SUSTAINABILITY
Time to take action While you may know that you should be doing something about emissions, it can be difficult to know what exactly what action to take.
Along with which football team is best, whether that dress is blue or gold, and Brexit, the climate emergency can be one of the more contentious topics of conversation. But when 40-degree heat sparked grass fires that burnt down houses in the southeast of the UK, 2022 may have been a tipping point in public opinion. In fact, almost two- thirds (64%) of adults in Great Britain said they were worried about the impact of climate change in the past 12 months, according to the Climate Change Insights, Health and Well- being in the UK published by the Office for National Statistics in May this year. With this change in public opinion comes a need for businesses to adapt. The same research found some 64% of adults in Great Britain have taken action to help tackle climate change in the past 12 months. Among these, the most common actions were making changes to shopping habits (40%) and travel (31%). As a result, businesses will be looking to adapt as environmental literacy becomes a unique selling point. There are quick wins out there, as Filip Bech-Larsen, CTO at Umbraco, said: “In the simplest terms, to reduce their carbon footprint, businesses need to take three key measures, consume less energy, use green for the energy that they can’t do without, and offset the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions.” Mike Cameron, founder of SMOKO, agreed, adding: “When it comes to businesses reducing their carbon footprint, there are several measures they can take.
“One of the key things is to implement energy-efficient practices. This means using appliances and equipment that are designed to consume less energy. For example, businesses can switch to LED lighting, optimise their HVAC systems, and even consider using renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. These small changes can make a big difference in reducing carbon emissions.” Efficient Emissions Retrofitting offices has been a hot topic since the turn of the decade, with conference rooms and hot desking being discussed endlessly over the past couple of years by the B2B media. It should come as no surprise then that sources of energy should also be contenders for a retrofitting. On top of this, Roman Khavronenko, co-founder of VictoriaMetrics, said that the efficiency of working practices should also be assessed. “To reduce energy consumption businesses need to either do less work (optimise processes) or do the same work efficiently. Doing less work could be making smart meters report data every minute or hour instead of every second. “Doing work efficiently would be like running more efficient software or hardware to do the same job but with fewer watts consumed. For example, modern cars consume less fuel compared to older generations in the same range.” Part of this efficient working involves working from home. According to research from Green Journal, staying at home for four days a week can reduce the amount of nitrogen dioxide emissions by 10%, and even when lockdown rules were lifted nitrogen dioxide emissions fell by 20%. On top of the environmental benefits, working from home can also improve the bottom line. “By employing a remote or hybrid workforce, you’re lowering your electric bill each month,” said Andrew Meyer, CEO at
Filip Bech-Larsen CTO
umbraco.com
Businesses can switch to LED lighting, optimise their HVAC systems, and even consider using renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. These small changes can make a big difference in reducing carbon emissions.
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