Earth Day Every Day: How Businesses Can Champion Decarbonization
Earth Day serves as a powerful reminder of our environmental responsibility. But for businesses, the commitment to sustainability shouldn't be confined to a single day each year. Here's how you can lead by example and inspire a culture of decarbonization by educating and encouraging your employees to adjust their actions at work and beyond.
Decarbonization is a Global Imperative
Climate change is no longer a distant threat. Rising global temperatures, increased frequency and duration of extreme weather events, and rising sea levels are just a few of the consequences of our 100+ year of dependence on fossil fuels. Decarbonization is crucial to mitigate these effects and build a more sustainable future for generations to come.
How Companies are Decarbonizing:
Setting Clear Goals and Visions: Establish ambitious yet achievable decarbonization goals. Align these goals with science-based targets to demonstrate your commitment to a sustainable future.
How Can You Align with the SBTs?
Recognizing the need for accuracy and clarity in global decarbonization efforts, climate-leading nonprofits collaborated to establish the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). The SBTi is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. The major components and requirements of an SBT are:
A target year/deadline (“By 2030”)
It must be between 5 to 10 years of your commitment year.
A goal reduction (“45% reduction”)
A category of emissions (“For our Scope 1 emissions”)
A starting point (“Compared to our base year emissions in 2019”)
Benefits of Target Verification and Setting a Science-Based Target
A survey found that science-based target setting future-proofs growth, saves money, provides regulatory resilience, boosts investor confidence, and spurs innovation and competitiveness. Setting and disclosing emissions reduction targets also demonstrates a level of corporate maturity: accountability via sustainability commitments to your consumers and investors (SBTi 2023).
Overhaul Your Operations:
Energy Efficiency: Conduct energy audits to identify areas for improvement. Invest in energy-efficient lighting, appliances, and HVAC systems.
Renewable Energy: Increase your procurement of renewable energy each year and consider financing solar, geothermal, and wind power projects. Partnering with renewable energy providers is a great option.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Implement a comprehensive waste reduction plan. Encourage paperless processes, promote reusable water bottles, and offer robust recycling programs.
Greener Employee Commutes: Offer incentives like carpool programs, subsidized public transportation passes, or free on-site charging stations for electric vehicles.
Supply Chain Sustainability:
Partner with Eco-Conscious Suppliers: Engage with suppliers who prioritize sustainability in their operations.
Transparent Sourcing: Track and report the environmental impact of your supply chain to identify areas for improvement.
Employee Engagement:
Empower Your Team: Educate employees about decarbonization and its importance. Offer workshops on energy-saving practices at home and work.
Green Teams & Initiatives: Create employee-led "Green Teams" to brainstorm and implement sustainability initiatives.
Recognition & Rewards: Acknowledge and reward employees who go the extra mile in adopting eco-friendly practices.
Internal Communication: Regularly communicate your decarbonization efforts and progress to foster a culture of environmental responsibility.
Inspiring Personal Decarbonization:
Promote Sustainable Travel: Offer flexible work arrangements like remote work or compressed workweeks to reduce employee commuting emissions.
Partner with Local Businesses: Provide employees with information and discounts from local restaurants and cafes to encourage walking or cycling during lunch breaks.
Sustainable Catering: Choose caterers committed to local and seasonal ingredients for office events.
Employee Perks with Purpose: Offer incentives like discounts on public transportation passes or bicycle accessories. Organize "green days" where employees volunteer for environmental causes.
Remember:
Lead by example: Business leaders who champion environmental responsibility inspire employees to follow suit.
Transparency is key: Communicate your decarbonization efforts and progress transparently with stakeholders.
Make it easy: Provide employees with the resources and incentives to participate meaningfully in sustainability initiatives.
By prioritizing decarbonization and engaging your employees in the journey, you can create a more sustainable future for your business and the planet. Every action, big or small, makes a difference.
As you start your journey on decarbonization and consider setting Science-Based Targets (SBTs), Uplift will be a valuable partner.
Let Uplift guide you to streamline processes, build out the integration pathways for decarbonization and sustainability throughout your enterprise and value chain, and provide activation energy needed to shift beyond business-as-usual.
The Uplift Agency
Uplift builds strategies, programs, and communication campaigns that advance ESG in workplaces, supply chains and communities.
We know how to navigate the road ahead because we’ve already been down it – 90 percent of our team has led environmental or social programs in corporations or nonprofits. Because ESG is all we do, our services are more comprehensive and integrated than most firms.
