Running a business in the modern era can be a very difficult thing. You’ll need to be able to manage costs, stay on the right side of any relevant regulations, and meet the expectations of your stakeholders when it comes to sustainability and environmental concerns.

The good news is that these objectives often align with one another. By making your business more energy-efficient, you’ll be able to bring down your carbon emissions, and thereby safeguard both the profitability and the reputation of your operation.

So, how should this challenge be approached?

Assess and optimise your baseline

If you aren’t measuring your performance, then you might struggle to improve it. You’ll need to therefore think about things like the raw amount of energy you’re using, the amount of it you’re wasting, and the amount you’re spending on specific aspects of your business, like transportation.
Getting a good sense of your carbon footprint means understanding not just how large it is, but how it breaks down. The former will allow you to measure your progress; the latter will allow you to identify the easy gains.

Drive operational efficiency and reduce waste

Once you have an idea of where your weak points are, you can start to think about how they might be addressed. Often, a simple change in your processes can help you cut out redundant energy use and thereby drive down your energy expenditure. In other cases, the investment in new equipment and systems can make a difference that will pay for itself over time.
You might go deeper into the way that energy is actually being used and try to make marginal gains here and there. Encouraging employees to switch off the lights as they exit a room can be beneficial – but the big gains are to be found by applying this principle across the entire building.

Leverage low-carbon solutions and renewables

It isn’t just the amount of energy you’re using that should be a concern. Where this energy comes from, and how it’s generated, will make a difference, too. It might be that you can make major gains by generating energy on-site, through things like solar panels.
Or you might look into green tariffs that will allow you to optimise your spending on energy while making a transition to renewable forms of energy. A good business energy supplier can make this easier.
Certain energy-intensive industries, like steel, have recently welcomed a change in government policy on green levies, which aims to cut costs and stimulate growth. The discount for connecting to the grid was improved from 60% to 90%.

Embed culture, monitor progress and iterate

You can’t expect to make major gains with just a single one-off round of changes in your approach to energy. An effective renewable culture is something that is continually built over time. You’ll need all of your employees to develop the right habits, and to hold one another accountable. You’ll also need to ensure that you measure not just your own performance, but that of the entire supply chain to which you’re attached!
Only around 65% of firms in the UK have a plan for Net Zero. By implementing one, you might put yourself ahead of the competition!