WORKING WELL, WORKING GREEN
COP28 is all over the news at the moment, as we hear what countries decide to do to help minimise the effects of climate change. We’ve heard pledges, speeches and deals, all at a critical time for global transformative climate action.
What does this mean for businesses and working well?
What is decided in the United Arab Emirates at COP28, will impact on businesses – how we trade, how we get our resources... every aspect of our working world will need to continue to make changes.
We already see this, with stakeholders (customers, clients, employees etc.) wanting to work with and for companies with an environmental conscience. They want to know and see what your organisation is doing for corporate and social responsibility (CSR).
Stakeholders are also becoming savvier on companies that practice green washing. This is where a company makes false and/or misleading statements about the environmental benefits of their product or practices. We need to make sure we are fully aware of our supply chains to make sure we are meeting our climate action claims.
Many organisations use carbon offsetting – this is where the CO2 emissions are balanced by efforts to reduce emissions and remove CO2 from the atmosphere. For example, there are companies that offer forest planting, this way, your organisation can sponsor the forest, thereby helping to ‘offset’ your carbon use. This is a great thing to do, but it doesn’t solve the pollution you are causing in your local area. For example, it’s great that you might to offsetting your vehicle’s CO2 emissions, but that vehicle will still be causing pollution in the areas it is operating in, causing poor air quality and affecting those living or working in the area.
This is why we need to keep looking into the feasibility of new technologies to make our environments greener and the air we breathe as low polluting as possible. Take a look at your organisation, what can you be doing to reduce emissions, could it be switching to electric or hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) vehicles? Could your colleagues work from home a few days a week to reduce traffic pollution? These might be small changes, but we need to be doing all that we can to help towards a better and healthier planet. What about the air miles of your products? Could they be sourced more locally? These ideas may come with additional costs, so we need to make sure that they make business sense too – it's a tough balance.
This is where net-zero comes in... We all hear the phrase ‘net zero’, and this is where greenhouse gas emissions are dramatically reduced, and remaining emissions are offset and neutralise the environmental impact and can help to slow climate change.
So, Fans of Plans, ask your colleagues what they think you company could be doing to be a more environmentally conscious business and think about the pledges you can make to your stakeholders to be a greener organisation.
PS If you want to stimulate your brain outside of the workplace, check out the Philosopher-in-Residence blog – out fortnightly on Thursdays, courtesy of Make Me A Plan’s Principal Planner, Anna Pascoe. Browse the latest edition here:
