Get staff on board for carbon reduction - or else!

Implementing a carbon reduction scheme can prove challenging. Despite well meant intentions, programmes can sometimes be considered as a waste of money or worse, intrusive, by staff. Find out how other businesses are successfully implementing their schemes.

The Great Green Leap Day by the National Trust is a carbon reduction initiative which gives all trust staff the unique opportunity to spend the day at home or in their local community, making changes to improve their environmental footprint. From switching to energy saving lightbulbs to establishing a compost heap, every little helps, their website explains.

Despite the trust’s admirable intentions, the scheme was frowned upon by the Financial Times’ working life columnist Lucy Kellaway for being too intrusive into employees’ home lives. She then went on to question the motives of the trust, considering that a warmer climate ’surely will encourage more tourists to the UK.’

Sadly, there’s always a danger that someone, somewhere will look to question an organisation’s climate change scheme – be it the science behind the sentiment or the cost of implementation and any ongoing management.

Positively, the evidence justifying the benefits of such schemes has never been clearer. For example, a recent report by investment firm Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) and auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested that companies which invest heavily in sustainable business practices boast a superior long-term financial performance than those that neglect environmental issues.

The report, which involved the analysis of 57 sectors and 367 firms, concluded that there is indeed a ‘positive strategically significant correlation between corporate sustainability and financial performance.’

The presence of sophisticated corporate sustainability strategies is a good indication of a company’s financial prospects, says the report. ‘Firms that adhere to sustainability principles should outperform those that do not,’ it states, ‘because they prioritise long-term investment opportunities.’ Failure to address green concerns, it warned, could reduce an investor’s confidence in a stock, potentially reducing the share price.

A sustainability strategy doesn’t just mean reducing packaging and encouraging recycling, says the report and adds, ‘the true winners will be those who think outside the box about the business models required to develop new products and services for society’s evolving needs.’

SAM found that such sustainability strategies had a significant impact on ‘the cost of external financing, return on invested capital, sales growth and the fade-rate of a firm’s competitive advantage.’

One organisation which successes in this area have been well documented is networking and communications technology firm Cisco Systems, which uses departmental carbon ‘budgets’ as part of its strategy to reduce the company’s environmental impact. The pilot scheme aims to make more staff aware of CO2 emissions by allocating strict carbon emissions ‘limits’.

The scheme, which recently gained coverage as a case study in the Financial Times newspaper, applies to employees actions in the office, but also – and controversially – at home. Intrusive though it may sound, the scheme is voluntary and Cisco rewards its employees financially if they keep to the carbon emission quotas. So far, a not insignificant 20 per cent of the company is said to have signed up to the scheme.

Before an organisation can reduce its carbon emissions, first need to measure their current output. The London Development Agency (LDA) is one such organisation helping to empower organisations to evaluate their environmental impact quickly and easily online with a carbon calculator. The agency’s Green Organisation’s website at www.londonclimatechange.co.uk offers energy saving tools and advice on how to improve energy efficiency, but it also outlines another useful scheme: Green 500. This aims to assist London based businesses – or businesses that trade in London – by providing a tailored and seamless end-to-end carbon management service that provides specialist advice on reducing carbon emissions.

Working with partners to get longer term advice is strongly recommended, because once an organisation has benchmarks in place, then comes the trickier part – monitoring and tracking carbon emissions data.

Cisco works with its travel agents to track flights and reviews expenses for car journeys but keeping tabs on different individuals or whole departments requires clear processes in place – which is where intranets and corporate social software comes into play.

Technology can provide organisations with the tools they need to promote and maintain an environmental change strategy, but be aware of the need to get staff on board from the off. Technology can help save time and make processes effortless, but these are rendered pretty much useless if your team isn’t motivated or spurred to get on board.

Find out how Cimex can help your organisation communicate its carbon reduction strategy, call Denise Turner on 0207 324 7780.