Beyond the fact that there are requirements in different countries and states for sustainable business practices, incorporating sustainability into your business plan and blueprint is simply a good thing to do for our environment. Here are a few ways to reduce your carbon footprint in your business:
First, take stock of your footprint
The first thing that any business should do when wanting to have more sustainable practices as a business is to take a look at their carbon footprint. From GHG emissions to emissions related to electricity use and then on to the external emissions that are connected to your business, there are many things to check out and consider when planning on more sustainable business practices.
From construction to planes and simple automobile usage, your business is probably leaving a pretty big carbon footprint on this planet, so prioritize better sustainability practices.
Look at how you transport your product
Reconsidering transportation for your product supply chain can be a tricky one as there may be specific kinds of transportation that work best for the safety and delivery of said product. Some products have to go through ASTM D4169 testing to ensure the packaging can stand up to potential environmental effects during transportation.
Air and freight transportation are definitely some of the biggest creators of carbon footprints in the world of supply chain transportation. In some instances, you may have to use the lesser of two evils because of where you need the product shipped from, but it’s always a good idea to take a look at how you receive a product to see if there are alternatives. For example, if you have to use vehicles in your business, consider investing in hybrid vehicles that reduce emissions.
Do business with sustainable brands/suppliers
Another thing to look into while revamping your supply chain or business practices is to make sure that you’re only doing business with brands that care about sustainability as you do. It won’t make much sense to change things up in your company, only to impact the environment through the other companies that you do business with.
While you may love the suppliers you do business with right now as far as price and delivery time, if they’re not open to more sustainability in their practices, reconsider finding a new supplier.
Look closely
How are your supplies shipped to you? How are your products delivered to consumers? You may have some sustainable practices in how you use energy. But supply packaging could be doing two things to impact how sustainable your company really is.
Excess packaging could be added to the waste on the planet while packaging that isn’t well thought out could result in more shipments because of wasted space on transportation. If these are things that could be done better, don’t waste time in either finding a new way of packaging products or looking for a product supplier that does things with more concern for the environment.
Revisit your sustainability practices
A lot of companies get by with the bare minimum when it comes to sustainability. They only care about following the bare minimum when it comes to requirements in their state or country. This is because it takes time and sometimes investment to run a more sustainable business, but the impact on the planet is worth considering your processes.
Once you’ve been running a more sustainable business for an extended period of time, revisit how you’ve saved energy and reduced your carbon footprint. If there’s room for improvement, see if there are better ways of doing things.
In Conclusion
If you’re a CEO who cares about what they do and how it impacts the environment, it doesn’t hurt to revisit your practices with your carbon footprint and supply chain. Take a look at alternatives to transportation, packaging, and electricity use. You could be reducing your carbon footprint much more than you are now!