Seasonal corporate gifting is standard in business but can it be done responsibly? Feena Kickhamm outlines her advice on sustainable gift-giving for Irish businesses this Christmas

Sustainable corporate gifting is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate a company’s sustainability commitments, including environmental and social responsibility.

Businesses can inspire their employees, build a positive brand image, and contribute to a better world by choosing sustainable gifts.

There are several issues to bear in mind when trying to keep your gifting green.

1. Define your values: Clarify the criteria most important for your corporate gifts, e.g. environmental impact, supporting local communities or fair trade.
2. Local sourcing: Support local SMEs and social enterprises. This supports the local economy and reduces carbon emissions from shipping.
3. Eco-friendly materials: Choose gifts with a good environmental footprint, such as made from recycled or upcycled materials and consider reusable or recyclable packaging.  
4. Education: Raise awareness with information about the sustainability and ethics of your chosen gift to recipients.  

There is a wealth of small, creative, and sustainable businesses to choose from in Ireland. Here are several that are worthy of your support this holiday season:

Social Enterprises

We Make Good has products that are designed by some of Ireland’s best designers and made by people facing social challenges who have been supported to develop valuable skills and gain employment.  

Rediscovery Centre is an eco store providing a wide range of upcycled and reused circular economy products.  

ReThink Ireland contains a directory listing social enterprises you can support in Ireland.  

Going green

Ireland currently recycles 31 percent of all plastics, which needs to increase to 50 percent by 2025 under EU Legislation. There are shops that can help us reach this goal.

• Reuzi, Faerly, and Pax are just some of the zero-waste businesses in Ireland providing a range of gifting solutions to encourage minimal-waste living. 
• Jimmy Eco Toys is a toy company retailing and distributing eco-friendly toys.
• Hometree plants native woodland in Ireland to help with land regeneration and biodiversity. You can pledge or donate for trees planted in Ireland. 

Of course, you can also give e-gift cards, experience gifts or donations to a local charity to guarantee your gift doesn’t end up in a landfill.

Ethical food

Coffee and chocolate production are often linked to environmental and human rights challenges, but there are many companies actively working to overcome these issues.

• Moyee Coffee offers fair chain coffee, meaning more value stays in coffee-growing countries through the creation of quality employment and provision a living income for farmers.
• Tony's Chocolonely is a Dutch chocolate brand committed to eradicating child labour in the global chocolate supply chain.  
• Imbibe Coffee is organic, socially conscious coffee that is giving back. One percent of its coffee sales go to Women’s Aid, one percent to projects at coffee origins they buy from and a further one percent is shared among its staff. 

Making the effort

Sourcing sustainable and ethical corporate gifts may take time and have a slightly higher upfront cost, but it demonstrates your commitment to responsible business practices and can have a real positive impact on smaller businesses.  

We recognise there are many more great small businesses and social enterprises not listed here, and we encourage companies to expand their corporate gifting search a little this year to support as many as possible.

Feena Kickhamm is Sustainability Adviser at Business in the Community Ireland