How Can Business Leaders Tackle Climate Change?

(Photo : How Can Business Leaders Tackle Climate Change?)

Climate change is accelerating at a disturbing pace, and businesses are unfortunately responsible for much of this acceleration. Recently, the largest iceberg ever recorded broke off from Antarctica, indicating that water temperatures are spiraling out of control. Deserts are expanding, landfills are being topped out and erratic weather patterns are sweeping the world.

But what can a business leader do to help tackle this dreadful series of apocalyptic changes? There are actually plenty of ways in which private companies and their senior figures can help slow the damaging effects of climate degradation. Every responsible business leader should be looking to reduce the amount of damage their enterprise is doing to the Earth. Here are a few pointers that will hopefully catalyze business leaders in their necessary quest to stop harming the planet and its population. 

By Setting Targets

Setting - and achieving - targets is something every business student should learn, whether they are self taught, training at university or a graduating master of business management online. Environmental targets should be a part of any business strategy. Without realistic and well thought out targets, a company will be aiming blindly at growth and responsibility. 

According to the United Nations Global Compact, the four crucial guidelines for setting sustainable business goals are:

Focus on Issues That Are Strategically Important to Your Company

The best sustainability plans are symbiotic with a company's other goals. Identifying areas in which sustainability is also streamlining and growth inducing is crucial. Business leaders should Identify major polluting or wasteful areas of your business plan and address them.

Set Ambitious Goals

It is important to be ambitious with the goals that are set. The use of scientific methods to determine the best possible sustainability outcomes is a proven way of identifying ambitious outcomes. 

Connect Your Goals to Your Business Strategy

Link your sustainability goals to your long-term strategic success. Be specific about how growth and sustainability are linked.

Ensure Support and Ownership

If sustainability goals are not widely supported by employees and collaborators then business leaders will find them hard to achieve. Internal and external messaging has to be consistent and well-conceived in order to ensure continued support long after the unveiling of new plans has occurred. 

By Reducing Waste

Reducing waste is key to any sustainability plan. Business leaders have a responsibility to find ways of cutting down on plastics and chemicals in manufacturing, packaging, office administration and almost every other area. Although some waste can be eliminated by training staff correctly, the biggest improvements can be made when large structural changes are made from the top down.

Larger businesses should be able to appoint an internal waste reduction team. This team should firstly conduct a waste audit. From there, they can make recommendations for reducing refuse using structural changes and worker education. Many businesses have already made huge changes - eliminating plastic packaging, using recycled paper and reusing non-recyclable materials internally. 

By Using Green Energy

Private companies are absolutely huge consumers of fossil fuels and fossil fuel derived electricity. According to the Guardian, just 100 companies are responsible for the creation of 71 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Business leaders can drastically reduce the amount of fossil fuels being burned by refusing to work with companies that produce energy using finite carboniferous substances.

There are plenty of energy providers available that exclusively produce energy from renewable sources. Some good news comes in the form of growth. The renewable energy market - and therefore energy production capabilities of that market - is growing extremely quickly. This means that clean energy is only going to get more affordable and more worthy of investment by private enterprises. 

Using green energy not only stops a company from damaging the environment. It also sends out a powerful message to consumers and collaborators that the business is trying to avoid becoming an environmental poisoner. 

By Measuring Emissions

Knowing just how much an organization pollutes is essential if a sustainability plan can be drawn up accurately. Getting entirely accurate emissions and wastage statistics is not easy, but getting a rough reading and noticing patterns is absolutely possible. Emissions measurement should be part of every company sustainability plan. In much the same way as data projections are used to build business strategy, emissions data should be used to project environmental impact and inform climate saving strategies. 

By Assisting Employees With Travel

Unfortunately, employees often find that driving to work is the easiest option for them every morning. Business leaders have the opportunity to stop this from happening. Free bus travel for employees or generous bike to work schemes can really cut down an organization's carbon footprint. 

The daily rush hours are major causes of congestion - and therefore pollution - in city centers around the globe. Encouraging employees to cycle or get public transport can help free up city streets, cut down on particulates in the air and give urban environments a chance at realizing their clean air goals.

By Being Overtly Political

It would be foolish to assume that business is not a political endeavor. Businesses exist within politics because their success is partially determined and capable of determining the course of political trends. 

Indeed, many analysts have pointed out that business success and political influence are symbiotic. Historically, during waves of economic globalization, business leaders have found themselves acting as economic statespeople with huge influence over the direction of global politics. You only have to look at the political power of companies like Amazon to see how the political might of a private enterprise can influence the way in which the environment is treated. 

Business leaders need to realize that they are taking part in a political enterprise. Their lust for growth should be tempered by the knowledge that they have a responsibility to the Earth. Climate change may one day cause huge financial devastation to all sorts of businesses. Unless leaders put their political weight behind climate-preserving international action, then all of their strategizing could prove to have been for nothing.