Ways businesses can reduce their carbon emissions
As individuals, we are taught from a young age about conserving the energy we use. We’re taught to turn the TV off instead of leaving it on standby, to put on jumpers when we’re cold and many more energy-saving practices.
While reducing individual emissions is essential to reduce global warming, businesses also have an enormous part to play in the fight against climate change. Fortunately, there are many simple ways businesses can reduce emissions.
Recycle.
Manufacturing recycled products uses far fewer resources than making products from raw materials. To contribute to the recycling industry and reduce your waste emissions, it’s a good idea to install recycling points at your workplace.
When it comes to paper recycling, remember to be mindful of confidential information. It’s good practice to shred all paperwork before you recycle it.
Use recycled or sustainable products.
As with recycling, buying recycled products will aid in the conservation of resources.
For example, recycling paper reduces the number of trees required to produce goods. This help with carbon reduction, and it also helps save nature’s habitats. In the last 30 years, the world’s insect decline has taken a huge hit of almost 25%. A big contributor to this loss is habitat destruction.
Use green energy and reduce energy consumption.
Green energy is worth considering, and it’s a great way to reduce your emissions. If your business has cash reserves, you could even invest in renewable energy resources such as solar panels.
To reduce day-to-day energy consumption, you could use LED lighting, enable battery-saving modes on PCs and devices, and use kitchen appliances with high energy ratings. Another big saver is heating. Reducing your thermostat temperature by just 1°C can reduce space heating energy by 13%. If your teams wear a uniform, you could also provide seasonal attire to keep staff cool in the summer and warm in the winter. This will save heating and air-con usage.
Buy used office furniture.
Using second-hand office furniture will save your company cash and will avoid contributing to further depletion of resources like wood and metal. Sustainable or FSC certified furniture is also a good option.
Use sustainable suppliers & buy local.
Beyond your own activities, try to use sustainable suppliers and buy local where possible. If you’re pulling out all the stops to reduce your footprint, but your suppliers are not, you could be funding unsustainable practices.
Switch to Hybrid or Fully Electric Company Vehicles.
A ban on new petrol and diesel cars is coming into effect in 2030. With that deadline approaching fast, now could be a good time to get ahead and start the transition to using hybrid or fully electric models.
The UK’s approximate CO2 produced by cars is around 38 million tonnes annually. If even half of businesses switched to electric, we could make a huge dent in the nation’s carbon footprint.
Host virtual meetings and events.
During the coronavirus pandemic, most of us will have encountered virtual meetings. While virtual meetings may be something we’re happy to leave behind, consider whether future meetings and events could still be hosted online. This will save staff commuting times, travel expenses, and reduce business travel emissions.
Use public transport or car share for business trips.
For business trips or meetings, public transport or car-sharing is one great way to reduce emissions.
A single person car journey in a medium-sized petrol car has a carbon footprint of around 192g/km. This is 42g higher than the average emissions of a long-haul economy flight per passenger! Using buses (105g/km per passenger) or rail services (41g/km per passenger) is much more eco-friendly, and so is car-sharing.
Start offsetting the emissions you can’t reduce.
Even after reducing emissions, it’s almost impossible for businesses and individuals to produce no carbon. For the carbon your business can reduce no further, offsetting is a great option. While it doesn’t remove the emissions we produce, it does mean an equivalent amount of carbon is removed from the atmosphere.
Get your employees involved.
One of the best ways to reduce the environmental impacts of your business is to involve your staff. They may well have great ideas to tackle climate change and already know your organisation inside-out.
