The shift to sustainable business models is crucial in the fight against climate change. Reducing your organisation’s carbon footprint supports net-zero goals and can deliver wider benefits such as cost savings, stronger brand reputation, and improved employee morale.
To make the process easier to navigate, here are the key action areas explored in this guide:
- Implement a ‘Switch Off’ energy-saving policy and cut standby power.
- Upgrade to LED and sensor-based lighting.
- Maintain efficient heating and cooling systems.
- Promote hybrid or remote working policies.
- Encourage public transport, cycling, and carpooling.
- Minimise business travel and offset unavoidable trips.
- Go paperless and digitise workflows.
- Use recycled and recyclable office supplies.
- Introduce a recycling and waste-reduction programme.
- Choose eco-friendly cleaning products.
- Buy sustainable, second-hand, or recycled furniture.
- Partner with environmentally responsible vendors.
- Source materials and products from local suppliers.
- Track, reduce, and offset your company’s carbon emissions.
- Reduce plastic waste with sustainable plastic-free or low-plastic cards.
These steps range from simple, everyday changes to bigger organisational commitments – all contributing to a more sustainable workplace.
15 Effective Ways to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint at Work
Here are 15 steps that you and your company can take right now to lower your company’s carbon emissions and positively contribute to a sustainable future.
Reduce Office Energy Consumption
The easiest place to start cutting your overall carbon footprint is by addressing energy usage.
Reducing energy consumption is a primary way to lower greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions). You can also explore using renewable energy sources, such as installing solar panels to power your operations.
1.Implement a ‘Switch Off’ Energy-Saving Policy & Cut Standby Power
To reduce the overall amount of power consumed by your business, implement a mandatory ‘switch off’ policy. This means ensuring all non-essential office equipment, such as computers, monitors, task lights, and chargers, are fully turned off at the plug at the close of business.
To efficiently tackle wasted energy from devices in standby mode, often called ‘vampire power’, install smart power strips at workstations. These are engineered to automatically cut power to peripherals when the main device is shut down, creating a simple way to save money and energy while reducing your overall office carbon footprint.
Beyond equipment, regularly review your heating and air conditioning systems and utilise temperature controls. Maintain an optimal, consistent temperature rather than allowing wide temperature swings, which forces systems to work harder and increases energy consumption.
Additionally, schedule routine maintenance for your heating and air conditioning systems to ensure all components and filters are clean and running at peak efficiency.
These actions can make a significant difference in reducing emissions and energy costs.
2.Upgrade to LED & Sensor-Based Lighting
Another key step is to upgrade your lighting infrastructure. Commence a programme of LED conversion by replacing all outdated office lighting (incandescent and fluorescent) with modern energy-saving lighting. Prioritise fitting LED lights in high-use areas first, as this will yield the fastest return on investment.
To make the switch even more effective, install occupancy or motion sensors in low-traffic areas like restrooms, storage closets, and hallways. These sensors ensure lights are only on when someone is present, automatically saving energy.
Finally, don’t forget that the most energy-efficient lighting is natural sunlight. Maximise your natural light by opening blinds and adjusting office layouts to take advantage of daylight, reducing the hours that electric lights are needed.
3.Maintain Efficient Heating & Cooling Systems
Improving your building’s ability to regulate temperature is crucial for reducing heating and cooling system demand, which all adds to your carbon emissions.
Start by conducting a draught audit – a simple check to find air leaks and drafts around all windows, doors, and vents in your commercial building. Once draughts are found, seal leaks immediately using low-cost solutions like window stripping, caulking, or door sweeps.
This simple fix significantly reduces the energy required to heat or cool the space and reduces emissions arising from our dependence on fuels, like natural gas for heating.
Furthermore, look into securing an energy tariff or contract with your electricity supplier that guarantees the power you use is generated from certified renewable energy sources. The main goal of this is to ensure your business’s electricity consumption supports green practices by being matched with clean-generated energy.
Lastly, ensure you clear radiators and vents by moving any furniture, boxes, or curtains that may be blocking them. Unobstructed vents allow heat or cool air to circulate freely and efficiently.
Reduce Travel & Commuting Emissions
Employee commuting and business trips account for 70% of a company’s carbon emissions. Tackling these directly lowers your global emissions impact.
4.Promote Hybrid or Remote Work Policies
To immediately reduce the volume of daily employee commuting, consider formalising a hybrid work policy. This measure directly cuts down on the excessive burning of fossil fuels and the release of carbon dioxide emissions associated with daily travel.
By providing the necessary tools and technological infrastructure for successful remote work, your business not only encourages sustainable practices but also makes a significant stride toward meeting its sustainability goals.
5.Incentivise Public Transport, Cycling, or Carpooling
Make public transportation and cycling the most attractive travel options for your staff to achieve substantial carbon savings from vehicle emissions. Several support systems could make the shift more preferable:
- Subsidies for Public Transport: Provide direct financial assistance for public transport passes, making it the most cost-effective choice for employees.
- Support Active Commuting: For staff who cycle or walk to work, install amenities such as secure bike storage and high-quality shower facilities. These initiatives make it easier and more appealing for staff to choose lower-emission travel methods.
6.Minimise Business Travel & Offset Necessary Travel
A strict travel hierarchy can also help minimise your travel carbon emissions: prioritise virtual meetings, with rail travel being the preferred alternative for unavoidable in-person meetings.
For essential, unavoidable air travel (especially high-emission trips like business class), establish a formal policy to purchase high-quality, verified carbon offsets.
