Carbon footprint and businesses

The act of carbon footprint perpetuation pertains to people, products and industries. The more we accelerate this process, the harder it is for us to prevent climate change from affecting our world. Piece by piece, we can put it on hold or drastically contribute to its decline, so what shall businesses do in order to participate in this never-ending sustainability movement?

Climate change is a global issue that requires immediate action from all sectors of society, including businesses. The effects of climate change are already being felt around the world, from rising sea levels and more frequent extreme weather events to loss of biodiversity and changes in ecosystems. It is essential that we take steps to reduce our carbon footprint, and businesses have a critical role to play in this effort.

Reducing carbon footprint can provide a range of benefits for businesses, including cost savings, increased efficiency, and improved public image.

What is carbon footprint?

It is a type of measurement, an estimation of the total volume of greenhouse gases. These are considered detrimental to earth, as they are world-warming gases and a higher release in the atmosphere can cause side effects and contribute to climate change.

Some of the most menacing gases include methane, nitrous oxide and other fluorinated gases. As a prime climate change inducer would be big industries that are emitting fossil fuels and perform deforestation. It is not only that, but our own earth and sun release carbon dioxide traps heats, which consequently merged together present a huge threat to the normal surface temperature.

How people contribute to the rise of carbon footprint?

It is usually based on our daily routine or long-term lifestyle choices. Naturally, we wouldn’t believe that such fundamental activities contribute to the growth of our carbon footprint.

Transportation

It takes a lot of forms, be it cars, airplanes, electrical means of transportations, buses and many more. However, they pollute in the same manner if used in huge quantities. To prevent contributing to carbon emissions, one should:

• • • Reduce traveling with vehicles and favor either walking, cycling, skate-rolling or trains
  • • Share a ride with many people at once, this way you’ll highly reduce CO2 emissions
  • • Travel fewer by airplanes or pick the most climate-friendly airlines

Food

• • • Reduce the consumption of animal products
  • • Contribute to recycling

Water

• • • Keep rainwater at your disposal, if you have means to harvest it
  • • Don’t use water carelessly when it comes to washing your clothes/dishes
  • • Before showering, keep the cold water for gardening

Energy use

• • Keep an eye on your house temperature, since every 1ºC can disrupt the level of emissions
• • Try changing your electricity supplier for more green energy
• • Never keep the lights on if you don’t have any use for them
• • Charge your phone only when it’s due time

As you can see, even the smallest actions we take in our daily life, can hugely impact the quantity of carbon emissions. We may not be able to end climate change, but our little participation definitely produces great outcomes on a larger scale.

Europe fit for 55 package

This is a world-spread issue and every continent has taken the responsibility to fight against the growth of carbon footprint. In 2021, the European Union registered 2.73 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, as compared to 2020 when it produced with 6% less. During the peak of lockdown, the carbon emissions were reduced with 22%.

With such a rapid growth in numbers, the European Union decided to implement fit for 55 package and other strategies to combat climate change, which were proposed by the EU Council and taken into consideration for further enforcement by the Commission.

What does it consist of?

Europe fit for 55 package is a set of proposals, which aim is to revise EU policies and come up with new initiatives that correspond with their climate-protection mission. It serves as a reminder that by 2030, the EU attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with 55%.

In the official infographic they touched upon important proposals, which included:

• • • Alternative fuels infrastructure
  • • Energy efficiency
  • • Renewable energy
  • • EU emissions trading system
  • • Energy taxation

These are a few of the soon-to-be implemented initiatives against carbon emissions and we surely believe that if every country participates and follow fit for 55 package measures will greatly help reach EU to its desired outcome.

Microsoft Cloud for sustainability

Microsoft is omnipresent when it comes to protecting the environment and offering sustainability support. They have shown on their social media platforms that one of their most important objectives would be to decrease the perpetual decay of our planet’s climate.

Fast forward, they have introduced Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability, which is an improvement in the Microsoft cloud portfolio by bringing together environmental, governance and social capabilities. This new approach proposes to empower organizations and offer them solutions to manage their environmental footprint by enabling businesses to gain transparency and insights.

Change-driven and collaborative sustainability solutions led to:

• Data intelligence merging. Access to the appropriate information is crucial for managing sustainability reporting and enhancing company sustainability. This entails compiling and arranging data, assessing how your company affects the environment, and monitoring development toward sustainability goals.
• IT Infrastructure. Businesses should look for methods to substitute their current tools, procedures, and practices with more sustainable alternatives that still benefit the organization. Businesses can lessen their carbon impact by implementing renewable technologies and improving their energy efficiency.
• Environmental impact reduction. Businesses should aim to reduce the negative impact of their operations on the environment. Modernizing transportation, increasing energy efficiency, switching to renewable energy sources, and lowering the environmental effect of buildings and equipment can all help with this.
• Create sustainable value chains. Businesses should strive for greater transparency and accountability throughout their entire value chain, from sourcing materials to disposing of products. This includes making efforts to create more sustainable products and services, improving transparency in the supply chain, and optimizing the logistics of materials and products.

How will businesses reduce carbon emissions in the future?

Currently, businesses become more and more aware of the impact of their own activities and actions over the environment, which is the main reason they have begun to invest in advanced technologies and have made a lot of efforts to solve environmental issues.

We have the European Union which established countless initiatives of gas emissions reduction, Microsoft with their sustainability cloud and empowerment of other organizations, so how will businesses take action regarding their carbon footprint?

• Carbon footprint monitoring. Businesses should have a measuring system of gas emissions, otherwise it will be difficult for them to come up with an action plan concerning a proper management of potential risks of these emissions.
• Investment in advanced technologies and equipment.It serves as a means of carbon footprint diminution and reduces highly-generated quantities of waste.
• Environmental programs.As a company, your participation in programs against pollution or in ecological education programs represent the beginning of a long-lasting contribution to environmental support. You become a positive influential brand across other industries, but also across other communities.
• Renewable resources. Adopt a system of renewable energy within your company, which can be used in electricity generation, water and space heating and cooling.

As we’re entering a climate emergency, LINKSOFT has taken necessary steps to reduce the company’s carbon emissions. There’s no reason for us, as companies, to fester the gravity of gas emissions worldwide.

Any little action we take now is a long-term benefit for all of us. From recycling, planting trees, switching to online meetings and events or car-sharing, we’ve checked listed everything and we plan to contribute even more from now on.

ABOUT LINKSOFT

Right from the beginning, we set out to build a Microsoft Dynamics Centre of Excellence that reunites the best specialist and the most efficient platforms in order to implement high performing and easy-to-use CRM solutions. We impose the most demanding standards of excellence on our processes, in order to ensure we are able to fulfill our mission and respect our values.