10 Ways You Can Reduce Your Businesses' Carbon Footprint

Business sustainability co working environment
Photo by Shridhar Gupta

Even well-meaning businesses can be a significant source of pollution. It doesn’t have to be that way. Sustainable business practices reduce your carbon footprint and help you to better serve your community at the same time. Many of them even have cost-saving potential. 

In this article, we look at ten ways you can reduce your business’s carbon footprint. 

IoT

Internet of things technology allows businesses to use the power of the internet in everyday objects. One of the most common applications of IoT may be smart thermostats. These devices are convenient and cost-effective, regulating the temperature to keep everyone comfortable when the room is occupied, then shutting down or reducing power when it isn’t. 

Not only can this save a significant amount of money on utilities, but it can also reduce your carbon footprint by helping you to cut back on energy use. 

Renewable Energy

Where once renewable energy was an inaccessible technology, it can now be acquired for a relatively modest fee. While going carbon neutral with your renewable energy sources may not be in the cards right now for most businesses, it is easier than ever to supplement your traditional power usage with solar panels, and other forms of renewable energy. 

Consider looking into business grants and tax credits for sustainable business practices to help you pay for the purchase. 

Sustainable Appliances

Most appliances, from heating and cooling to the kitchen, can be bought with sustainability in mind. This, coupled with IoT can radically change the carbon footprint of your appliances. Shop around, and do your research. Though many products will advertise that they are eco-friendly, the extent to which this is the case can vary significantly. 

Do your research. You can usually tell how sustainable a product is by looking at how much energy it uses during regular application—not just with isolated features. 

Consider a Remote Work Environment

Allowing your employees to choose to stay home instead of coming into the office can do a lot to reduce your business's carbon footprint, by:

• Reducing Car Emissions: If you have a dozen employees with a half-hour commute, you can keep cars off the roads for twelve hours a day just by letting people work from home. That’s a lot of emissions!

• Condensing Your Office Space: A remote work environment may also allow you to opt for a smaller work environment. Smaller buildings—especially when outfitted with the eco-friendly equipment described earlier—will off-put less carbon. 

If you are like most businesses that were around during the start of the pandemic, you probably already have a strategy in place for pivoting into remote work. Consider using it to reduce your carbon, and potentially even save money on a smaller building. 

Carbon Offsets

Carbon offsets rub many people the wrong way—particularly when they are purchased. The basic premise is that whatever carbon you put into the air, with one thing, you reduce with another. For example, you might offset your office building by planting trees. 

It sounds reasonable, and it certainly does have the potential to reduce a business’s carbon footprint, but not when it is viewed as a “get out of jail free card.” Both from the public perspective and in terms of efficiency, businesses are advised not to use carbon offsets in lieu of other reasonable sustainability measures. 

Cut emissions as much as you can and then consider offsets as a way to address the things you can’t change.

Eliminate Single-Use Plastic

Offices of the past have been full of single-use plastic. Little cups at the water cooler. To-go cups by the coffee maker. Plastic utensils in the break room. While these may seem like relatively small issues, they add up quickly. 

You can eliminate single-use plastics both through office policy and by providing reusable alternatives for your staff. 

Train Your Staff

Sustainability training can be used to instill eco-friendly practices both at work and in the greater world. These can be done relatively informally, through notices spread throughout the office, or in a more organized manner, with special sessions set up to make time for eco-friendly education. 

When it comes to sustainability, knowledge is power. Many well-intentioned people are unaware of how small decisions can make a big difference in protecting the earth. 

Recycle

Recycling is perhaps the easiest and most obvious way you can recalibrate your workplace toward sustainability. You probably already have a recycling bin, perhaps in your break room. For true sustainability, make sure you are also recycling bigger items, such as your electronics, which can be a significant source of pollution when they wind up in landfills. 

Supply chain Management

Your supply chain can have an enormous impact on the carbon emissions your business produces. Look for ways to maximize the efficiency of how you produce and ship items. IoT and data processing technology have helped many businesses maximize the effectiveness of their supply chain and save money in the process. 

Involve Your Customers

There are many ways you can involve your customers in your sustainability efforts. Simply informing them of the decisions you have made to improve eco-friendliness may be enough to encourage others to do the same. 

It can also be helpful to offer your customers a way to participate in your sustainability efforts, either by educating them about decisions they can make to reduce their own carbon footprint or by providing eco-friendly alternatives to your traditional service model. 

It Matters

Sustainable business practices not only offset the severe risks of climate change, but they also have the potential to improve human health by reducing pollution and encouraging an altogether greener society. 

While most of the measures described above have a startup cost, many pay for themselves over time, and can even save businesses money eventually. Sustainable business practices are a common-sense way to improve your company and your community at the same time by reducing the risk of climate change, protecting soil, and improving public health. 

Sea Going Green works with businesses in the tourism sector to measure and mitigate their environmental footprints so that their guests know that they are serious about sustainability.

Ready to start your sustainability journey? Schedule a call with us today.