This month we’re covering sustainability, looking after our planet, and reducing your overall carbon footprint. Not just your personal carbon footprint, your business carbon footprint too.
Why? Reducing your carbon footprint is becoming more than a buzzword. Businesses are actively engaging with events like the Great British Beach Clean, World Car Free Day, and National Recycling Week.
It’s more evident than ever that business owners want to make a difference. Recent news from Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who announced that all profits will be used to tackle climate change, proves just how far some are willing to go for our planet.
As a paper-free accountancy firm that takes sustainability seriously, we want to share some tips with other businesses who’d like to take action and reduce their business carbon footprint.
Embrace greener travel
If your team can cycle or walk to your office, you could support them in doing so. Walking and cycling is a great emission free alternative to the usual commute.
We’ve promoted the cycle to work scheme historically, but it’s a great incentive. It helps your team purchase a bike at a great monthly rate before tax.
Not everyone can cycle and walk, so you could support with electric vehicles where possible. If you have a fleet of vehicles, you could look at switching them to electric vehicles.
You can also support by allowing hybrid and flexible working, which prevents unnecessary travel. We’ve covered this in more depth in an earlier green blog!
Implement energy efficiency measures
Implementing energy efficiency measures within your office doesn’t need to break the bank. There are a few steps you can take which won’t cost your business anything. In fact, they may save you money in the long term and reduce your overall business carbon footprint.
Ensure all lights and sockets are off when people aren’t in a room. Light timers and sensors are a great option in busy workplaces where shared spaces mean lights are often left on when people leave a meeting room, for example.
A step further would be to explore the heating options in your office, including your boiler and heat pump. You could also explore the option of solar panels.
If you do want to invest in larger energy efficiency equipment, you may be able to benefit from capital allowances and the super-deduction tax.
Reduce food waste
Reducing food waste across your office(s) may seem like a challenge, but it doesn’t have to be. If you have on site café or restaurant facilities, you could review how much of your current food is going to waste and make a plan to reduce it.
You can sign up for platforms like too good to go, an app that prevents your left-over food from going to waste by allowing people to buy it at a reduced rate.
In smaller offices, you could provide your team with food storage space, an energy efficient fridge, and a microwave to heat up food.
Reduce, reuse and recycle
Our final point should be a really easy one to get going across your business… wherever possible, reuse and recycle! It all makes a difference. Provide labelled bins for your team to use, and use signage to be clear about what goes where.
You could also take steps to reduce your waste by evaluating your current use of office supplies like paper and notepads. You could explore sustainable alternatives to the supplies, or your ability to phase them out completely. Alternatively, you can adjust what you’re ordering, to prevent surplus and waste.
Trying to reduce your business’s carbon footprint?
There are so many great resources out there which can help you take the appropriate steps to reduce your business carbon footprint. Try to find a local group or movement to join, this can help you stay motivated to make changes.
We can also help, feel free to get in touch if you’d like to learn more about the steps we’ve taken.
