By Caroline Watson
There is an irony that the organisations that are doing the most to tackle social justice and environmental issues have a large environmental footprint of their own. Travel can feel unavoidable and necessary to get the job done, yet there are ways organisations can minimise this that reduce their carbon footprint and have a positive impact on productivity.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is one NGO that leads by example. In 2009 it launched the One in Five Challenge that works with businesses to reduce the number of flights they take by 20% over five years. WWF took on and met the challenge itself, alongside Lloyds TSB, BSkyB, Microsoft UK, and BT. Results from the programme show that over the past three years members have, on average, cut their flights by 38%, saving £2m and 3,000 tonnes of CO2. In addition to the travel challenge, WWF has designed their office space to be one of the greenest buildings in the UK, which includes impressive video conferencing (VC) equipment to communicate with colleagues in other offices around the world. They have built in this function to reduce the need to travel. But you don't need to build a brand new office to optimise the use of VC equipment. It can be a very good return on investment to any office as long as it is used.
For small NGOs state-of-the-art VC equipment can seem like a too much of an outlay. Skype is a helpful alternative – and it is free. Smarphones, laptops, tablets all have video chat function.
The first step to reducing travel is to question the necessity. Instilling this questioning culture is not automatic, it needs a strong internal champion and a senior sponsor who is prepared to lead by example. But reducing travel can have productivity benefits, as well as cost and environmental savings. We have worked with Telefonica O2 to increase flexi-working and reduce travel to the office. As a result of the programme, 96% of employees involved felt equally or more productive flexi-working and 100% of staff reported a better work/life balance. For every desk not required in an office, Telefónica O2 UK saves £7,000 each year.
In certain circumstances travel is unavoidable. When it is, we encourage decision makers to consider the whole cost of a journey. For example, often it is only the flight ticket that gets compared to the train ticket, and the employee may forget to factor in the cost of the taxi or train to the airport, parking costs, and also the cost of their time and productivity. Sitting on a train for four hours can be more productive than time spent hanging around the airport waiting for a flight and then not being able to access the internet while in the air. A sleeper train can replace the cost of a hotel room, or alternatively replace an early morning flight and ensure the employee turns up to a meeting refreshed.
Producing incentives for staff to choose the lowest carbon option of travel is also a good idea; as is setting a challenge to teams to see who can reduce their carbon footprint the most each month. Equally important is removing incentives to fly such as personal accumulation of air miles for business travel.
We recognize it's highly unlikely that we can reduce all environmental impacts from travel. Ultimately for some NGOs flying or driving is necessary to get work done. If you do need to travel you may consider carbon offsetting. If you want to ensure that you're using an offset that is credible, check it's on the UK government's quality assurance scheme for offsets. You may wish to look for offsets that deliver carbon reductions in areas where you work. For example, if you are an NGO that is working to eradicate poverty in Malawi you can search out offsets that invest in community energy projects in the country.
Every journey begins with a first step. In this case, the first step is to consider the wider impact of our footprint.
There is an irony that the organisations that are doing the most to tackle social justice and environmental issues have a large environmental footprint of their own. Travel can feel unavoidable and necessary to get the job done, yet there are ways organisations can minimise this that reduce their carbon footprint and have a positive impact on productivity.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is one NGO that leads by example. In 2009 it launched the One in Five Challenge that works with businesses to reduce the number of flights they take by 20% over five years. WWF took on and met the challenge itself, alongside Lloyds TSB, BSkyB, Microsoft UK, and BT. Results from the programme show that over the past three years members have, on average, cut their flights by 38%, saving £2m and 3,000 tonnes of CO2. In addition to the travel challenge, WWF has designed their office space to be one of the greenest buildings in the UK, which includes impressive video conferencing (VC) equipment to communicate with colleagues in other offices around the world. They have built in this function to reduce the need to travel. But you don't need to build a brand new office to optimise the use of VC equipment. It can be a very good return on investment to any office as long as it is used.
For small NGOs state-of-the-art VC equipment can seem like a too much of an outlay. Skype is a helpful alternative – and it is free. Smarphones, laptops, tablets all have video chat function.
The first step to reducing travel is to question the necessity. Instilling this questioning culture is not automatic, it needs a strong internal champion and a senior sponsor who is prepared to lead by example. But reducing travel can have productivity benefits, as well as cost and environmental savings. We have worked with Telefonica O2 to increase flexi-working and reduce travel to the office. As a result of the programme, 96% of employees involved felt equally or more productive flexi-working and 100% of staff reported a better work/life balance. For every desk not required in an office, Telefónica O2 UK saves £7,000 each year.
In certain circumstances travel is unavoidable. When it is, we encourage decision makers to consider the whole cost of a journey. For example, often it is only the flight ticket that gets compared to the train ticket, and the employee may forget to factor in the cost of the taxi or train to the airport, parking costs, and also the cost of their time and productivity. Sitting on a train for four hours can be more productive than time spent hanging around the airport waiting for a flight and then not being able to access the internet while in the air. A sleeper train can replace the cost of a hotel room, or alternatively replace an early morning flight and ensure the employee turns up to a meeting refreshed.
Producing incentives for staff to choose the lowest carbon option of travel is also a good idea; as is setting a challenge to teams to see who can reduce their carbon footprint the most each month. Equally important is removing incentives to fly such as personal accumulation of air miles for business travel.
We recognize it's highly unlikely that we can reduce all environmental impacts from travel. Ultimately for some NGOs flying or driving is necessary to get work done. If you do need to travel you may consider carbon offsetting. If you want to ensure that you're using an offset that is credible, check it's on the UK government's quality assurance scheme for offsets. You may wish to look for offsets that deliver carbon reductions in areas where you work. For example, if you are an NGO that is working to eradicate poverty in Malawi you can search out offsets that invest in community energy projects in the country.
Every journey begins with a first step. In this case, the first step is to consider the wider impact of our footprint.
