These gasses trap heat and contribute to the climate change that causes extreme weather, disruptions to food supply disruptions, increased wildfires are other issues. They also contribute to respiratory disease from smog and air pollution.<\/p>\n
Decarbonisation<\/h3>\n
78% of businesses did not have a full understanding of the term and what it meant for their business.<\/p>\n
Decarbonisation is simply the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions through the use of low carbon power sources to help cut the amount of greenhouse gasses that enter the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Carbon neutral<\/h3>\n
69% of businesses did not have a full understanding of the term and what it meant for their business.<\/p>\n
Carbon neutrality means having a balance between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks.<\/p>\n
Net zero<\/h3>\n
74% of businesses did not have a full understanding of the term and what it meant for their business.<\/p>\n
Net zero is the target of removing the same amount of greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere as we produce. We’ll reach net zero when the amount we add is no more than the amount taken away. Although it’s similar to carbon neutral, it’s more far reaching.<\/p>\n
Carbon footprint<\/h3>\n
59% of businesses did not have a full understanding of the term and what it meant for their business.<\/p>\n
A carbon footprint is\u00a0the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our everyday actions.\u00a0 The average carbon footprint per person in the UK, per year, is\u00a012.7 tonnes CO2e.<\/p>\n
Get #GreentoGrow<\/h2>\n
The British Business Bank has launched a #GreenToGrow campaign, to help demystify and alert smaller businesses to the commercial benefits of investing in decarbonisation.<\/p>\n
Resources include a new \u2018Green Decoder\u2019, an online guide co-created with Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University to help smaller businesses decipher the terminology surrounding decarbonisation.<\/p>\n
The British Business Bank\u2019s online Finance Hub also provides a series of guides and information about sustainability issues and how smaller businesses can start their journey towards net zero.<\/p>\n
How to cut the carbon footprint of your office<\/h2>\n
If you run a small business, it could be easy to assume that what you do doesn’t make a big difference to the environment. This could be true in isolation, but The British Business Bank\u2019s Smaller businesses and the transition to net zero<\/a> report, found that smaller businesses account for around half (50%) of total emissions from UK businesses.<\/p>\n Solving climate change is an international challenge. However, an individual contribution makes the biggest difference, and the best place to start reducing the carbon footprint is your office. Reducing Carbon Emissions means minimising the CO2 contribution, and fortunately, there are plenty of long-term changes that your business can implement to become more sustainable. We\u2019ve outlined some simple ways to help your company save energy and reduce your greenhouse gas footprint without breaking the bank.<\/p>\n One of the quickest ways to reduce emissions is to reappraise business travel. There are many ways you can use the web, telephone or video-conferencing to avoid the unnecessary trips. Also, you can provide flexible work arrangements to your employees, such as working from home, which would reduce the employee commuting time and carbon emissions related to business travel.<\/p>\n To add, consider a carbon-offset program for your business. Encourage employees to use car pool, public transport or cycling as alternative ways of travel, and hold meetings via conference call<\/a>, instead of getting everyone to come into the office. Hybrid working<\/a> has become popular since the pandemic, and every little helps.<\/p>\n Bring good habits to work! If you can turn off all devices when you leave home, you can easily do the same at work. Nowadays, computers have power management options so they can be set up to turn off automatically. Keep in mind, a single computer left to operate all day produces 1,500 pounds of CO2 per year. Another quick fix is to use the lights when you need them. Install motion-sensitive lights or simply switch off the lights when you leave and reduce your average energy bills by up to 19%.<\/p>\n Nowadays, a paper-based working has been replaced by various electronic devices. Scanners, computers and faxes made cutting paper waste easy. If you do need to print, switch to double-sided printing and re-use one-sided copies for drafts and notepads. Also, consider paper recycling. Recycling is one of the simplest ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint immediately. If your business team consists of 20 or more people, switching to recycled paper could have the same effect as taking 70,000 cars off the road for one year.<\/p>\n Employee education might be one of the most important elements in your business sustainability strategy. Make sure everyone in your team is equally informed and instructed to follow the new environmental strategy from the very beginning. Develop an incentive scheme rewarding individual employees or a team which reduces the most waste. After all, it is the team, their ideas and actions that will make a real difference.<\/p>\n Photo by Emma Pollard<\/a> on Pexels<\/p>\nMinimise employee travel<\/h3>\n
Switch off all office devices<\/h3>\n
Reduce paper use<\/h3>\n
Involve your staff<\/h3>\n
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