• What is GREENWILL’s mission?

GREENWILL will galvanize millions of businesses and organizations to take simple, economical and incentivized measures to become more eco-friendly. Recognizing that the individual steps of a large number of actors can lead to significant improvements in environmental sustainability, GREENWILL empowers businesses and organizations on the one hand, and consumers and the general public on the other, to take mutually reinforcing steps to ensure a greener future for all.

• Who can join GREENWILL?

All types of organizations: companies, non-profits, informal groups, public bodies and individuals. Everyone can join, pledge or donate.

Example 1: A group of friends that gathers once a week to play soccer at the local pitch can decide to join GREENWILL as an informal group and follow the Guidelines in their activities by, for example, carpooling or taking other forms of transportation, as well ensuring recycling of water bottles and quick showers to minimize water usage.

Example 2: Office number 10 of the 3rd floor of a multinational company can also join GREENWILL and decide to comply with the Guidelines inside the office and in daily activities.

• Is GREENWILL a certification?

GREENWILL does not provide a certification.  It provides Green Guidelines to pledgers and an easy way to show their commitment publicly through a Green Policy.

GREENWILL is compatible with any certification or other environmental policy that an organization might already have. It is just a promise to commit and respect the environment, make the commitment public, and promote environmentally sustainable practices.

• What is the Pledge?

The Pledge is a “promise” that individuals, businesses and organizations that decide to join our cause commit to incorporate being green in their daily activities.

• How do you verify compliance?

Joining GREENWILL is completely voluntary and our purpose is only to provide guidelines and Green Policies, not to check the behaviour of our partners. Each pledger appoints a Green Officer, who is a member of the organization staff that voluntarily decides to supervise the activities of the organization/association and verifies compliance with adopted Green Policies.

• How does GREENWILL advertise the companies that have taken the Pledge?

As soon as an individual or an organisation pledges GREENWILL, we add them to our website and promote them through our social media channels.

• How can I support GREENWILL?

There are many ways to support GREENWILL. Organizations can register and get their partners to register as well. Everyone is encouraged to pledge GREENWILL and donate (in kind donations are also welcome).  Individuals can either volunteer or join our Development Intern Team.

• How do you plan to target underdeveloped countries where people may lack resources to adopt environmentally sustainable practices?

GREENWILL is a global initiative which aims to change people’s mentality towards the environment and promote environmentally sustainable practices. Unfortunately, in some parts of the world there may be other priorities and fundamental needs to be fulfilled prior to environmental concerns. It is also true, though, that most of the times these countries are also the most polluted ones.
GREENWILL requires very small steps, which are easy to implement and free to adopt. Therefore, it will be possible to make an impact in developing countries where other organizations/associations have not yet succeeded.

• How will you monitor the activities of people that pledge?

GREENWILL monitors registrant’s activities through the Green Officer, a member of the staff who voluntarily decides to supervise the activities of the organization / association and verifies compliance. The Green Officer should make sure that the organization / association behaves in an environmentally conscious way, respecting the pledge it has undertaken.

Green Officers should also send feedback to the GREENWILL team and keep track of company progress.

• After a registrant has complied to all the steps in the Green Policy and has fully adopted the Guidelines, what comes next?

After an organization has fully adopted GREENWILL Guidelines, it should comply with point 7 of the Green Policy and communicate its progress and commitment to being green to stakeholders, clients, partners in the supply chain, and the public in general.

Furthermore, the Green Officer should contact the GREENWILL team and ask for a consultation. We are happy to work with the organization and look for opportunities to further improve on its commitment.

• What is a Green Policy?

The Green Policy is a pledge and a promise to be environmentally aware, and to respect the environment in daily practices and activities. Through the Green Policy, the organization / business makes public its commitment toward a greener environment and promises to do its best to implement green practices and encourage others do the same.

• What are the Green Guidelines?

The Green Guidelines is an eleven pages set of tips, periodically updated, developed by GREENWILL after a careful research, conducted by analyzing the Environmental Guidelines of multinationals, small / medium firms, organizations, governmental actors in every continent. The Green Guidelines are divided in accordance to their

GREENWILL provides the Guidelines, together with the Green Policy, for free to all the registrants and asks them to respect and implement them. The registrants are also encouraged to use their own Guidelines, in case they have any, or other available set of environmental tips.