Strategies for Business to Reduce Their Carbon Footprint

There are a multitude of ways a business can reduce their carbon footprint. You probably won't find it surprising that I suggest looking at the business as a system to get an understanding of how energy is incorporated. That means a breakdown of elements, interconnections, function, and purpose as well as looking for feedback loops.

Businesses could decide to source their materials and services, such as landscapers, linen services, etc., locally for a number of reasons, like they know the other businesses personally or they are choosing to support the local economy. Another reason would be that it would reduce the amount of energy needed to transport the goods and services they purchase by reducing the distance of the sources. With food this distance has become known as 'food miles', but it applies to other goods and services as well.

I would think that all businesses could do a Life-Cycle Analysis of their product and even the processes by which they provide their services. Life-Cycle Analysis, or LCA, is the analyzing of each step and process into making a product or providing a service to note energy use, efficiency, materials use, pollution creation, and effect (if any) on social issues that the product or service requires. Take a restaurant for instance. The LCA of providing a meal would mean noting the kind of food being used and how it was produced, the amount of miles driven to get the food delivered to the restaurant, the means by which the food is prepped, stored, cooked, and disposed of, etc. A LCA can be varied in how it's carried out, usually depending on what the business wants to be held accountable and how stringent they are willing to make their standards. Like would they include whether or not the servers at the restaurant are well paid in the LCA of providing the meal?

Then there's the actual physical grounds and buildings that make the business and how they are being managed. Developing a better sealed building envelope is a great way to cut down on the amount of energy needed to control the indoor environment. If the business has a lot of land, then how it is managed and with what materials matters. For example, most fertilizers are fossil-fuel based, adding to the business's carbon footprint.

There's a ton more information out there to advice business on how to become more energy efficient and to reduce their carbon footprint. However, unless the business has made their mission statement to do so, which means backing from the owners and managers, then trying to input these changes in a business is usually a hard sell. It has been the tendency of business to want to gain good PR for their efforts, which means a "sexy" installation of solar panels or something else that would serve as a constant reminder of the business's goodwill. It can be hard convincing higher ups and implementing these changes because to most business you still make money buy selling, not by saving. Then those projects, which promote sustainability and reduce carbon footprint, usually take a longer time for a Return On Investment, or ROI, to make the project worthwhile.

That is why the most effective strategy for a business to reduce their carbon footprint if they really want to, is to change their purpose or mission statement and then make sure the interconnections within their business is aligned to achieve it.

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