In our previous blogs, we’ve looked at why small and medium-sized businesses should engage with carbon reduction and how you can pull together figures to calculate your carbon footprint.
With that knowledge in hand, it’s time to start getting down to the practicalities of shrinking that footprint.
This can seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be achieved in a single step.
Carbon reduction is an ongoing business process and it can become part of how you operate in the long-term.
As we’ve mentioned, the business benefits of carbon reduction are not only environmental. It can help your business win work when it comes to tendering and ensure you’re prepared to operate successfully in a construction sector that’s facing ever-tightening targets on carbon reduction.
It can be challenging tackling carbon reduction which is why we set up our Partner programme
Oliver Collins Marketing Manager for Contractors
A step by step approach
When it comes to removing carbon from your business, it’s easy to start with small actions:
- Installing energy efficient lighting around the building
- Switching to a green energy tariff or
- Using sustainable packaging options wherever possible.
- Providing recycling bins for staff use is a step in the right direction.
Carbon reduction can also start to inform other more significant business decisions. There are going to be times when you reach carbon reduction ‘trigger points’.
For example, if your work vehicles are due to be updated or the lease renewed, it could be worth switching some of them to EVs.
And if you rent your business premises, the renewal point could be a good time to chat with your landlord about energy-saving equipment such as heat pumps – which will add value to their building in the long-term.
Everyone has a role
Your in-house Carbon Team can monitor their areas of the business to identify potential carbon savings too.
One of the reasons it’s useful to have HR and marketing on-board is to communicate your business carbon plan across all employees. Everyone can play a part, but it helps if the whole team understands the benefits to the business of taking this approach.
Simple steps can include asking staff to turn off lights or cooling in empty meeting rooms, or to ensure computers are switched off (not on standby) at night whenever possible.
A further step is to consider carbon offsetting which can be useful in helping your business to achieve its carbon goals. We’ll discuss the benefits of this further in our next blog post.
Letting customers know
As you are putting your plans in place, it’s a good time to think about how this work in the business can be conveyed to customers (and potential new customers).
As noted in our previous blogs, many tender documents now require an indication of how suppliers are addressing carbon emissions, so it’s vital to have this text ready to go for your next project submission.
Make the most of your Carbon Team’s work by including it in your marketing and PR. Add a page to your company website explaining your carbon emissions targets and what plans you have for your carbon journey.
Demonstrating your commitment
If you have a third-party accredited carbon calculation for the business, include this as it demonstrates your commitment to the process. You should also let people know what steps are taking place in the business to meet your targets.
Mitsubishi Electric knows that it can be challenging to tackle carbon reduction in a small or medium-sized business.
That’s why we set up our Committed Carbon Reduction Partner (CCRP) programme, which focuses on delivering knowledge, skills and practical help for businesses setting off on their carbon journey, including carbon footprint calculations.
Existing partners who would like to join the CCRP can click here for a pathway to all things CCRP.
Building owners or businesses wanting to find a CCRP-accredited partner should visit our find an installer page.
There is also a general 'sustainability' section of our website: https://les.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/sustainability
Oliver Collins is Marketing Manager for Contractors
