Every company is able to reduce their carbon footprint to net zero. Depending upon the company up to 20 percent of CO2 can be saved through small, long-lasting changes within the corporate operation by, for example, changes to manufacturing or the profile of a vehicle fleet. In many cases, the fastest way to deal with the bulk of emissions in the short term is carbon offsetting i.e. for every kilo of CO2 produced by the company, one kilo is saved through vital climate-friendly projects around the world. 

Click through to the carbon projects pages to see what's possible. In this section we have put together some reference points for information about reducing your CO2 through internal changes.

Reference material

Carbon Jargon - making sense of the science of climate change. This book - written and produced by The CarbonNeutral Company and Think Publishing - is designed as a reference to the complexities of the carbon marketplace. You can view some sample pages here here or contact us if you would like copies of the book. 

The CarbonNeutral Company online calculators - from the homepage you can click through to a number of calculators where you can find out the total emissions of your business, at home, whilst driving or flying.

Shades of Green - Some little and not so little decisions you can make today to help stop climate change

This booklet was written and produced by The CarbonNeutral Company and provides ready information about how you can save from 1kg to 100 tonnes of CO2 from waste, energy, travel, etc.

The Green To Do List (Ricoh 2007)
Ricoh The Resourceful Guide v1

These booklets were researched and written by The CarbonNeutral Company with Ricoh for their staff and customers.  Both provide some ideas for reducing CO2 footprints in the office, and some case studies for inspiration.

SKY Carbon Calculator

The CarbonNeutral Company worked on a ground-breaking calculator with Sky, providing ideas and the background calculations.  It’s designed for a consumer audience, to help carbon footprint homes and see where CO2 reductions can be made.  (you’ll find a short and long version of the calculator)

Green reduction tips for the office

The international measurement for CO2 is metric tonnes. To convert kgs to lbs: 1 kg = 2.2 lbs. 

1. First step is to see how much CO2 you produce (your ‘carbon footprint’) – so then you can understand what to do about it.www.carbonneutral.com has calculators to help you

2. Long or short haul flights? Take a look at your business travel plans and see how you can improve them - can you reduce the amount that you fly through investing in video conferencing, plan shorter flights or schedule a number of meetings back to back?

  By forfeiting one long distance flight you will save 1 tonne of CO2.

3. Should you fly or take the train? Depending upon your destination taking the train instead of flying could be an alternative – and think of all that extra work you can do on the train!

  If 10 people from your business took 10 train trips instead of flying, 10 tonnes of CO2 would be saved.

4. Revise your supply management chain: Use CarbonNeutral® companies in your supply chain, introduce environmental questions into your procurement policy. For examples some delivery companies now grade their vehicles according to the CO2 emissions and then if a vehicle is used which is lower than the benchmark CO2 a financial contribution has to be made.

5. Insulate your premises: Do you realise how much heat you lose through a badly insulated building? Check with your Local Authority about grants to encourage local businesses to make their premises greener through loft insulations and solar powered energy schemes.

6. Use more technology within the workplace: Instead of travelling to a business meeting why don’t you use video conferencing facilities instead. If your audience is not based in the same building or office and you are planning a conference or workshop then webinars are a good alternative.

   After just 4 half-mile return trips you will have saved 1kg/2.2lbs of CO2. 

7. Switch off: if everybody in the office (with 130 people) switched off their monitors at night, it would take 45 minutes to save 1kg/2.2lbs of CO2.

8. Turn the heat down in your office: if you turn the thermostat down by 1oC you will save 1kg/2.2lbs of CO2 in one day, or why not turn it off completely

9. Be more energy efficient: Replace three standard 100W light bulbs with Energy Saving equivalents and save 1kg/2.2lbs of CO2 in eight hours

10. Recycle your paper instead of dumping them in a landfill. Recycling 180 sheets will save 1kg/2.2lbs of CO2. Also using 374 sheets of recycled paper as opposed to regular paper will save 1kg of CO2

It is always possible to meet more significant targets of reducing a companies CO2 emissions through external reductions – i.e. carbon offsetting.