The best examples of sustainability in company culture: case studies that actually changed behavior

When you look for examples of sustainability in company culture: case studies, patterns start to emerge. The companies that make real progress do three things:

• Tie sustainability to business strategy and compensation.
• Make sustainable choices the easy, default option.
• Treat employees as co-creators, not an audience.

Let’s look at how that plays out in practice.

Microsoft: Linking carbon goals to executive pay and daily decisions

One of the best examples of sustainability in company culture comes from Microsoft. In 2020, the company committed to becoming carbon negative by 2030 and to remove all historical emissions by 2050. That’s ambitious, but the culture shift is what matters.

Instead of keeping climate targets in a sustainability report, Microsoft tied a portion of executive compensation to progress on carbon, waste, and water goals. That move sends a blunt internal signal: climate performance is business performance.

On the ground, teams use an internal carbon fee—essentially a price on carbon charged to business units—to fund decarbonization projects. This turns sustainability into a budget line item, not a side project. Product teams are nudged to build more energy-efficient software and cloud services, because emissions now show up as costs.

If you’re looking for a practical example of sustainability in company culture, this is a powerful one: connect climate metrics to pay and P&L, and behaviors start to shift.

For context on corporate climate commitments and science-based targets, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains guidance on greenhouse gas management and reporting standards (epa.gov).

Patagonia: Employee activism as a core cultural norm

Patagonia is often cited, but it still belongs on any list of the best examples of sustainability in company culture. The company has baked environmental activism into job expectations, not just brand marketing.

Employees get paid time off to participate in environmental campaigns and grassroots organizing. Patagonia funds local groups through its 1% for the Planet commitment and encourages staff to work directly with those organizations. New hires are told, very explicitly, that their role includes speaking up—internally and externally—about environmental issues.

This is a useful example of sustainability in company culture: case studies that go beyond recycling bins. The company doesn’t just support activism in theory; it operationalizes it through policies, benefits, and storytelling. The message is clear: if you care about the planet, you’re in the right place.

Salesforce: Embedding climate in onboarding, values, and volunteerism

Salesforce offers another strong example of sustainability in company culture, especially in how it blends values, training, and volunteering.

Sustainability is framed as a core company value, reinforced from day one in onboarding. New employees are introduced to the company’s climate commitments, internal carbon accounting, and the expectation that every team will contribute. Sustainability isn’t siloed to a single department; it’s positioned as part of everyone’s job.

Salesforce also encourages employees to use paid volunteer time off to support climate and environmental projects in their communities. This turns climate action into a shared experience, not an abstract corporate pledge.

If you’re building your own program, this is a practical example of sustainability in company culture where the company uses rituals it already has—onboarding, values, volunteer programs—and infuses them with climate content instead of creating yet another standalone initiative.

IKEA: Culture change through product decisions and everyday habits

IKEA’s sustainability push is visible in its products—renewable energy, circular design, and take-back programs—but the culture shift behind it is just as interesting.

Employees are encouraged to spot waste and propose improvements on the shop floor and in warehouses. Many stores run “sustainability weeks” where staff experiment with new practices, from energy-saving lighting routines to better material sorting. These aren’t just campaigns for customers; they’re internal experiments that shape how teams work.

One of the best examples includes IKEA’s focus on making sustainable options the default: more plant-based meals in staff canteens, LED lighting everywhere, and guidance on low-impact travel for work. By changing the default choices, IKEA quietly rewires habits without forcing employees to become sustainability experts.

This is a subtle but powerful example of sustainability in company culture: case studies that show how operational decisions—what food is served, how stores are lit, how travel is booked—signal what the company really values.

Google: Employee-driven climate advocacy and internal pressure

Not all culture change is top-down. Google offers one of the more interesting real examples of sustainability in company culture driven from the bottom up.

Over the past several years, employees have organized internal campaigns pushing the company to limit contracts with fossil fuel clients and to improve its climate commitments. While the outcomes have been mixed, the cultural signal is clear: employees see climate as a moral and strategic issue, and they’re willing to challenge leadership on it.

Google has responded with high-profile commitments on renewable energy, data center efficiency, and AI for climate solutions. But the more important cultural shift is that climate is now a topic of internal debate, not a one-way announcement. Employees expect a say in how the company navigates climate risk.

If you’re looking for examples of sustainability in company culture: case studies where employees act as internal watchdogs, Google is a useful reminder: you can’t build a credible sustainability culture while ignoring climate-conscious employees.

Unilever: Making sustainability part of brand ownership and KPIs

Unilever’s long-running focus on sustainability has shaped both its external reputation and its internal culture. Brand managers are expected to integrate environmental and social impact into product strategies, not treat them as separate CSR add-ons.

This shows up in performance metrics. Brands are encouraged—and in some cases required—to set and report on sustainability-related KPIs, from packaging reductions to water use and sourcing standards. Internal training programs help marketers understand life-cycle impacts and consumer expectations on sustainability.

One of the most practical examples of sustainability in company culture here is the way Unilever treats sustainability as part of brand P&L stewardship. If your brand can’t explain how it’s reducing impact or creating positive value, you’re behind.

For background on how corporate sustainability can align with global climate and development goals, the United Nations provides accessible resources on sustainable development and climate action (un.org).

