10 ways to reduce your business’ carbon footprint

Every business can cut their carbon footprint and contribute to environmental conservation. We’ve compiled this top 10 checklist full of easy steps any business can take, including yours, to help reduce the carbon footprint. Many of these are actually about optimizing your electricity use, so you can also save money! Implementing a few of these will save your wallet and the Earth.

1. Switch to renewable energy 
   
   If you can choose where your office is located or which company your building sources for electricity, you can make sure that all of your electricity usage is green. You might be already doing that—but checking won’t do any harm. It’ll just teach you more about your usage. Many countries actually award energy companies green certification if their energy is 100% renewable. If you check your company status and you see that certificate, you know all your electricity’s emissions are already at zero.
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2. Reduce your footprint’s air travel 
   
   Anybody who has watched the environmental news in the past few years will know that Greta Thunberg chose to attend all her climate change conferences in 2019 by boat. That’s because air travel and the industry make huge carbon emissions. You can do your part in a couple of different ways, like opting for seats that take up less space. It’s a little known fact, but an economy class seat on a plane will have a much smaller carbon footprint than first class. We can use a one-way flight from London Heathrow to New York JFK as an example. An economy seat has a footprint of 921kg CO2e. Business class has 2671kg CO2e, and first class has 3684kg CO2e.
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3. Reduce your business’s footprint on the roads
   
   Maybe your business has vehicles your employees use to get from place to place. Soon, it won’t matter if these are trucks, vans, or sedans. In 2022, many major manufacturers are coming out with EV trucks and vans. You can replace your fleet of vehicles with EVs, which will save your carbon emissions. Some governments even offer grants to subsidize their costs. Many businesses are building charge points in their parking lots—you could follow suit and convince some of your long-term employees to make the swap.
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4. Change your office light set-up to something more efficient 
   
   Now, just reading this tip might sound like a big up front cost for little gain. But that’s actually incorrect! Changing the lights in your building to LEDs and other energy efficient options comes with a whole list of benefits. You can dim your LEDs to use less energy when you need less light. They last longer. They’re cheaper to operate and maintain. There’s more, but you get it. On top of that, use natural light wherever you can. Your LEDs can be dimmed to supplement it where it’s needed, but do you really need a full array of lights on in the middle of summer? You have a light source fight outside natural light. That can cut your electricity costs too, no need to light what’s already lit.
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5. Reduce energy use in data center and comm rooms 
   
   - There’s a couple of different ways to reduce energy in the rooms that use the most electricity. These are some simple changes that will save you money. Remember that these rooms use a lot and chopping any big percentages of the top is less on your electric bill.
   
   - Set cooling systems to a higher temperature: This one is easy. A lot of businesses make the mistake of running their AC and cooling too hard in their data rooms. Many set their rooms to 19°C(or 66°F), when the optimal temperature is actually 23°C(or 73°C) for most data rooms. This will save energy without a risk of overheating or damage.
   
   - Set up hot and cool aisles: A normal data room spends more electricity on the room’s infrastructure than the IT equipment. To put it in perspective, we’re talking 40% goes to IT and the 60% goes to air conditioning, lighting, UPS systems, and everything else. All you need to do is make some containment systems in the room itself. Hot or cold air containment systems and some tactical rearrangements can save up to 40% on your air conditioning.
   
   - Install plastic curtains: Hot air containment sounds like a difficult process, but you could do it yourself with one trip down to the hardware store. Google even uses this method. If you place metal-end caps on rows and install plastic curtains—yes, your old shower curtain might save you a ton of money—you can limit the air in your data rooms from mixing.
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6.  Optimize heating and cooling systems 
   
   Temperature controls will minimize overheating or overcooling. You need timers. If one of your employees forgets to turn off the heater when they leave the office, they are going to eat up electricity heating up a building for nobody. You probably already have timers. Review them. See what your current system is running and make sure that’s what you need. Check your Building Management System and make sure your heating and cooling systems aren’t fighting each other. The two competing on the same space is a waste of money and happens in too many offices. You might want to take away control of the thermostat if your employees aren’t trained on building management. Clean the fins on your appliances, as maintenance will keep their efficiency up.
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7. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle 
   
   Reusing is going to save you money and your carbon footprint. Purchasing recycled paper and refurbished electronics is going to continue their usage and get more mileage out of them. A business with a large supply can do this at every point, securely reducing emissions. A company tackling their emissions will engage your employees to do the same. Make sure to give them opportunities to talk and go green themselves. Cut down on plastic and paper containers for water and encourage them to use company metal ones. Cut down on paper, food, and electronics that aren’t being used.
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8. Minimise food and waste emissions 
   
   Packaging, transportation, and production of food takes massive amounts of energy. Anybody who has looked into a vegan diet can attest to that. Not everyone can make those sacrifices, but your business can cut down on food waste, which cuts down on carbon. An easy way is to get the food waste collected and see if it can go to good use. Ensure your cafeteria offers vegetarian and vegan options. 18% of global carbon emissions are made by livestock agriculture, and you don’t have to as well. Also, you can see what foods are wasted by kitchen staff at the end of the day. You can make cuts and simply make less of that food, as it’s not in demand.
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9. Cut down all single-use plastics 
   
   This goes hand in hand with reduce, reuse, and recycle but it’s prominent enough to be given its own tip. You can reduce your plastic usage, which will reduce your emissions. Don’t offer plastic water bottles, offer a water station that they can use to refill their own. You can kill two birds with one stone and make your own branded water bottles for your employees to use, which can increase morale and cut down on plastic emissions too. We’ve written a more in-depth article outlining your alternatives to single use plastics. If you plan on taking this on, make sure to comb through the guide.
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10. Use less paper 
    
    Many offices overuse their printers for documents that don’t need to be printed out. Did that document really need to be faxed or could it have been emailed and sent down the chain instead? Digitize your company. It will save on material costs and can help organize your files if you use a good system. Use online contract signings to help everything from onboarding to making deals. Don’t print emails, instead just present them during a meeting. If printing is still a must, you can cut down on a sizable amount of paper by using double-sided printing and setting it as a default.

If you want to learn more about the impact of your digital footprint – read this article here.