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What is Increasing Your Ecological Footprint in Business?
Last updated: May, 2023
Every business contributes to the rising ecological footprint, a pressing issue affecting not just our environment but also the long-term profitability of your company.
With the mounting awareness and regulations regarding environmental sustainability, you’re under increasing pressure to figure out how to reduce your carbon footprint in business.
And if you fail to act?
You’ll harm the planet and put your business at risk in terms of reputation and operational sustainability.
By understanding and addressing the key areas, reducing the carbon footprint in business because an achievable goal and helps you positively contribute to the environment while enhancing efficiency.
4 Biggest Factors Increasing Your Ecological Footprint in Business
Here are some of the biggest emissions culprits and what you can do to reduce each one.
1. Excessive Energy Use
Excessive energy use increases your ecological footprint in business because the majority of energy produced globally comes from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
The combustion of these fuels releases large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), electricity production accounted for 25% of 2021 greenhouse gas emissions, and 60% of our electricity comes from burning fossil fuels.
How You Can Reduce Your Energy Use
- Adopt Renewable Energy Sources: Switching to renewable energy sources like solar, wind, or hydroelectric power can significantly reduce a business’s reliance on fossil fuels.
- Energy Efficiency Upgrades: Implement energy-efficient technologies and practices. For example, upgrading to LED lighting, using energy-efficient appliances, and optimizing your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.
- Smart Building Technologies: Utilizing smart building technologies means you can intelligently control lighting, heating, and cooling based on occupancy and usage patterns.
2. Wasteful Operations
Wasteful operations come from the inefficient use of resources and the generation of waste. It includes the overuse of materials, energy, and water, as well as producing excessive waste in landfills.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), about one-third (approximately 1.3 billion tonnes) of all food produced in the world is lost or wasted.
What is the carbon footprint of these resources? 3.3 billion tons of CO2.
Additionally, the World Bank notes that global waste will grow by 70% by 2050.
How You Can Reduce Wasteful Operations
- Lean Manufacturing Practices: Adopt your manufacturing practices to reduce waste. This includes minimizing the use of raw materials, reducing excess inventory, and enhancing efficiency in production lines.
- Adopt Circular Economy Principles: Transition to a circular economy model involves reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products.
- Waste Segregation and Recycling Programs: Proper segregation of waste and implementing recycling programs within the business can significantly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.
3. Business Travel and Commuting
Business travel has a high ecological footprint in business due to the emissions associated with transportation, especially air travel.
According to the Air Transport Action Group, aviation alone is responsible for about 2% of global CO2 emissions, making up 12% of all transport sources compared to 74% of road transport.
It’s also why the work commute should be a top focus of your sustainability plan. Passenger cars and trucks are the single largest emissions source and account for 28% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and commuting makes up more than 98% of each employee’s carbon footprint for work.
How You Can Reduce Business Travel
- Promote Remote Meetings and Conferencing Technologies: Video conferencing tools can significantly reduce travel needs. Encouraging remote meetings not only cuts down on emissions but also saves time and money.
- Encourage The Use of Public Transportation, Carpooling, and Hybrid Work Models: For necessary travel, using public transportation or carpooling can reduce your ecological footprint in business as well as encouraging employees to come into the office less.
- Invest in Carbon Offset Programs: For the carbon emissions you can’t avoid, invest in carbon offset programs. These programs fund projects that reduce emissions, such as reforestation or renewable energy projects.
4. Lack of Employee Engagement in Sustainability Efforts
When employees are not actively engaged or invested in a company’s sustainability goals, it becomes difficult to make meaningful progress.
Employees will lack the understanding and awareness of how their actions have a social, environmental, and economic impact, and when such a scenario happens, it results in behavior that does not align with the company’s environmental goals, hindering it from achieving net zero.
How to Enhance Employee Engagement:
- Sustainability Training and Education: Offering training sessions and educational resources on sustainability through platforms like Emission Sentri can raise awareness about environmental issues and the impact of employee actions.
- Employee Involvement in Sustainability Planning: Ask your employees to create and implement sustainability strategies to increase their commitment and participation. You can achieve this through feedback sessions, sustainability committees, or suggestion programs.
- Regular Communication on Sustainability Goals and Achievements: Communicating your sustainability goals, progress, and achievements keeps the momentum going and reminds employees of the importance of their contributions.
Uniting for a Greener Tomorrow
Reducing your ecological footprint in business is beneficial for the environment and your long-term success.
Engaging employees in your sustainability goals can accelerate your progress and benefit from an engaged workforce.