Tips on Becoming a Lower Emissions Business

Whether large or small, there are things every business (and even individual) can do to reduce carbon emissions. Large industrial issues aside, here are five things you can start doing today to become a lower emissions business:

Upgrade Your Fleet

It doesn’t matter if you have just a few company cars or an entire fleet of work-related vehicles on the road. You can drastically cut your carbon emissions by switching to low-emission cars, trucks, or vans. When making large ticket purchases such as these, you should look at not only the cost of the vehicles, but how that cost compares to what you would save in carbon permits or credits over the life of each vehicle. Better yet, see if you can cut down on your fleet altogether.

Decrease Paper Consumption

If you aren’t using digital filing, now is a good time to start. In addition to conveniences like easier access, you’ll be cutting back your paper usage. Decreasing the amount of trees cut down for your business needs means a smaller carbon footprint for your business. If you still have a print-intensive business, consider using recycled papers, printing on both sides of the paper when possible, or cutting down at least some paper usage where feasible.

Change Your Lighting

Not only will more energy-efficient lighting often save you money with less often replacements, but it will cut down on your energy consumption through your business, decreasing your carbon needs.

Go Virtual

Are you or others in your company frequent flyers? Do you have several offices globally? You could be contributing several tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere through a single round-trip international flight between offices. Is it really worth it? These days there are several options available for virtual meetings, such as video conferencing. Don’t fly for business reasons unless absolutely necessary.

Get Energy Efficient with Your Electronics

Businesses often involve a lot of electronics – computers, printers, fax machines, copiers, etc. You can do more than change your lighting to cut back on your energy consumption and decrease your carbon demands. Remember to have all computers turned off after-hours. Have employees turn off monitors whenever they leave their desk. Have less-frequently used equipment (like a copier) turned off when it’s not in use.

There are a lot of “little” things that you, your colleagues, and your employees can do to help decrease the carbon emissions of your business. Starting small is better than not starting at all.

Last updated 22 September 2008