A strategy for carbon footprint management
Organizations will need to preserve their power consumption to ensure their own continuity in the future. Main reasons are cost considerations and social expectations of stakeholders. A carbon neutral business mission is clear: doing business independently of fossil fuels. But how to accomplish that mission effectively? Which strategy is best to follow?
Importance of strategy
Formulating a strategy for achieving a carbon neutral business is important because it shows how an organization intends to achieve this target. With that, an organization’s own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats become clear. Furthermore the formulation of a strategy shows targets to strive for, which offers commitment and motivation to actually achieve these goals.
Stakeholders
An organization depends on stakeholders when making strategic choices and when implementing those choices. Employees need to be willing to go into a new way of working, and customers should understand why their delivered product or service is adapted for a carbon neutral business. Often the needs and expectations of customers and employees are the reason to change a production- or service process.
Technology
Technological developments ensure that targets will be sharpened over the years. For example, when solar panels will become twice as effective as they are now, then carbon-neutrality can be achieved more quickly. Therefore, the strategy for achieving carbon neutrality contains a certain degree of flexibility. Set targets can be adjusted so that the pursuit of a carbon neutral business will become a dynamic and continuous process of innovation.
Example goals
The 4-step roadmap to a carbon-neutral business is a strategy that leads to carbon-neutrality. It works stimulating for a (responsible person within an) organization and accurately to set concrete goals. The following example goals are to be used as guidance to get started with a carbon neutral business. For each goal, some examples are mentioned how to accomplish this goal.
1. We engage with our stakeholders and involve them in the development of a policy for a carbon neutral business.
How? We therefore organize a meeting or hold interviews by telephone in order to gauge where our stakeholders set their priorities.
2. We create internal commitment and involvement in management and colleagues to do business as a carbon neutral organization.
How? We create engagement through an internal newsletter and through inviting an expert for a lecture or visiting a company. We also ask employees to contribute to our mission by giving ideas and proposals themselves.
3. Over the next 10 years, we will reduce 10 % per year (e.g. percentage) CO2 compared to the previous year.
How? We do this by saving energy in our buildings, transportation, production and management.
4. We ourselves will, or in collaboration with entrepreneurs in the business area, generate renewable energy. In 2020 (e.g. year) all energy for our buildings is generated sustainably. Until then, we will buy sustainably produced green energy from our energy supplier.
How? We make an inventory of opportunities for self- generation of renewable energy or have a conversation with a renewable energy expert. We make a conversation with the accountant for financial and benefit opportunities. For the purchase of green energy we ask proposals from an energy supplier.
5 . Starting this year, we will offset our not yet reduced CO2 emissions, for example, caused by our fleet of cars and air travel. Offsetting will be an increasingly lower proportion of our carbon neutral business and in 2025 it is (e.g. year) no longer used because we produce 0 % CO2 emissions.
How? After calculating our CO2 footprint, we know what we produce in CO2. After reduction measurements and the purchase of green energy we offset the remains. For that, we will ask proposals from several suppliers.
Image: Citymarketing Tilburg