• What is GREENWILL?

GREENWILL is the global nonprofit community of more than 25,000 individuals, companies and organizations in 102 countries that promised to consider the environment when they take decisions.
To be part of the community and to use the GREENWILL logo, the individual or the company/organization adopts a pledge (the public promise through a public Green Policy) to consider environmental aspects and impacts in its activities and decisions.

Register at greenwill.org/en/becomeauser and download different variants and language versions of the Green Policy at greenwill.org/en/download

• What is the mission of GREENWILL?

GREENWILL helps businesses and organizations 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?

Any individual, company or organization, formal or informal, can join its network, since environmental consciousness has no boundaries. A group of friends or a smaller unit of a large organization (like people working in the same office or a certain division) can live according to the Green Policy, similarly to a huge multinational corporation, or even a country. This diversity is already visible on the list of partners which asked to be on the GREENWILL website: greenwill.org/en/partners.

• Is GREENWILL a certification?

No, GREENWILL is the exact opposite of a certification, and does not provide a certificate. It provides Green Guidelines to pledgers and an easy way for them to publicly show their commitment to sustainable practices through a Green Policy. GREENWILL is compatible with any other certification or environmental policy that an organization might have. It is a promise to respect the environment, make that commitment public, and promote environmentally sustainable practices.

• What are the differences between a certification and GREENWILL?

A certification is a formal declaration (issued by a certifying body) that a company/organization meets certain criteria. See note (1)
The GREENWILL Pledge (the public Green Policy) is a “promise” to consider the environment when taking decisions.
Both a certification and the GREENWILL Green Policy are imperfect (there are no perfect things in this world), but they can easily complement each other, being GREENWILL the first step as it does not require any financial investment.

(1) A certification is lengthy, complicated and expensive.
GREENWILL is immediate, simple and free. That's why is the ideal first step (which can be complemented by a certification later). 

• What is the Pledge?

The GREENWILL Pledge (the public Green Policy) is a “promise” that individuals, businesses and organizations take to improve their environmental impact.

• How much does it cost?

Nothing. GREENWILL and all its procedures and information are free (distributed and freely available just like the free software). The only cost of its adoption is maybe some meetings with the staff and the colleagues involved.

• How can it be free?

The whole concept was originally initiated by EuCham - European Chamber as a CSR activity for its members. It has subsequently evolved into a full-scale global nonprofit initiative that wants to develop a better world. It is today freely available to anyone, following the open source concept of universal access via a free license, similar to the free software. 
In order to keep it available to the general public at no cost, the initiative relies on financial support of EuCham itself and other generous companies and institutions, working together with a multicultural staff of volunteers and interns from all around the world.

• Will GREENWILL remain free?

Yes, as a voluntary nonprofit global initiative, GREENWILL is and will always be free.

• How do you verify compliance?

The purpose of GREENWILL is to promote and provide the Green Policy and the Green Guidelines, and it cannot check the behavior of the users (this would come at a cost and it would make impossible to keep GREENWILL free for all). However, each pledger company/organization appoints a Green Officer, who is a member of the organization’s staff that voluntarily decides to supervise the activities of the company/organization and verifies compliance with the adopted Green Policiy.

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

As soon as an organization pledges GREENWILL, on request it can be added to the website and promoted through the social media channels.

• How can I support GREENWILL?

There are many ways to support GREENWILL. Organizations can register and encourage their partners to register as well. Anyone can become a GREENWILL volunteer or intern to help undertake outreach, develop local strategies, and help GREENWILL succeed in its mission.
For financial or in-kind contributions, some info are available at greenwill.org/en/contact

• 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 many times these countries are also the ones facing the greatest environmental challenges. 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 entrusts the monitoring of registrants’ activities to a Green Officer, a member of the staff who voluntarily decides to supervise the activities of the organization and verifies compliance. In the future, GREENWILL will release a web & mobile platform to encourage public participation through the reviewing, rating, and locating of organizations and associations with the most sustainable practices.

• After a registrant has fulfilled all the promises in the Green Policy and has fully adopted the Guidelines, what comes next?

After an organization has fully adopted the Green Guidelines, it is strongly encouraged to invite its partners and stakeholders to join as well. In an ideal world, a company would require its partners and suppliers to have a valid public Green Policy. The GREENWILL Team works with all registrants to ensure maximal impact.

• 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 makes public its commitment to a greener environment and promises to do its best to implement green practices and encourage others to do the same.

• What are the Green Guidelines?

The Green Guidelines are a periodically updated brief set of tips developed by GREENWILL. They have been formulated based on extensive in-house research of global best practices regarding environmental policies. They are applicable to multinational entities, small & medium-sized firms, organizations, government bodies and individuals. The Green Guidelines are divided into chapters covering Commuting, Transport, Electricity, Water, Heating & Cooling, Waste, Recycling and Hazardous Materials. The Guidelines are free. GREENWILL invites its partners to use them to reduce energy consumption, save costs and protect the environment. Of course this set of Guidelines is just one of many an organization may decide to use to become greener.