesses across Quebec, is launching a new support service to help businesses reduce their environmental footprint.
“To know where you are going, you have to know where you are. However, there are a lot of companies that don’t even know where to start when it comes to becoming eco-responsible,” underlines Myrianne Parent, founder of the non-profit Les Pages vertes, who wants to simplify this sometimes dizzying exercise for companies. .
“We are therefore offering a new service to help them make this change. We make a complete diagnosis of their practices, we offer them an action plan to determine what they need to improve and prioritize. We give them concrete objectives, a timetable and we put them in contact with eco-responsible suppliers, according to their needs,” she explains.
Already, since 2017, the Green Pages search engine has brought together a whole list of companies qualified as eco-responsible: a hairdressing salon using ecological products, a company building and renovating sustainable homes, a shop selling recycled textiles, a restaurant that minimizes its waste…
A “basic” diagnosis
To be included in the directory, organizations must first carry out a “basic” diagnosis, after which they are given a rating, which must be greater than 50% for the organizations to be designated eco-responsible. Said rating is calculated according to a myriad of criteria grouped under a dozen categories of actions, ranging from local purchase to waste management, through community involvement and the governance system.
But to go further than highlighting and highlighting companies that are already managing to limit their environmental footprint, Myrianne Parent wants to convince others to take action thanks to the new support service set up by Les Pages vertes.
Especially since, if the implementation of a green plan in organizations is done today on a voluntary basis, “it could become mandatory to have one in the not so distant future”, estimates- she. Moreover, certain organizations, such as the association Parcs régional du Québec (PARQ) and Aventure Écotourisme Québec (AEQ), are already demanding that their certified members in ecotourism obtain a diagnosis and an action plan with Les Pages vertes, underlines Ms.me parent.
According to the NPO, approximately 60,000 people use the Green Pages platform annually to make more eco-responsible consumer choices.