Carbon footprint

A company’s carbon footprint and approach to the issue of climate change is a crucial test of its CSR credentials. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide. Environmental audits of corporate carbon footprints can highlight ways by which responsible businesses can take steps to reduce and offset carbon emissions and so reduce the impact of its activities on global warming. Carbon neutral travel and greener communications – internet over aircraft – can lead to significant reductions in corporate carbon footprints. Innovations for reducing carbon emissions as well as simple initiatives such as switching off lights, computers and other appliances would save millions of tonnes of carbon being pumped into the atmosphere every year.

By greening the supply chain, businesses can encourage climate care across a range of other businesses along the supply chain. These can also lead to significant reductions in business running costs. Strategies for climate care can motivate staff, and provide useful public relation material as part of a company’s CSR programme.

Climate Care Program

Climate change is perhaps the most significant environmental challenge facing the corporate world in the 21st century. Corporate citizenship, particularly in its role in encouraging corporate social responsibility in developing economies as well as developed ones, is crucial in reducing carbon emissions and addressing the challenge of climate change. Climate change and its calamitous implications for rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns and the cost of post-disaster reconstruction, mean that responsible corporate business has little choice but to address the environmental challenges it faces.