Monitoring and improving your businesses impact on the environment
As our environmental impact on the planet becomes more concerning, businesses and individual homes have a responsibility to reduce their carbon footprint and help create a greener future for us all. If you care about your business’s impact on the environment and want to learn of ways to reduce it, then keep reading. We will cover ways to assess your business’s impact on the environment and areas where you could potentially make improvements and how.
Why it’s important to monitor your businesses impact on the environment
With global warming increasing and the concern for the environment becoming ever more pressing, we all need to do what we can to reduce the impact we’re having on the planet and the green spaces around us. Whilst we are making improvements within our own homes to do this, businesses make a larger impact than individual homes and have more potential to cause damage.
Therefore, it’s essential that businesses are responsible and choose to monitor their impact on the environment. By assessing this, they will then be able to identify areas for improvement and contribute to a greener planet. More people are waking up to the importance of holding businesses accountable for their environmental impact, so it can help to boost your business’s reputation and customer trust if you show yourself to be a responsible and ethical business.
Assessing your business’s environmental impact and sustainability
So, how can businesses assess and evaluate their environmental impact? A good place to start could be taking a corporate sustainability online course to help you learn more in-depth about how companies are contributing to the environment. You will also be able to learn how you can help your business become friendlier to the planet, reduce your impact on green spaces, and run more ethical processes.
Sustainability and environmental impact are becoming huge topics of concern socially, and we are seeing more businesses receiving negative press due to their lack of concern for sustainable business practices. Be one step ahead of your competitors and improve your business processes both for your business and the planet.
Impact on land and green spaces
So, what are some of the areas in which businesses can make improvements and become aware of their environmental impact? Well, if your business has physical premises or is considering expansion, you need to factor in the impact on local land and green spaces. For example, if you’re building new premises on an existing green space, consider the impact this would have on the nearby wildlife and flora. Would you have to cut down trees, reduce habitat, or block important wildlife movements?
Ethical businesses will consider this when choosing the location of their business and try to place themselves in locations that will not encroach on important nearby areas of greenery. If it’s unavoidable that green space will have to be taken up, then consider programs such as planting new trees, or creating new wildlife habitats to help populations thrive. Consider opting for land on sites in need of regeneration rather than areas of greenery.
Manufacturing processes
When looking at your manufacturing processes, you need to take into consideration the pollution caused by them and the noise pollution. Both these forms of pollution will have an impact on the surrounding environment and should be reduced as much as possible. Suppose you find that the levels of pollution being produced through your current business processes are quite high. In that case, research potential alternatives you could replace them with that have a lower impact.
Sourcing resources responsibly
Also, take a look at the resources you’re currently using for your business and the impact those individual resources have on the environment. Are there more sustainable options you could replace them with? Where are you sourcing your resources from, and are they ethical? It’s important both for the environmental impact of your business and the social impact for you to be responsibly choosing your resources. It could have a negative impact on your brand reputation if you fail to do so.
Greener transportation
If you’re transporting products, you should consider how green your current transportation is and whether there are more sustainable options. For example, if you use road transportation, could you reduce the number of trips made or combine trips? This will help to reduce the level of fuels being used to power the vehicles and the amount of pollution being emitted from them.
If you’re shipping products long distances, then sea shipping is a greener form of transportation than other options such as air shipping. If a lot of employees commute to work, could you introduce initiatives to encourage them to use public transport, cycle to work, or carpool, to reduce the impact they are having on pollution levels? Remote working can also help with this and save your business money in other areas.
