How to make your business more sustainable in 2024
Sustainability is the word on everyone’s lips, as climate change concerns reach a new level. The recent COP27 event was another indication that our collective efforts are not yet enough to slow the pace at which global temperatures are rising, making it all the more important that businesses and individuals alike recognise their responsibility towards curbing carbon emissions. As a business, what are some of the key areas in which you should be looking to increase sustainability?
Energy and sustainability
The main way in which businesses might think to address their sustainability credentials is through interrogating their relationship with energy consumption. Large-scale industrial facilities can harbour numerous inefficiencies, from the facility’s machines to the power sources used themselves. Even office premises have a carbon footprint, and one which can be unnecessarily inflated with respect to inefficient use of power.
As an industrial business, you might examine the age and condition of the machines and equipment which perform your key processes. Older equipment is more likely to be inefficient, both through aged design and through wear and tear over time. Regular repairs and maintenance can improve efficiency, but investment in new equipment could be much more impactful.
Even more impactful still would be the transition to an alternative energy source, whether installing your own solar panels as auxiliary power sources or sourcing energy via a verifiable ‘green’ supplier. This is similarly true for administrative environments, where alternative energy sources can significantly reduce environmental impacts. The spirit of this consideration could also extend to company cars, where a switch from petrol or diesel to electric vehicles (EVs) would dramatically reduce carbon emissions associated with driving.
Air pollution
As an industrial enterprise, there are other environmental considerations beyond those that relate directly to climate change. Indeed, one of the mechanisms by which climate change is accelerated also bears additional dangers, which bode ill for local ecosystems and for the health of local residents: air pollution.
Chemical processes or manufacturing byproducts result in harmful byproducts, which are vented out with steam smoke into the atmosphere. The particles and gases released via these processes can have a variety of undesirable impacts, from acid rain to pollution of local water tables and wildlife food supplies. Addressing air pollution is a multifarious endeavour, which can start with the filtration of waste gases and end with complete overhauls of chemical or manufacturing processes.
Waste and recycling
Another essential consideration is waste; the composition of each business’ waste will differ dramatically based on industry, size and a number of other factors, but the burden to handle waste appropriately is shared by all.
The handling and recycling of waste is well-regulated for businesses, given the dangerous nature of many industrial by-products and the environmentally-damaging impacts of improper refuse management besides. Recycling is also something a business can address its staff about, whether through instituting internal policies relating to recycling or incentivising active measures to reduce waste.
