NM Organics

There are many easy and cost-effective ways to reduce your company’s carbon footprint. Here are five top methods to decrease the amount of carbon you use.

Corporate travel

Take a critical look at your company’s travelling habits and work out how many of the journeys are absolutely essential. For example, how many trips to meetings could be saved by using video or audio conferencing? If trips are essential, then develop a policy to ensure that people follow a hierarchy of travel choices. In practice, this could mean that video conferencing should be the first choice, followed by public transport and then a fleet car. This can add up to a huge decrease in the size of your carbon footprint and it could also save considerable time and money too.

Vehicle tracking

If you run a fleet of vehicles, then you might want to consider the green benefits of using a tracker in each of your company vehicles. A vehicle tracking device means that you can remotely monitor your fleet’s movements. This will enable you to determine current speeds, driving styles and routes. After assessing this management information, you can then implement more optimal alternatives which will reduce your carbon footprint. Vehicle tracking should also help you to reduce overall fuel costs.

Cycle to work schemes

One way to reduce your carbon footprint and increase employee engagement is to set up a cycle to work scheme. This enables your employees to benefit from a substantial discount on a new cycle and means that they can pay in interest free instalments. Not only will this reduce your carbon footprint, but you could also benefit from reduced National Insurance contributions. In addition, your employees are likely to be healthier.

Power saving initiatives

A power saving initiative can be cheap to implement, but can lead to a significant reduction in your carbon footprint. It also has the added benefit of making your energy bills lower. Examples of initiatives can include a communication campaign to remind staff to turn off their computer every night. Employees can be encouraged by getting feedback on how much energy they’ve saved, especially if you let them know what this equates to. For example, let everyone know that they saved 10,000 kilowatt hours last month. But also tell them that this equates to enough energy to make 300,000 cups of coffee.

Recycling

Getting your company into the recycling habit can be a cost-effective way of reducing your carbon footprint. The chances are that many of your employees already recycle at home and would welcome the opportunity to follow suit at work. Some of the most common schemes involve recycling paper, cans and plastic bottles.