After years of warnings, scientific studies and campaigning, environmental concerns have finally hit the mainstream. These days the general public is far more knowledgeable about the impact of their actions on the planet than ever before. This means that not only are they thinking about more ethical ways to run their own day-to-day lives, but they are also searching for companies and goods providers who can show them that they are doing their best to lessen their environmental impact too.
Therefore, raising the environmental profile of their business and ensuring that they are recognised as ethical traders has become an issue for many companies. More and more frequently, customers are found to be technologically savvy when it comes to researching companies. The advent of the internet has ensured that people have access to a lot of information that was once hard for them to come by. This means that companies who simply claim to be taking steps to cut their emissions without doing the back-end work can find themselves exposed and in hot water.
Luckily, there are many green initiatives available and there are solutions to suit businesses and organisations of all shapes and sizes. Depending of the type of company you own and the scale of your business, the amount of work you have to do to green your business will vary but there are some initiatives that can be implemented right away. These include simple measures such as ensuring staff only commute when strictly necessary or making certain that paper consumption is kept to a minimum. For example, technologies such as cloud computing can help businesses take a lot of their work online, therefore meaning they can work remotely and without the need of hardcopies of documentation.
Other ways to green your business include ensuring that you are using green suppliers yourself. After all, to green your business to the best of your ability and then find out you use the services of a notorious culprit could negate some of your hard work.
For many businesses energy consumption is one of their most significant costs as well being the area that has the biggest impact on the environment. The by-products of such energy sources are a huge problem when it comes to lowering carbon emissions. There are other choices however, and many businesses are looking into alternative sources of energy such as wind-generated power or solar energy.
In many instances, the energy saving initiatives you implement are sure to save you money too. Especially when oil and fuel prices are high. Whether you are simply thinking of enforcing a green policy that sees all your members of staff following simple rules such as turning off all of their equipment at night or you’re thinking of investing in green technology such as wind turbines, cutting your energy consumption or sourcing and supping your energy differently can save you a lot of money going forward.
Cut costs, improve your public profile and save the planet in a few easy steps by looking into ways you can boost green initiatives within your business – many changes are likely to be easier and more efficient than you might expect.
Harvey is passionate about the environment, business and wind turbines
