You’ve heard about the benefits to your business of “going green”. Sustainability is first and foremost about reducing waste in all its forms, which means reduced costs. Buyers like Walmart are choosing suppliers based on their sustainability scores. It improves your reputation to be seen as being green, which means improved branding plus more potential employees are attracted to your company. Or like many people, you want to leave a better planet and company to your kids. But if you’re a small company, perhaps just a group of people working out of a rented space, what can you do to make a difference?

Actually, there’s a lot that you can do. But there are three crucial factors to think about before you get started:

Talk to the boss – It’s crucial to have the support of senior management. Unless the boss approves of the time and money commitments and holds people accountable, your green initiative won’t go anywhere.

Plan and Measure – Before you start making changes, you need to know where you’re starting from and what effect your actions have. You need to quantify results to avoid charges of greenwashing, plus it keeps people motivated if they can see the results of their efforts. It’s the same as dieting, if you step on the scales every day it’s rewarding to see results and a motivator to continue your efforts.

The best tool for this is Carbon Footprint software. GOBI is a great example, it’s an inexpensive, easy to use carbon management software package that organizations of all sizes can use to measure, report and reduce their carbon footprints and GHG emissions.

The Critical Choice – While it’s charming to lease space in an old mansion, unless it’s seen major renovations recently it’s likely a carbon sinkhole. Look into LEED certification and make sure the building you work in is built and maintained to current standards, otherwise managing heating, cooling and lighting could be problematical.

Now that you’ve laid the groundwork, what steps can you actually take? Sustainable Waterloo is an impressive organization that promotes sustainability in businesses and their annual report describes the measures that their small company clients have found to be effective. Some examples:

Think out of the box – Getting to and from your “box” (otherwise known as your office) can have a big impact. Instead of driving their cars, can your employees carpool, take transit or bike to work? Work travel is a big source of GHG (greenhouse gas emissions). While face to face contact is still crucial in business, other options are increasingly available and accepted, such a teleconferencing, webinars, etc.

Flick the switch – An office building found that their peak energy use for the entire year came at 3AM on a Tuesday morning in February. It was like a science fiction movie, heat on full blast, all the lights and computers were on, coffee was brewing, but no human had been or was going to be in the building for many hours. With peak energy pricing in effect, this was a huge waste of money and energy. Turn it off or turn it down!

Think before you throw – Somewhere around 40% of printed documents aren’t necessary, and a significant portion of them are forgotten and don’t even get picked up from the printer! By reducing and recycling paper, bottled water, paper towels and other materials you can make a big impact.

By developing and implementing a plan and measuring the results with GOBI, even a small business can significantly reduce their carbon footprint. If you buy carbon offsets to match what you can’t eliminate, you can actually reduce your GHG emissions by 100%!