Your service company could be a sustainability business without you even knowing it – 15 ways to go green and develop your organisation

Although the direct impact of the UK service sector is relatively low, it does account for 71% of national turnover and 79% of employment. Its impact on such a wide range of people offers the opportunity for these companies to lead the way towards low carbon societies.

Here are some ways service organisations can maximise their impact in that endeavour, and at the same time prepare themselves for the green future.

1) Light the way. Switching to LED lighting saves around 90% of energy consumption compared to traditional bulbs. They also last ten times as long, despite costing only six times as much. Smart lighting in the form of occupancy sensors can also save 30%, while daylight sensors can reduce consumption by 40%. These changes add up, with 40% of a building’s energy use being attributable to lighting.

2) Make all that energy clean. There is a small but rising number of firms supplying 100% clean energy to customers. Few set the bar as high as Ecotricity, however, which gives away electricity to electric car owners and has had itself accredited through EMAS so that it knows the carbon footprint of its distribution network. https://www.ecotricity.co.uk/about-ecotricity/our-eco-credentials/emas

3) Water. Smart water systems can save 30% of your company’s total use, which in turn reduces your water and your electricity bill and conserves a vital resource.

4) Grounded. Not every service business is constantly flying its workforce around the world, but those which do rely on a significant amount of travel are probably increasingly their carbon footprint substantially. Travelling between London and Manchester by plane emits over five times as much carbon as by car, 12 times as much as by train, and around 15 times as by coach. In terms of this particular journey, the door-to-door time is almost certainly longer by air than by train as well. The ubiquity of email and teleconferencing, and the fact that the client usually pays for adviser travel, means increasing the amount of time using modern technology to reduce emissions and cost has a clear business and environmental case. It’s not always possible, but it’s always possible to consider, and it’s possible more often than is actually practised.

5) Purchasing power. Service organisations don’t have quite the supply chain footprint of energy or manufacturing companies, but we can buy local, buy environmental, and encourage small, sustainable businesses in our communities. Buy recycled paper from a local (green) supplier rather than shipping it across the world. And do we still need to be told the business and financial benefits of reducing paper use?

6) More purchasing power. Refurbish your office furniture rather than buy new. Donate to charity what you do dispose of. Get your office carpet from a company such as Interface Carpets, which has reduced its carbon footprint and water use by well over 90% - https://www.interfaceglobal.com/Sustainability/Interface-Story.aspx

7) Electronics. Electronics are enormously environmentally damaging, and that’s before we get into the ethics of how rare earth metals are mined or who is assembling your mobile phone components. Replace gadgets less often, and donate those you do change to organisations such as www.computersforcharities.org  Go further than that, though, and get your mobile phones from www.fairphone.com Fairphone ethically sources its components to ensure that the product is as ‘good’ as possible.

For the above seven points there is a clear bottom line case built out of the environmental rationale. The remaining points are less easily measured, but no less important, and carry potential reputational and other intangible considerations of use to us all.

8) Take your kitchen seriously. Ban plastic bottles from your office and encourage employees to use a long-life, reusable equivalent. Recycle everything that can be recycled, compost what can be composted, change suppliers to buy local and organic where possible, and buy fewer packaged foods. Buy certified tea and coffee, and if you must have a pod coffee machine, get your coffee from a company such as Cru Kafe - https://www.crukafe.com/ - whose pods are compostable, rather than the recyclable-but-rarely-actually-recycled aluminium-plastic variety.

9) Share. Accountants, consultants, lawyers, and other professionals have skills that sustainable charities are in great need of. Get out and do good! Volunteering builds further skills, creates a sense of accomplishment, and enhances reputations while transferring competences to organisations that can do good for our communities. Beyond that, though, create local networks and engage with those around you. This is networking without the awkward feeling of self-interest, because it’s not (as) self-interested.

10) Get your hands dirty. Does your firm allow employees time off to do community work? It should, it benefits all parties. Take the lead and organise, in partnership with a green association, some time to help your local environment. Clean, plant, unblock… enjoy a change of scenery, a team-building activity that doesn’t involve embarrassing 'challenges' and actually allows employees to mix and meet and feel like they have done something worthwhile. Don’t just give money to a local charity – get involved as well.

11) Get someone else’s hands dirty. If you absolutely have to travel (the most damaging thing you’re likely to do is fly), offset. And do it properly. Do your research, have your carbon footprint professionally measured, and find a reputable organisation to rebalance your emissions with green projects elsewhere.

12) Now think wider. Everything we do impacts on the environment. Everything. And we can’t eliminate that impact, but we can seek to minimise it. Much of the damage we do we never see because it is out of sight and far away. So if you do an annual corporate fundraiser, raise money for a charity in the developing world that addresses what are local environmental issues to others.

13) Do good. Speaking of doing good in a place you’ll never see or visit, remember when your search engine wasn’t evil? Well mine isn’t. www.ecosia.org

Ecosia uses ad revenue from your searches to plant trees in Africa. It counts how many it has planted in total, uses cookies to tell you how many you have helped plant, and reports extensively on its activities. Set it as your firm’s home page and see how many trees you can plant. Then…

14) Tell the world. Measure your impact regularly and report what you find, internally and externally. There’s a wealth of resources out there to help beginners.

15) Involve everyone. We’ve all seen the research on engaged employees being better employees. Well, your colleagues spend a third of their day in your building, and what happens there can be very influential. Demonstrate the ease and importance of good green behaviour.

The clear financial case for many sustainability initiatives is arguably outweighed by the business benefits of reputational risk management and the ability to build new business out of existing operations from organisational learning in this area.

Demonstrating the good that can be done to staff and other stakeholders can multiply the positive results and make our businesses, our communities, and the wider world better places to be.