I consider myself a fairly eco-conscious person, but I’m far from perfect. In fact, I’m often berating myself for not doing better, even though I do a little more to lower my carbon footprint every year. But then, most of us have, on varying levels, become more conscious of the eco-imprint we’re leaving on this planet.
Consumers are more likely to consider the environmental impact of purchase choices; most of us recycle, some are making the switch to electric vehicles and even installing solar panels and/or heat pumps and generally making more climate-friendly choices. However, it’s also obvious that individual changes, though important, will not be enough to reverse or even slow down the damage that’s been and is being done to the planet. This is one of the many reasons why many businesses are also on a mission to become more environmentally friendly. After all, not only is their carbon footprint often more significant, but it’s also important they respond to evolving consumer expectations.
Unfortunately, we do see a lot of greenwashing going on, and this enrages me. Especially since other businesses, often smaller companies like many of Just Helpers’ commercial clients, are genuinely striving to do good.
On a more positive note, collectively, UK businesses are lowering their combined carbon emissions. A report by the Office for National Statistics found that in 2023, for every £ million of economic activity, the UK emitted 160 tonnes of CO2e, down 71.4% from the 560 tonnes emitted in 1990. So we do seem to be on the right track.
Still, whilst we’ve found solutions for older issues, such as becoming far better at recycling, cutting down single-use plastics, and adopting practices like ‘think before you print’, businesses are now facing new challenges, such as considering their digital carbon footprint. And this is not being addressed with the urgency that’s required.
A misguided assumption is that businesses working to reduce their carbon footprint are sacrificing profit. When actually, many businesses find that, even if there is an upfront cost, they can reduce their outgoings when they implement more eco-friendly solutions and practices. Eco-conscious businesses often find it easier to attract talent into their organisation, since an increasing number of employees care about the environmental impact of their work.
Social media and increased scrutiny from the mainstream media have also seen organisations exposed for unethical practices, negatively impacting the environment, and greenwashing. Yet, we’re still seeing fast fashion and dirt-cheap ecommerce giants springing up and being embraced by the public, despite the damage we know they’re doing to the planet.
Ultimately though, business success won’t matter all that much in the wake of an environmental crisis. So must all be part of the solution.
In this guide to reducing your business’s carbon footprint, we will explore some easy-to-introduce ways to reduce waste, some more challenging changes that can have a big impact, and we’ll tackle what not enough of us are confronting – our digital carbon footprint that seems set to become a key contributor to climate change.
Reducing Office Waste
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repurpose and Recycle – these are the 5 R’s of waste reduction, and they can help assess and address issues. When reducing waste in your office, you’ll probably need to consider three key spaces – the office areas, the bathrooms and the kitchen.
In the office, reducing paper use is still important, and so you may set up two-sided printing by default for all your office printers and opt for digital storage over paper files, where possible. People typically reach for the easiest option, especially when busy at work, so consider removing wastepaper bins from underneath desks and providing recycling bins in key office areas instead.
Other simple swaps to reduce waste in company offices include:
- Whiteboards over flipcharts
- Having a water filter but not opting for the plastic cups (supply glasses or
- Providing kitchenware to discourage disposable cups, plastic cutlery, etc
- Use refillables for washing up liquid, hand soap, etc and buy in bulk
- Use energy-efficient hand dryers or cloth towels in bathrooms
Switching to Renewable Energy
One of the simplest ways to lower your carbon footprint almost instantly is to opt for a greener energy provider or a greener tariff. Most suppliers now offer 100% renewable tariffs, and switching for small businesses is typically a quick process with little to no extra cost. Larger businesses may be tied to longer notice periods with current providers and face exit fees, so it can be beneficial to go through an energy broker. However, they may also opt for the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) route, establishing a longer-term deal directly with a renewable generator.
Reducing the Carbon Impact Of Shipping
Not every business transports goods, but for those that do, there are ways to cut emissions beyond the obvious (and often costly) switch to electric vehicles.
Here are a few ways that businesses reliant on transporting products have reduced the carbon impact of shipping –
- Consolidating deliveries to ensure full vehicles and fewer journeys
- For international deliveries, consider rail or sea shipping over air freight
- Utilise route optimisation technology to reduce mileage (also a cost-saver)
The carbon cost of shipping is not about transport emissions alone, though. We should also consider packaging, especially since the EU’s new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) has come into effect this month.
Supporting the transition to a sustainable and more circular economy, the new PPWR regulation aims to prevent unnecessary packaging, reduce the use of virgin materials in packaging, increase the use of recycled materials and make all packaging on the EU market recyclable.
This means, if you’re selling products in EU member states, you must ensure –
- Product packaging is designed to be minimal in size
- There is consistency in the size of units and batches
- Inner packaging can be justified, with none being deemed excessive
- The total combined concentration of lead, mercury, cadmium and hexavalent chromium present in packaging does not exceed 100mg per kf of packaging material (look for these particularly in inks, adhesives, surface coatings, etc)
Of course, this is not mandatory if you’re not selling in the EU, but these standards are still worth incorporating to make packaging more environmentally friendly.
Greener Commuting
Encouraging greener commuting can be challenging since you don’t want to make it harder for employees to reach their place of work. However, there are often ways to make it both easier for them and more environmentally friendly, depending on your location.
For example, if your office is accessible by train, you might offer season ticket loans that enable employees to benefit from the upfront discount of paying annually, usually making it more affordable than commuting by car. This can be particularly helpful for new employees.
Where multiple employees need to travel by car, for instance if your offices are in remote locations, then car-sharing initiatives can help reduce the carbon footprint of commuting. Plus, this initiative could enhance employee relationships.
For those commuting locally, cycle-to-work schemes are environmentally beneficial and also promote health and wellness. However, these are most effective when supported by changing and bike storage facilities.
