A Green Concrete Jungle? Why Green Cement Is Paving The Future
A substance that literally forms the foundations of urban living, concrete is indispensable to the way we live. Unfortunately, it is yet another example of a greenhouse gas emitting, unsustainable practice. In the era of climate change where our actions are subject to constant scrutiny, we cannot ignore the impacts of the cement industry. Enter […]
Continue readingGreen Team Ideas And Getting Colleagues Engaged
You have brilliant green team ideas that you would like to implement at your workplace but get discouraged by indifferent colleagues? Getting people engaged and thinking about sustainability at the workplace can be challenging. One of the earlier blogs considered key principles for getting employee engagement right! Here I will look at some practical tips […]
Continue readingIs Biomass Worse Than Coal?
Biomass for energy production is the lofty aim of power companies shifting away from coal. Heralded as a carbon neutral renewable resource, the UK government supports this shift through subsidies on biomass. Whilst part of a move to combat climate change, some environmentalists label these subsidies ‘climate fraud’. Bioenergy policy The UK Bioenergy Strategy published earlier […]
Continue readingEco-Labelling: Market Transformation Or Consumer Confusion?
We have all encountered eco-labelling, whether as consumers or suppliers of products. With the continual growth in the conscious consumption trend, many consumers use eco-labels as a guide to the environmental and social responsibility of companies. Companies in turn utilise such labels so as to bring credibility to their products and to meet trends in […]
Continue readingThe Benefits Of Community-Based Resource Management
It’s a well known fact that for individuals to invest their efforts in a cause, they must feel some sense of ownership. Without a feeling of personal responsibility and attachment to the outcomes, people will struggle to invest time and energy. This is one of the reasons that top-down management, that which excludes employees or […]
Continue readingCorporate Social Responsibility Vs Profit
In 1970, the Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman published a now famous paper arguing that the role and responsibility of business is to maximise profits within the basic rule of law. Any activity that detracted from this responsibility for profit maximisation was in the eyes of Friedman, inefficient and bad for business. For Friedman, the idea of […]
Continue readingShould Becoming Carbon Neutral Be Part Of Your Carbon Management Strategy?
Becoming carbon neutral used to be a popular option for businesses looking to demonstrate their commitment to environmental improvement. Let’s face it, buying a carbon offset is a lot easier than investing time, money and resources in practical actions that reduce one’s carbon footprint directly. But following a number of negative reports on carbon offsetting […]
Continue readingProjected Energy Saving And Carbon Reduction Opportunities From Using The Dyson Airblade
Most organisations have multiple bathrooms where they provide employees with hand-drying facilities in the form of either paper towels or an electric hand dryer, or sometimes both. Recently I was asked to quantify the energy saving and carbon reduction opportunity from switching a traditional hand-drying facility for the Dyson Airblade hand dryer. In this article […]
Continue readingWhy Invest In A CSR Sustainability Strategy?
Regardless of what many environmentalists and economists argue, I believe that fundamentally a business should not take action to improve its environmental or social responsibility unless there is a very clear economic rationale. Having spent many years debating the role of sustainability I have come to the realisation that there are three broad economic reasons […]
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