How to cut your carbon footprint

Reducing your carbon footprint will not only help in the fight against global warming, but could bring significant cost savings to your business. The Carbon Trust estimates that more than 8m tonnes of carbon are emitted by UK businesses in wasted energy over the summer months at a cost of £570m. So how can your business reduce its carbon footprint?

Travel

Unless it is absolutely necessary to drive, why not consider public transport? As well as taking another car off the road, which reduces traffic

congestion and emissions, a train journey will allow you to catch up on paperwork. If public transport is not an option perhaps staff could be encouraged to car-share to and from work. The amount of carbon saved per car can be calculated at www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk, where you can enter a vehicle’s details and calculate the CO2 emitted per kilometre travelled – a useful way to show the workforce a direct reduction they can make by leaving their car at home.

Company cars

Before deciding on replacements for your ageing fleet of smog-belchers it is worth taking a look at the cars that emit the least CO2 per kilometre. Again, www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk lists the top 10 cars, both diesel and petrol, with the lowest emissions and also allows you to find out how your current vehicles rate.

Energy

The most direct way to reduce your business’s carbon footprint is to look at your energy usage. Visit www.carbontrust.co.uk for tips on how to save energy, from turning off computers and monitors when not in use to installing inexpensive occupancy sensors that can reduce lighting costs.

Green power may also be available from your supplier and the higher costs associated with renewable energy are likely to disappear in coming years.

Larger companies could also consider generating power on site: such as installing solar panels to provide heating for offices, or erecting a wind turbine on the roof to power the entire building.

Offset

Many environmental organisations now offer individuals and businesses the opportunity to offset their carbon footprint, known as emission trading. For a small contribution they will calculate your footprint and invest in forestry to effectively cancel out your emissions. But trading emissions does not, on its own, reduce CO2 output and it should be used after your business has done as much as possible to physically reduce its own emissions levels. CO2e and CarbonNeutral Company are two organisations that undertake emissions trading. Visit www.co2e.com or www.carbonneutral.com for more information.