How to Be a Carbon Neutral Business

Chris Freitas • Dec 17, 2021
how to be a carbon neutral business

 

As the world faces an uncertain future due to potential issues from climate change, business leaders worldwide seek ways to reduce their carbon footprint. With a U.S. goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050, the race is on for all the nation’s companies.

 

Despite the desire to comply, many organizational leaders want to understand how to comply with this urgent command and ethical duty to the planet and all future generations. The changes in nature are rapid, and every business owner needs to step up and rise to the challenge.

Let’s explore what it means now and will mean in the future to become and remain carbon neutral.

 

WHY IS THE WORLD FOCUSING ON CARBON NEUTRALITY TODAY?

 

Before learning about how to be carbon neutral, it will help to have a clear definition of what the concept and practice mean. According to CNET, everything we do as a society—individually and collectively, from driving a car to powering our homes—produces carbon dioxide. All these things combined are the total amount of greenhouse gases, including methane, emitted by humans and make up everyone’s carbon footprint.

 

The Nature Conservancy notes that “The average carbon footprint for a person in the United States is 16 tons, one of the highest rates in the world. Globally, the average carbon footprint is closer to 4 tons. To have the best chance of avoiding a 2℃ rise in global temperatures, the average global carbon footprint per year needs to drop to under 2 tons by 2050.”


If individuals contribute to climate change and high carbon emissions, you can rest assured that business corporations do so at an even higher rate. Many businesses are turning to a carbon footprint calculator to gauge this varying metric and stay within a set range to ensure carbon neutrality today and far into the future. Since businesses and individuals have been increasing their carbon footprints for decades, it’s clear that the damage can’t be undone overnight. It will take a concerted and committed effort to reach this critical goal.


Businesses need to step up and reduce carbon dioxide emissions too. BBN Times shares that a business’s carbon footprint is identified by key emissions hotspots along your organization’s value chain. Over the past several years, as climate change has become a stark reality, diligent businesses measure and report their carbon footprint and sustainability actions to all stakeholders and other invested parties.

 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CARBON NEUTRAL?

 

Being carbon neutral means that your business operations emit the same amount of carbon dioxide into the earth’s atmosphere as the determined offset amount you come to by other means.


For instance, individuals strive to take public transit, ride a bicycle, or buy an electric vehicle for daily transportation needs, and many homeowners are investing in solar technology to meet power needs.


Now that we know what individuals need to do, and in many cases are already doing, what do corporations need to do? What does your business need to do to appropriately lessen its carbon footprint? How can your organization become more ethical, conscious, and forward-thinking in its carbon emissions practices?


You’ve probably seen or read some common buzzwords associated with achieving carbon neutrality, such as “climate positive,” “carbon negative,” “carbon zero,” “resource positive,” and “zero carbon.” While you get the idea, you might see how these zippy catchphrases might become trendy, losing meaning for the public, unless given firm meaning and purpose, intention, and follow-through behind them.


It’s true that the public becomes suspicious when bombarded with cavalierly touted buzzwords. It becomes a lot of noise, leaving them less inclined to care about an organization’s commitment and causing a loss of support for this goal and their overall operations.

 

Scientists, researchers, and individuals passionate about halting climate change to reduce further damage have known these terms for years and are fighting the potential of people adopting them as the next fad or fashion or for less ethical businesses to use them for profit, ending up as a slogan on a soda can or article of clothing.

 


 

Fortunately, companies of all sizes—from small businesses to Amazon and Microsoft—are taking up the cause with some commitment and accountability behind their catchy slogans. It’s important to detect and point out the difference between savvy marketing ploys and true devotion to healing the planet with sustainable business practices to create net-zero carbon emissions in daily and long-term goals.

 

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO STRIVE TO BECOME A CARBON NEUTRAL BUSINESS?


With businesses showing genuine commitment to carbon-neutrality and sustainability, customers consciously and intentionally buy sustainably made, delivered, and marketed products and services. You can commit to what seems like a costly and sometimes challenging goal and win in the end when you do it authentically and passionately.


