Skip to main content

GreenBiz Editorial Guidelines

typewriter

Update, November 2023: The GreenBiz editorial team has paused one-off editorial submissions pending a review of our coverage priorities and an update of our columnist guidelines. The information below represents our legacy process.

The big picture: We are a business-to-business media and events company focusing on corporate sustainability practices and strategy, and the technologies, strategies and people that are accelerating the clean economy. Our goal is to help professionals in companies and institutions across sectors leverage sustainability practices and clean technology to create value and reduce risk while addressing the world’s most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Target audience: Senior leaders in large, global enterprises and institutions. Some have “environment” or “sustainability” in their titles, but many don’t. They come from a broad range of sectors, functions and responsibilities. Their organizations are driven by traditional business and financial goals as well as social and environmental ones, and they’re seeking to align the two.

Tone: First and foremost, it should be your own, whatever that is. In general, we want to be friendly, professional, authoritative and provocative. Feel free to write in the first person and address the audience directly. Talk up to the audience, not down. Address topics at both the high level — overarching trends and context — and the ground level — the realities of life in the trenches. Be brutally honest, don’t sugarcoat, be positive and empowering. Humor is good!

What we want: Both shorter (500-800 word) and longer (800-1,200 word) pieces across a range of topics. Examples include (but are not limited to):

  • Stories of companies or initiatives and how they achieved (or failed to achieve) sustainability goals
  • Inside stories of innovative corporate initiatives
  • Emerging trends in business or society that have implications, positive or negative, for social and environmental sustainability
  • Insights into business or public-sector processes, operations, or technologies
  • Thought leadership from business executives and entrepreneurs
  • Empirical research by your organization or others, along with context and perspective
  • Personal observations, insights and experiences — for example, “What I’ve learned” or “How I got my job”
  • Advice and how-to articles aimed at a sophisticated business audience

What we don’t want: Technical or scientific debates; politics, except as it directly affects companies’ sustainability strategy; product reviews; consumer advice or product pitches; repurposed press releases; or outright flackery, whether of yourself or others. We don’t engage in paid link exchanges or run articles meant to drive traffic to another website. Articles that market a product or service will be referred to our sales team who will follow up about sponsored content opportunities. We rarely accept submissions by executives that are writing about a product or service they sell; those are referred to our sales team. 

Key topics: While we cover a broad range of stories at the intersection of sustainability, clean technology and business, we focus on these topics:

Before pitching us, please search our archive of roughly 25,000 stories to see what we’ve already published on your topic of interest. If your article overlooks our past coverage, it's unlikely we'll accept your submission. 

What we value: Diversity in all its many forms — of writers, ideas, viewpoints, organizations and people quoted or profiled. We strive to elevate individuals and communities whose voices are often overlooked. We are committed to featuring more Black, Indigenous and people of color, both as writers and as subject matter experts.

Our filter: We continually ask ourselves the simple but brutal question: “So what?” That is, now that someone has read an article, what did they learn? (A good gut check is whether they would likely forward it to colleagues.) If it doesn’t have some kind of insight or takeaway, implicit or explicit, it’s probably not worth reading — or writing.

Transparency: Credibility is key to the GreenBiz brand. If you’re connected to whatever you’re writing about, that’s okay, as long as readers know. Therefore, it is essential that any material relationship be disclosed — for example, if the subject is a client or employer (or yourself). Please honor in both letter and spirit. If you’re not sure, ask.

Exclusivity: We give priority to content that is exclusive to GreenBiz. Of course, you’re encouraged to promote it through your website, networks and social media platforms and link back to us.

How to pitch us: Send completed drafts as a Word attachment or as a Google doc link to [email protected]. Please use the word “Submission” in the subject line. If we’re interested in your article, we’ll respond within one week, though it could take up to three weeks for a piece to be published, depending on the topic and how much editing is required. We cannot respond to every pitch we receive, especially those that clearly don’t meet the above guidelines.