Carbon management tips on how your business can transition to a low carbon economy
By reducing your organisation’s carbon emissions you are playing your part in delivering not only a positive impact on the environment, but taking the first step to creating a more resilient business that is prepared for the climate challenges & opportunities that lie ahead.
Sign-up to the Low Carbon Pledge and join businesses all over Ireland in playing your role in transitioning Ireland to low carbon future.
How the Low Carbon Pledge can help your business:
Commit to reducing your direct carbon footprint – Sign-up to reduce your footprint.
There are two key action areas designed to assist your company in achieving your carbon reduction targets:
Be a part of the Knowledge Platform events – networking and collaborating with energy and carbon professionals across all sectors of business and getting up close to the challenges, as well as positive impact companies across our network are having in managing and reducing their carbon impact.
Be a part of transitioning your communities to a low carbon economy – Share what initiatives and projects your organisation is a part of to assist the communities you operate in to decarbonise and transition to a low carbon future. Through the Pledge a wide range of options to positively impact on your communities will be made available to you.
What can you do as a business to start the journey:
- Determine what your carbon footprint is
The first step is to understand your carbon impact. Identify all your carbon emission sources and determine the areas of your operation that are carbon intensive. These will be the areas within your business where you can have a significant impact in reducing your carbon footprint going forward.
How do you get started?
There are a number of organisations out there that will help provide you with the knowledge and tools to measure and manage your carbon and environmental impact.
Here are a few organisations that can assist you on this journey:
Additionally, there are Carbon Management companies that sole purpose is to assist your company to measure your carbon impacts; report on your overall carbon footprint; and find solutions to decarbonise your business to a net-zero future.
Here are a few of these organisations:
- Transparency
the 3 R’s – Record, Report and Review your carbon impact -Communicating on your carbon footprint is becoming an important aspect for almost all companies across all sectors, as the climate change talk continues to intensify. The time for action is now and by communicating to all stakeholders (internal and external) in your operation, you can highlight the actions your organisation is taking to reduce your carbon impact.
3. Externally validate your carbon footprint
With Non-Financial reporting on the rise, make sure that the data that you are reporting is accurate and complete. Additionally, as Carbon Taxes start to play a more significant role in how you run and operate your business, a bigger financial burden will be placed on your company. For further information refer to page 10 of your Low Carbon Report.
4. Consider your carbon impact in all aspects of your business
When reviewing your business strategy going forward; look at how you can incorporate the environment and specifically the consequences of climate change into your day to day decision making. This is the first step to creating a more resilient company that considers all current and future risks. Additionally, this is the type of statement required to change the culture of your organisation, engaging all your staff and stakeholders to have a greater environmental impact.
5. Invest in low carbon initiatives and technologies
As your culture begins to change and your focus is set on creating a more efficiently run organisation, the way you do business is influenced. To ensure that your organisation is prepared for the potential risks that lie ahead, a significant amount of planning and investment is required to build up your resilience to the threats of climate change. With the current technological advances we have at our disposal, as well as the rate that these are continuing to improve, you need to consistently be aware of what is available to you to ensure your preparedness.
6. Collaborate, Collaborate and Collaborate
Climate Change is one highly complex concept and we will require a vast number of initiatives all working together to find the solutions to the climate challenge ahead. Business on it’s on cannot find all of these solutions, but if we are going to achieve the reduction targets required of us, as stated in the recent IPCC Report, business will have to play a significant role. No one business has the answers to the climate challenge and the role business must play. We have to work together, within our own sectors and between sectors, to share our knowledge and skills to unlock some of these solutions to one of the greatest challenges the business world will face. Through collaboration we have the opportunity to activate knowledge that can aid all business operate more efficiently and in doing so accelerate climate action across the board in your company, sector, community and country.
Meet the companies that have so far signed up to the Pledge and find out more.
Join the Network to sign up to the Low Carbon Pledge and to receive support in achieving your goals. Contact Lorraine O’Toole lotoole@bitc.ie
If you have any questions relating to the Low Carbon Pledge please contact our Sustainability Adviser Nick Reynolds.
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