Going Green...

The theme of this years' National Start Up Day was greener business, which came as no surprise as the date fell in the middle of COP26 - the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference - also known as COP26, is the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. It is being held in Glasgow between 31st October and 12th November.

As a business owner myself, the whole notion of being greener, cleaner and kinder to the planet is one I wholeheartedly believe in... but find overwhelming. Happily, today's event at the Business and Intellectual Property Centre in Newcastle was filled with practical tips that applied to so many of us.

Our first guest speaker of the day was Victoria Robertshaw, Co-Owner of Keelham Farm Shop in Yorkshire and new eco-friendly initiative Green Street. Having taken over the reigns of the family farm shop in the early noughties, Victoria and her brother had green ideas to introduce to the business from the get go, making them something of a trailblazer. Victoria describes herself as an action-led environmentalist and I thought it would be useful to share her tips for anyone who couldn't make the event today...

• Reduce your energy use where you can - whether that's putting equipment to sleep and not on standby or investing in higher rated appliances.
• Reduce what you send to landfill - a no brainer but the introduction of a food waste deposit scheme, recycling boxes and reminders around the office can make a difference.
• Reduce food waste - whether that's using produce that doesn't sell due to its appearance for smoothies and juices, or giving it to an app like "Good to Go" for someone else to make use of.
• Making food the hero, not the packaging, was an initiative Victoria adopted early on at Keelham Farm Shop to help reduce unnecessary waste
• Stock and supply local products to reduce emissions
• Provide greener shopping choices for your customers - whether that's getting rid of buy one get one free or too many discounted products that encourage over consumption, or only stocking smaller amounts and adding customers to a waiting list
• Support your local community in whatever way you can
• Share your learnings with other businesses, customers and even your competitors
• Innovation can come in the simplest form - it doesn't have to be a gigantic idea to make a real difference. Like Victoria's new initiative Green Street: a guide to helping smaller retailers & hospitality businesses work together to slash their carbon footprint and become more sustainable as quickly as possible.
• Explore ways customers can use your products all year round to create more of a circular economy

Following Victoria was Carbon Footprint Expert James Staniforth, who recommended we try WWF's carbon footprint checker to see how our lifestyles stack up. James helpfully explained what a lot of the tricky carbon terminology meant in real terms too. For example companies, processes and products become carbon neutral?when they calculate their carbon emissions and compensate for what they have produced via carbon offsetting projects. Therefore, emissions that cannot be avoided locally can be offset by carbon offset projects in another location.

Sustainability expert and self-confessed serial entrepreneur Ian Brown took us on a whistlestop tour of his business ideas and why it is important that businesses should consider green and sustainable practices in their growth strategy. Namely:

• Investor confidence
• Reducing costs within your business
• Gaining a competitive advantage
• Attracting talent
• Increasing your business' resilience
• Enhancing your reputation
• Staying on suppliers' frameworks as they ask businesses to demonstrate their green credentials

Having swapped unfulfilling careers for a new life in the country, Dave & Harvest Harris-Jones dove into the world of Sustainable Tourism with their eco-friendly holiday cottages in Northumberland. If you're looking for a staycation that's planet friendly, Laverock Law Cottages appear to be the place to be!

Before we finished for the day we learnt more about the benefits of offsetting research and development costs (R&D) from Stephen Young on behalf of Access2Funding. Giving us the prime example of a sustainable fashion brand who created their own fibre in order to make the most planet-friendly garments. For those unfamiliar with the HMRC Tax Incentive Scheme you can find out more about it here.

Finally we heard from PNE Enterprise and Business Advisor Melissa shared the purpose-led work she does to empower startups to grow and flourish but also grow sustainably.

So is greener business the promised land? It certainly felt like a destination we were heading to whether we wanted to or not - and rightly so given the dire warnings from scientists about how our planet is likely to look if we stray above 1.5 degrees of global warming. For me, it made me think enormously about the little changes I can make in my daily life and the key takeaway was of course: done is better than perfect.

So what actions can, and will I take as a small business owner? Here are a few I jotted down during today's session:

1. Online meetings instead of face to face as much as possible to reduce the need to drive/commute
2. Never leave any of my tech on standby (I'm pretty good at this already)
3. Use renewable energy for my heating (already doing 100%)
4. Print only what is essential (already on this one)
5. Send fewer emails (yes, really! A large email with multiple attachments can create as much as 50g of C02 and let's face it, we all send far too many emails as it is).
6. Recycle old equipment (which I already do)
7. Buy second hand where possible
8. Banish those business cards
9. Turn down the heating in my home office a couple of degrees
10. Make sure green innovation is firmly on the agenda at client meetings