In this great politico-media fest that is #COP26, it’s useful to highlight our commitment to eradicating negative traces that our business might have left on Spaceship Earth over the last quarter of a century.
From our very early days in the 90s we trod lightly, embracing home working, cloud-services, and e-commerce. By 2006, we were offsetting carbon, and by 2012 we had moved on again. We adopted an entirely location-independent working model and went onto become fully carbon-negative almost two years ago. Please do read more on our Environmental Policy.
The post-pandemic world gives us, we think, a unique and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix many of the world’s consumption/emission woes. Over the last twenty months we have learned that working from home really can work and that less commuting is good for the soul, family, and your wallet. We’ve applauded the (near) death of toxic team meetings and embraced walking and exercise as part of our working day. We’ve spent less and saved more. We were, mostly, heading towards a far better place. Some (rather grandly) referred to this as a “Great Reset” and many embraced the idea that we would “build back better”. This still applies today.
The overall benefits to Mother Earth are profound. Less travel equals fewer CO2 emissions and pollutants, reduced consumptions also reduces emissions and cuts down on waste. These are all admirable goals and we should continue to push in this direction.
Its not just about people choosing zero-tailpipe emitting cars or working from home. No. Businesses large and small have their part to play in greening the economy, incentivising better behaviour, and actively doing stuff to reduce and reverse the negative impact on the environment.
We’re not doom-sayers, but if every SME business in the UK became just carbon neutral, we’d reduce total annual CO2 by 14% or one-sevemth. It doesn’t need to be expensive, and will mostly benefit businesses in the long term as it drives down the cost of rolling out a truly green economy and rewards those that try.
Whether you agree with fine detail or specific ramifications of whatever the “tipping point” is, by now most of us realise we are wearing-out the world too quickly. With the absence of an alternative home planet, we probably should invest in looking after the one we already have. And, try to incorporate greener thinking into what is rapidly becoming our new-normal.
