Changing behaviour to cut carbon for free

There are lots of simple low or no-cost behavioural changes you can make to help your people cut carbon in your business.

Exploring them is Mark Nelson, business engagement officer with MaCaW, the University of Central Lancashire’s Making Carbon Work project, part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and supported by Boost, Lancashire’s business growth hub.

Behaviour matters. A company is made of people and people have habits, not all of which are supporting your efforts to reduce energy.

Here’s how to create better habits:

State your policy: You can’t expect to galvanise people towards a goal unless they know what the goal is. One simple way of doing that is with an energy policy which states your carbon reduction ambition and some simple steps to help achieve it. For example, you might state the temperature at which the heating and air conditioning come on. Keep the policy short and simple.

Measure: Use objective reporting to help you set a realistic target for carbon reduction that everyone can get behind.

Get visual: Put a thermometer on the wall to give an objective measure everyone can see.

Engage staff: Involve the team in putting the energy policy together. Appoint champions to maintain momentum and suggest improvements.

Offer incentives: For the staff suggestion that saves the most energy each quarter.