There is no doubt that the human population is causing global warming, and if left unchecked, it could have disastrous consequences for the environment. Yet creating and enforcing policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is no easy feat, despite the knowledge that we need to actively prevent climate change. Ultimately, global warming is everyone's problem, and governments alone won't be able to fix it with policy.

In addition to new governmental laws and restrictions, the answer to creating sustainability may, in fact, lie with businesses. As natural resources dwindle due to climate change, it's inevitable that a business costs will increase in order to acquire those resources, so it's in a company's best interest to pursue sustainability starting as soon as possible. Although expensive in the short term, business sustainability will lower costs long term, allowing companies to decrease their overhead while still meeting consumers' expectations.

Not only does sustainability benefit companies internally, but consumer demand for green businesses and products is readily apparent too, even for products where it hasn't historically been an important demand. Last month, the Tesla Model 3 electric car received $325 million in advance orders, even though the car won't be available at market until 2017 at the earliest. Tesla is now famous for making the electric cars desirable, and the Model 3 looks like it will take the company to new levels of success and bring the electric car to a widespread commercial market.

Every year, sustainability increasingly becomes an important discussion for businesses as both a means to boost their bottom line and as a marketing tool to attract millennials interested in supporting environmentally friendly companies. Unsurprisingly, the tech industry is on the frontlines of creating green economic sustainability, whether it's by building technologies to boost efficiency, supporting alternative power sources, or even reorganizing company structure to reduce GHG emissions.

Out of all of these efforts, though, one of the biggest shifts in the structure of tech companies that has helped boost sustainability is the recent rise of remote work. An increasing number of startups, like the freelance platform Toptal, are ignoring the traditional business model with headquarters and offices. Employees can work just as efficiently from home, and the environmental benefits of remote work are clear. There are no energy-consuming offices, and employees aren't driving to work, which lowers traffic congestion and pollution.

Many tech enterprises offer work from home flexibility as well, but they also use their revenue to fund new ventures that increase sustainability in other ways. Cloud computing company Salesforce has committed to becoming carbon-neutral by 2050 through increasing the efficiency of their offices and business and converting to renewable energy resources.

As of the end of 2015, 55% of Salesforce offices have been LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, meaning that they pass the US government program for sustainable practices, and Salesforce has plans for all new offices and renovations to pass LEED's silver certification as well. The company also recently signed two wind farm agreements that will produce more energy than Salesforce used globally in 2015 once they begin producing energy, the first of which will go live in December 2016.

Additionally, Apple recently announced its newest green project in a long string of efforts to become more sustainable.  Liam, a robot that can dissemble iPhones for parts, is a continuation of Apple's efforts to recycle used iPhones, which brought them $40 million in gold alone in 2015. Liam will increase the efficiency of the recycling process through its ability to take apart and sort the different parts and metals, whereas the traditional electronic recycling process ends up mixing metals with fragments of plastic or glass.

Not to be outdone, Amazon is going green as well, though the e-commerce and cloud computing company is late to the party in its own initiatives (though it should be noted that Amazon's cloud services help companies reduce their carbon footprint due to their efficiency). The first of Amazon's wind farms started generating power for its data centers this past January and will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of 46,000 homes for an entire year. Amazon has plans to open two more wind farms and a solar farm this year, and will soon produce enough clean energy to power a city slightly larger than the size of Cleveland, according to Amazon's website.

While these international tech companies are building infrastructure to utilize clean energy, their focus isn't on creating solutions to decrease energy consumption, but rather to supplant that consumption with clean energy. Instead, the role of innovation to reduce energy consumption overall falls to startups, and many promising new businesses are tackling big problems. Consider Hyperloop One, a startup that aims to drastically reduce pollution caused by long distance travel by building a high-speed transportation system that runs on air-compression and electricity, no gasoline needed.

On May 11th, Hyperloop One successfully completed their first open air test of the technology, and the electricity-propelled sled travelled over 100 mph. When the first track is completed, passengers will travel through an enclosed tube in a pod levitating on compressed air from San Francisco to Los Angeles, reaching speeds of 350 mph and arriving to either city within a half hour. While Hyperloop One has a long way to go, if the San Francisco-Los Angeles loop is a success, this company could revolutionize the way we travel between cities all over the world.

With the recent cleantech investment boom, the future looks bright for the growth of sustainable businesses. Ultimately, creating expansive and long term sustainability will require a joint effort from businesses of all sizes, from enterprises creating renewable energy sources to startups discovering solutions to reduce energy consumption, in order to make a green economy a reality.