When you set your business up as a beacon for sustainability, your customers will answer the call. Further, it calls your competitors to the task as well, ensuring that they step up and create sustainable practices for now and looking toward 2050.


Identifying that sustainability means meeting one’s own needs without compromising the needs of others, especially those of future generations. What do business contributions mean if it decimates resources for generations, leaving them without the same benefits that today’s businesses and individuals enjoy?


HOW CAN YOU HELP YOUR BUSINESS BECOME AND REMAIN CARBON NEUTRAL FOR OFFICE-BASED AND REMOTE EMPLOYEES?


There are simple steps that everyone, from individuals to large corporations, can take to become more sustainable. You might introduce appropriately broken down recycling bins and eliminate the use of single-use plastics, and that is certainly beneficial. However, the issue is so far beyond such small-scale, reactive measures.


Carbon neutrality requires much larger strategic decisions and direct commitment from top-level executives and corporate decision-makers.


While this all sounds challenging for businesses of all sizes, there are some practical ways your organization can get started and turn sustainability into an organic habit.


Let’s explore some essential ways you can help reduce your business’s carbon footprint in small, easy steps for now that lead to big, inspirational changes in the future.


CHOOSE CLEAN AND RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES


One crucial way you can reduce your carbon footprint is by reducing energy consumption. You might wonder how you can do this when you rely on energy to create, market, and deliver your product or service.


You’re probably thinking solar and wind energy aren’t reasonable options for your business, but the fact is that you’re likely to earn federal tax credits when you invest in solar power panels.


According to Renewable Energy Magazine, “In 2016, businesses that used the ENERGY STAR program for commercial programs, which helps companies make their facilities more energy-efficient, saved almost $10 billion.”


Even better, your environmentally conscious consumer base, which is growing daily, will appreciate your passion for carbon neutrality. That  will put you ahead of your competitors who are not choosing such renewable resources.


So, instead of paying for traditional utilities and other resources, keep an open mind about energy alternatives.kbi-carbon-3


STRIVE FOR ZERO WASTE


For decades, you’ve probably seen or provided a series of recycling bins in corporate offices everywhere, including your own. The truth is that this surface-level response to waste is helpful, but it isn’t enough, especially when you consider all the waste created in your production, manufacturing, or shipping areas.


Work with your assigned carbon neutrality staff or environmental experts to identify your company’s primary waste generation points and how they are managed and disposed of. Once you identify problematic areas, you can focus your efforts and strategies toward the reduction, reuse, and recycling of various products, such as papers and plastics.


Best of all, you can start by using less or no paper in your daily practices, choosing eco-friendly products, and donating old technology and electrical equipment.


IMPROVE EFFICIENCY


Do you remember how your parents always encouraged you to turn the lights off when leaving a room? Whether it was 20, 30, or 40 years ago, folks paid close attention to their electric bill and wanted to ensure that resources weren’t being wasted. The same holds true today, but now, you can think of it in terms of enhancing your organization’s efficiency and wasting fewer resources.


Small, strategic changes add up and make a difference over time. Some things you might try include:


  • Switching to energy-efficient equipment
  • Turning off the lights and other electric-powered equipment overnight
  • Cleaning air filters regularly


FIND CARBON OFF-SETTING INITIATIVES


Some businesses cannot yet avoid creating some level of emissions. Thankfully, if that is the case with your company, there are some initiatives you can invest in to offset the emissions to help reduce global carbon damage and achieve a net-zero carbon emissions rating.


Regulated by several standards, such as the Gold Standard, carbon offsetting allows businesses to “invest in impactful and certified carbon-offsetting initiatives through a credible provider,” states Sustainable Brands. You might search for investments such as safe water campaigns, clean cooking projects in poverty-stricken communities, or forest regeneration programs.


OFFER REMOTE OR HYBRID WORKING SOLUTIONS


Since early 2020, some or many of your employees might have worked from home for a while to comply with COVID restrictions. If so, you probably stumbled upon numerous benefits, including decreased carbon emissions. What’s more, employers have benefited, and employees have thrived personally and professionally.


With fewer commutes and fewer large-scale resources needed to run a corporate office, the benefits to the environment are clear.

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