One of the best things you can do for your business in 2024 is to make it more sustainable. The push for sustainability is quickly taking hold, and if you don’t take the steps to make your business more sustainable, you could end up losing business to your competitors. Leading research from Deloitte suggests that over a quarter of consumers now prioritise a company’s sustainability over price – which is one of the most drastic industry changes over the last 20 years. Here are key ways to make your business more sustainable and future proof your business.
Invest In Green Skills Training
One of the most important things you need to do to make your business more sustainable is invest in green skills training for your staff. Green skills training can look like a lot of things, but often involves spreading awareness about sustainability and energy-efficiency. In some cases, it can look like green qualifications, such as construction NVQs in energy-efficient trades such as insulation or fenestration. Green training is one of the best ways you can prepare your staff for the green economy.
Cut Down On Travel Where Possible
Many businesses often involve a lot of travelling for meetings, client dinners, commuting, and more. However, you can try and cut down the emissions caused by all this travelling in a few different ways. You can help people cut down on their personal work emissions by promoting hybrid work where possible, as well as doing cycle-to-work schemes. You can also encourage people to cut down on their emissions by booking train tickets in order to get to summits that are far away, or by carbon offsetting plane tickets when needed.
Buy Green Office Supplies
Buying green office supplies should be a very significant part of making your business more sustainable. A lot of waste happens through everyday office supplies, such as paper, ink, pens, and more. However, by using recycled versions of these products, you can cut down on a lot of waste in your office and make the office more sustainable. Furthermore, encourage staff to stop using single-use items such as cups and cutlery, and invest in reusable versions – for example, you can ask your staff to bring in their own mug and water bottle. This small step can go a long way when it comes to making your business green.
Recycle Wherever Possible
It’s essential that you’re promoting recycling as much as possible within your business – recycling is one of the best things you can do when it comes to sustainability. Asking staff to recycle plastics, paper, and more goes a long way when it comes to preventing climate change. Furthermore, you should also take the steps to recycle your businesses’ old technology. There are companies that will recycle your businesses’ old laptops and technology, refurbishing them and giving them to people who cannot afford new technology. Recycling is something that should be seen in every part of your business.
Conserve Water
Water is one of our most precious resources, and the average office goes through a lot of water when it comes to food and cleaning, toilets, hand-washing, etc. However, you can promote water conservation in your office by asking your employees to be more mindful of the water that they use. You can also find devices that will limit your water intake, such as energy-efficient toilets and taps. These will make sure that you’re not wasting water, and that as much water is saved as possible. Conserving water is one of the key parts of making a business sustainable.
Make Your Office Sustainable
As well as changing practices within the office itself, you should also be changing the building itself to make it more energy-efficient. There are many ways you can do this – for example, by adding insulation to make sure heat stays in as well as adding double or triple glazing. Furthermore, you can also install solar panels that will reduce the amount of non-renewable energy your office needs to operate. If you decide to make your office sustainable, you should ensure that the installers have the right retrofit training to be able to carry out the work properly.
Donate To Green Causes
One of the best things to do for your business if you want to make it sustainable is through donating to green causes. Donating to green causes may look like supporting companies in the local area that recycle your old technology, or charities that are looking to preserve the environment through tree planting and land conservation. You don’t have to just donate money – you could donate you and your employee’s time by helping these charities with their mission. At the end of the day, the environment should be important to all of us – so it’s important we all do our part by becoming more sustainable.