How to reduce your carbon footprint

Why is it important?

Every year, according to the Carbon Trust, as much as £2.4bn – or 21% of the total spend on energy by UK firms – is wasted. Yet although business and the public sector together generate more than one-third of the UK's CO2 emissions, few of us show as much enthu­siasm for reducing our employer's electricity bill or central heating costs as we do for slashing our own.

While most companies think of energy as a fixed overhead, making savings on heating or light is one of the easiest ways of reducing business costs and ultimately improving competitiveness. Reducing a company's energy bill by 20% is equivalent to a 5% increase in sales, says the Carbon Trust.

What's saving the planet got to do with HR?

Whether it comes down to encouraging car sharing or running competitions to promote less energy use, HR can take a positive lead in raising awareness of sustainability issues and making their own organisation an employer of choice.

A recent Carbon Trust survey suggested that more than three-quarters of UK employees want to work for organisations with active policies on cutting emissions. Yet less than one-fifth say that their own company runs programmes to help employees take an active role in this.

Scientifically proven

Hugh Jones, project director at the Carbon Trust, says there's a distinction to be drawn between cutting carbon and a full-blown 'saving the planet' philosophy.

"Carbon emissions and what they do are quantifiable, scientific matters, but discussions on saving the planet are altogether more subjective," he explains. "It's very important for HR to take a lead in the former, but by straying too far into the latter, staff will merely end up becoming confused."

How do I stop energy efficiency becoming an excuse to be bossy?

To avoid raising employees' hackles with an overbearing 'milk monitor' approach to energy use, it is important to involve them rather than alienate them.

Just telling people to switch off lights or save water will inevitably cause grumbles about the firm's 'meanness', but if you give back the savings you make in another form – such as paying someone's quarterly energy bills, for example – you'll inevitably earn more plaudits.

Commercial benefits?

There's a distinction to be drawn between doing the right thing for the environment quietly and methodically, and seeking to build a brand identity on the back of it, says Jones.

"Although greenness is particularly important to young staff, the prospect of an otherwise non-green firm trying to PR its perhaps miniscule efforts towards sustainability would merely be risible. Do it for the sake of the firm or the country, not on behalf of the corporation's publicity machine."

Greenness in action

Starwood Hotels and Resorts, whose UK portfolio includes the Sheraton Park Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge and the Park Lane Hotel, has been working with the Carbon Trust since 2005 to reduce its carbon footprint of 5,850 tonnes per year.

It has already reduced its gas and electricity use by 10% and ultimately plans to save 32% with projects around transport fuels and emissions from air conditioning and refrigeration.

Each hotel has an energy champion whose job is to make all employees aware of the effects of climate change on their personal lives and the hotel in which they work. Among the tools used were:

• a specially designed poster reminding employees to switch off computers and air conditioning before leaving
• a 'Kill-A-Watt' campaign encouraging staff to be more aware of energy use
• quizzes and prizes to encourage staff at each hotel to become involved.

Expert's view... reducing your carbon footprint

Hugh Jones, Project director, Carbon Trust

How do I learn about climate change?

No-one expects HR to save the planet on its own, and you don't need to be able to quote reams of stats or data to get your point across. Understand that there are some things that individual employees can do - such as car sharing - and there are some things that stem from how an office is managed overall. Reducing road or air miles, rationalising supply chain logistics or switching to low carbon technologies may take a long time to fix, and innovations such as solar panels may be too expensive for smaller businesses to even consider, but the quick wins are always going to be heating, lighting and air conditioning costs. Focus on those.

Is there still a debate on whether climate change is really happening?

Until four years ago there was misguided scepticism, but today practically everyone accepts that it is happening. The debate is about whether we've left it too late and what our priorities should be, not around whether it is genuine or not.

How can I make the carbon footprint thing fun for staff?

Quizzes and prizes will get employees on board in terms of their energy use at work, and people will usually respond well to some handy tips on what they can do to combat climate change at home too – just as long as it isn't too dictatorial. Also remember to always use the money you save to do something nice for your staff.

If you only do 5 things

1. Take a 'walk around' survey of the business and talk to staff about their ideas for saving energy.
2. To make sure you focus on the right aspects of energy use, use the Carbon Trust's 'Action Plan' tool to help you prioritise problem areas.
3. If your energy bill is more than £50,000 per year, the Carbon Trust offers a free energy survey to help calculate current and future carbon emissions.
4. Future building plans should make full use of low carbon design technologies from concept design through to occupation.
5. For most firms, heating, lighting, office equipment and air conditioning should always be the first priorities.

For more information

The Carbon Trust
0800 085 2005

The Carbon Neutral Company

Climate Care

The Energy Saving Trust

Forum for the Future