Reduce Your Company's Carbon Footprint

As part of its goal to operate as an environmentally aware and carbon-neutral company by 2009, Guidance, which designs and supports business applications and technology solutions, has developed a guide you can download to help you evaluate your own company's carbon footprint.

Here's an outline of the steps Guidance suggests:

1. Assemble a task force to lead your environmental initiative: You'll need about six good men and women to head your environmental efforts. Find volunteers who not only possess the necessary knowledge and skills on various environmental subjects, but who will also be passionate about leading the green charge.

2. Develop a mission statement: You need a goal before you can figure out what needs to be done. Define what you intend to accomplish, in phases, if necessary.3. Evaluate your consumption of non-renewable resources and develop strategies for reducing and/or eliminating consumption, where possible: That's a mouthful, but in simpler terms, start off with a company-wide waste audit. Also, evaluate your business's carbon emissions from PCs, printers, peripherals, light bulbs, air conditioners, and so on. Encourage employees to carpool and use alternate modes of transportation, such as bus, train, bike, or walking.

4. Recycle, recycle, recycle: Place recycling bins in accessible, high-traffic areas, and provide clear info about what can or cannot be recycled, so there's no confusion. You should also, of course, determine where your city or county provides a recycling center that can handle special recyclables like computers, cell phones, batteries, and other electronics, and set aside a monthly or bimonthly recycling day. (Learn how to encourage e-waste recycling in your workplace.)

5. Offset your remaining carbon footprint: Once you've figured out your carbon footprint by calculating the impact of activities such as electricity usage, employee commuting, employee air travel, and natural-gas usage, offset your carbon emissions by helping fund a reforestation project or by purchasing Renewable Energy Credits.

6. Take your environmental commitment into the community: This is the part where you give back. Get involved in your community's coastal cleanup initiatives, tree plantings, efforts to restore wildlife habitats, development of sustainable housing, recycling initiatives, and more. Within your organization, pick two or three initiatives and get your hands dirty.

7. Encourage your vendors and business partners to adopt similar environmental policies and practices: The challenges to reduce waste, improve air quality, eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions, and find renewable sources of energy require everyone's participation. Now that you've taken steps within your company and gotten involved in community efforts, encourage your vendors and business partners to do the same.

::Guidance Green

Difficulty level: Advanced

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