Karen joined the Green for Business Programme to investigate ways to reduce office paper use and achieve carbon neutrality. Karen was already taking steps to improve sustainability before beginning the Green for Business Programme, such as using low energy light and reduce heat throughout their building and recycling as much as possible. From taking part in the Green for Business Programme, Karen will be carbon neutral by 2025, reduce paper use by 50% by the end of 2024 by primarily emailing clients and other businesses rather than posting. They should be able to save up to €3000 per year on postage and over the next four months, a new CRM/Case Management system will be implemented, which will streamline their entire process of dealing with clients and other firms.
Karen appointed a key member of staff to be their sustainability champion; their sustainability champion will take ownership of this plan, share it with all staff, and set an ambitious but achievable timeframe for implementing these measures. Establishing clear ownership of this plan is an important first step in raising awareness and prioritizing the actions required to decarbonize their business. As part of meeting their objectives, all appropriate staff completed an online energy training course to identify energy and cost savings for their business. This enabled their staff to reduce their business's energy consumption and save money on their energy bills. Staff energy use will be monitored and reduced by increasing energy awareness and encouraging behavioral change. Recording energy use provides them with a baseline against which to measure all improvement actions taken, as well as by using communication tools to raise awareness and encourage employees to be more energy efficient.
Introducing low-cost energy-saving measures identified through their training helped them to save money and carbon emissions. Simple steps include replacing old fluorescent or incandescent lighting with high efficiency LED, and installing motion-controlled lighting controls. To avoid excessive consumption, they are ensuring that major energy-consuming equipment such as boilers are serviced and maintained on a regular basis.
Taking additional measures to reduce their heating costs an investment in energy efficiency, no matter how small, will help drive increased competitiveness and resilience to market uncertainty. Installing new windows can significantly reduce heat loss. In large spaces with very few people, spot heating can be more efficient.
They are also taking steps to provide training to all relevant staff in order to manage and reduce water consumption. Encouraging all employees to use more environmentally friendly transportation and work options. Measure and monitor the weights of key waste streams generated in your business, and set goals to reduce these weights and associated costs. They are also investigating how their products or services sustainability or circularity can add value for their customers.
