Unexpected benefits of reducing your business’ carbon emissions

How do you lower carbon emissions as a business?

In case you’ve not read our previous article (Business emissions: How you can reduce them), it’s important to understand your business’ emissions and what they mean. There are three categories of emissions, which are:

Emissions released as a direct result of your organisation’s operations – are referred to as Scope 1 emissions. This refers to emissions from company vehicles and offices/warehouses, such as burning fuel in boilers and furnaces, as well as diesel and petrol. These are the easiest to reduce, combated with simple changes in habits or policies.

Scope 2 emissions are referred to as indirect. This is because you’re responsible for the emissions, but their impact on the environment is out of your control. Purchased electricity, heating, and cooling all contribute to these emissions. You can reduce these fairly easily, but they may require longer-term solutions in order to not impact your business. This could include onsite solar or renewables installation for a long-term reduction in emissions.

Scope 3 covers all emissions that exist as a result of your business buying, selling and generally existing. This includes suppliers, production of purchased products, transportation of purchased products, or use of sold products. These emissions are hard to alter – and often require concerted lobbying from industries to force change.

Whether it’s Scope 1, 2 or 3 – here’s what you’re going to achieve by reducing emissions.

What the people you care about think

There’s a talent crisis across many industries and it’s getting harder than ever to get new staff through the door. By reducing your emissions and presenting yourself as a climate-conscious company, you’ll be more attractive to younger (gen-z and millennial) applicants who believe that working for purposeful brands is more attractive than financially rewarding opportunities.

But that’s not all. Your clients will take notice of your commitments and you’ll likely attract more brand new clients thanks to your USP. These will have huge tangible impacts on your business’ revenue – all whilst helping the planet too.

Be the change in your industry

Specifically for Scope 3 emissions, it can be hard to enact change when everyone around you is stuck in their ways. But being the first to make the change in your industry has huge benefits – especially when it comes to PR.

By leading the change, you can showcase your business as one that’s going against the grain. Sooner or later, the people who were against cutting emissions will come around and change their minds. But if you’re there first, it’s something to be proud of.

Get rewarded for your hard work

If you’re cutting emissions, your business will get a boost when it comes to its accreditations. If you are working towards B Corp or other environmental accreditations and standards, you could achieve them faster by reducing your carbon emissions along the way.

Achieving more, higher-level accreditations is a great way to differentiate your business from your competition and stand out from the crowd.

How a low carbon consultant can help you reduce emissions

You don’t have to make this change alone. A low-carbon consultant can help you make gradual changes to your emissions that will make a big, real-world impact over time.

A low carbon consultant will identify energy efficiencies and opportunities to reduce costs within your supply chain, as well as assess emission hotspots and offer guidance in engaging suppliers to assist implementation of sustainability initiatives.

Getting your team on board with your new initiatives will also be a priority for your consultant, as the more people understand WHY and HOW you’re changing, the more likely they are to join in.

Get started on your low-carbon journey

A low-carbon consultant can help explore the options available to your business to reduce emissions and keep our planet greener for longer.

Demiurgic Consulting Engineers is a specialist building services design practice and experienced low carbon consultants. With our assistance, you can make sure that your current property portfolio or new construction is optimised for energy efficiency, cost savings, and a decrease in carbon emissions.

Want to talk to an expert and start your journey toward lower emissions? Visit our contact page to get in touch now.