Climate Action - Assisting business towards carbon neutrality

“Everything can always be done better than it is.”
Henry Ford

Business is at the forefront of efforts to reduce climate change. Without the support of business, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will at best be only partially successful and not nearly enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Most business leaders inherently know this and realise that climate change is a serious challenge – maybe the most serious challenge human societies collectively face today.

What is often missed, however, is that climate change has another side. Reducing the amount of carbon pollution that your business creates and releases into the atmosphere is an opportunity to reduce costs and increase profits. It also offers the possibility of taking new business and market opportunities. To start with, it’s an opportunity to engage your staff in a team effort that will surprise you in the ways in which you can achieve results.

Of course, there are other drivers besides the immediate bottom line: mainly your customers, an increasing number of which want to reduce their carbon footprints. Like many others in business, however, you may be a little stumped on where to begin to reduce your carbon emissions, the total of which is often described as a carbon footprint. However, if you are reading this, you have already begun.

There are a number of actions you can take. Some seem almost too simple and some are more challenging. Some require little or no investment in time or money, while others require substantial time and capital. Some will succeed in the short term and others in a longer horizon. However, they all necessitate action, first requiring a commitment to succeed and improve continuously, the basis for any successful business.

Fortunately, you have help in the Climate Action publication and website. You are not alone and, importantly, you are not the first one out of the foxhole. The following outlines several actions you can consider to help your company shrink its carbon footprint. Now is the time to start to change your business culture, not the climate.

These actions have been compiled by Peter Fries, a journalist specialising in energy and environmental issues, and Cornis van der Lugt, who is responsible for  corporate environmental and social responsibility at UNEP’s Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE).

"Climate change is shaping global markets and global consumer attitudes. There will be winners and losers. Companies who seize the opportunities, who adopt strategic environmental, social and governance policies and who evolve, innovate and respond to these challenges are likely to be the pioneers and industry leaders of the 21st century."
Achim Steiner, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme