What Is the Green Business Challenge?

The Green Business Challenge engages local businesses and commercial property managers in a fun, friendly competition to save money, energy, water, and waste, improving their business's environmental performance. This innovative program in turn helps local governments reach their energy and climate goals. How It Works, Step by Step

ICLEI co-developed this proven program with City of Chicago, and now offers the software and guidance resources necessary for any local government, school, or corporation to customize and implement their own Challenge program. View Challenge Resources

Why the Challenge Wins

Competition to make it fun.

The Challenge is different from other local government programs. It’s secret to success? Creating a friendly competition between businesses to make going green fun—and achieve greater results. Competition adds the pizzazz that so many other programs lack. With the Challenge, keeping score and tracking progress is easy, thanks to ICLEI’s web-based Green Business Challenge App.

Recognition businesses want.

Being green matters to consumers, and today’s businesses need to tout their green achievements and leadership. They want recognition for their efforts, and the Green Business Challenge offers outstanding PR opportunities. After a year-long competition, a mayor or other local elected official hosts an awards ceremony covered by the media, and the Challenge winners—those who made the most progress in going green—are honored publicly. Sample materials and guidance from ICLEI show you how to do recognition right.

Savings to strengthen their bottom line.

The economic recession taught businesses the importance of efficiency. Saving energy, water, and resources like paper reduces operating expenses and adds to the bottom line. Reducing waste lessens their environmental footprint, and developing smarter transportation options saves employees money. Through fun group trainings and one-on-one assistance, Challenge participants learn strategies they can implement at work or home. The achievements of Challenge participants are incredible, and ICLEI is ready to help more communities replicate these benefits.

Cost-effective results for cities and counties.

Local governments turn to the Green Business Challenge for a relatively low-cost way to help them reach their community-wide climate and energy goals. Commercial sector buildings account for a large percentage of any community’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, so improving their environmental performance can deliver sizeable impacts. Through the Challenge, your local government can also collaborate with your business community to assess their needs and green goals, and customize a program to achieve them.

Customizable approaches for governments, schools, or corporations.

The Green Business Challenge isn’t just for local governments—and it’s not just for local businesses. The program is designed to be flexible, so competitions could be created between schools within a school district or campuses within a large corporation. You could even target segments within your business community, like restaurants. Talk to an ICLEI representative about the possibilities!

Easy setup and a smart software application.

ICLEI offers everything a local government needs to launch and customize a Green Business Challenge. The centerpiece of any successful program is ICLEI’s Green Business Challenge App, a powerful and customizable web-based platform that users access through your website. Through the App, participants can register, take a baseline survey, browse a library of tips and resources, update their achievements, and view a scorecard that tracks their progress. ICLEI’s guidebook and toolkit explain the detailed steps to launch a program, and share the resources and lessons learned from other cities and counties that worked with ICLEI on their programs.