Climate change is a haunting reality. But responsible companies are bravely getting ready for this battle as they do things like going carbon neutral with their business.

When fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas are burning, they release carbon dioxide — producing the primary cause for climate change. The good news is deciding to make your business carbon neutral will not only benefit this dire situation, it will also green the image of your company and attract business from responsible clients.

Getting your business to be carbon neutral isn’t difficult — and we’re going to tell you how to do it.

Decide to do it and scope out the resources

Reading a How To is the first step. Your decision to make being carbon neutral a goal and following through until achievement is the biggest step.

The David Suzuki Foundation provides a great downloadable PDF for Doing Business in a New Climate: A Guide to Measuring, Reducing and Offsetting Greenhouse Gas Emissions that’s helpful. For an in-depth look at being carbon neutral, there’s also this.

Getting carbon neutral is a commitment but achieving the zero carbon footprint is a great achievement that benefits everybody.

Measure your carbon footprint

Calculate your current carbon footprint. Start with energy audits, improve conservation practices as you maximize your energy efficiency, track the commutes of your company — these are the first steps of action to take to reduce your emissions.

There are a ton of calculator tools available online to help get you started on figuring out your emissions. Set up a system that includes reports of your annual carbon footprint so you have numbers you can look at and monitor.

Strategize a method to reduce your emissions and then offset the leftovers

Report and verify your emissions. After you’ve maximized energy efficiency throughout your company (from your HVAC system to your lighting situation), achieved excellent waste management, lessened your environmental impact as much as you can — you’ll purchase offsets to balance out your carbon footprint. There are quality, verified offsets out there to purchase for this purpose.

You are essentially putting a monetary value on the carbon your company is using and this is an excellent step towards reducing the use of fossil fuels and encouraging the use of clean, renewable energy.

This will benefit your energy bill, your company’s image, your community and the environment. The bigger picture for your strategic approach to the reduction of your emissions is how your business is contributing in the epic climate change battle.

Next, you promote your carbon neutral status to stakeholders, customers and the community. This is a huge achievement and your company should have their green image shine bright. 

Who else is doing this?

The Air Canada Centre has achieved a carbon neutral status.  In fact, this is an admirable trend going on in the sporting events world as many athletes and the World Cup Soccer have also gone carbon neutral. Airlines, organizations, major conferences, banks and schools are also after this status with a vision for a sustainable future.

For companies maximizing their energy efficiency and reducing their carbon footprint, we have incentives.

 

Image credit: Yvon Maurice