Ask the expert: top tips from our sustainability guru

At Zen, we’re always looking for ways to improve our environmental impact and as a B Corp, we want to share our journey in an effort to support other businesses that may be keen to do more. We’re also very aware that our own journey to Net Zero cannot be achieved in isolation. We need to work with our supply chain and our customers, so that we are all on a path to Net Zero together.

Recently, we updated our company purpose statement to reflect our evolved culture and ethos, which is to “do right for people and planet”. These values have always guided us, but now we’ve refined them to bring greater clarity to our purpose.

If you’re looking to improve your business’ environmental impact, it can be difficult to know where to start. It can be an overwhelming and confusing area to navigate. I find it can be helpful to go back to basics and look to focus on initiatives that can make a tangible difference. Here I’ve outlined some practical tips on how to make progress, broken down under the three scopes within the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol).

Firstly, what do we mean by the three scopes?

• Scope 1 includes carbon emissions that are generated from sources that are controlled or owned by an organisation. So this will be gas usage for heating and hot water, refrigeration and air conditioning, business travel through company-owned vehicles, diesel used on site (for generators, etc)
• Scope 2 includes carbon emissions associated with the purchase of electricity. So this will be your electricity tariff and any electric company-owned vehicles
• Scope 3 includes everything else! These are carbon emissions that are the result of activities from assets not owned or controlled by an organisation. So this will be waste, water (and wastewater), other company travel including employee commuting, homeworking, purchased good and services, capital goods, fuel and energy-related services (such as the transmission of energy to your site), how customers use your products in life, upstream and downstream distribution, investments, upstream and downstream leased assets and franchises

The GHG Protocol has documented these scopes in a user-friendly way here:

OK, so now we know which carbon emissions fall into which scopes. But where do we start in tackling these emissions in an effort to make positive changes?

For scope 1:

• Servers are able to run at warmer temperatures than they used to – so your data centre or server room doesn’t need to be freezing cold anymore. Most equipment can run at 23°C .
• Adjust your heating set points. Consider whether you can reduce the temperature in the office or at home by 1°C – this can usually have a big impact to your emissions without impacting people.
• Switch any petrol / diesel company vehicles to electric.
• Consider the logistics of the company-owned vehicles – could journeys be reduced or runs made more efficient?
• If you have a diesel generator, switch from diesel to HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil)

For scope 2:

• Switch your electricity tariff to a renewable energy tariff from solar, wind or hydropower.
• Consider installing on-site renewables, such as solar panels.
• Install LED lighting and sensor controls around your business space.
• Invest in energy-efficient equipment including HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems.

For scope 3:

• Engage with your suppliers and switch to those who use renewable energy and can demonstrate what they’re doing to reduce their environmental impact. Many suppliers are on a Net Zero journey – ask them about this.
• Choose low-carbon products and services.
• Design durable, repairable, and recyclable products to reduce waste and emissions.
• Where possible, encourage remote working, and sustainable commuting – including incentives for things like EV (Electric Vehicle) adoption.
• Reduce business travel by swapping in-person meetings to virtual meetings and encourage train travel over private vehicles.

I hope that’s given you some ideas and inspiration for ways to make a positive impact on the environment. We’ll continue to share our own journey across our social media channels (Facebook or LinkedIn) and on our website – so please do follow these updates.

All the best for your sustainability / Net Zero journey!