1. Doesn’t it cost a lot of money to go ‘green’?

Going 'green' doesn't always mean extra costs and often by looking at the whole life cycle cost of initiatives you can identify real savings. Initially you may have to spend time and some money setting up initiatives but often greening your activities can lead to cost savings. For example, turning PC monitors and photocopiers off overnight and at weekends will reduce your electricity bill, reduce your climate change levy and increase the life of the machines - as well as using less fossil fuels to make the electricity itself.

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2. How can I calculate my carbon emissions?

Defra provides information on energy sources and conversion rates. The following link will provide you with a table to complete to find out your equivalent carbon emissions

http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/business/envrp/gas/05.htm

Alternatively Best Foot Forward offers a full CD-rom programme (charge of £150) to enable you to look at your emissions.

There are also various websites that allow you to calculate the number of trees required to offset your emissions, for example

• www.climatecare.org.uk - Climate Care endorsed by WWF and aims to offset carbon emissions by investing in projects that are environmentally beneficial.
• www.carbonneutral.com - choose from technology and forestry projects to offset your emissions (previously known as future forests)

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3. What are the benefits of looking at environmental issues within a company?

There can be a range of benefits from looking at environmental issues within your company, some examples include:

Ensuring that you are meeting your legal requirements and thereby avoiding prosecution and potential fines.

Waste management can assist you with cutting down the amount of resources you use, the waste produced and encourage you to find alternative end uses, saving money in lost resources and disposal costs that include Landfill Tax.

Similarly looking at energy management can reduce energy costs.

Company image can be improved - by managing your environmental impacts you can raise the profile of your company. Increasingly consumers (whether they may be the public or another company) are asking for businesses to be accountable and are asking questions about environmental issues and using the answers to make purchasing decisions.

Many larger companies – perhaps your direct customers – are now looking at their Supply Chains and seeing if their suppliers are aware of their environmental impacts. They don’t want to do business with a company that might be closed down by the Environmental Agency due to non-compliance!

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4. Why should I work towards an Environmental Management System?

An EMS provides a structured and organised approach to managing your environmental impacts - rather than ad hoc action. It is systematic and ensures that you are meeting all your legal requirements and are aware of all the areas in which your activities impact on the environment.

It also sends a signal to your customers and the marketplace that you are taking steps to manage your environmental impacts. If they too are now looking at gaining EMS certification then they can be confident that you are a professional organisation that they can depend upon.

This can be a source of Competitive Advantage for you. They don’t want to do business with a company that might be closed down by the Environmental Agency due to non-compliance!

Take a look at the EMS section on the site for more information

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5. Doesn’t an EMS involve a lot of paperwork?

As with any management system it can involve paperwork however the majority of this can be cut down by making the system electronic, for example keeping records and monitoring forms on an intranet and emailing staff about policies and procedures.

By putting an effective system in place and communicating it to staff, you may actually become more efficient. Areas of wastefulness that can be better managed may be identified, capturing the enthusiasm of colleagues positively.

Take a look at the EMS section on the site for more information

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6. Aren’t I too small to have an impact on the environment?

Every company has impacts on the environment no matter how small and it is important that you are aware of them and manage them, even if it is purely to ensure you're meeting legal requirements.

In the case of a very small company you may not want to have a full management system but an informal system (or action plan) could be developed to keep check on your impacts.

The total environmental impact of small companies added together is vast and difficult to manage; everyone needs to do their bit to reach significant improvement (look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves). It is worth it for environmental benefit!

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7. As an office based company what action can we look at taking?

Even an office has environmental impacts as they use paper, energy, water and produce waste. These are the main areas that any company can look at and for an office simple house keeping initiatives can make some significant improvements.

Other areas can include looking at suppliers and whether you can make 'green' purchasing decisions can be another key area, and also at how you provide your service for example if you design a product is there any way that you can incorporate environmental factors into the design.

See our tips page for further information on house keeping. You might want to consider corporate social responsibility too, perhaps by changing refreshments to Fair Trade alternatives, using locally sourced food for events and planting trees to help combat the effects of emissions resulting from your business activity

(see http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/ if you want to plant in the UK or How can I calculate my carbon emissions? for alternatives).

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Further Information:
If you would like some furtherdetails about the ISDB or if you prefer to give us a call or send your question to the details below:

Institute for Sustainable Development in Business
The Nottingham Trent University
Trent House
Burton Street
Nottingham
NG1 4BU