While many companies have goals to become more sustainable this year, it can be daunting to know where to start. The good news is that there are some easy changes any company can make in order to reduce their environmental impact and benefit their organizational ethos in the long run.

1. Measure and analyse your greenhouse gas emissions

The first step to committing towards improved corporate sustainability is to understand your company's greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Measuring and analysing your greenhouse gas emissions helps you to have clear statistics of the approximate amounts of emissions your company is releasing to the environment and identify areas where they can be mitigated. To measure your greenhouse gas emissions, you can work with certified agencies that deal with measuring a company's footprint. Once you have completely measured your greenhouse gas emissions, analyse them and determine the main activities that result in these emissions.

If you would like support in measuring your greenhouse gas emissions, please reach out to us here at Matcha.

2. Encourage sustainable commuting

Transport accounts for approximately 16 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Commuter journeys play a significant role in increasing these emissions, especially in countries with highly urbanised populations. In the United Kingdom (UK), commuting accounts for approximately 15 per cent of nationwide journeys.

If your company wants to get serious about curbing global warming, you need to be at the forefront of scaling down transport emissions. One way of doing this is to encourage your employees to use transport services that emit less greenhouse gases such as the train or ride shares. You could also encourage employees to walk to the workplace, cycle, or shift to electric vehicles.

3. Reduce waste in the workplace

Overconsumption and waste of food, technology and other materials are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. The introduction of policies that encourage resource management and responsible disposal of items is an impactful way of reducing your company’s impact on the planet.

Beyond the obvious installation of recycling bins, consider looking into how the products used by your company are disposed of. For example, are employee laptops being recycled or ending up in a toxic landfill? Is office paper being disposed of in a safe but responsible way?

4. Choose a sustainably designed office

To substantially cut down your emissions, you can ensure that your office space is managed in an environmentally responsible manner. An effective way to do this is to ensure that buildings are insulated to the highest standards, as well as built using sustainable materials that are low carbon or recyclable.

The less energy you consume in your company, the fewer emissions are released to the environment. Well-designed buildings can potentially be zero-carbon through reduced heating and cooling.

5. Examine your value-chain emissions

Value-chain emissions include those that are outside the boundaries of your company. Examples include emissions released by your suppliers and sold products. This might actually represent the largest share of your total footprint. Work closely with your suppliers to reduce activities that increase carbon emissions. Also, evaluate suppliers' code of conduct criteria and re-design products that emit greenhouse gases.

By making these five simple commitments for the environment this year, businesses will lessen their reliance on traditional industry practices while helping our planet's precious resources at the same time.