Working from home and hybrid working can also reduce a business’s carbon footprint by reducing commuting carbon emissions. However, it’s worth considering the carbon effects of multiple employees working from varying locations – each potentially with inflated energy use from home working. But this is something carbon tracking can help you to weigh up –
Carbon Tracking
I’m a big fan of carbon tracking because it holds companies to account and, to some extent, prevents their ability to greenwash. For some, this is already mandatory under SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting), but some opt to do it anyway.
Carbon tracking helps businesses pinpoint where their carbon emissions are highest, which can lead to more meaningful change. Being informed by data directly relating to your operations not only helps you target your focus, but these tools often uncover cost savings by flagging energy waste.
There are various carbon tracking tools and packages, and cost can range from free to considerable, depending on the size of your organisation and your needs, but again – these can lower your outgoings as well as your carbon footprint. Carbon management company, Seedling, provide a great guide to Carbon Accounting Software Costs in 2026.
Reducing the Digital Carbon Footprint in Business
For so long, going digital has been a leading solution to reducing waste, but we’ve failed to understand that technology makes its own environmental impact. Yes, video conferencing has reduced the need to travel, going paperless has cut down on waste, and filing cabinets have been replaced with cloud storage, but global estimates put the digital sector’s emissions at somewhere between 1.5% and 4% of total global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s comparable to the aviation industry!
We need to be more informed, and so, when seeking to reduce the digital carbon footprint in business, staff training will be integral to success.
Here are a few key ways to cut your business’s digital carbon footprint –
Email management – Whilst we’re ‘thinking before we’re printing’, we should also be thinking before we click send or subscribe. Though individual emails create little carbon on their own, consider how many we send and receive in the name of business, and this becomes substantial. We collectively can reduce this by unsubscribing from newsletters we’re not reading, avoiding unnecessary emails (especially when sent to multiple recipients), considering whether automated emails, such as ‘out of office ’, are really needed, and linking to files rather than attaching them.
Cloud Storage – Many of us default to keeping everything forever when managing our cloud storage, but selecting storage tiers based on realistic need results in better operations all round. Regular maintenance that covers deleting unused documents and duplicates, releases space, makes the important files easier to find and reduces the carbon weight of cloud storage.
Video Calls – Did you know that video conferencing can generate between 10–1,000g CO2e per hour? Most of this is down to video streaming, so, as wonderful as it is to converse face-to-face with colleagues without travelling, we can further lower the carbon impact by switching off the video feature. Of course, video calls are a far better option than commuting, and it can sometimes be beneficial to communicate with video enabled, but maybe video streaming on calls needn’t be the default.
The Carbon Cost Of Using AI
Now to a consideration not being widely enough considered – AI and its carbon impact. We’re all going to be using it, that much is certain. But we can’t afford to be led blind into this, not considering the carbon cost. This has happened before, so we know it is far more difficult to reduce use we have already become dependent on. But what do we actually know about AI’s carbon footprint?
The data on submitting queries to AI tools at this point is fairly unreliable since it varies and figures are routinely rejected, both for being under-estimated and over-estimated. Still, as with email, single usage data is not necessarily relevant when mass use becomes the norm.
Data centre cooling is a known and considerable issue, though, since this requires heavy water usage. The huge operation of training AI models is also energy-intensive, and although most companies aren’t doing this directly, you carry the carbon cost when you access them. In the same way that buying fast fashion encourages clothing waste. And yet, if AI is going to increase productivity as predicted, it’s an inevitability. So, let’s look at how we can better understand and manage the carbon footprint of AI –
What businesses can do:
- Right-size the tool — use smaller or task-specific models rather than defaulting to the largest available model for simple tasks
- Choose AI providers who are transparent about their energy sourcing and use renewably-powered data centres
- Avoid redundant or repeated queries, and batch requests where possible
- Set clear policies on when AI is actually necessary versus habitual use
- Track AI-related energy use where tools allow, so it can be included in wider carbon reporting
Establishing policies for AI use is crucial here. Many companies are already doing this to ensure compliance with data protection and copyright infringement, but environmental impact management is the next essential step.
Let’s not reverse the positive impact many businesses have made in reducing waste by ignoring the digital impact of emerging technologies. Swot up on the digital carbon footprint of AI tools and put a plan in place to minimise and manage this.
Supplier Procurement
It’s not only about what we do, but who we work with. These decisions impact our carbon footprint significantly, since it’s generative in nature. Screening suppliers and selecting those who emit a lower carbon footprint can greatly decrease ours. More so, it’s about values. What good is doing good if we’re not aligning ourselves with other businesses striving to do the same?
In practice, this means building sustainability criteria into your procurement process rather than treating it as an afterthought. Ask suppliers for evidence, not claims – genuine carbon reduction plans, science-based targets, or third-party certifications.
Greenwashing is a real risk, but regular reviews can address this, so you’re not reliant only on what is disclosed before onboarding. Don’t be fooled by vague terms like ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘sustainable’. Instead, look into the data behind them and be mindful of carbon-offsetting claims that can mask a lack of actual reduction. Apply the same scrutiny to supplier claims that you use in your own operations to avoid being misled.
To make a real difference, we must work together and make being eco-friendly a good business decision in every aspect.
Whether you are a boutique business or a large organisation, you have influence and the power to set the standard. Strides towards being more environmentally friendly are being motivated by consumers and purpose-led businesses, and although actions may feel immaterial when seeing the damage large conglomerates are inflicting, this is change that will materialise from the ground up. So let’s all be part of the foundation for a better future.
This guide to 8 Simple Ways Businesses Can Reduce Their Carbon Footprint was written by Just Helpers, ethical cleaning services in London.