Etsy: Remote work, low-carbon logistics, and transparent reporting

Etsy offers a smaller-scale but very instructive example of sustainability in company culture: case studies that blend remote work, logistics, and transparency.

Etsy has invested in renewable energy and carbon accounting, but the cultural piece is in how it normalizes climate-aware decision-making:

• Remote and flexible work reduce commuting emissions and expand access to talent.
• Employees see transparent reporting on marketplace shipping emissions and offsets, making the trade-offs visible.
• Sustainability teams collaborate closely with operations and product, so climate impacts are considered when designing features or policies.

What makes Etsy one of the best examples is the way climate is treated as a shared constraint and design parameter, not a side metric. This is exactly the kind of mindset shift that defines a real sustainability culture.

Emerging 2024–2025 trends in sustainability culture

Looking across these examples of sustainability in company culture: case studies, a few trends are gaining momentum in 2024–2025:

1. Climate literacy as a standard skill
More companies are building climate and sustainability literacy into training for managers and staff. This mirrors broader public guidance on climate impacts and health from organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc.gov). Employees are expected to understand climate risk the way they understand cybersecurity or data privacy.

2. Hardwiring sustainability into governance
Boards and executive teams are increasingly tying climate performance to oversight structures and incentive plans. Microsoft’s carbon-linked compensation is one example of sustainability in company culture that’s becoming more common, especially as investors scrutinize climate risk disclosures.

3. Employee climate councils and green teams
Green teams are not new, but they’re getting more teeth. In stronger programs, employee climate councils review internal policies, propose pilots, and have a direct channel to leadership. These groups often surface the best real examples of low-cost, high-impact changes—everything from office energy use to travel guidelines.

4. Sustainable travel and meeting norms
Post-pandemic hybrid work has opened the door to rethink travel. Many organizations are adopting default rules like “train over plane where practical,” virtual-first internal meetings, and carbon budgets for teams. These practices become culture when leaders model them and when travel approvals reflect climate impacts.

5. Food, health, and sustainability
Office catering and events are becoming a quiet but influential arena for sustainability. Companies are increasing plant-based options, reducing food waste, and sourcing locally where possible. This intersects with employee health and well-being, an area where organizations often look to guidance from health-focused institutions such as the National Institutes of Health (nih.gov).

How to turn these case studies into your own culture shift

Reading examples of sustainability in company culture: case studies is useful; copying them blindly is not. The real work is translating these patterns into your context.

Here are practical moves that show up again and again in the best examples:

Start with one or two visible, behavior-changing shifts
Pick something employees touch every week—travel, food, office energy use, product design reviews—and redesign it with sustainability baked in. Make the sustainable option the default, not the opt-in.

Tie sustainability to incentives and decision rights
Even a small bonus component or clear performance expectation sends a strong signal. Follow Microsoft’s example of linking climate metrics to compensation, scaled to your size.

Give employees real power, not just surveys
Create a climate council or green team with a budget and direct access to leadership. Ask them to propose one pilot per quarter and commit to implementing the best ideas.

Make climate visible in everyday tools
Add emissions data to travel booking tools, procurement systems, or product dashboards. When people see the impact of their choices, they adjust faster.

Tell internal stories that celebrate behavior, not just big wins
Highlight teams that cut travel, redesigned packaging, or reworked a process to save energy. These internal stories become living examples of sustainability in company culture that others can copy.

The companies above didn’t get everything right, and many are still under pressure to do more. But as real examples, they prove one thing: when sustainability becomes part of how decisions are made—who gets rewarded, what gets funded, how success is defined—culture shifts.

FAQ: Practical questions on sustainability in company culture

What are some practical examples of sustainability in company culture I can start with this year?

Some of the most practical moves mirror the best examples in the case studies above: linking a small portion of leadership bonuses to climate or resource goals, setting clear guidelines for low-carbon travel, adding plant-based options as the default in catering, and creating an employee climate council with a modest budget. These are all real examples you can adapt regardless of company size.

How do I know if my sustainability efforts are actually changing culture?

Watch for behavior and language shifts. Are managers referencing climate or sustainability in planning meetings without being prompted? Are employees proposing their own ideas and asking for emissions data? Are there internal stories spreading about teams that changed how they work? When sustainability shows up in everyday decisions and informal conversations, you’re moving beyond policy into culture.

What is one example of sustainability in company culture that works for smaller organizations?

A strong example of sustainability in company culture for smaller organizations is to embed climate and resource considerations into purchasing and travel approvals. Give managers a simple framework—cost, quality, and environmental impact—and require that they document how they considered all three. It’s lightweight, but it changes how people think about routine decisions.

Do I need a dedicated sustainability team to build this kind of culture?

A dedicated team helps, but it’s not mandatory. Many of the best examples started with a small cross-functional working group or a passionate leader with executive backing. The key is to avoid isolating sustainability; even if you have a specialist team, make sure responsibility is distributed across functions.

How can I keep employees engaged in sustainability over the long term?

Treat sustainability like any other strategic priority: set clear goals, provide feedback, offer recognition, and refresh initiatives regularly. Rotate employees through green teams or climate councils, update training with new science and regulations, and keep sharing new examples of sustainability in company culture from other organizations so your own efforts don’t stagnate.