How to Reduce Your Business Carbon Footprint

These foolproof ways will decrease your business carbon footprint

U.S. consumers are voting against unsustainable brands with their dollars. Sustainable product sales are growing 5.6 times faster than those that are not, according to a study by NYU Stern’s Center for Sustainable Business. More people are joining forces in the fight against climate change. As a result, it’s important to take action to reduce your business carbon footprint. To succeed, businesses must be more mindful of how their operations affect the environment.

Failing to do so will make them lose big in the coming years. If you’re starting a new business, you need to strategically connect sustainability to all your operations. When you do, you’ll capitalize on the increased consumer demand for eco-conscious businesses. Luckily, there are many ways you can boost your new business’s sustainability credentials and even save some money while at it.

Going paperless

Reducing paper waste is the first step in setting up a sustainable business. According to statistics from The World Counts, 50 percent of all business waste is paper, and most of it ends up in landfills. Additionally paper production destroys the environment. Did you know 42% of the entire global wood harvest is used to make paper, not to mention the 324 liters of water needed to make just 1 kilogram of paper?

While it may seem incredibly difficult to run a business successfully without using paper, it is possible especially with the digital technology and tools available today. For example, scanning technology and online storage make it easy. Instead of filing paper, scanning all your business documents makes it easy to store digitally and avoids endless piles of unsorted paper. Going paperless not only saves the environment but also helps you better organize your business for increased productivity and profitability. Click here for paper reducing tips.

Work from home

Commuting to and from work pollutes the environment. When you have to commute to and from your workplace every day it expands your carbon footprint. First of all, unless you have a carbon-neutral vehicle, driving to and from work every day adds greenhouse gas emissions to the environment. Your workplace undoubtedly uses lights, water, heat, air conditioners, and other energy-intensive machines. Each of these machines expands your foodprint and degrades our environment.

Working from home helps to reduce your business carbon footprint. But if going fully remote is not feasible, you might be able to negotiate a few days per week where it makes sense. It’s proven that working from home more often to reduce the environmental impact of going to your office.

Harness renewable energy sources

Another way to reduce your carbon footprint is to use renewable fuel sources. Not only does renewable energy yield environmental benefits but it also gives your company a competitive edge. One of the best renewable energy fixes is to install solar panels. If you have the budget and space for it, installing solar panels can provide your business with clean, sustainable power, and heat water. This will save money in the long term. On top of that, installing solar panels may also qualify your business for a federal tax credit. If you have limited space or funds to install solar panels, you can look into buying renewable energy from power companies that produce it.

From both a business and humanitarian standpoint, it makes a lot of sense for you to take a stand against climate change by negating your new business’s carbon footprint. Not only will you be saving the environment, but it can also help you boost your appeal to climate-conscious consumers.

How will you decrease your business carbon footprint?

Are you practicing these sustainable suggestions above? Do you have anything additional to add to this list? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below. We love to read inspiring stories.

We collaborated with our guest writer Jess Walter for this post.