While the ideal solution is to reduce carbon emissions, offsetting acknowledges the environmental impact and helps the company progress toward net zero.
Reduce Waste & Improve Sustainable Office Supplies
From paper usage to office supplies, every procurement decision impacts your office carbon footprint. Embracing sustainable practices in this area is essential to achieving an impactful reduction in emissions.
7.Go Paperless & Digitise Workflows
An effective step is to transition away from unnecessary paper usage. The actionable steps include:
- Transition Workflows: Move essential documents and company procedures to electronic systems and secure cloud storage, helping to reduce the need for paper copies.
- Track Your Savings: Implement a process to track the equivalent of how much energy and how many resources you save by minimising physical printing.
- Recycle-Only Policy: Utilise recycled paper only where possible, which makes your company eco-friendlier in its daily operations.
8.Use Recycled & Recyclable Office Supplies
Making a conscious effort to ensure every purchasing decision results in a positive environmental impact also helps to combat climate change.
This means prioritising the purchase of recycled paper products and other office supplies that are made with low or no emissions. This simple change reduces the global demand for virgin resources and supports renewable energy initiatives
9.Introduce a Recycling & Waste Reduction Programme
Consider introducing clear, well-placed, and correctly labelled recycling bins for different materials (paper, plastics, glass) throughout your facility.
Beyond basic items, expand your programme to include specialised collection points for materials like eWaste (old electronics) and batteries, ensuring they are disposed of responsibly.
Make Sustainable Procurement Choices
The products and services your business purchases contribute significantly to supply chain emissions.
10.Choose Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products
To immediately reduce the environmental impact of chemicals, switch to sourcing non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning supplies.
Another great tip is to purchase cleaning concentrates in bulk, which significantly reduces plastic packaging waste as you have greater quantities of the product.
11.Buy Sustainable, Second-Hand, or Recycled Furniture
When you are sourcing office furniture, opt for durable, second-hand pieces or products made from certified, sustainably sourced materials.
Taking this approach reduces the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing brand-new office furniture. It’s a visible commitment to renewable energy and sustainable business. A few well-chosen pieces could even add character to your workplace.
12.Partner with Environmentally Responsible Vendors
You can drastically lower your overall carbon footprint by choosing sustainable suppliers.
Introduce environmental criteria into your procurement process and proactively engage employees to help evaluate whether vendors are meeting their carbon reduction targets.
Think about every aspect of the service you provide. With so much focus on innovation in the area of reducing emissions, there are now alternatives to materials such as plastics that you may have used for years.
Look for vendors who offer products that have achieved a credible independent environmental certification, such as the flustix certification marks including flustix LESS PLASTICS, flustix RECYCLED, or flustix PRODUCT CONTENT MICROPLASTIC-FREE. Proof points such as this are especially important for organisations that must protect themselves from reputational damage that can come from ‘greenwashing’.
13.Source Materials & Products from Local Suppliers
By prioritising local suppliers for goods and services, you can reduce the greenhouse gas emissions generated from long-distance transportation.
Furthermore, consolidating your orders further reduces energy and transportation emissions, which are often powered by fossil fuels.
Hold Your Business Accountable
Transparency and data are vital for meeting sustainability goals and demonstrating real progress.
14.Track, Reduce & Offset Your Company’s Carbon Emissions
The first and most crucial action is to systematically track and calculate your full GHG emissions across all scope categories.
This process requires gathering data from all relevant sources, especially your utility bills for energy consumption, and information on business travel and procurement.
Importantly, after your business has implemented all available energy-efficient measures and completed physical changes to reduce consumption, the final step is to address the remaining, unavoidable carbon dioxide emissions.
This is done by using verified, high-quality carbon offsets and ensures you are taking full accountability for your total environmental impact.
15.Reduce Plastic Waste with Sustainable Plastic Cards
Does your business issue business cards or corporate purchasing cards? You can now replace hundreds of cardboard business cards with a single contactless card made of real wood, enabling professional details to be shared with a simple tap on a smartphone.
A small yet visible change such as this demonstrates to staff and environmentally conscious customers your company’s dedication to reducing its overall carbon footprint and contributing to a sustainable future.
Traditional payment cards, such as those used for business purchases, are overwhelmingly made from PVC plastic. These contribute to the demand for fossil fuels and take hundreds of years to decompose.
Fortunately, the financial sector is rapidly innovating. Today, companies can choose corporate cards made from sustainable alternatives, including recycled PVC and bio-sourced plastics. These materials are key energy-efficient measures that significantly reduce the reliance on new plastic production.
Some innovative companies, like TIMBERCARD, now offer entirely plastic-free alternatives with a card body crafted from layers of sustainably sourced wood and paper.
Do Good, Use Wood: How TIMBERCARD Supports Workplace Sustainability
A business’s sustainability journey is often shaped by the quiet, everyday choices that sit behind the scenes. Looking again at the materials and tools we rely on – even something as simple as a payment card – can open the door to meaningful reductions in plastic use and environmental impact.
TIMBERCARD is one example of how thoughtful alternatives can make a difference. It carries the flustix LESS PLASTICS | PRODUCT certification (MIN. 99.25% PLASTIC-FREE), with independent testing confirming that its card body is fully plastic-free in line with the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive.
The options explored in this article show that there’s no single path to becoming a more sustainable business – just a series of steps, big and small, that build towards a more responsible way of working. What matters most is choosing the ones that feel both achievable and aligned with your values. Get started today – do good, use wood.