Environmental Responsibility for Businesses of any Size
by Brigid Lynn, SafePorter Research Associate
Make no mistake, sustainability is a differentiator, but it isn’t clear to many organizations where they should begin to tackle environmental responsibility. The year 2030 is often cited as the year by which we need to dramatically reduce carbon emissions in order to be effective in slowing the momentum of climate change. If that is the case, then we need to use this next decade wisely, making mindful decisions to support and engage in more environmentally conscious business practices. Shifting business practices to reduce your environmental impact can seem like an overwhelming task, but there are a number of manageable and attainable goals you can set and steps you can take to help the planet.
What is Net Zero?
When discussing climate change, net zero refers to a balance between the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere and those removed from the atmosphere. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels for transportation or energy production, release greenhouse gases like carbon and methane. These emissions contribute significantly to climate change, so achieving net zero emissions is key to restoring our atmosphere.
Offsetting an organization’s carbon footprint is a critical component and a tremendous first step, but real change is needed to ensure that organizations are poised to shift their environmental impact. The following are some additional ideas to consider when moving towards more environmentally responsible business practices:
Establish a baseline and set realistic goals.
In order to set manageable and attainable goals for the future, it is important to get a clear understanding of where you’re starting from. This does not have to be a comprehensive undertaking, but part of a road map toward making larger shifts. By establishing big picture goals and taking time to observe and understand your business practices through an environmentally-focused lens, your organization can also establish an aspect of your corporate culture that will guide you and alert you to opportunities to improve and refine processes toward environmental goals.
Two big areas to look into are understanding your organizational energy use and waste production. There are a number of resources available to help determine your organization’s annual carbon emissions. You can also audit the amount of waste you generate and better understand what you are throwing away each day. After you’ve established a general baseline of your energy use and waste production, you can move forward with setting more specific long and short term environmental goals. The opportunity to involve the entire organization in this process ensures that you are making a shift in the culture — each person brings a unique point of view and perspective that could be really valuable as you move towards a more eco-conscious workplace.
Energy use
The cost of doing business includes a cost to the planet, which has many organizations working to find ways to start the work of offsetting their impact immediately as they build their strategy to minimize their environmental impact across their business practices.
The harmful emissions that are released when we burn fossil fuels are major contributors to air pollution and global warming and reducing CO2 emissions is one of the most important changes you can make to combat climate change. However, shifting entirely to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar requires planning and time, and there are a number of carbon-offset resources you can take advantage of as your organization establishes your road map to net zero.
Carbon offsetting gives you the opportunity to counteract your carbon footprint through supporting carbon reduction projects. Through organizations like CarbonFund and NativeEnergy, you can calculate your emissions and establish a program for ongoing investment in offset projects.
There are several ways to make direct investments to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, to shift toward renewable energy, and to work towards net zero. Different carbon offset initiatives could include reforestation projects, or renewable energy projects supporting wind farms or solar power plants. One path to action for organizations of all sizes is provided by Brynk, an organization that allows businesses (and individuals) to plant trees and to purchase VERRA certified carbon credits to offset harmful emissions. Planting trees helps offset an entity’s carbon footprint, and carbon credits fund wind, solar and hydro farms which also deliver social benefits for local communities.
By not only doing what you can to offset your emissions but also taking steps to reduce emissions overall, you will be doing the planet a huge favor.
Waste Production
Minimizing your organization’s waste production is a great way to be more environmentally conscious. Creating a waste-free or waste-minimized business is no easy task, but there are steps you can take to make the process more manageable. Just about every product we use has been manufactured, packaged, and shipped to us — not only do these steps create even more waste, but they often produce even more CO2 emissions! If your small business is shipping out products, look into low-waste options for packaging, such as recycled shipping materials, or plastic-free materials. Or, if you’re ordering items from a vendor, find out if there are low-waste shipping options available.
If your business has given out promotional products at events in the past such as pens, notepads, or other items, consider avoiding this and shifting towards something more environmentally friendly. While it is important to market your brand and conferences and other events, consider doing so in a way that minimizes your footprint and minimizes waste.
Choosing vendors
One step you can take to make your business more environmentally responsible is to set goals around doing business with vendors whose environmental goals align with (or even surpass) yours. Mindfully choosing vendors through an environmentally conscious lens is a great way to promote sustainability across the supply chain, and ultimately enhance your organization’s efforts to help the planet. After all, if your customers are seeking out environmentally conscious businesses, so should you. There are a number of different certifications to look out for when trying to find environmentally conscious businesses. Certifications such as B Corp, CarbonFree, 1% for the Planet, and Rainforest Alliance are a few that help to legitimize a business’s commitment to the environment.
Choosing vendors whose environmental goals and values align with yours is a simple way to foster environmental responsibility within your business while also supporting other businesses that do the same. Where you want to make a real impact with the vendors you are already working with, requiring them to certify annually as to their own ESG goals, progress, and policies can go a long way towards leveraging your organizational mandate to impact others.
Continue the conversation
Including members of your organization in conversations about environmental responsibility is an important way to gain insight and hear from different perspectives. This can help you in the beginning stages of determining your baseline and setting sustainability goals, as someone might see an area to improve upon that others did not. Also, hearing from your colleagues and learning what they value will help you set meaningful goals for your organization that they feel connected to. Conversations about environmental responsibility in the workplace can go beyond policy, too, helping to spark a culture shift within your organization that promotes environmental responsibility on an individual level. In addition to engaging in conversations about environmental responsibility within your organization, consider sharing your environmental goals and plans to achieve them with your customers. Your customers will appreciate knowing that you are doing your part to help the planet, and they will feel good about supporting your business.
We cannot reverse the tide or effects of climate change overnight. Organizations that make changes now to practice and promote environmental responsibility will help to make a tremendous difference in the fight against climate change. By considering your business’s environmental impact and setting achievable goals to minimize it over time, you are making a commitment not only to help the planet, but to help people as well.
by Brigid Lynn, SafePorter Research Associate and Aspiring Law Student
