Should you be certified?

"I think we should join the new Green Certification program I presented to the management last week," your COO says at the end of the meeting.

You reflect for a few seconds before clearing your throat. "I don't see the point in it. We're already doing what we can for the environment, and this seems excessive. It was only two years ago that we did our green certification with another vendor, and this seems redundant."

"I hate to bring this up, but their head of sales called me yesterday and asked about our progress. At the end of the conversation, she mentioned that they would publish the names of all the companies in our industry that have not joined, like a hall of shame."

You feel your fist tighten. "To me, this sounds like blackmail!" you say firmly. "Come on, don't get worked up about it. It's only $5K, and then we can put another logo on our webpage and in our sales material, showing how seriously we are working on ESG."

You are the CEO – what would you do?